Pitching was the name of the game for the Mets’ minor league affiliates on Thursday. Jonah Tong turned in another scoreless outing in his first start for the Brooklyn Cyclones while Joander Suarez pitched a perfect 6 1/3 innings in relief of Tylor Megill for the Binghamton Rumble Ponies. Offense was also aplenty on the day as both Syracuse and St. Lucie mashed their way to wins.
Jonah Tong, Photo by Ed Delany of Metsmerized
Triple-A
Syracuse Mets (16-12) 12, Rochester Red Wings (9-14) 6
- RF Ben Gamel 2-for-5, R, HR (6) 2 RBI (14) (1.066 OPS)
- 1B Luke Ritter 2-for-3, 2B, R, 2 BB (.877 OPS)
- SS Jose Iglesias 3-for-5, 2 R, 2 RBI (.875 OPS)
- 2B Luisangel Acuña 1-for 5, R, RBI (10), BB, K (.616 OPS)
Syracuse had its best offensive performance of the season as every player in the lineup reached base and scoring a run. Iglesias also built on his strong campaign, and with Joey Wendle struggling on both sides of the ball, he could be in play to become the utility infielder for the major league team.
Acuña is showing some signs of life at the plate as he raised his OPS to .616 after it sat in the low .400s as recently as last week.
- RHP Mike Vasil (10.80 ERA) 4 1/3 IP, 5 ER, 5 H, BB, 5 K (45 of 70 pitches for strikes)
- RHP Grant Hartwig (3.38) 2/3 IP, K
- RHP Eric Orze (4.73) 2 IP, 1 ER, 3 H, 4 K
- RHP Yacksel Ríos (2.84) 2 IP, 1 H, BB, 3 K
Vasil was lights out for the first four innings and gave up just one walk on the day, but everything fell apart in the fifth as he allowed five runs. The bullpen came in and held it down, but with such a sizable lead the outcome was more or less a formality.
Double-A
Binghamton Rumble Ponies (11-12) 2, Hartford Yard Goats (14-8) 1
- DH Matt Rudick 0-for-4, RBI (12), K (.745 OPS)
- 3B Rowdey Jordan 1-for-4, K (.694 OPS)
- CF Alex Ramirez 0-for-3, SB (12), BB, K (.791 OPS)
- 1B JT Schwartz 0-for-1, R 2 BB, CS (1) (.788 OPS)
- RF Brandon McIlwain 0-for-3, 3 K (.670 OPS)
The Rumble Ponies had three hits and three walks on the day, ultimately turning that into two runs. Matt O’Neill had the go-ahead RBI in the sixth inning on a single.
- RHP Tylor Megill (3.38) 2 2/3 IP, 1 ER, 2 H, 1 BB, 4 K, (35 of 51 pitches for strikes)
- RHP Joander Suarez (2.60) 6 1/3 IP, 7 K
Megill completed his second rehab start as he battles back from a right shoulder strain, throwing 51 pitches while striking out four and allowing one run on four hits. Suarez came in to relieve him and had by far his best outing of the season, tossing a perfect 6 1/3 innings while completing the game.
With a vacancy in Triple-A due to the promotion of Christian Scott, Megill may be bound for Syracuse to fill that rotation slot and continue his rehab.
High-A
Aberdeen IronBirds (13-11) 7, Brooklyn Cyclones (12-12) 1
- DH Nolan McLean 0-for-4, 2 K (.834 OPS)
- CF Stanley Consuegra 0-for-3, 2 K (.608 OPS)
- 1B Nick Lorusso 1-for-3, R, 2B, BB, K (.929 OPS)
- LF/1B Ryan Clifford 0-for-3, BB, K (.748 OPS)
- 3B Wilfredo Lara 0-for-5, 2 K (.538 OPS)
The Cyclones only mustered three hits and scored their only run on a balk. The IronBirds committed four errors, though Brooklyn was unable to turn that into any offense.
Clifford continues to draw walks, but the batting average and power are still missing.
- RHP Jonah Tong (0.00) 5 IP, 1 R (0 ER), 2 H, 3 BB, 7 K (56 of 81 pitches for strikes)
- RHP Dakota Hawkins (1.72) 4 IP, 1 H, 4 K
- RHP Joshua Cornielly (7.36) 1/3 IP, 6 R (5 ER) 4 H, 1 BB, 1 K
- RHP Diosmerky Taveras (6.75) 2/3 IP, 1 H, 1 BB
Tong, making his first start for the Cyclones, continued where he left off in St. Lucie by racking up strikeouts and keeping runs off the board. Hawkins pitched an excellent four innings to keep the Cyclones in the game, but Cornielly gave up six runs on four hits and a walk in the top of the 10th inning en route to a loss.
Low-A
St. Lucie Mets (12-12) 9, Jupiter Hammerheads (15-9) 2
- C Christopher Suero 0-for-4 (.920 OPS)
- 1B Ronald Hernandez 2-for-4, R, K (.636 OPS)
- CF Nick Morabito 3-for-4, 2 RBI (10) 2 SB (11) CS (3) (1.072 OPS)
- 3B Colin Houck 2-for-4, 3B, 3 RBI (8), BB, 2 K (.693 OPS)
- SS Jesus Baez 2-for-5, 2 R, HR (2), RBI (14) (.714 OPS)
- DH Vincent Perozo 2-for-4, R, 3 RBI (14) (.674 OPS)
St. Lucie’s offense was humming today, and they started off early thanks to a Perozo two-run single that was followed by a Morabito RBI single in the first inning. That would prove to be more than enough scoring for the S-Mets on the day.
Morabito continued his torrid pace on the base paths, netting two more stolen bases while being caught once and raising his OPS to 1.072 in the process.
- LHP Franklin Gomez (2.61) 5 IP, 1 H, BB, 5 K (35 of 55 pitches for strikes)
- LHP Zach Thornton (2.63) 4 IP, 2 ER, 5 H, BB, 3 K
Gomez had a quality start, which was all that was needed after the team’s scoring outburst. Thornton also came in out of the bullpen and had a quality outing.
