Mets Farm Report: Flores Homers, Vaughn and Nimmo Stay Hot, Cessa and Pill Solid Again

Pawtucket 5, Buffalo 4

By Connor O’Brien

In a 14-inning nail-biter yesterday, the Bisons were defeated by the Pawtucket Red Sox 5-4. Collin McHugh took the mound for Buffalo and was solid. McHugh allowed the first run of the game in the bottom of the second when, with two outs, Jose Iglesias of the Red Sox hit a ground ball to shortstop. Josh Rodriguez fielded the ball and threw it to Brad Emaus for the force play, with a run scoring on the play. However, Emaus then threw the ball away, allowing Iglesias to move to second and keep the inning alive. The next batter Scott Posednik made the Bisons pay, hitting an RBI-single to make it 2-0 Red Sox.

In the top of the third, Emaus worked a walk with the bases loaded, bringing home a run and cutting Pawtucket’s lead to 2-1. From then on, it was all back and forth. The Bisons scored another run in the fifth to tie the game on an Adam Loewen solo home run. However, in the bottom of the sixth, the Red Sox got back at Collin McHugh on a two-RBI double. That put Pawtucket up two once again. That would be all for McHugh. He would finish after pitching six innings and allowing four runs (three earned) on eight hits, two walks, and three strikeouts. Now it was up to the bullpen to keep the game close and hope for a few runs.

In the top of the seventh, down two runs, Val Pascucci played the role of hero. With one man on and one out, Pascucci socked a two-run homer over the left field wall, tying the game at 4-4. That’s when things got a little crazy.

From the seventh on, it was a battle of the bullpens. Manny Acosta, Fernando Cabrera, and Elvin Ramirez all stepped up and pitched two scoreless innings apiece for the Bisons. Wally Backman sure needed the help, because this game went well into extra innings. Something had to give and something finally did in the bottom of the 14th inning. Dylan Owen was beginning his second inning of work out of the ‘pen, but the first batter he faced, Nate Spears, had a different idea. On a 2-2 count, Spears launched a ball over the right field wall, ending the game right there on a walk-off shot. A valiant effort by the Buffalo bullpen gone to waste in a 5-4 loss.

Herd Rumblings: McHugh was solid. He did give up eight hits, more than he’s given up in any of his six starts in Triple-A. However, he threw 65 of 100 pitches for strikes, which isn’t bad. On offense, Val Pascucci had a decent afternoon. His home run was hit 14th of the year. Pascucci had another hit on the afternoon and finished the day 2-for-7. Matt den Dekker was 1-for-7 with three strikeouts. Jason Bay played nine innings in the outfield and was 2-for-4 at the plate. Matt Harvey gets the start tomorrow in a very important outing for him against Toledo. Game time is 7:05 and will be broadcast on SNY.

Binghamton 13, Erie 3

By Tim Burns

Behind a seventeen hit performance by their offense, the Binghamton Mets defeated the Erie SeaWolves in the rubber match on Sunday afternoon by a score of 13-3 taking their fifth game in a row. The B-Mets batters scored six runs in the bottom of the first and never looked back enroute to their 45th win of the 2012 season.

All but one Binghamton Mets batter had a hit in the game. That one batter was Reese Havens who was 0-for-4 in the game with two strikeouts. Havens was credited with an RBI in the game when he grounded out in the seventh inning and Wilfredo Tovar scored on the play.

Allan Dykstra was the hitter of the game for the B-Mets, going 4-for-4 with a double and three runs scored. Dustin Martin had a big afternoon as well, going 2-for-5 at the plate with both of his hits being triples. He scored twice and had four RBI’s to his credit as well.

Wilmer Flores, who went 2-for-5, hit his third homerun since being called up from St. Lucie. Flores had a double, two RBI’s and two runs scored to his credit in the game. Eric Campbell’s line was similar to Flores’, going 2-for-5 as well with two runs scored.

Gonzalez Germen made the start for the B-Mets, his eleventh of the season at the Double A level. Germen’s afternoon was made easy by the fact that the B-Mets held a nine to two lead after only two innings. Germen went eight innings for Binghamton, allowing three runs on five hits, striking out three and walking one. He threw a total of 102 pitches on the afternoon, 65 of them for strikes.

