B-Met Futility: McHugh’s Great Performance Goes Down The Drain – Savannah Wins

 

Indianapolis 6, Buffalo 3

By Andrew O’Brien

For the third straight game, the Buffalo Bisons played shoddy defense Tuesday afternoon en route to a 6-3 loss to the Indianapolis Indians. The loss marked the third straight for the Triple-A Mets.

The Bisons committed three errors Tuesday, upping the four-game series total to 12.

Chris Schwinden (3-3, 2.72) started for the Bisons and was average over four innings in which he allowed six hits, four runs (two earned) and one walk, while striking out two.

With 1B Jeff Clement batting in the first inning, Schwinden threw a wild pitch to score 2B Anderson Hernandez to give the Indians an early 1-0 lead.

In the third, with the Bisons trailing 3-0, CF Starling Marte led the inning off with a single. He then stole second-base and later scored on a Hernandez single to make it 4-0.

Down 4-2 in the bottom of the seventh inning, the Bisons loaded the bases with one out, but RF Valentino Pascucci struck out swinging for the second out. After 3B Matt Tuiasosopo singled home CF Corey Wimberly to cut the deficit to 4-3, 2B Brad Emaus grounded into a force-out to end the inning.

The Bisons went silent in the eighth and the ninth innings.

Wimberly went 2-for-4 atop the Bisons’ order and extended his hitting streak to six games. Tuiasosopo went 3-for-4 and improved his average over .300 — to .301.

Josh Edgin pitched a scoreless 1-2-3 eighth inning with two strikeouts.

Herd Rumblings: Corey Wimberly is currently on a six-game hit streak (11-for-24, .458) after a 2-for-4 day at the plate with a run scored on Tuesday. Buffalo have not won a series against the Indians since 2004, the Indians now have 10 series of 3-1 and five splits. Buffalo (26-20) has an off-day on Wednesday. The Bisons look to get back on the winning track at 7:05 p.m. Thursday, when they play the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees in Buffalo with the Yankees as the home team. No that’s not a misprint, SWB is playing all their home games on the road this year while their stadium is being completely rebuilt. Matt Harvey (4-1, 4.31) will make the start for Buffalo.

New Britain 3, Binghamton 0

By Tim Burns

With no run support, one home run surrendered and a hit batsman charged to him as well, Collin McHugh was issued his third loss of the season on Tuesday night in New Britain. McHugh and the Binghamton Mets lost to the Rock Cats for the second time in two nights, this time by a score of 3-0.

McHugh, making his ninth start of the season for the B-Mets, pitched himself out of trouble in the third after New Britain loaded the bases. With the bags packed, McHugh got 3B Deibinson Romero to strike out and DH Matt Rizzoti to ground out to get himself out of the jam.

Then came the bottom of the seventh where McHugh gave up a home run to the first batter he faced, RF Evan Bigley, and hit the next batter in the inning, LF Nathan Hanson. McHugh was immediately ejected from the game by home plate umpire Joey Amaral even though there was no intent on McHugh’s part, since he was trying to protect a 1-0 deficit at that point in the game.

Not only that, the pitch was just an inside pitch that grazed Hanson’s jersey, the ball never even hit his person. If McHugh can’t pitch inside, he cannot be effective. It was a bush-league call by the umpire. McHugh’s final line in the game read six innings pitched, two runs on eight hits, three strikeouts and no walks issued.

Brad Holt replaced McHugh after his ejection, and pitched the remainder of the game. Holt gave up one run on three hits over the next two innings, striking out one New Britain hitter.

Even though all but two B-Mets batters registered hits in the game, they weren’t able to plate any runs against the New Britain pitchers. Matt den Dekker, in the lineup as the DH in the game, continued his hitting streak by going 2-for-5. Den Dekker’s streak now sits at 17 games. Raul Reyes accounted for the B-Mets only extra base hit in the game with his fourth-inning double. In all, the B-Mets left ten runners on base in the game.

