BRADENTON, Fla. (May 28, 2026) – The St. Lucie Mets got a dominant performance from starting pitcher Jose Chirinos on their way to a 3-1 win over the Bradenton Marauders on Thursday night at LECOM Park. The Mets took a 2-1 series lead.
Chirinos matched his season-high with 6.0 innings pitched. He scattered three hits, did not allow an earned run, walked just one batter and struck out nine. He earned the win to improve his record to 3-1.
Chirinos gave up a double to the first batter he faced in Josh Tate. Chirinos then struck out the next two. Tate stole third base and scored on a throwing error to third by catcher Francisco Toledo.
Chirinos shrugged off the run and allowed just three more base runners the rest of his start. He retired 13 of the final 14 batters he faced, including seven on strikeouts.
The Mets offense scored all its runs on homers in the second inning. Branny De Oleo mashed a leadoff homer against Jaiker Garcia to tie the game 1-1. It was De Oleo’s fifth homer of the season.
Two batters later Jamari Baylor hit a towering two-run homer, his fourth of the year, to put the Mets up 3-1.
That was enough support for Chirinos and the two Mets relievers Elwis Mijares and Joe Scarborough.
Mijares pitched around a walk in both the seventh and eighth inning to put up two scoreless frames.
The first two batters of the ninth singled against Scarborough. But Scarborough got Luke Scherrer to hit into a 6-4-3 double play then on the next pitch got Richard Ramirez to ground out to De Oleo at third base to end the game. Scarborough earned his third save in his last four outings.
The Mets (22-26) and Marauders (24-23) play the fourth game of their series at LECOM Park on Friday. First pitch is 6:30 p.m.