The London Mets’ Joe Perez came through in the clutch for his team in the sixth inning of a one-run game against the previously-undefeated Swiss National Team to start day four at the Palomino European Zone Championships in Stuttgart, Germany.
With runners on second and third with no outs, down 4-3, Perez chopped a ball up the middle for a single that was hit hard enough to get through the infield but soft enough to slow down in the outfield grass, allowing both Aidan Pearce and Freddy Mosier to score and give London a 5-4 lead.
After four pickoff attempts during the next at-bat to Ben Jones, Perez stole second base and advanced to third on Jones’ fly out to center field. Greg Kettle then hit a fly out to right field that was deep enough to allow Perez to slide ahead of the throw by a couple of steps to give London an insurance run that it desperately needed (6-4).
In the top of the sixth, London’s Tosh Lawson, who had pitched well in five innings up to this point in the game, needed three outs to secure a victory. With one out, Switzerland’s Logan Lavenex reached on an error and moved to second on a ground out. During the next at-bat to Nicholas Fischer, Lavenex took an aggressive secondary lead at second base, causing the Swiss catcher to throw it down to second, but he threw it away into the outfield. Another misthrow at third allowed Lavenex to score to get the Swiss within a run.
Fischer singled and Nik Diener singled to put runners on first and second, but Lawson was able to induce a fly out to secure the win for London 6-5.
Lawson recorded the win for London, tossing six innings strong, allowing five runs (three earned) on nine hits and a walk, while striking out three.
At the plate, Michael Diaz Pino went 3-for-3, leading the Swiss National Team. For the Mets, Mosier, Kettle and Bohn each had two hits.
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