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Charlotte 5, Buffalo 4
By Pete Shapiro
With the Bisons leading 4-2 in the eighth, Charlotte Knights DH Hector Gimenez stepped to the plate with two on, and two outs and promptly deposited a Justin Hampson offering over the left-field wall making losers of the Bisons by a score of 5-4. It was the second hard fought, late-inning, one-run loss to the Knights in the last two games, both lost due to key HR’s by Gimenez.
RHP Anthony Carter (2-1 2.57) got the win with one inning of relief work for Charlotte. LHP Hampson (1-1 2.75) sustained the loss for Buffalo. Chris Schwinden started for the Herd, pitching 6 IP’s with 2 runs given up, both earned, on 4 hits, 1 walk, and 8 strikeouts.
After Charlotte had taken an early 2-0 lead off Schwinden, Buffalo got a gift run back in the top-of-the-third. LF Fred Lewis reached on a throwing error. RF Vinny Rottino just back from a cup-of-coffee with the Mets, laced a double into left-field scoring Lewis to make it 2-1.
The Herd would erupt for three more runs in the seventh to take the lead 4-2, on a three-run bomb by Valentino Pascucci, his 7th of the season which leads the club. That would set the stage for Gimenez’ late-inning heroics for the second consecutive night.
Herd Rumblings: Bobby Scales has said sayonara to the Herd and has flown the coop to play in Japan. If they offered him more money than he was making in the minors, then all we can say is: “who’s on second?” probably Oswaldo Navarro. While Bobby was with the Herd he was the “consummate” professional, and a team leader. He will be sorely missed and we wish Bobby the best. The Herd continues it’s four-game set in Charlotte today with a 2:15 game, the third of the series. RHP Matt Harvey (3-1 4.00) will make his eighth start of the year for Buffalo, while RHP Charles Shirek (3-2 4.32) goes for the Knights.
New Hampshire 9, Binghamton 0
By Tim Burns
It was the New Hampshire Fisher Cats turn for an explosion of offense on Saturday afternoon as they took game three of the four game set against the Binghamton Mets by a score of 9-0. The home team hit B-Mets starter Darin Gorski hard over his four innings of work, with nine runs – eight of which were earned – on ten hits. Gorski struck out five Fisher Cats and walked one. The ten hits allowed were a career high for Gorski, who’s record fell to 2-2 after taking the loss in the game.
The B-Mets bullpen shut down the Fisher Cats offense in relief of Gorski. Kevin Mulvey replaced Gorski in the fifth inning, and struck out one New Hampshire batter while giving up no hits in just one inning. Brad Holt was brought in to pitch the sixth and seventh, and he too struck out one Fisher Cat and gave up no hits. Robert Carson was the final B-Mets pitcher on the afternoon, throwing a scoreless eighth, allowing only one hit.
On offense, the Fisher Cats were finally able to silence the B-Mets in the run column after giving up nine and eleven runs respectively over the previous two games. New Hampshire starter Yohan Pino had another strong outing against the B-Mets, pitching six innings, giving up only three hits and striking out seven. In Pino’s only other start against Binghamton this season (on April 26th), he went six innings, and struck out eight B-Mets batters in that game, giving up seven hits and three runs.
Pedro Zapata went 3/4 on the afternoon, including his sixth double of the season. Juan Lagares had a double himself, as well as a single, as he went 2/4 in the game. Eric Campbell (1/3) hit his second triple of the season in the eighth inning, but was stranded at third when the following batter, Reese Havens, grounded out to the Fisher Cats second baseman.
B-Mets Buzz: Greg Peavey (2-1, 4.85) takes the hill in Sunday afternoons rubber match against New Hampshire’s Randy Boone (0-1, 16.62). The B-Mets have Monday off, and will start a three game set at NYSEG Stadium on Tuesday night against the Trenton Thunder, AA affiliate of the New York Yankees. In a roster move by the B-Mets on Saturday, SS Sean Kazmar was activated from the DL and relief pitcher Erik Turgeon was assigned to the Brooklyn Cyclones.
