St. Lucie Blanks Brevard County

Travis d'Arnaud

The Brevard County Manatees had their three-game winning streak snapped Sunday, as the visiting St. Lucie Mets came away with a 7-0 victory at Space Coast Stadium. Kevin McGowan threw five no-hit innings for the Mets, before exiting. He threw 60 pitches, 36 for strikes.

“McGowan’s been throwing out of the bullpen and throwing real well,” said Manatees manager Joe Ayrault. "It just wasn’t our night.(Paul) Paez, who came in after him is a crafty lefty and I think he’s got 10 games and a zero ERA, just kept us off-balance with soft stuff."

St. Lucie (27-29) got on the board in the top of the third inning when MLB rehabber Travis d'Arnaud stroked an RBI single to left, against Manatees starting pitcher Angel Ventura. They came back to load the bases in the fourth, with two singles sandwiched between a walk, loading the bases. That brought Jhoan Urena to the plate.

He grounded slowly to Dustin DeMuth at first. DeMuth stepped on the bag to get Urena and threw home. His throw missed Gregory McCall by a lot, allowing two runs to score and giving the Mets a 3-0 lead. Luis Guillorme’s fifth double of the season scored John Mora from third and just like that, it was 4-0.

“He was falling behind,” said Ayrault of Ventura. “You work deep into some counts, you fall behind and you pay for it.” Ventura allowed four runs on five hits in just four innings of work. He threw 93 pitches, 52 of those for strikes. It was a rough night for him and that’s not the norm. He labored more than he usually does and just didn’t seem comfortable. He walked three batters and struck out two.

Patrick Biondi’s RBI single in the sixth made it 5-0 and he had another one in the eighth against Kaleb Earls, making it 6-0. Urena’s sac fly in the ninth capped the scoring. St. Lucie had an 11 hit day as a team, with Guillorme’s 3-for-5 leading the way. Biondi, Kevin Taylor and Mora all had two hits.

The Manatees offense that was so good in two wins Friday and Saturday, were not able to get anything going. The first hit came in the sixth on the first pitch Paez threw to George Iskenderian. Gregory McCall followed with a stinging liner to first that was caught by first baseman Michael Katz. He stepped on the bag to double off Iskenderian and that was that.

It was the second time that the Manatees hit into a hard double play. Johnny Davis drew a walk in the bottom of the fourth and went to second on a failed pickoff attempt by McGowan. Angel Ortega smoked a ball to center that looked like it had a chance to drop and Davis was already most of the way to third. Instead the ball hung up and was caught, resulting in an easy double play.

Angel Ortega’s one out single in the seventh and a hard hit double by McCall to lead off the ninth were the only other hits for the Manatees (20-36). Ortega’s hit was originally ruled an error, when it pulled the first baseman off the bag, but was later ruled a hit.

“Guys have been swinging the bat well as of late, so it’s one of those you just don’t dwell on,” said Ayrault. “Tip your hat to their pitchers today and come back and get after it tomorrow.”

For more info: St. Lucie Mets @ Brevard County Manatees boxscore

Cody Ponce is scheduled to make his first start of the season Monday for the Manatees. He is coming back from arm fatigue that has sidelined him since April. “He’s ready to go,” said Ayrault.

“Probably a short stint, just to get him back, get him acclimated and get him in there. I’m excited to watch him pitch.”

The only thing that may stand in Ponce’s way tomorrow is Mother Nature. With a tropical storm bearing down on the area, there may be no window to get the game in. If by chance they do play, Ponce will throw his first pitch of the year at 6:35 p.m. 

This article originally appeared on the now defunct Examiner.com on 6/5/16