Edgar Ramirez came in to finish out the game for Binghamton in the non-save situation. In one inning, he struck out one and allowed no runs on no hits.

B-Mets Buzz: The B-Mets won the season series against the SeaWolves by taking 10 of 14 games from the Pittsburgh Pirates Double A club. Unless they meet in the post-season, the B-Mets and SeaWolves won’t see each other again until 2013. On Monday at 6:35 PM, the B-Mets open a three game series against the Trenton Thunder by sending Darin Gorski (5-4, 3.89) to the mound against the Thunder’s Mikey O’Brien (4-3, 3.88).

St. Lucie 7, Brevard County 3

By Satish Ram

Tyler Pill dominated the Brevard County Manatees in a 7-3 victory for the Mets on Sunday, giving them back-to-back victories.

Pill (3-1, 2.21) was downright superb on Sunday, pitching through seven innings and striking out seven. He scattered four hits and two walks, among them a solo home run in the seventh, his only earned run allowed for the game. Jeffrey Walters took over after him, and breezed through the eighth inning. He ran into some trouble in the ninth, due to an Aderlin Rodriguez error, but managed to pick up two outs while allowing two runs. Neither of them were earned due to the error. Taylor Whitenton picked up the last out via fly ball to close the door on the Manatees.

The Mets hit the Manatees hard and early on Sunday, with an RBI double from Cory Vaughn opening up the scoring in the first, and a 2-run double from none other than Mike Baxter in the second. Walks, errors, a HBP, and a whole mess of confusion equaled a four run fifth inning – way more than enough insurance for the Mets in this one. Richard Lucas drilled a two-run double, while TJ Rivera added an RBI single in the same frame.

Lucie Logistics: What a tough day for Aderlin Rodriguez – an 0-fer dropped his average to .167 and the error in the ninth was his third so far in five games. The potential is there, without a doubt, but some work needs to be done. Tyler Pill continues to turn heads and gain some respect, as he was on his game for another quality start and victory. He lowered his ERA to 2.21. Speaking of nice ERAs, with the runs being unearned for Walters, he drops his ERA to a sparkling 0.90. Whitenton picked up his third save by bailing out Walters, who left two on with two out. Mike Baxter, on his rehab assignment, was the DH on Sunday. He went 2-4 with a 2B and 2 RBI. He was nailed by a pitch, too. Cory Vaughn is hitting .340/.431/.620 in 14 games in July. On Monday evening, the series continues, as the Manatees toss Drew Gagnon (0-0, 2.41) to the mound to face St Lucie’s Yohan Almonte (7-4, 6.08.) Noteworthy is Almonte’s 7.78 home ERA and 13.50 second half ERA, while Gagnon is coming off three consecutive quality starts. Never too late for a turn around, Yohan! Good luck.

Lakewood 6, Savannah 5

By Fonzie13

On Sunday afternoon, the Lakewood BlueClaws (41-52) touched up the Sand Gnats Bullpen for three runs in the eighth to snap a 3-3 tie on their way to handing Savannah (50-41) their second straight loss 6-5, despite a valiant comeback effort in the ninth that fell short with Cam Maron the tying run stranded at third.

Lakewood (PHI) jumped out to an early lead behind back to back doubles in the bottom of the first. Savannah immediately answered back in the top of the second after Dustin lawley opened the frame with his 23rd double and Greg pron singled, pushing Lawley to third. Dustin would subsequently score after Charley Thurber grounded into 4-6-3 double play.

After two out in the bottom of the third The BlueClaws started a mini rally. Kelly Dugan doubled in front of Gnat Killer Chris Duffy who singled home Duffy to give Lakewood their one run lead back 2-1.

Each team traded single runs in their halves of the fifth inning. Cam Maron doubled home Gilbert Gomez who walked and stole second to knot the score at 2-2. Lakewood wasted no time taking back their one run lead. Kelly Dugan singled home Gabe Lino who led off with a sharp groundball single through the box into centerfield, took second after Tim Carver worked out a walk before both basrunners advanced on a sac-bunt before Lino was driven home by a Kelly Dugan base knock to give the Claws a 3-2 lead.

