Mets Farm Report: Familia Shelled, Dykstra Blasts Two Homers, Almonte Violated

Charlotte 9, Buffalo 6

By Sean Kenny

Buffalo lost their fourth game in a row while Charlotte won for the fourth time in a row last night, with the Bisons going down fighting to the Charlotte Knights by a final score of 9-6 in International League action. For the second night in a row, Buffalo pitching got pasted by the opposition, this time to the tune of nine runs and 12 hits.

Jeurys Familia coming off a great run of starts finally hit a wall, allowing seven runs, five earned, on eight hits, with four walks and three strikeouts in four and two-third innings. Familia was hit hard and consistently, but by not throwing over 60% of his pitches for strikes, in addition to some defensive errors makes for a poor night for most pitchers. Justin Hampson went 2.1 innings, allowing two runs, one earned, on four hits, striking out two and allowing a home run. Manny Acosta pitched the final two innings and allowed no hits while striking out one.

Offensively, the Bisons put across six runs thanks to two-hit games by Mike Baxter, Zach Lutz and Matt Tuiasosopo. Adam Loewen had a tough day, going 0-for-5 with four strikeouts. The offense was not the problem, but with three unearned runs being scored it will be difficult for any team to overcome. Matt Den Dekker went 1-for-3 with a run scored and an RBI.

Herd Rumblings: With the speculation that Lucas Duda could be arriving to Buffalo, playing time may be harder to come by in the Buffalo outfield. Pedro Beato was also demoted to Buffalo, so the Bisons pen has gotten stronger. Zach Lutz is hitting .286 in July, and his ability to hit does make him a valuable trade piece. Chris Schwinden (3-4, 2.54) will take the ball in the series opener against the Louisville Bats.

Binghamton 8, New Britain 1

By Tim Burns

The Binghamton Mets bats came alive on Monday night and that, coupled with solid pitching, led them to an 8-1 victory in game one of their series against the New Britain Rock Cats.

Allan Dykstra led the way for B-Mets batters, hitting solo home runs in the top of the second and again in the top of the third. Dykstra went 2-for-4 in the game, with his two home runs accounting for the two hits, as well as the two RBI, and two of the three runs to his credit as well.

Sean Kazmar also homered in the game, his third of the season coming in the top of the eighth inning with Dykstra on first. Kazmar was 2-for-4 on the night as well, with two runs scored, and the two RBI that came on the home run. Eric Campbell, who went 1-for-5 in the game, was the third B-Met batter to homer off of the New Britain pitchers with a solo shot in the eighth inning as well.

Greg Peavey got the start for the B-Mets, and in throwing seven innings equaled his season high. New Britain scored their lone run off of Peavey, an unearned run in the second after Binghamton committed two errors in that inning. It was the first time since May 6th that Peavey had not given up an earned run. He struck out three and walked three enroute to his fourth win of the season.

C.J. Nitkowski made his second appearance for the B-Mets, relieving Peavey in the eighth inning. In one inning worth of work, Nitkowski gave up one hit while striking out three. Ryan Fraser pitched the bottom of the ninth in the non-save situation. Fraser struck out one and allowed no runs on no hits to finish out the game.

B-Mets Buzz: Game two of the series on Tuesday night will have Mark Cohoon (4-7, 3.59) pitching against the Rock Cats Blake Martin (3-3, 3.98). The B-Mets locker room has been in flux over the past couple of days with Jeff Stevens and Mike Baxter departing for Buffalo, Pedro Zapata has returned from the DL, and Cory Mazzoni has been placed on the DL with a right thumb laceration.

Bradenton 10, St. Lucie 2

By Pete Shapiro

There was no joy in Mudville last night, or in Port St. Lucie either, as the Bradenton Marauders used a 12-hit attack to sack the PSL-Mets by a score of 10-2. Right-hander Johan Almonte started the game for the Mets and was ineffective, going 4.1 innings and allowing nine runs, all earned, on seven hits and three walks, two hit-batsmen, and two strikeouts. Almonte (7-5, 6.59) started the year 6-0, but has since lost five of his last six decisions.

John Church and Jeffrey Walters combined to hurl 4.2 innings while only giving up one earned run, but the offense was never able to get anything going against Bradenton starter Tyler Waldron (7-7, 4.85) or reliever Kenn Kasparek who picked up a three-inning save, his first of the year.

The Mets got an early run in the first to take a 1-0 lead when Blake Forsythe, batting with the bases loaded, grounded out third-to-first, which scored T.J. Rivera from third. Then in the sixth, Cory Vaughn was hit by a pitch and went to second on a ground-out. Then Aderlin Rodriguez doubled to drive in Vaughn, but at that time the score was already 9-1. And that would be that as St. Lucie went down quietly in the last three innings to absorb their sixth loss in their last seven games.

The hitting stars of the game were numerous for Bradenton with four players getting multiple hit games, and three players getting multiple RBI games. For St. Lucie, T.J. Rivera went 2-for-5 with a run scored, Danny Muno went 2-for-4, and Travis Taijeron went 2-for-3 with a walk.

