Charlotte 3, Buffalo 2
By Pete Shapiro
The Herd battled it out with the Charlotte Knights with never any more than one run separating the two combatants, for ten tense innings before succumbing to Charlotte by a score of 3-2. Buffalo would come back to tie the score, both in the seventh and ninth innings, only to see the game slip away from them in the bottom-of-the-tenth.
LHP Garrett Olson was the story of the night for the Herd after spotting Charlotte to a quick run in the bottom-of-the-first, he settled into a zone and mowed down 19 of the next 21 hitters. RF Greg Golson led off the first for the Knights with a double down the left-field line. One out later 1B Dan Johnson singled to RF to drive him in.
After another single, Olson got locked in striking out the next two batters to end the first inning threat with just the one run scoring. He wouldn’t allow another hit until two were out in the seventh. He struck out 10 and only walked one batter. The only other baserunner got on due to a throwing error on SS Omar Quintanilla.
The score remained 1-0 in favor of Charlotte until the Herd was able to tie the game in the seventh. With one-out and men on first-and-third, Matt Tuiasosopo doubled to LF to bring in Val Pascucci with the tying run. The rally would fizzle however when neither Brad Emaus nor Lucas May could bring in the runners from second and third.
Charlotte took the lead 2-1 in the eighth when DH Hector Gimenez took reliever Dylan Owen deep to right-center field, it was Gimenez’ 3rd homer of the season. But the Herd stampeded back to tie the score yet again in the top-of-the-ninth inning. Val Pascucci led off with a double to RF and infielder Michael Fisher was sent in to run for him, then 1B Josh Satin grounded one up-the-middle to bring home Fisher knotting the game at 2-2.
The game stayed that way until the bottom-of-the-tenth. LHP Josh Edgin (1-1) was called upon by manager Wally Backman to pitch the 10th inning and gave up a lead-off double to LF to Greg Golson, his second of the game. 2B Drew Garcia then sacrificed Golson over to third with one-out, before Edgin got Dan Johnson swinging for the second out of the inning.
For some inexplicable reason, Backman then replaced Edgin a left-hander, with the righty Jack Egbert. The next batter, switch-hitting Hector Gimenez is hitting .206 off left-handers and .294 off right-handers this year. And he had just hit a HR off the righty Dylan Owen in the eighth inning. So naturally he spanks a 3-2 offering from Egbert into RF for the game-winner, making the final score 3-2 and making a loser of Josh Edgin for the first time this season. Gregory Infante (2-0) pitched the last two innings for Charlotte to pick up the win. One managerial move too many may have cost the Herd this game I’m afraid.
Herd Rumblings: Buffalo as a team, is 3rd in the International League in ERA, and 4th in WHIP. They are 2nd in the league in team batting average, hits, and HR’s, and 3rd in runs scored, SLG and OBP. Jeremy Hefner continues to lead the league in ERA with a 1.77, and is 2nd in the league in WHIP with a 0.91. Garrett Olson is 7th in the league in strikeouts with 38. 2B Bobby Scales has dropped to 6th in the league in hitting with a .339 average, but he is 2nd in OBP with a .459. Game two of the four-game set against the Knights is tonite at 7:15 pm. RHP Chris Schwinden (2-2 2.33) gets the ball for the Bisons, while RHP Dylan Axelrod (2-1 1.08) toes the bump for Charlotte.
Binghamton 11, New Hampshire 4
By Tim Burns
The Binghamton Mets onslaught of offense continued in Manchester on Friday night, as they belted out 13 hits against the New Hampshire Fisher Cats enroute to an 11-4 win. The B-Mets scored five runs in the top of the first, enough to win the game before starter Gonzalez Germen ever took the mound.
New Hampshire starter Deck McGuire, ranked 10th among Toronto Blue Jays top prospects, had his second straight rough outing against the B-Mets. On April 25th, the B-Mets tagged McGuire for seven runs on nine hits in three innings worth of work. Those stats, however, paled in comparison to Friday night’s numbers. In one tenth of an inning, McGuire allowed five earned runs on five hits. The only out McGuire was able to record was a Juan Lagares ground out to third baseman Mark Sobolewski .