Savannah would fight back to tie the score again as Dustin Lawley and Greg Pron opened the sixth with back to back singles pushing Lawley to third. Charley Thurber reached safely on an error by Lakewood pitcher Luis Paulino. A sac-fly RBI by Alberto Cordero evened the score at 3-3.

The game remained deadlocked at 3-3 until the bottom of the eighth. Gnats RHP Chasen Bradford who had only allowed one run over his last 14 innings of work was called upon to keep the score remained tied. After retiring the leadoff hitter, Bradord surrendered back to back singles before serving up a two run triple to Aaron Allther. Bradford retired the next batter on a groundout to first holding the runner at third but gave up a back breaking two out run scoring single giving the Claws a three run cushion which proved to be enough as the Gnats clawed back in the ninth but fell a run short. After two quick outs the Gnats worked out three consecutive walks to put the tying runs on base and send the go ahead run to the batterbox in the name of Brian Harrison who singled up the middle scoring two runs and pushing the tying run on third and the go ahead run at first which set the stage for Dustin Lawley to be the hero, already 3 for 4 on the afternoon, Dustin worked the count full before going down swinging to end the game 6-5.

Gnats Gnotes: Gnats starter Domingo Tapia (4-2, 3.82) took a no decision and was not sharp on Sunday, lasting only 4.1 innings and letting up three earned runs on seven hits, walking one and striking out three. Carlos Vazquez followed Tapia with 2.2 innings of perfect relief work striking out three. Chasen Bradford had his roughest outing of the season n which he has been spectacular coming out of the pen for the Sand Gnats. Chasen in one inning of work gave up three earned runs on four hits and took the loss. Savannah looks to get back into this four game set Monday night as they send Logan Verrett (3-2, 2.84) to the hill opposing Lino Martinez (4-4, 6.18).

Brooklyn 3, State College 2

By Clayton Collier who called in his recap to Joe D. at 8 AM while chainsaws were being wielded in the background.

Backing a solid across the board pitching effort, the Cyclones offense mustered enough production to best the the State College Spikes by a final score of 3-2.

Luis Cessa got the start for the Cyclones and had himself another solid effort. Cessa pitched six frames allowing just two runs on six hits while walking two and punching out a pair. The right-hander’s only mistakes came in the fourth on a leadoff home run by Barrett Barnes and in the sixth in the form of an RBI single by Samuel Gonzalez.

However the bullpen would hold the slim lead to hand Cessa his second win of the season, while lowering his ERA to 3.12. The lone man out of the bullpen to hold the State College at bay was Matthew Bowman who registered the remaining nine out in the game with three scoreless frames to lower his ERA to 3.24 for the season.

The Clones’ lineup managed just enough run support, scoring two in the third and one in the fifth to give themselves the edge. The third started off with back-to-back doubles by Brandon Nimmo and Jonathan Clark to draw first blood in the game. Another run crossed the plate when Clark scored on a sac fly. Then in the fifth, Alex Sanchez drove in the deciding run with a two-out RBI single to score Dimas Ponce and hand Brooklyn the lead for good.

Brooklyn Brew: Brandon Nimmo has another good day at the plate going 2-for-4 with a double and run scored. Alex Sanchez stayed hot with a three hit game and an RBI. Dimas Ponce, Kevin Plawecki, Jayce Boyd and Jonathan Clark all had hits in the victory. The Spikes and Cyclones will complete their three-game series at Lubrano Park on Monday in a 7:05 PM matchup. Brooklyn will send right-hander Hansel Robles to the hill.

Kingsport – Johnson City

Postponed – Rain

The loss on Saturday night was the seventh straight for Kingsport which bested their season long losing streak, having already lost six straight games to open the season. The K-Mets are at 0-13 on the road this year, and are 4-17 for the season. Game two at Johnson City was rained out on Sunday necessitating a double-header on Monday beginning at 6:00 PM. Righty John Gant (0-1, 7.98) will go for Kingsport in the first game and fellow right-hander Cory Jones (0-0, 4.09) is slated to pitch for the Cardinals. Righty Christian Chivilli (1-1, 7.36) hurls game two for Kingsport, both games will be seven inning affairs.