Only two games survived the treacherous rainstorms in New York and the northeast on Saturday afternoon, with Triple-A Syracuse being the only New York-based team to still play, and St. Lucie played down in Florida.
It was a rough showing for the Syracuse Mets (Triple-A), being blown out by the WooSox, while the St. Lucie Mets’ bats more than held their own against the Palm Beach Cardinals.
Both Double-A Binghamton and High-A Brooklyn were rained out and will play doubleheaders on Sunday.
Triple-A
Worcester 9 (14-11), Syracuse 2 (13-12)
- RF Cristian Pache: 1-4, 2B
- CF Nick Morabito: 1-3
- LF Jihwan Bae: 1-4, RBI
- C Ben Rortvedt: 1-4
The Syracuse bats’ were abysmal on Saturday afternoon, scoring just two runs and recording only four hits. On a day in which nothing went right for Syracuse, Bae’s double was the only extra-base hit.
The Mets were shut down by the WooSox staff, with five different pitchers combining for ten strikeouts and no earned runs allowed.
- RHP Bryce Conley: 4 IP, 4 H, R, ER, 6 BB, 2 K (4.22 ERA)
- RHP Tanner Witt: 1.1 IP, H, 2 R, 2 ER, 4 BB, 3 K (4.15 ERA)
- RHP Ryan Lambert: 0.2 IP, H, 3 R, 3 ER, 2 BB (7.04 ERA)
- RHP Alex Carrillo: IP, H, 0 R, 0 ER, BB, 2 K (7.88 ERA)
The Syracuse pitching staff walked a worse-than-abysmal 13 batters on Saturday, providing almost one free pass for every two outs recorded. Witt and Lambert walked as many batters as they recorded outs, and only catcher Onix Vega worked a walkless inning, albeit he gave up three earned runs.
Single-A
Palm Beach 8 (15-5), St. Lucie 7 (9-11)
Box Score
- SS Elian Peña: 2-4, BB (.916 OPS)
- CF Simon Juan: 2-5, 2B, 2 RBI (.499 OPS)
- C Chase Meggers: 2-2, 2 RBI, 2 RBI (.564 OPS)
- RF Sam Biller: 1-3, BB, RBI (.907 OPS)
The St. Lucie offense exploded for five runs in the bottom of the sixth; it would be the only offense they had for most of the night, and it seemed like it would be the only offense they would need to pick up the victory over Palm Beach.
Elian Peña continued his incredible start to the season, getting on twice and keeping his season OPS mark above .900. A player who is older for the league, Biller, continued his strong play and could push the envelope to move to High-A Brooklyn sometime in the early summer.
- RHP R.J. Gordon: 0.1 IP, 3 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 0 B, K (81.00 ERA)
- LHP Nate Lavender: 1.2 IP, H, 0 R, 0 ER, BB, 2 K (6.43 ERA)
- RHP Joey Gerber: IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 0 K (0.00 ERA)
- RHP Jose Chirinos: 4.2 IP, 3 H, R, ER, 0 BB, 6 K (2.45 ERA)
Several different arms took the mound for St. Lucie on Saturday night to varying levels of success. Joey Gerber began pitching for St. Lucie as a part of a rehab assignment from a finger blister issue that sidelined him fairly immediately after being called up to the major leagues.
Chirinos provided length for St. Lucie, striking out six over 4 2/3 incredible innings. RJ Gordon struggled immensely, not even making it out of the first inning. The bullpen imploded for the Mets in the final inning, with relievers Trey McLaughlin and Ryan Dollar allowing a combined four runs in the ninth inning to surrender a four-run lead.