Fernando Hernandez finally relieved McGuire, and promptly recorded the final two outs of the first inning. The damage had already been done, however, and the B-Mets never looked back. They added two more runs in the fourth courtesy of Matt den Dekker’s fourth home run of the season with Pedro Zapata on first at the time. In the sixth, it was Josh Rodriguez’s turn for the long ball, putting a three run shot over the left center field wall. The B-Mets eleventh run of the night came off of the bat of Eric Campbell in the top of the eighth, a solo home run to left as well.
On the night, Campbell was 3/4 with a double and a home run, 3 RBI’s and 2 runs scored. Matt den Dekker was 2/4, with 2 RBI’s and 3 runs scored. Josh Rodriguez went 2/5 with four RBI’s and two runs scored. Jefry Marte was the final B-Mets batter with a multi-hit game, going 2/5 with an RBI and run scored.
Binghamton Mets starter Gonzalez Germen earned his first win at the Double A level courtesy of his offense. Germen threw 100 pitches over seven innings, striking out three Fisher Cats along the way, while allowing three runs on eight hits. Edgar Ramirez pitched the final two frames, giving up three hits and one run – a solo shot by first baseman Mike McDade – while striking out two.
In the last two games, the B-Mets have scored more runs (20) than the previous week’s worth of games combined (19). Eleven runs are the most scored in a game by the B-Mets so far in 2012.
St. Lucie 11, Brevard County 2
By Clayton Collier
After several days of just enough offense to get by, the St. Lucie bats lit up the night, scoring nine runs in the final two innings to take the final match of the four-game set 11-2 on Friday.
Cory Mazzoni took the hill for his seventh start of the year and continues to be a solid anchor in this St. Lucie rotation, hurling 5 1/3 frames, surrendering two runs (one earned) on five hits, while walking three and punching out five.Though taking a no decision, Mazzoni lowered his ERA to 2.80 on the year. Ryan Fraser came on and had one of his best performances of the season, hurling 3 2/3 perfect innings while striking out four in the process, taking the win to improve to 2-1.
In very similar fashion to the New York Mets 10-6 comeback win against the Phillies, the St. Lucie Mets played catch-up until the late innings, where they scored nine runs in the 8th and 9th innings to blow this ballgame wide open. Four straight two-out singles by Richard Lucas, Francisco Pena, Rafael Fernandez and Wilfredo Tovar plated three in the eighth. The ninth however, was where the damage for the Manatee bullpen really got ugly.
Consisting of four hits, three walks, a fielding error, a stolen base, and a wild pitch, the ninth inning looked more like batting practice as the Mets scored six times to put this one away for good.
Lucie Logistics: Cesar Puello went 1-4 with a double and now has three two-baggers in his last two games. In the thick of several late-inning rallies, Richard Lucas had himself a three-hit game. In addition to Lucas, Robbie Shields, Rafael Fernandez, Francisco Pena and Wilfredo Tovar all had multiple-hit games. With his two-RBI performance last night, Danny Muno now has 21-RBIs on the year, a figure that is second on the team only to Wilmer Flores with 22. The Mets head off to Bradenton to take on the Marauders tonite at 6:30 before having the day off Sunday. Chase Huchingson (4-2 2.51) takes the hill for St. Lucie while 2011 first overall draft pick Gerrit Cole (1-1 3.54) goes for Bradenton.
Hickory 3, Savannah 1
By Pete Shapiro
It only took the Gnats until their second batter to take the lead 1-0 Friday night, when DH T. J. Rivera went deep with his 5th HR of the season. That would be all the scoring the Gnats could muster however as the Hickory Crawdads followed with three runs on the night to win 3-1.
RHP Tyler Pill (3-2 1.89) pitched very well in defeat, going 6 IP with 2 runs, both earned, on 6 hits, 1 walk, and 10 strikeouts. The turning point in the game came in the fifth inning when, with two-outs, Crawdad 2B Rougned Odor doubled to RF to drive in two runs, and make a winner of starter LHP Victor Payano (3-1 3.31).
Gnats Gnotes: The Savannah pitching staff continues to lead the league in: Innings Pitched, ERA, WHIP, shutouts, fewest runs, fewest earned runs, fewest hits, fewest walks, and fewest HR’s. Game three of the four-game series at Hickory continues at 6:00 pm Saturday with RHP Michael Fulmer (1-2 3.18) making his sixth start against RHP Jerad Eickhoff (4-2 2.94).
