Farm Report: Harvey Solid For Buffalo, St. Lucie Back To Winning Ways

 Buffalo 6, Scranton/WB 2

By Pete Shapiro

The Bisons scored two runs in the fifth, two more in the sixth, one in the seventh, and one in the eighth, to beat the SWB Yankees going away by a score of 6-2 in Thursday night action. Matt Harvey (5-1, 4.22) went 5.1 IP for the Herd, giving up two runs on four hits, with one walk, and two strikeouts, to pick up his fifth win of the season. Harvey retired his first 11 batters in the game, and didn’t give up a hit until the fifth inning when Yankee C Francisco Cervelli grounded a single with two-outs.

The Bisons scored first, in the top of the fifth, on back-to-back two-out singles by C Lucas May and RF Dustin Martin. They were then driven in on a two RBI-double by SS Omar Quintanilla. The lefty-hitting shortstop went 3-for-4 on the day with three RBI. In the sixth, with two outs and 1B Josh Satin standing on second, 2B Jordany Valdespin would single him home. Then Lucas May doubled, and with Valdespin turning on the after-burners he jetted around the bases to score and make it a 4-0 game.

A two-run double off Harvey in the bottom of the sixth by 1B Steve Pearce, would make the score 4-2 and chase the righthander from the game. He was replaced by Elvin Ramirez, who was in turn followed by Jack Egbert who finished up the game. The two relievers combined to go 3.2 IP, giving up no runs, on no hits, with one walk, and four strikeouts.

DH Valentino Pascucci would add an RBI single in the seventh, and an Omar Quintanilla single in the eighth would bring home Martin who had doubled, and close the scoring at 6-2. All six Bison runs were scored with two-outs in the inning during the game.

Herd Rumblings: At 27-20 the Bisons sit in third place in their division, 2.5 games back of the first-place Pawtucket Red Sox. Harvey has picked up all five of his wins in his last seven starts. In 10.2 IP at AAA so far, Elvin Ramirez has yet to give up a run. In the 10.2 IP, he has only given up three hits, and one walk, with 12 strikeouts. As a team, Buffalo hitters are first in the league in: batting average, OBP, and hits. They are second in the league in: SLG, runs scored, home runs, and RBI’s. It was announced after the game last night, that RHP Jenrry Mejia has been called up to AAA Buffalo to continue his rehab. Game two of the four-game series against the Yankees continues on Friday night at 7:05 pm. The Herd will send righty Jeurys Familia (4-1, 4.35) to the mound, and the Yankees will counter with right-hander Dellin Betances (2-4, 5.24).

New Britain 6, Binghamton 4

By Tim Burns

The Binghamton Mets lost for the third time in four games against the New Britain Rock Cats on Thursday morning. Even though they were able to whittle away the early lead that the Rock Cats built up against Jenrry Mejia and tie the game at four in the seventh, a two run shot in the bottom of the eighth would be the difference maker in New Britain’s 6-4 win.

Mejia made his second rehab start in a B-Mets uniform, and struggled out of the gate. After giving up two singles in the first inning, one of which produced New Britain’s first run of the game, Mejia was able to get the next two Rock Cats batters out. Matt Rizzotti then stepped to the plate and hit a two run shot over the center field wall to give the home team an early 3-0 lead. In the first inning alone, Mejia allowed three runs on three hits, while striking out two.

New Britain would tag Mejia for one more run in the game, Aaron Hicks scoring on a Chris Colabello double in the bottom of the third. On the morning, Mejia would end up throwing five innings, allowing four runs on five hits, striking out five and walking three.

Gonzalez Germen (1-3, 4.50) would replace Mejia in the bottom of the sixth and pitch the final three innings for the B-Mets. Germen gave up a two run home-run to New Britain’s Deibinson Romero in the bottom of the eighth to give the Rock Cats their final lead of the day. Germen would be issued his third loss in four games with the B-Mets this season. In three innings worth of work, Germen gave up two runs on two hits, while striking out two and walking, well, two.

The B-Mets batters pecked away at the Rock Cats lead most of the game, finally tying the score at 4 after scoring one run in the third, fourth, fifth, and seventh inning. Matt den Dekker started a new hitting streak in the game, and was the B-Mets most effective hitter on the day, going 3-fof-5 with a home run and two runs scored. Reese Havens was 1-for-4 with a double and a run scored. Pedro Zapata was also 1-for-4 and scored one of the four runs for the B-Mets on the day.

B-Mets Buzz: It was home to Binghamton after the game on Thursday morning in New Britain. The B-Mets start a four game home stand against the New Hampshire Fisher Cats starting at 7:05 on Friday night at NYSEG Stadium. This will be the fourth time the two teams have met in a series this season. LHP Darin Gorski (2-2, 4.28) will be on the mound for game one, facing off against the Fisher Cats Joel Carreno (0-1, 6.14). This will be the first time the B-Mets have faced Carreno, who started the season at the AAA level as a member of the Las Vegas 51’s.

St. Lucie 5, Daytona 2

By Clayton Collier 

Starting off with two of the most heart breaking loses of the year, the St. Lucie Mets continued to prove why they are one of the best teams in pro-baseball, rallying Wednesday night to win 8-7, and getting out of Dayona with a tie of the four-game set with a 5-2 victory over the Cubs on Thursday.

Yohan Almonte (4-0, 4.75) got the nod for St. Lucie and gave his best effort of the year. Almonte went 5.2 frames while allowing just one run on eight hits, and punching out four. Almonte has now won in two consecutive starts and has lowered his ERA to 4.75 on the season.

The St. Lucie bats knocked Daytona starter Ryan Searle (1-1, 5.87) out early, scoring on him three times on six hits over only 3.2 innings. RF Cory Vaughn was the first to strike blood for the Mets, lauching a solo shot in the second, his 10th of the year. Things only got worse for Searle in the fourth as the lead became three on a two-run double off the bat of 2B Robbie Shields to score CF Cesar Puello and DH Rylan Sandoval.

Things started to get a little interesting in the seventh as C Micah Gibbs led off the inning with a bomb off of Hamilton Bennett to make it a two-run ball game. Bennett would kill the rally by retiring the next three batters to end the threat. Ryan Fraser then came on and slammed the door, picking up a four-out save and getting the Mets out of Daytona with a win.

Lucie Logistics:  The Mets ran wild today as they had four stolen bases in th victory including two from Robbie Shields, who also had a three-hit game. Cory Vaughn is heating up again as he hit his second home run in as many games. Wilmer Flores went 3-for-5 with an RBI single and a stolen base, raising his average to .315 on the year. With his dominant performance in the ninth, Ryan Fraser lowered his ERA to 2.08 and picked up his first save on the year. The Mets go home to take on the Charlotte Stone Crabs starting tomorrow at 6:30 pm. Port-sider Grayson Garvin (2-3, 4.31) gets the start for Charlotte while fellow lefty Angel Cuan (3-1, 2.37) goes for the Gnats.

Augusta 3, Savannah 2

By Sean Kenny