Mets Farm Report: Valdespin Bails Out Mejia, Gorski Solid, Lucie Pummeled

Buffalo 5, Durham 4

By Sean Kenny

Collin McHugh had by far his best outing for the Bisons, and after a Jenrry Mejia blown save Jordany Valdespin played the hero in the 5-4 win against the Durham Bulls

Collin McHugh today was spectacular going six and one-third innings, allowing one run on four hits while walking two and striking out TEN. McHugh had everything working, and was effective with avoiding bats as well as avoiding the longball. If it wasn’t enough to have the starter pitch this well and win, the Buffalo bullpen made it interesting. Chuck James went two-thirds of an inning allowing one run on two hits while striking out one. Jenrry Mejia, still scuffling in his conversion to the bullpen blew the save, and then earned the win after two innings of two-run ball, giving up three hits and striking out one.

Mejia has been more of a problem for the Buffalo bullpen then an answer, and it is going to take a few solid weeks to ensure Mejia’s name is mentioned in the running for bullpen spots in Flushing over someone like Jeurys Familia who has already proven his control and ability to miss bats as a starter is probably a level behind.

Offensively, the Bisons struck early for two runs on a Jordany Valdespin leadoff home run and a Rob Johnson RBI groundout. Josh Satin would tack on an RBI double in the sixth. However, after the bullpen hysterics, the Bisons found themselves down one in the ninth inning, and a Raul Reyes RBI single and a Jordanny Valdespin walk-off RBI single. Clutch hitting as well as overcoming their first deficit after the eighth inning all season (0-36 before today) could prove to be a huge turning point for the Bisons.

Player(s) Of The Game: Collin McHugh/Jordanny Valdespin – pitching a masterful game for Colin, while ‘Spin drove in the first and last run in exciting fashion

Herd Rumblings: The Bisons only had seven hits on the day, but plated five runs on those seven hits. Matt Den Dekker hit out of the six hole today and went 1 for 4 with a run scored, with Valdespin batting leadoff. Chuck James made his first appearance in about a month after coming off the DL. Hopefully another lefty will provide the Bisons with depth they have lacked since Justin Hampson was called up to the Mets. RHP Matt Harvey (7-3, 3.41) facing the Durham Bulls and RHP Jim Paduch (4-6, 5.31).

Binghamton 3, Altoona 2

By Tim Burns

The Binghamton Mets offense provided some fireworks in the form of an eighth inning rally on Tuesday night at NYSEG Stadium, and finally snapped their season long losing streak. In front of a season high crowd of 6,481, the B-Mets defeated the Altoona Curve by a score of 3-2 ending their seven game skid.

Darin Gorski got the start for the B-Mets, his second this season against the Curve. In his previous start against Altoona back on June 16th he allowed six runs on ten hits. On Tuesday night in Binghamton, Gorski fared much better against the Pittsburgh Pirates Double A team. In six innings pitched, Gorski allowed two runs on three hits, striking out six and walking three.

Brad Holt was brought in to pitch the seventh inning, and he struck out one Altoona batter while allowing no runs on no hits.

The eighth inning belonged to Adrian Rosario, and in his one inning of work he walked one, and gave up no runs and no hits. Rosario was the pitcher of record when the B-Mets took the lead for good in the bottom of the eighth, so he earned his first win at the Double A level when all was said and done.

Robert Carson was brought in for the ninth inning to close out the win for the B-Mets, and close it out he did. Carson held the Curve to one hit and no runs enroute to his seventh save of the 2012 season.

Dustin Martin led the way for the B-Mets offense in the game, going 2-for-4 with a double, RBI, and run scored. Wilfredo Tovar was 2-for-4 in the game as well, with a double and RBI to his credit.

B-Mets Buzz: Binghamton now goes on the road for a six game roadtrip which will take them to Richmond and Altoona. On Wednesday, the B-Mets and Flying Squirrels will square off in a game that is already sold out, with Greg Peavey (3-5, 5.57) taking on Richmond’s Craig Westcott (6-6, 3.91).

Fort Myers 11, St. Lucie 2

By Nick Campione

On a night when the game was delayed about an hour at the start, the St Lucie Mets struggled to overcome the six run second inning allowed by starting pitcher Yohan Almonte and lost 11-2 on Tuesday night to the Altoona Curve.

Almonte (6-4, 6.49) struggled early on allowing six runs in the second and gave up two more runs in the fourth to end with an ugly line four innings, eight hits, eight earned runs, and only two strikeouts. Kyle Allen struggled again which he has done over his last few outings, allowing five hits and three earned runs in two relief innings.

The only offense was provided by rehabbing outfielder Adam Loewen who went 2-for-4 and Travis Taijeron who went 1-for-3 with a solo homer. T.J. Rivera continued his hot streak over the last week going 2-for-4 with an RBI.

Lucie Logistics: Wally Backman stated after the Bisons game Adam Loewen would be returning to the Bisons on Wednesday which will open some more playing time. With Loewen rehabbing over the past few games, Harris and Shields lost some playing time. Alonzo Harris has been successful in his short time starting hitting .348 over last ten games with five RBI, three doubles, and three SB’s. Wednesday night Chase Huchingson takes the hill for the St Lucie Mets at 6:35 pm against Jupiter. Huchingson has struggled over last ten starts after starting the season pitching well with a 2-4 record 5.44 ERA.

Augusta 10, Savannah 1

By Joe D.

