Indianapolis 4, Buffalo 1

By Andrew O’Brien

Less than 24-hours after the Buffalo Bisons exploded for six home runs, their only run Sunday afternoon came when Corey Wimberly stole home in the bottom of the first inning. The Bisons lost to the Indians, 4-1.

Indians starter Rick Vandenhurk (2-0, 0.90) allowed just two hits and one run over five innings of work while striking out three and walking three.

Jack Egbert (2-3, 2.25) who started in place of Jeremy Hefner, who was called up to the Mets, tossed two innings before reaching his pitch limit. He gave up two runs (one earned) on three hits over the two frames, striking out one and walking one. In relief of Egbert, Chuck James threw three innings, allowing no runs and one hit.

New Bison reliever Edgar Ramirez, just called up from Bingo, got his feet wet tossing three innings and surrendering two runs, one earned. Josh Satin, who went 1-for-3, and Wimberly 1-for-4, had the only Bison hits.

Herd Rumblings: Manager Wally Backman was ejected by the third base umpire in the third inning for arguing a caught stealing. Bisons activated RHP Jeff Stevens from the 7-day D.L. and RHP Edgar Ramirez was promoted from Binghamton. Chris Schwinden was recalled by the Mets. Michael Fisher has been transferred to Double-A Binghamton. After stealing second base in the bottom of the first inning, Corey Wimberly stole home on a lazy throw back to the pitcher from catcher Jose Morales. It’s the first time a Bison has stolen home since May 16, 2004, when Chris Clapinski did the deed. Buffalo (26-18) continues their four-game series with Indianapolis at 7:05 p.m. on Monday. Left-hander Garrett Olson (1-3, 3.59) gets the start for the Herd while the Indians ride with 6’7″ former big-leaguer Daniel Cabrera (1-1, 2.78).

Binghamton 11, Portland 7

By Tim Burns

The Binghamton Mets continued their dominance over the Portland Sea Dogs this season, improving their record against the Red Sox Double-A affiliate to 7-3 with an 11-7 win on Sunday afternoon at Hadlock Field. The B-Mets scored runs in every inning except for the seventh to bring their record to 21-20.

Greg Peavey was on the mound for his eighth start of 2012 for the B-Mets, throwing five innings and allowing three runs on eight hits. Along the way, Peavey struck out two Sea Dogs batters while walking three enroute to his third win of the season.

Kevin Mulvey, activated earlier in the day from the 7-day D.L., threw 1.1 IP, and gave up a three-run homerun by Portland first-baseman Reynaldo Rodriguez while walking one and striking out one. Jeff Kaplan took over for Mulvey in the bottom of the seventh, and in 1.2 IP, gave up one run on three hits and struck out two. Adrian Rosario came on in the ninth for his second B-Mets appearance in as many days, giving up no runs on no hits.

Chris Balcom-Miller would take the loss for the Portland Sea Dogs on the afternoon, dropping his record to 0-3 when facing the B-Mets this season. In the past two games he has lasted only 1.2 and 2.0 innings respectively, giving up five runs in the first outing and six in the second. On Sunday Balcom-Miller fared a bit better, lasting four innings this time around, allowing five runs on four hits while walking five B-Mets.

Matt den Dekker, who extended his hitting streak to 15 games on the afternoon, went 3 for 5 with two runs scored. Juan Lagares was also 3 for 5 in the game, with a double and a run scored. Raul Reyes also doubled in the game, part of his 2 for 5 performance, with a run scored.

B-Mets Buzz: It’s off to Connecticut for the B-Mets now, a four game set that begins Monday evening in New Britain with Mark Cohoon (2-4, 3.21) on the hill. Steve Hirschfeld (2-4, 3.28) will get the start for the Rock Cats (MN). It will be the first trip to New Britain Stadium in 2012 for the B-Mets, who will be looking for their first win against the Rock Cats this season after going 0-2 against them two weeks ago at NYSEG Stadium.

 Lakeland 2, St. Lucie 1

By Pete Shapiro

A triple by RF Avisail Garcia, and three singles in the bottom of the seventh inning off reliever Ryan Fraser erased a 1-0 deficit, and allowed the Lakeland Tigers to come from behind and beat the St. Lucie Mets by a score of 2-1 in Lakeland.

