Mets Farm Report: Nimmo Slam Makes Brooklyn A Winner, Kingsport Wins Barn-Burner

Durham 12, Buffalo 6

By Connor O’Brien

The Durham Bulls beat the Buffalo Bisons last night by a score of 12-6.

Mark Cohoon took the mound for the Bisons in just his second start with Buffalo. In his first, he was roughed up by Durham on the road, allowing seven runs on eight hits in 3.2 innings. Last night was more of the same for Cohoon. He allowed the Bulls to score two RBI singles in the first. He allowed another run in the second when former Met Jesus Feliciano plated a run to make it 3-0. Then came the top of the fifth.

Coming into the inning, Cohoon had settled down a bit, holding the Bulls scoreless in the third and fourth. That would change in a big way in the top of the fifth. Cohoon allowed another run and was pulled after getting just one out and leaving two runners on for Jack Egbert. Egbert allowed those two runners on and more. He allowed a total of six runs in the inning. In all, the Bulls scored nine runs in the fifth, capped off by a three-run homer by Chris Gimenez to make it 12-0. That’s all the Bulls would need on the night.

The Bisons attempted to claw their way back into the game when in the bottom of the inning, Oswaldo Navarro plated a run with an RBI single. They struck again in the bottom of the sixth, with Josh Satin hitting an RBI triple that scored Josh Rodriguez. Two batters later, Matt Tuiasosopo hit him home with an RBI hit of his own.

The Bisons would put together their biggest rally in the eighth. Val Pascucci hit a sac fly to make it 12-4. Brad Emaus then stepped up to the plate and knocked a two-RBI single to left that scored two runs. However, Emaus himself killed the rally while trying to stretch his single into a double. That would be the last scoring opportunity the Bisons would have on the night as they went down 12-6.

Herd Rumblings: Cohoon really had a rough night. He threw 104 pitches over 4.1 innings and walked three batters and improved only slightly over his awful first outing with the Bisons. What may be overshadowed by Cohoon’s start may be the solid performance of Jenrry Mejia in last night’s game. Mejia tossed two scoreless innings while allowing only one hit. On offense, Josh Satin and Brad Emaus were the only two with notable games. Satin had that RBI single and was 2-for-4 on the night with two runs scored. Emaus was also 2-for-4 on the night.

Altoona 8, Binghamton 2

By Tim Burns

The Binghamton Mets sent their ace to the hill on Saturday night in hopes of ending their four game losing streak, but in the end Zack Wheeler suffered his fourth loss of the season as the B-Mets dropped game one of their series against the Altoona Curve by an 8-2 tally.  Five losses in a row is now the longest losing streak for the B-Mets in 2012.

Wheeler seemed to be cruising along, allowing only one hit over the first four innings.  Then, beginning in the fifth inning, the Curve hit Wheeler hard for three consecutive innings plating seven runs in that span.  Wheeler’s final line on the evening read six and two thirds innings pitched, seven runs (six of which were earned) on nine hits.  He struck out five and walked three, and has now raised his season ERA to 2.74.  He eclipsed his season high’s for runs allowed, previously five, and hit allowed, previously eight.

Brad Holt relieved Wheeler in the seventh inning, and in one third of an inning walked three while allowing one run and one hit. Holt pitched to three batters in the eighth, and after the first Curve batter in the inning reached on a throwing error by Wilfredo Tovar and Holt subsequently walked the next two batters to load the bases, he was replaced by Adrian Rosario.

Rosario promptly walked the first batter he faced, giving Altoona their eighth and final run of the game.  Rosario then settled in and retired the next six batters in a row.  Final numbers on the night for Rosario were two innings pitched, one walk, four strikeouts, no runs and no hits allowed.

Reese Havens had the best night at the plate amongst all of the B-Mets batters accounting for half of the home teams hits in the game. Havens went 3-for-4 on the night, with his leadoff homerun in the bottom of the fourth being the B-Mets first run of the game.  He also singled in the first and eighth innings, but the B-Mets were unable to bring him around to score in either of those frames.

Zack Wheeler went 1-for-1 in the game, hitting his first double of the season and batting in the B-Mets second run in the process. Wilfredo Tovar and Juan Centeno each went 1-for-3 in the game rounding out the B-Mets hit total of six.

B-Mets Buzz: Game two of the series against the Double A Pirates is Sunday afternoon at NYSEG Stadium.  The game will feature the B-Mets Cory Mazzoni (1-1, 4.15) against Altoona’s Matt McSwain (2-2, 4.76).  In a couple of roster moves on Saturday, the B-Mets placed outfielder Pedro Zapata on the DL with a strained right hamstring, and Allan Dykstra returned to the team from St. Lucie.  It was also announced on Saturday that reliever Armando Rodriguez was added to the Eastern League’s Eastern Division All-Star Game roster.  Rodriguez is replacing Zack Wheeler, who will be pitching in the All-Star Futures Game in Kansas City instead of attending the EL All-Star Game in Reading, PA.