Bradenton 9, St. Lucie 1
By Clayton Collier
In possibly one of their worst games of the year, the St. Lucie Mets were hit hard and often as they fell to the Bradenton Marauders 9-1 on Saturday.
Chase Huchingson got the nod for the Mets and was ineffective to say the least. Huchingson went a season-low three innings, allowing two runs on one hit and five walks, taking the loss and raising his ERA to 2.80. It only got worse once Huchingson left, as Kyle Allen and Taylor Whitenton combined to surrender seven runs (four earned), putting this one far out of reach for St. Lucie.
2011 1st-overall pick Gerrit Cole however was lights-out against the Mets. Cole went six frames allowing one run on three hits while punching out five. Cole now has 39 strikeouts in 34 innings pitched and has a .193 BAA in his first year of pro-ball. The only source of offense for St. Lucie was off the bat of Danny Muno as he hit a solo shot off of Cole for his fifth home run of the year. Muno ended with a 2/4 day and raised his average to .284.
Casey Sadler of the Marauders came on and hurled three shutout innings to slam the door, picking up his second save of the year and getting Bradenton back to .500 on the year at 18-18.
Lucie Logistics: With his home run last night, Danny Muno has homered in two of his last three games and is now tied with Wilmer Florres for the team lead in RBIs at 22. Despite the dominating effort by Cole/Sadler, both Cory Vaughn and Wilmer Florres managed to get a knock on the day. With an off day today, St. Lucie will look to have a short memory Monday night as they go home for a new series against the Bradenton Marauders.
Savannah 8, Hickory 4
By Pete Shapiro
The Gnats unloaded for eight runs on ten hits enabling RHP Michael Fulmer to coast to his second victory of the season on Saturday, beating Hickory by a score of 8-4. Fulmer (2-2 3.25) was the Mets sandwich pick in the 1st round of last years draft. Making his sixth start of the year, the young right-hander went five innings giving up two earned runs on four hits, and a walk with seven punch-outs.
Three lefty relievers closed out the win for Savannah, as Carlos Vasquez, Jack Leathersich, and T.J. Chism combined to throw four innings giving up two earned runs, on four hits, with four strikeouts. The four K’s gave the Gnats pitchers 11 strikeouts on the day against just one walk.
The Sand Gnats got all the scoring they would need to win when they exploded for five runs, and batted around in the top-of-the third inning. RF Charley Thurber led off the inning with his first dinger of the year to draw first blood. C Albert Cordero made it back-to-back when he came up next and hit his second home run of the year, to make the score 2-0.
After a 2B T.J. Rivera single sandwiched by two walks, left the bags packed with one out, CF Travis Taijeron singled to make it 3-0. That was followed up by a 1B Brian Harrison single, and an Aderlin Rodriguez sac-fly, to make the score 5-0. They would add two more runs in the fifth when LF Dustin Lawley drew a one-out walk, and then Taijeron went deep for his eighth homer of the year, which made the score 7-2 at the time. An RBI single in the seventh by Lawley would close out the scoring for Savannah.
Gnats Gnotes: The home run by Taijeron, his eighth, moved him into 2nd place amongst the league leaders, he is also third in SLG and 4th in runs scored. T.J. Rivera continues to destroy SAL pitching. He is still leading the league in hitting at .364, and is also 2nd in hits, and 4th in OBP. The real story is the Savannah pitching staff as they continue to lead the league in every significant offensive category. At 22-13 overall, the Gnats are tied for 3rd place in their division, 3.0 games out of first. The Gnats go for three wins out of four in the four-game set against Hickory today with game time set for 5 pm. The visiting Sand Gnats will send RHP Rafael Montero (2-2 3.58) to the hill against Crawdad RHP Santo Perez (2-1 4.66).