Through five innings St. Lucie Mets starter Angel Cuan remained deadlocked with Brian Flynn of the Lakeland Tigers, tied at 0-0. The Mets took advantage of three walks and an error in the 6th inning to take a 1-0 lead.

But when Fraser (2-2, 2.31) came on to replace Cuan with one-out in the seventh, he couldn’t hold the lead and was stuck with the blown save as well as the loss. Cuan was terrific going 6.1, giving up no runs, on one hit, two walks, and three strikeouts on his way to the no-decision.

Lucie Logistics: The loss snaps a six-game St. Lucie winning streak. Despite losing their closer Adrian Rosario to Binghamton over the weekend, the team actually fortified their bullpen the last few days by calling up south-paw reliever Jack “The Rocket” Leathersich from Savannah, recalling right-handed reliever John Church from the Brooklyn roster, and adding Pedro Beato on a minor league rehab assignment. Lakeland avoided a four-game sweep by taking the final game Sunday. Now St. Lucie heads to Daytona to play a four-game set against the Cubs starting Monday night at 7:05 pm. Righty Erik Goeddel (2-1, 1.57) is the starter for Lucie, and right-hander Matt Loosen (1-1, 4.34) takes the hill for the Cubs.

Savannah 5, Augusta 3

By Fonzie13

On a warm, cloudy breezy afternoon at Historic Grayson Stadium in Savannah, Sand Gnats right-hander Raffy Montero baffled the Augusta Green Jackets (SFG) 19-22, for six one-hit innings, leading the Sand Gnats 26-16, to a 5-3 victory and earning a four-game split with Augusta.

Montero retired 16 of the first 17 batters to face him, allowing just a leadoff single in the third, before issuing two one-out walks in the sixth inning, but retired the next two hitters to escape unscathed.

For the first time in this four-game set Savannah struck first in the bottom of the second. A two-out run scoring double by scorching hot 1B Brian Harrison put the Gnats in the lead to stay.

The Sand Gnats added two runs in each of the sixth and seventh innings. LF Dustin Lawley hit his sixth HR of the season leading off the sixth, DH Travis Taijeron promptly hit his second triple of the season to right-field, and RBI machine 3B Aderlin Rodriguez collected his 28th RBI by adding his ninth two-bagger of the season.

In the Gnats seventh C Cam Maron reached safely on a fielding error by Augusta CF Carlos Willoughby, 2B TJ Rivera up next launched his sixth HR of the year to left-field, putting the Gnats on top 5-0.

Following Montero’s brilliant six innings of work in which he allowed just one hit, two BB’s and five K’s, was RHP Jared West with two scoreless and hitless innings of his own, allowing just two BB’s.

With the game seemingly in hand, Gnats manager Luis Rojas sent RHP Randy Fontanez in to shut the door in the ninth, but things didn’t go as planned. Fontanez couldn’t find the strikezone, walking the first two batters he faced and plunking the third with a pitch to load the bases. 2B Jose Cueves hit a sac-fly to center-field plating the first run of the game for the GreenJacks, and C Joe Staley singled to reload the bases. Fontanez was given the hook for T.J. Chism who struck out his first hitter, PH Kelby Tomlinson. Willoughby then doubled home two runs to cut the Gnats lead to 5-3 and put the tying runs on second and third with two outs. Chism then induced a SS Alberto Robles groundball to first-baseman Brian Harrison to end the threat, the game and the anxiety, for the 895 fans in attendance.

Gnats Gnotes: Even with Sunday’s 5-3 victory over Augusta, The Sand Gnats remain in 3rd place, three games behind front running Charleston (NYY) 29-13, and two games out of 2nd place behind Asheville (COL) 27-15, in the Southern Division of the S.A.L. Monday night the first place Charleston RiverDogs come to Savannah for a three game set. League leading HR hitter Tyler Austin and struggling 2011 1st-round pick Dante Bichette, Jr, will face Sand Gnats RHP Jacob Degrom (1-0 0.00) who opposes Dog RHP Brett Gerritse (0-1, 4.08).

Andrew, Tim, The Fonz, Clayton & Petey