Mets Farm Report: Havens Is Hot, Fulmer Was Dealing, Bisons Win A Thriller

Buffalo 9, Toledo 8

After a frustrating end to Wednesday’s loss, the Buffalo Bisons would not watch another game slip out of there their grasps for the second day in a row. With the bases loaded and one out in the bottom of the ninth inning, Raul Reyes dropped a bloop two-RBI single into shallow left to give the Bisons a 9-8 win over Toledo to split the series on Thursday afternoon at Coca-Cola Field.

With an identical script of Wednesday’s heartbreaking 4-1 loss in 10 innings to Toledo, history would not repeat itself. With Mud Hens closer Chris Bootcheck loading the bases for the second night in a row, the scene was set for a walk-off win.

Buffalo’s rally came after they held a 7-4 lead heading into the top of the ninth. Toledo’s Danny Dorn hit a grand slam of Herd closer Fernando Cabrera to give Toledo the 8-7 advantage. Dorn’s base-clearing shot was his first home run of the season with the Mud Hens in just his third game with the team.

Before the ninth-inning grand slam, Toledo trailed Buffalo for most of the contest since the Bisons took a 5-2 lead in the bottom of the fourth. In the bottom of the eighth, the Bisons added a pair of runs to extend their lead at the time. Oswaldo Navarro belted a two-run double into left field on his first at bat for the afternoon. Navarro’s shot soared in to left with Jerad Head unable to field the bouncing ball, allowing Josh Satin and Reyes to score for a Bisons’ 7-4 lead.

Cabrera (3-3) collected the win for the Bisons in 2.0 innings despite a lost save attempt. Reliever Elvin Ramirez provided the Bisons with great support, picking up his fourth hold in 2.0 innings. Ramirez allowed one earned run off two hits.

Bisons starter Chris Schwinden finished the day with 5.0 innings of work, allowing three earned runs off eight hits. On 88 pitches for the afternoon, he struckout six Mud Hens.

Herd Rumblings: Matt den Dekker slashed a 2-run triple and now has 16 extra-base hits and 24 RBI in 33 games since his promotion. Today’s win was the Bisons’ 26th comeback win. Schwinden’s start marked his first appearance on the hill at Coca-Cola Field since May 22 versus Indianapolis. It was his first start for the Bisons since being reclaimed by the Mets off the N.Y. Yankees’ waivers on July 5 before being designated to Buffalo.  Collin McHugh gets the start tonight at 7:05 PM as the Bisons begin a 4-game series with Charlotte at Coco Cola Field. (From team report)

Binghamton 4, Bowie 3

By Tim Burns

It took an inning of free baseball, but the Binghamton Mets were able to start their roadtrip on a positive note with a four to three win in ten innings over the Bowie BaySox on Thursday night. Allan Dykstra’s fifth double of the season scored Reese Havens from second in the top of the tenth, and Robert Carson struck out two, including the final batter of the game, in the bottom of that frame to secure the win for the B-Mets.

Binghamton starter Mark Cohoon lasted seven and a third innings in the game, which would prove to be his longest outing of 2012 so far. Cohoon gave up three earned runs on eight hits, while striking out three and walking one. Cohoon threw a total of 101 pitches in the game, 65 of them for strikes.

Brad Holt came on in relief of Cohoon in the eighth inning and inherited runners on second and third. Cohoon intentionally walked the first batter he faced, Jonathan Schoop, and in the process of delivering the four intentional balls threw one all the way to the backstop allowing the runner from third to score, and moving the runner at second up to third. During the next pitch sequence, Holt threw a pickoff attempt to first base wide and the runner at third scored again. By innings end, the B-Mets found themselves down three to two.

Holt’s line on the night read one inning pitched, no runs – as both of the base runners he allowed to score were actually charged to Cohoon – on one hit, no strikeouts and one walk. Holt was also charged with his third blown save of the season.

Robert Carson relieved Holt with one out in the ninth inning and pitched the remainder of the game. Carson allowed only one hit and struck out three over the ninth and tenth innings. Carson was given the win in the game, which is his first of the 2012 season.