Jupiter 14, St. Lucie 2

By Joe D.

The St. Lucie Mets were swarmed and attacked by the Hammerheads on Saturday night in a 14-2 blowout loss.

Erik Goeddel started for St. Lucie and got the carnage going by allowing runs in each of the four innings he pitched. Jupiter scored seven runs off Goeddel in what looked like a feeding frenzy as the Mets’ right-hander was tagged for nine hits, four walks and six earned runs in his 3.1 innings of work.

Jack Leathersich offered very little relief as he allowed three more runs to score for the Hammerheads on four hits including a mammoth two-run homer. Leathersich has struggled mightily since his promotion to St. Lucie and despite his excellent strikeout rate (he had four in this game), he has a 4.64 ERA. Reliever Kyle Allen could only register one out in the seventh before he was pulled after letting four more runs score to put Jupiter up 14-0. Finally, Hamilton Bennett was able to stop the bleeding safely getting out of the eighth inning and pitching a perfect ninth, but it was too little too late.

St. Lucie had just six hits in the game and their only two runs came in the ninth inning courtesy of back to back RBI singles by Rafael Fernandez and Richard Lucas. Cory Vaughn had two of the other four hits and an Adam Loewen double was the only extra-base hit the Mets could muster in this Saturday night bloodbath.

Lucie Logistics: Erik Goeddel has allowed three or more runs in four of his last five starts and is winless since May 16. In nine appearances for St. Lucie, Jack Leathersich has pitched 21.1 innings and struck out 31 batters while walking just nine, but he’s also allowed 11 earned runs and only Yohan Almonte (5.77) has a higher ERA on the team.  Since losing both Wilfredo Tovar and Wilmer Flores to Binghamton, St. Lucie has gone from first in the Florida State League in batting to ninth. St. Lucie will send Angel Cuan (4-4, 3.08) to the hill at 4:05 PM as they begin a three-game set with the Fort Myers Miracle.

Savannah 3, Augusta 0

By Pete Shapiro

The Savannah Sand Gnats used four pitchers to combine on a ten-hit shutout Saturday, beating the Augusta GreenJackets by a score of 3-0. Lefty James Fuller (1-1, 2.70) got the win in relief going 3.2 innings with two hits, two walks, and four strikeouts. A run-scoring single by Yucarybert De La Cruz, and sacrifice-fly’s by Cam Maron and Dustin Lawley accounted for the Sand Gnat scoring.

Southpaw Alex Panteliodis started for the Gnats and went the first three innings, giving up four hits. He was followed by Fuller who was in turn relieved with two out in the seventh by Randy Fontanez. Fontanez did his best Houdini impression, pitching 1.1 innings and giving up four hits, with nothing across. Chasen Bradford threw a perfect ninth, with two-strikeouts, lowering his ERA to 1.63, and picking up his first save.

Right-fielder Charley Thurber had the only multi-hit game for Savannah going 2-for-4 with a double and a run scored. Out of the ten Augusta hits, five of them were by the same two batters. GreenJackets DH Garrett Buechele was 3-for-4 with a double, and third-baseman Jose Flores was 2-for-5. Adalberto Mejia (5-5, 4.81) started for Augusta and took the loss going five innings and giving up three runs, two earned, on seven hits with three strikeouts.

Gnats Gnotes: Savannah pitching has been superb this year and as a team they rank first in the league in the following categories: ERA, fewest walks, fewest hits, fewest runs, fewest earned runs, fewest home runs, WHIP, Shutouts, and holds. Michael Fulmer is seventh in the South Atlantic League in WHIP with a 1.16, and eighth in ERA with a 3.00. Aderlin Rodriguez is tied for fourth in the league in home runs with 12, and tenth in the league in RBI with 48. Game three of the five-game series at Augusta is set for Sunday at 5:35 pm. The Gnats will send righty Marco Camarena (5-2, 1.52) to the mound while Augusta will counter with left-hander Edwin Escobar (3-4, 3.50).

Brooklyn 6, Aberdeen 2

By Dave (Retire 31)

Brandon Nimmo showed off the guns with a grand slam on Saturday night to break a 2-2 tie and power the Cyclones to a win over Aberdeen by a score of 6-2. The Brooklyn victory came behind even more strong pitching by one of the best staffs in the league.

Gabriel Ynoa pitched a solid game, going six innings pitched, giving up only three hits, allowing two runs, one walk, a HBP, and a wild pitch, while striking out a career high six batters. He went perfect for the first two innings, but after a wild pitch in the third inning that put two guys into scoring position, he surrendered a two-out, two-run double that would be the IronBirds only runs of the game. He does not get the win as he left with the game tied at two all, but his ERA goes to a nice 2.00 on the season.