B-Mets Buzz: It’s a high noon matchup (12:05 actually) on Wednesday for the B-Mets and Rock Cats. Number one Mets prospect Zack Wheeler gets the start for the visitors, and righty David Bromberg (1-1, 3.94), no relation to the musician by the same name, will toe the rubber for New Britain.

 

Daytona 6, St. Lucie 5

By Clayton Collier

Apparently not having a short memory, the St. Lucie Mets lost their second game in walk-off fashion in a row, falling to the Daytona Cubs 6-5.

Cory Mazzoni had a decent outing, surrendering three runs on five hits over five frames, taking a no decision in the effort while raising his ERA to 3.38 on the year.

St. Lucie drew blood first on a Richard Lucas force-out in the top of the first. Lucas would then make it a 2-0 lead on a solo-shot to lead off the top of the fourth. Then facing a 3-2 deficit, the Mets put together a 3-run seventh highlighted by an Alonzo Harris double to gain a 5-3 edge.

Things started to get rocky however once Daytona got into the Mets bullpen, where they have struggled ever since Adrian Rosario was promoted to Double-A. Jack Leathersich came on for his first appearance with St. Lucie and delivered 2.2 innings while surrendering two runs to blow the hold and make it a 5-5 ballgame before being relieved by Ryan Fraser, who was the only Met-reliever to put up a scoreless outing yesterday.

Then in extras John Church failed to get through the tenth, walking two batters before surrendering a two-out walk-off RBI single to Richard Jones to hand the Mets their 11th loss of their year and their second walkoff loss in as many games.

Lucie Logistics: Alonzo Harris had two doubles yesterday and has now hit a double in each of the last five games straight. The Mets placed outfielder Rafael Fernandez on the 7-day D.L. retroactive to May 20th. Rylan Sandoval, who was recently demoted to St. Lucie from Binghamton, went 0-for-3 with a walk yesterday and is now 0-for-6 as a St. Lucie Met in 2012. Francisco Pena went 1-for-4 yesterday and is batting .324 in his last 10 games. The Mets continue their series with Daytona tomorrow at 6:30 pm with Chase Huchingson (5-3 2.68 ERA) on the hill.

Savannah 5, Charleston 3

By Sean Kenny

Alex Panteliodis had his third short outing in a row, although he was effective in his brief four-inning outing, giving up five hits, no runs while walking three and striking out one. Alex definitely did not have his best control on the day, and that may have attributed to his short outing.

Randy Fontanez came out for two innings and was hit hard, giving up three runs on six hits while striking out three. Chasen Bradford (1-0, 2.77) kept the Gnats in the game with two innings of one-hit ball, striking out two and earning the win. T.J. Chism came out for the ninth and pitched a clean frame, striking out two for the save, his sixth.

Savannah’s bats have done what they have done as of late, scored early and gone dormant for the later innings. Charles Thurber scored in the second on a wild pitch, and Aderlin Rodriguez drove in T.J Rivera with an RBI single in the fourth. A Brian Harrison RBI single in the bottom of the eighth drove home the tying run, and a Thurber two-RBI triple drove home the winning runs. While hitting in the middle innings would be nice, these Gnats just keep fighting until the last strike.

Awesome Player Guy Of The Game: Charles Thurber – 2 for 3 with a walk and the two key RBI, as well as scoring on a wild pitch. While Thurber is only hitting .194, hopefully this will be a turning point for him, especially with more playing time now that Tillman Pugh was released.

Gnats Notes: T.J. Rivera is on another three-game hitting strike, but has ELEVEN errors on the season, most of them of the throwing variety. Travis Taijeron had the day off. Greg Pron went 0-for-4, dropping his BA to .168. After two rough outings, T.J. Chism has put together four scoreless outings lasting 3.2 innings. The rubber-game of the three-game set against Charleston is slated for Wednesday at 7:05 pm. The RiverDogs send righty Scottie Allen (1-2, 3.07) to the mound against fire-balling right-hander Domingo Tapia (3-2, 4.25) for the Gnats.