The B-Mets batters pounded out ten hits in the game and scattered their four runs over four different innings, including single runs in the ninth and tenth frames.

Reese Havens, who scored the eventual winning run, was 3-for-4 on the night. His twelfth double of the season in the sixth inning set him up to be the B-Mets first run of the game as well. Havens also struck out once and walked once in the game.

Jefry Marte went 2-for-5 in the game and scored the B-Mets other two runs. Allan Dykstra extended his hitting streak to five games with a 1-for-3 performance, his one hit proving to be the RBI game winner.

B-Mets Buzz: The win over the BaySox on Thursday night was Binghamton’s first this season. Bowie swept the B-Mets in a four game set back in June. Friday night’s pitching matchup will feature B-Mets ace Zack Wheeler (9-4, 2.39) against Bowie’s Zach Clark (8-4, 3.64). This will be the first time Wheeler has pitched against the BaySox; Clark was on the mound for Bowie’s eight to five win in Binghamton on June 29th.

Dunedin 5, St. Lucie 2

By Pete Shapiro

The St. Lucie Mets rolled into Dunedin on Thursday night for the first of four against the Blue Jays. Starter Erik Goeddel looked sharp for the first three innings recording six strikeouts, while only pitching to one over the minimum, a two-out single in the first inning. But the Blue Jays scored two runs off him in the fourth, two more in the fifth, and one in the seventh, to smother the PSL-Mets by a final score of 5-2.

The line on Goeddel (2-5, 4.09) who suffered the loss was, 6.1 innings and giving up five runs, all earned on eight hits, a walk, and eight strikeouts. Righty reliever, hard-throwing Jeffrey Walters went the final 1.2 innings for St. Lucie giving up one hit with two strikeouts.

The runs St. Lucie scored were too little too late, and came after the horses were already out of the barn with the score 5-0 Dunedin after six innings. In the seventh Richard Lucas drew a one-out walk, and he was driven home on a Rafael Fernandez double to make it 5-1. Then in the eighth, T.J. Rivera led off with a double, and came in to score on a Cory Vaughn single to make it the final tally of 5-2. The St. Lucie offense sputtered with only five hits on the night, by five different players.

Lucie Logistics: The PSL-Mets have now lost four games in a row and have struggled mightily ever since their first-half MVP third-baseman Wimer Flores was promoted to Double-A along with catcher Francisco Pena, shortstop Wilfredo Tover, right-hander Cory Mazzoni, and closer Adrian Rosario. It’s virtually impossible to absorb those kind of personnel losses that St. Lucie was subjected to, without losing something from the heart and soul of the team. The biggest loss that they haven’t replaced as yet has been Flores, who left the biggest hole in the line-up. Game two of four at Dunedin is set for tonight at 6:30, with left-hander Angel Cuan (5-6, 3.29) making the start for the good guys.

Rome 2, Savannah 1

By Nick Campione

The Sand Gnats had only two hits in Thursday’s night game as they lost 2-1 behind another great effort by Michael Fulmer. Fulmer pitched great again with six innings, four hits, one run, two walks, and seven strike outs, lowering his season ERA to 2.67. Randy Fontanez relieved Fulmer in the seventh inning, throwing three innings and giving up two hits, one run, and four strikeouts.

The only offense was a single by Cam Maron whose batting average is now .295 and has shown some signs which many fans think resembles Josh Thole, and Greg Pron who had the only extra base hit with a double. Albert Cordero had an 0-for-0 night as he walked three times, but has struggled all season with a batting average of .185. While Cordero has enjoyed second half success over the last few years, the return to Savannah this year has not gone as he has hoped.