It was a brutal start for the usually reliable Logan Verrett who got hit hard and in five innings allowed five runs on nine hits while taking the loss. Verrett walked none and struck out four.

The bullpen offered little relief as Jared West gave up four more runs in his one inning of work and Carlos Vasquez tacked on one more until T.J. Chism stopped the bleeding with a scoreless final frame.

The lone run for the Gnats came on a solo home run in the eighth inning by Yucarybert De La Cruz, the first big fly of the season for the second baseman

Aderlin Rodriguez and Matt Reynolds each had two hits for Savannah, including the 20th double of the season for Rodriguez.

Gnats Gnotes: The loss dropped the Sand Gnats to last place in the Southern Division with a 4-9 record. Aderlin Rodriguez made his 16th error of the season at third base. T.J. Chism has had a fine season as the Gnat’s closer, racking up 13 saves while posting a 2.84 ERA in 31.2 innings in which he’s walked 11 ans struck out 26. Jacob DeGrom will put his 2.58 ERA on the line tonight as the Gnats kick off a three game series against Charleston at 6:05 PM followed by Fireworks Night as the nation celebrates Independence Day.

Brooklyn 7, Hudson Valley 5

By Pete Shapiro

Four errors by the Hudson Valley defense combined with six walks, a hit batter, two wild-pitches and ten hits given up by their pitchers last night, enabled the Brooklyn Cyclones to overcome a one-run deficit after six innings and cruise to a 7-5 victory over the Renegades in front of a capacity, fireworks crowd at Dutchess Stadium.

Right-hander Hansel Robles started for the Cyclones and worked the first five innings but he didn’t figure into the decision. He struggled a bit with his command, even though he only walked one batter. He also hit two batters and balked once, and was usually behind in the count, forcing him to throw a cookie.

And the cookies were being hit around the park a bit, five for singles and a couple of doubles, he also struck out one. I’ll say one thing about Robles, he is one of the fastest working pitchers on the mound I have ever seen. Working twice as fast between pitches as most hurlers you see. His delivery to the plate too, is very fast, and it made it tough for me to take pictures of his throwing motion.

The Cyclones drew first blood with three unearned runs in the top of the third against Hudson Valley starter Jeff Ames. Jonathan Clark led off with a walk, and advanced to second on a wild pitch. Dimas Ponce then reached on a throwing error by shortstop Ryan Dunn. Juan Carlos Gamboa got on base on a fielder’s choice at second, leaving the Clones with first and third and one out.

A Brandon Nimmo sac-fly brought in Clark with the first run. Phillip Evans then doubled to deep right-field scoring Gamboa all the way from first. Finally, Cole Frenzel would single with two out to score Evans from second, and make the score 3-0 in favor of the Cyclones. It wouldn’t last though.

With two out in the bottom half of the inning, and Robles seemingly cruising, Hudson Valley got a double, a single, a HBP, and two more singles to plate three runs and tie the game at 3-3. They would score another off Robles in the fifth on a single by Ryan Dunn, and a double by Michael Williams to bring him in and take a 4-3 lead.

Brooklyn took the lead again in this see-saw affair with two runs in the top of the seventh. Dimas Ponce led off with a single, and was wild-pitched to second. Juan Carlos Gamboa got all the way to second on a second fielding error by Ryan Dunn which enabled Ponce to score. Then with two-outs Cole Frenzel once again singled to right to bring home Gamboa and make it 5-4 Cyclones.

Righty Matt Bowman (1-0, 2.25) got the win in relief by pitching the sixth and seventh innings giving up one run on one hit with two strikeouts. The sixth went 1-2-3 for Bowman, but in the seventh after he gave up a single to Thomas Coyle, he then uncorked a wild-pitch that took a crazy bounce and by the time Nelfi Zapata had retrieved the ball, Coyle was pulling into third-base. From there he was able to score when Dunn grounded out to short, deadlocking the game once again, this time at 5-5.

The Cyclones would salt this one away by scoring two runs in the eighth inning to take the lead for good off Renegades reliever Jose Molina (0-1, 3.38). Zapata walked to lead off and Clark singled before they were sacrificed to second and third by Ponce. Gamboa then singled to score Zapata, and Nimmo reached on a fielding error by first-baseman Michael Williams, to bring home Clark and make the score 7-5.

Right-hander Paul Sewald, the 10th round pick in this year’s draft came out of the pen for the eighth and ninth throwing very hard, and picked up his first save by going 2.0 innings, allowing just two singles, with two strikeouts.

Brooklyn Brew: Last night’s win was the fifth in a row for Brooklyn. They presently sit atop the McNamara Division of the New York Penn League by a 3.0 game margin over the second place Renegades with an overall record of 12-4. Tonight the Cyclones return to Coney Island for a fireworks night game against the Williamsport Crosscutters (PHI) who come into town for a three-game set at MCU Park. The probable pitcher for tonight’s game for the Cyclones is 6’4″ right-hander Rainy Lara (2-0, 1.69), game time is 6:00 pm.

Kingsport, Greeneville Postponed

The rubber game of the three-game series with Greeneville that was set for Tuesday, was postponed and a make-up date has not yet been announced. Tonight the K-Mets are on the road as they take on the Elizabethton Twins at 7:00 pm. Right-hander Persio Reyes (0-2, 11.42) will get the start for the K-Mets while righty Hudson Boyd (0-3, 2.77) toes the rubber for Elizabethton.