Farm Report: Wheeler Dazzles ‘Em In New Britain, Vaughn Homers In St. Lucie Win

Buffalo, Travel Day

Herd Rumblings: Buffalo (26-20) had an off-day on Wednesday as they traveled from Indianapolis back to Buffalo. The Bisons look to get back on the winning track after dropping three in a row at 7:05 p.m. on 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, while the Yankees send Adam Warren (2-2, 4.98) to the hill.

Binghamton 8, New Britain 1

By Tim Burns

The fifth time was a charm for the Binghamton Mets as they finally found a way to solve the New Britain Rock Cats, defeating them in a big way by a score of 8-1 on Wednesday afternoon. Zack Wheeler (4-2, 1.97) pitched a gem to get the win for the visitors, his eight innings worth of work the most in a single game for the Mets top prospect in 2012.

The Rock Cats were three up, three down in the first three innings against Wheeler. Their first base-runner of the game came in the form of a walk issued to LF Chris Herrmann by Wheeler in the bottom of the fourth. Herrmann was subsequently forced out at second as part of a double-play to end the frame.

New Britain’s lone run came in the bottom of the fifth inning, when Wheeler walked CF Aaron Hicks. Hicks then stole second, and advanced to third during the next at bat. DH Nathan Hanson’s single to right field would score Hicks for the Rock Cats only run of the game.

The sixth and seventh innings were one, two, three for Wheeler as well. In the eighth, Wheeler allowed a double by C Danny Lehmann, but he never advanced further than second base as the following New Britain batter popped out to end the inning.

Final numbers for Wheeler on the day were eight innings pitched, one run on only two hits, six strikeouts and two walks; definitely Wheeler’s best outing of the season so far.

Adrian Rosario was brought in for the ninth to finish off the Rock Cats, and finish off he did. One pop-out, one-fly out, and one strikeout later, and the B-Mets defeated New Britain for the first time this season.

The B-Mets scored their first run of the game in the second inning courtesy of a wild pitch with the bases loaded by New Britain starter David Bromberg, allowing Juan Centeno to score easily from third base.

With the run scored by the Rock Cats in the fifth, the score would remain tied at 1-1 until the B-Mets bats came alive in the final two innings of the game.  In the top of the eighth, the B-Mets plated two runs with DH Raul Reyes and 1B Eric Campbell scoring. The two runs would prove to be all that the B-Mets needed to win the game, but they didn’t stop there.

In the top of the ninth, the B-Mets scored another five runs against the Rock Cats.  Three of the five runs came by way of Raul Reyes’ third home run in a week, a wicked shot that bounced high up off the screen of the the right-field fair-pole at New Britain Stadium. Three of the next four B-Mets batters walked to load the bases. The walks kept coming for the B-Mets at this point, as SS Sean Kazmar was issued the free base scoring Campbell from third.  The next batter Pedro Zapata was hit by a pitch, scoring 2B Reese Havens from third. The onslaught ended when CF Matt den Dekker struck out to finish the inning.

Den Dekker’s hitting streak ended at 17 games on Wednesday afternoon. “Double-D” went 0-for-4 with two walks, a strikeout, and a run scored. Raul Reyes continued to swing a hot bat going 3-for-5 with two runs scored. Eric Campbell was 1-for-3 with two runs scored, and Juan Centeno was 1-for-4 with a run scored in the game. Reyes, Campbell, and Centeno were the only B-Mets to have hits in the game.

B-Mets Buzz: If you thought today was an early game, just wait until tomorrow. The B-Mets and Rock Cats meet for the final game of the series at 10:35 tomorrow morning at New Britain Stadium. The B-Mets will send Jenrry Mejia (0-0, 3.00) to the mound in his second rehab start against the Rock Cats righty B.J. Hermsen (2-1, 2.57). After the game, the B-Mets will make their way home where they will open up a four game series against the New Hampshire Fisher Cats.

St. Lucie 8, Daytona 7

By Clayton Collier

Narrowly avoiding their third straight heart-breaking loss, the St. Lucie Mets rallied late to best the Daytona Cubs 8-7.