Gnats Gnotes: Michael Fulmer continued his great performance this season with his hard luck defeat tonight while only allowing one run. Fulmer was not credited with the loss because the winning run by Rome was credited to Randy Fontanez after Fulmer departed the game. Fulmer was drafted as the supplemental first-round pick in 2011 following the loss of Pedro Feliciano to the Yankees in free agency. Coming out of high school in Oklahoma City, many viewed Fulmer as the third best pitcher out of Oklahoma right behind Dylan Bundy and Archie Bradley. While being only 19-years-old, and one of the youngest pitchers in the South Atlantic League, Fulmer has pitched like a veteran only walking 28 and allowing 23 earned runs, while striking out 65 over 75 innings. Savannah will continue the series with Rome on Friday night sending south-paw Alex Panteliodis (3-4 3.92) to the mound, game time at 7:05 PM.

Brooklyn 1, Staten Island 0

By Clayton Collier

After handling the Hudson Valley Renegades yesterday, the Brooklyn Cyclones went to Staten Island to open up a three game set with the cross-town rival Yankees. It is always a close match when these two teams get together, but I don’t think anyone in the dugouts or in the stands could have predicted this one. Eerily similar to that Mets/Cardinals game back in 2010 in which the marathon lasted 20 innings, the Cyclones bested the Yanks in a 15-frame ordeal to take the game by a final score of 1-0.

For Gabriel Ynoa and the Cyclones, it started off as just any other ballgame. Ynoa was having himself quite a night, and the ‘Clones were hoping to capatalize on it. The first batter of the evening for the 19-year old right hander roped a double into left to lead off the game for Staten Island but was left stranded, little did they know that would be one of their best chances to score all night. Ynoa only allowed that one hit over six innings, walking two and punching out three, pitching well enough to get a victory. However, the Yankees pitching was just as effective as their starter Andrew Benak allowed four hits in four shutout frames, and neither factored in the decision to say the least.

Once Ynoa’s day was done, another nine innings of baseball was still yet to be played. Beck Wheeler came on and delivered a perfect inning sandwiched around two punchouts. Timothy Peterson also was perfect, fanning five while pitching the eighth and ninth. John Mincone gave up the second hit of the game for the Yankees, but continued the shutout through 11. Paul Sewald allowed the most hits out of anyone, two, over 2 2/3 innings before giving way to Ernesto Yanez who got the final out of the 14th.

Unlike the Yankees, the Cyclones weren’t exactly overmatched by the Staten Island pitching, but they just could not come through with runners in scoring position, going 1-for-14 on the evening in that situation. At least that wasn’t the case up until the fifteenth when Dimas Ponce hit a double to lead it off for the ‘Clones. Jonathon Clark followed up with a single, creating a first and third situation with nobody out for Richie Rodriguez.

After having a first and third situation in the eighth, a runner on third with two dead in the fourth and runners in scoring position in the first two frames, the Cyclones finally brought home the first run of the ballgame on a sacrifice fly by Richie Rodriguez to give the ‘Clones a 1-0 lead nearly four hours since their 7:05 start time.

Closer Tyler Vanderheiden came in to pitch the bottom of the fifteenth and quickly put two runners on with just one out for the Yankees as Jamiel Orozco stepped up to the plate. Orozco chopped one to second as Rodriguez threw to Phillip Evans to throw out Duran at second. Jose Rosario round third on an attempt to score from second and was gunned down at the plate by Evans, ending the ballgame and handing the ‘Clones a very hard fought victory.

Brooklyn Brew: Despite the no decision, Ynoa still lowered his ERA to 2.75 over his six shutout frames. Jonathan Clark had himself quite a ballgame, going 3-for-6 with a double and a key hit in the 15th. Phillip Evans, Jayce Boyd and Dimas Ponce also had multi hit games in the victory. Brandon Nimmo had a golden sombrero on the evening, now hitting .241. The Cyclones will hope for a shorter victory Friday as they continue their series with the Yankees starting at 7pm.

Kingsport – Bristol

Postponed Rain

By Nick Campione

Kingsport continued its streak of rainouts over the last two weeks on Thursday night as their game versus Bristol was postponed. The game will be made up on July 26 as part of a double header. On Friday night, due to a rainout on July 3rd, the Kingsport Mets will open their series versus Greeneville with a double-header as probable pitchers Steve Matz (0-1 2.65) and Persio Reyes (0-4 11.49) take the mound with first pitch scheduled for 6:00 PM.