The Cyclones wasted no time getting on the board, putting up two runs in the first inning. Dimas Ponce and Phillip Evans both hit singles, followed by Kevin Plawecki drawing a walk to load the bases for the red-hot Cole Frenzel. He reached on a fielder’s choice allowing Ponce to score. Stefan Sabol then came up and continued his hot hitting as he singled to left, scoring Evans and extending his hitting streak to six games.

In the bottom of the seventh Phillip Evans led off the inning by hitting a double to the left center field wall followed up by a Kevin Plawecki ground out, moving Evans to third. Stefan Sabol and Nelfi Zapata both worked walks and the bases were loaded for Brandon Nimmo. With one swing of the bat, Nimmo hit his first home run of the season, and became the first player of the year to hit a grand slam, giving the Cyclones a 6-2 lead.

The rest of the bullpen continued to throw up blanks as Tim Peterson (1-0, 0.00) this year’s 20th round draft pick, and Paul Sewald this year’s 10th rounder, combined for three hitless innings. Peterson picked up the win in his professional debut.

Brooklyn Brew: Brandon Nimmo was only one of four Cyclones to have a multiple hit game, the others include Juan Gamboa, Phillip Evans, and Stefan Sabol. Frenzel is hitting .421 on the season (4th in the league), while Sabol is right behind him hitting .324 in the early season. Up next the Cyclones will play the Hudson Valley Renegades Sunday night at Dutchess Stadium at 5:05 PM. Top pitching prospect Luis Mateo (2-0, 0.77) will go for the Cyclones.

Kingsport 13, Bluefield 9

By Pete Shapiro

The K-Mets broke out the bats and put the pedal to the metal in taking their first series of the season, beating the Bluefield Blue Jays two games to one by winning the rubber game by a score of 13-9 on Saturday night. Despite giving up nine runs, 11 hits, eight walks, a hit batter, two wild pitches, and making six errors in the game, the K-Mets still persevered for their third win of the season against nine losses.

K-Met relief pitcher Christian Chivilli (1-0, 4.70) was the winning pitcher, entering the game after the fourth inning and going 4.2 innings, giving up four runs, three earned on seven hits, three walks, two wild pitches and six strikeouts. Starting pitcher right-hander Robert Gsellman made his second start of the season and didn’t have it this time out. He exited early despite having been given a seven run gift in the third inning courtesy of Bluefield shortstop Dickie Thon.

Thon made two throwing errors which opened the floodgates to seven unearned runs against Bluefield starter Deivy Estrada (1-1, 8.00) and obliterating a 2-0 Blue Jay lead. The highlights of the scoring other than the two errors, was a two-run double by Michael Bernal, RBI singles by Yeixon Ruiz, Maikis De La Cruz, and Joe Tuschak, and the scoring was capped by a two-run single by Alex Machillanada. Bluefield scored three runs in the fourth to knock Gsellman out of the game and cut the Kingsport lead to 7-5. Kingsport came roaring back with three of their own in the bottom half of the inning.

The first run came in on another Michael Bernal run-scoring double, and with two outs in the inning Joe Tuschak delivered a two-run double which made the score 10-5. The teams each traded single runs in the fifth inning, the Kingsport run coming on Anthony Chavez’ first home run of the season to make the score 11-6. Bluefield sliced another run off the Kingsport lead with the help of three K-Met errors in the sixth inning, resulting in an unearned run, and making the score 11-7. After an Alex Machillanada double in the seventh, a two-out run-scoring single by Eris Peguero netted Kingsport an insurance run, which was followed by an RBI ground-out by Yeixon Ruiz for another insurance run, and made the score 13-7.

Chivilli would tire in the ninth and he gave up a two-out two-run home run to Dwight Smith, Jr., his second of the year, to make the score 13-9. Right-hander Luis Rengel was then summoned from the pen to get the final out for Kingsport. The hitting stars of the game for the K-Mets were: Michael Bernal who went 3-for-4 with a walk, two doubles, two runs, and three RBI. Maikis De La Cruz went 3-for-5 with a double, two runs scored and an RBI. Joe Tuschak 2-for-5 with a double, a run scored and three RBI. Alex Machillanada 2-for-4 with a double, a run scored, and two RBI. Anthony Chavez 1-for-4 with three runs scored, a home run, and an RBI. Yeixon Ruiz had two RBI and Eris Peguero had one.

Kingsport Knews: Saturday’s win pulled the K-Mets out of last place in their division for the first time, moving them a half-game ahead of the Bristol White Sox. The Greeneville Astros come to Kingsport to open a three-game series on Sunday with game time scheduled for 5:00 pm. Last week the Astros took three-of-four from the K-Mets so this is their chance at payback. The Astros will send right-hander Francis Ramirez (1-0, 5.14) to the mound, while the K-Mets go with righty Akeel Morris (0-2, 10.29).