It started out looking like the Mets would be in the drivers seat for the entire game as they took a 4-0 lead by the end of the fourth inning. Between two throwing errors in the second and third and back-to-back home runs in the fourth by Cory Vaughn and Francisco Pena, the St. Lucie bats jumped all over Daytona starter Frank Del Valle.

Then it was the Cubs turn to start hitting. Chase Huchingson was dominant through the first three innings of the ballgame, but struggled from then on. In the fourth, Huchingson walked in a run to cut St. Lucie’s lead to three. Then in the next frame, Huchingson imploded, surrendering a three-run bomb to tie up the ballgame at four a piece. He would finish the game completing 5+ frames surrendering five runs (four earned) on four hits and an ugly five walks. It only got worse when Kyle Allen (2-0, 2.40) came in to relieve Huchingson in the sixth, surrendering a single and a triple to hand Daytona a 7-5 lead.

Come the top of the eighth however, St. Lucie went to work, scoring three runs on five hits to take an 8-7 lead. With Cory Vaughn, Francisco Pena, Blake Forsythe, Alonzo Harris and Wilfredo Tovar all getting on base in the inning, the fighting mentality in this ballclub that has eluded them in this series so far seemed to have returned.

After a scoreless eighth by Pedro Beato, Adam Kolarek slammed the door with a shutout frame in the ninth to pick up his fifth save of the year and hand the St. Lucie Mets their first win of this series in Daytona.

Lucie Logistics: Alonzo Harris went 1-for-5 on the day, but his streak of five straight games with a double came to an end. Cory Vaughn appears to have busted out of his slump with a 3-for-5 performance including a home run and a leadoff single in the eighth that proved critical in yesterday’s victory. Rylan Sandoval took another 0-for-3 today and has yet to get a knock since his demotion to St. Lucie. Francisco Pena stayed hot, going 2-for-4 on the day with a solo shot, he now has 11 RBIs in his last ten games. The Mets look to go for a series tie tomorrow to finish up the road trip in Daytona at 7:05pm. Johan Almonte (3-0, 5.25) will throw for St. Lucie while Ryan Searle (1-0, 4.50) makes his first start of the season for Daytona.

Savannah 6, Charleston 3

By Sean Kenny

RHP Domingo Tapia had a strong outing today, and the offense provided all of the cushion he would need to ensure the sweep against the RiverDogs, and a 6-3 win.

Tapia (4-2, 4.29) had his fourth straight quality outing, going six innings allowing three runs on seven hits, six strikeouts and two walks. Tapia had great control today, and has continued to advance on his hit-or-miss offerings. As long as Tapia maintains control and his ability to strikeout people, he is an effective pitcher with a high upside.

LHP Carlos Vazquez came out for an inning and allowed a walk and struck out one. RHP Jared West came out for the two inning save, striking out two and allowing no hits, his first save of the season.

The offense struck quickly as they have this whole series, putting across all six runs before the fifth inning. A two-RBI double by 3B Aderlin Rodriguez in the first and a 1B Brian Harrison RBI groundout scoring LF Dustin Lawley. DH Gilbert Gomez had an RBI single in the second.

The Gnats would push across the last two runs of the game in the fourth on a SS Luis Nieves double-play ground-out and another Gilbert Gomez RBI single. The bats were consistent today, with CF Travis Taijeron being the only Gnat without a hit.

Gnats Notes: T.J. Rivera ended his hit streak at three games, going 0-for-3 with a walk and a strikeout. Aderlin Rodriguez had another great offensive game going 2-for-4 with two RBI and two doubles, but did make his ninth error on the season at third. The question has never been about his bat, but his glove and where it will fit on the field. Gilbert Gomez, the newest Gnat went 3-for-4 with two RBI. Since his call up, Gomez is hitting .500 (5-for-10). After splitting a four-game series at home against the Augusta GreenJackets last week, the Sand Gnats now head to Augusta for a four-game set beginning Thursday night at 7:05. Savannah will send righty Tyler Pill (3-3, 2.29) to the hill. He will be opposed by right-hander Clayton Blackburn (1-2, 4.26).