Lucie Logistics: Game two of the three-game set with the Marauders begins tonight at 6:30 PM with right-hander Rafael Montero (2-2, 2.30) making the start for the Mets. In his previous three starts, Montero has thrown a combined 19 innings while allowing just three runs, but remarkably, in those games he has gone only 1-2.

Kannapolis 6, Savannah 3

By Nick Campione

Savannah could not hold an early two run lead as the Sand Gnats gave up two runs in the fifth, three in the eighth, and one more in the ninth to lose 6-3 in Savannah Monday night. Logan Verrett started the game, throwing four early no-hit innings but ran into some trouble in the fifth allowing two unearned runs.

Verrett returned to form in the sixth and seventh innings ending the game with a line of seven innings, three hits, two runs (both unearned), no walks, and six strikeouts lowering his era on the season to 3.06. Reliever Randy Fontanez (1-4, 4.61) got the loss in the game pitching the eighth inning allowing four hits and three earned runs to put the game out of reach for the Gnats.

The three runs scored for the Gnats were on Dustin Lawley RBI single in the first to score Gilbert Gomez, a solo home run by Lawley in the fourth, his 11th of the season, and Matt Reynolds sacrifice fly in the sixth to score Lawley. Lawley finished the game 2-for-3 with two runs scored and two RBI, and Gomez had the only other mulltiple hit game going 2-for-3 with a run scored. Those were the only hits for the Gnats on Monday.

Gnats Gnotes: Right hander Jacob DeGrom (5-3, 2.55) takes the hill Tuesday night at 7:05pm as the Gnats continue their home series against Kannapolis. DeGrom has provided the Gnats with a boost since he joined the staff going 5-3 with 2.55 era over 70.2 innings pitched. DeGrom has allowed only 61 hits, 20 earned runs, 10 walks, and 59 strikeouts while holding opposing hitters to a .228 batting average.

Aberdeen 2, Brooklyn 0

The Brooklyn Cyclones continue to struggle with the bats as they fall to the Aberdeen IronBirds, 2-0. Julian Hilario (0-3, 3.60) was on the mound for the sixth time this year, still in search of his first win of the season as he faced the IronBirds. Hilario pitched 6.0 strong innings, giving up two runs, three hits and walking two batters.

The IronBirds scored first in the fourth inning as Christian Walker led off the inning with a single to right field. Torsten Boss then doubled to deep left center field moving Walker to third base with no outs. After Hilario was able to strike out Joel Hutter for the first out, Will Howard grounded out to Jayce Boyd, allowing Walker to score the first run of the game.

In the sixth inning the IronBirds would plate the second run of the game giving them a 2-0 lead. Walker would lead off the inning again, this time he walked. Just like the fourth inning, Boss doubled to move Walker to third with no outs. Hilario then fielded a sharply hit grounder up the middle by Hutter, forcing Walker to stay at third as he threw to first for the first out. Howard would collect his second RBI of the night as he lifted a fly ball to left field that was deep enough to score Walker.

After Matt Koch came in to the game in the seventh and retired the first batter he faced, the rain started to come and the tarp had to go on the field. After a 54-minute delay, Beck Wheeler came into the game in the seventh inning with one out and retired Scott Kalush and Anthony Vega to end the seventh. Wheeler and David Wynn combined to close out the remainder of the game without allowing a hit, but the Brooklyn bats were held in check as they fell 2-0. (from team report)

Brooklyn Brew: In ten appearances this season, David Wynn has a 2.57 ERA in 14 innings allowing just 5 hits, but walking a whopping 11 batters. Brandon Nimmo has cooled off considerably after a hot week and is 4-for-28 with 11 strikeouts in his last seven games to drop his average to .226 for the season.  Rainy Lara is on the mound for an 11:00 AM start as the Clones conclude their series with Aberdeen this morning.

Elizabethton 3, Kingsport 0

By Nick Campione

Monday night in Kingsport was similar to much of the season for the Kingsport Mets as they lost 3-0 behind very little offense and four errors. Chris Flexen made only his second appearance for Kingsport, first professional start, and showed little command over five innings. While striking out six and only allowing three hits with no earned runs over five innings, Flexen did walk four batters. Robert Gsellman (1-2, 4.50) relieved Flexen in the sixth and threw four innings, allowing three runs (no earned) with one walk and three strikeouts to earn the loss.

Offensively the Mets received a great performance from catching prospect Tomas Nido who went 2-for-3 who raised his average to .310 on the season, but they could do little else. Nido has shown some power and hit very well over his time in Kingsport and has shown why the Mets went over slot this year in the 8th round to sign him to add to much needed catching depth in the system. The only other hits were from Gavin Cecchini, Anthony Chavez, and Maikis De La Cruz.

Kingsport Knews: 2010 10th Rounder Righthander Akeel Morris takes the mound Tuesday night at 7:00 PM, as Kingsport continues their series at home versus Elizabethton. Morris has struggled this year allowing over a hit-per-inning with 25 hits and 22 earned runs over 20.1 innings. He has shown much better control which he struggled with in 2011 while in Kingsport but has been much more hittable this time around. On the positive side, Morris averaged over a strikeout an inning in 2011 and has continued that in 2012, with 20 strikeouts in 20.1 innings.