Mets Farm Report: Wheeler Tosses Complete-Game Shutout, Cuan, Mateo and Schwinden All Solid

Buffalo 8, Pawtucket 2

By Connor O’Brien

The Bisons, backed by another great night on offense, defeated Pawtucket last night by a score of 8-2, their seventh win in a row. Chris Schwinden got the ball for the Bisons in his first start since returning to Buffalo a little more than a week ago, looking to improve to 5-8 on the year. He wasn’t terrible, allowing only a single run on the night. However, after throwing 77 pitches through four innings of work, Wally Backman pulled him. Schwinden allowed one run on six hits, walked two, and struck out four.

The Bisons offense got the job done once again last night, after putting up eight runs on Friday night, as well as Thursday night. Fred Lewis got things started in the second with a two-run single to pull the Bisons ahead 2-0. Matt den Dekker continued things in the third, smacking an RBI-single to right field, making it 3-0. Later in the inning, with two outs and two runners on, Josh Rodriguez hit a run-scoring single of his own to extend the Buffalo lead to 4-0.

After Schwinden allowed his only run in the bottom of the third, the Bisons struck yet again, this time on a wild pitch by Garrett Mock, scoring Jason Bay. That made it 5-1. Zach Lutz hit a solo homer in the sixth to extend the lead even further. Finally in the eighth, the Bisons put together their last rally of the night, scoring two on two groundouts by Adam Loewen and Matt den Dekker.

While the offense shined, the unsung heroes of the night were the Buffalo relievers. With Schwinden going only four innings, the bullpen for the Bisons had to pitch five innings, and they were terrific. After Schwinden exited, Dylan Owen (4-4, 5.23) entered the game. He was very good, pitching 1.2 hitless innings and picking up the win. Justin Hampson came in to get the last out of the sixth. He gave up two hits but stopped Pawtucket’s rally there before they could score. After that, it was Jenrry Mejia. Mejia allowed only a solo home run in eighth, but otherwise didn’t allow a hit. Finishing off the game was Garrett Olson. Olson had pitched four innings on Thursday, but was needed last night. He got the final four outs of the game, sealing an 8-2 Buffalo victory.

Herd Rumblings: The Bisons, having won seven in a row, are now four games above .500 at 49-45. During the win streak the Bisons have out-scored the opposition by 55-27, and in the last four games they have scored 34 runs. Adam Loewen had a great night at the plate last night, going 3-for-5 with an RBI and two runs scored. Lucas May was also 3-for-5. Fred Lewis and Matt den Dekker were both just 1-for-5, but they each had two RBI. However, Matt den Dekker also struck out twice, bringing his season total to 101 through 360 minor league at-bats. Collin McHugh (1-2, 4.56) takes the mound for the Bisons tomorrow at 1:05, looking to sweep a four-game set from the Red Sox.

Binghamton 1, Erie 0

By Tim Burns

If there was any question about Zack Wheeler’s dominance at the Double A level, he put those worries to rest on Saturday night at NYSEG Stadium. Behind a complete game performance, Wheeler earned his ninth win of the season for the Binghamton Mets as they defeated the Erie SeaWolves for the third game in a row by a score of 1-0.

Wheeler (9-4, 2.39) threw 106 pitches in the game, 75 of them for strikes. Erie batters scattered six hits throughout the game, with the ninth inning being the only frame in which they had more than one hit. The SeaWolves were three up and three down in four innings in the game. Wheeler struck out seven and walked only one. James Avery (9-7, 4.25) took the loss for Erie.

Nick Castellanos, ranked third amongst Tigers prospects, struck out twice against Wheeler in the game. Castellanos and Wheeler each played for the U.S. team in the MLB Futures Game last week in Kansas City, with Castellanos being named MVP in the game.

The Binghamton Mets lone run came in the bottom of the sixth inning by way of a solo shot by Reese Havens. Havens home run was his seventh of the season. Eric Campbell had the only other multi-base hit for the B-Mets in the game with a sixth inning double, his 17th of the 2012 campaign.

B-Mets Buzz: The complete game shutout was the first of Zack Wheeler’s professional career, and should make a fine exclamation point to what will probably be his final start in Double-A. The rubber match between Binghamton and Erie will be Sunday afternoon at 1:05 PM at NYSEG Stadium. Gonzalez Germen (5-6, 4.27) will face off against the SeaWolves Cesar Carrillo (1-1, 4.97). On Monday, the New York Yankees Double A club comes to town as the B-Mets and Trenton Thunder open a three game set, including a matinee on Wednesday starting at 1:05 PM.

St. Lucie 3, Tampa 1

By Satish Ram

The St.Lucie Mets took care of business in Tampa on Saturday, fueled by an excellent start from Angel Cuan, and picked up a 3-1 victory over the Tampa Yankees. Even when the minor league Mets take care of the minor league Yankees, you are still allowed to be happy.

Angel Cuan (5-6, 3.29) started on Saturday for the PSL-Mets and pitched admirably, scattering five hits and a walk over seven and two thirds innings, while striking out seven. His only run allowed was on a HR in the second, his only blip on an otherwise very impressive stat line. He even added a pick off. Adam Kolarek finished up the eighth inning and stayed on to slam the door in the ninth, getting the four outs with no difficulty.

The offense did not need to do much to back up Cuan in this one, but they managed to put together three runs before he left the rubber. Alonzo Harris tied up the game in the third inning with a solo shot, and opened up the scoring for St. Lucie. Two-out RBI hits by both Kai Gronauer and Aderlin Rodriguez added the go-ahead and insurance run for the Mets in the sixth and seventh.

Lucie Logistics: Cory Vaughn ran wild and recorded three stolen bases, bringing his total up to 11 so far. Cuan picked up win number five, and Kolarek recorded save number 14. Infielder Danny Muno returned from his 50-game suspension for PED’s which had him sitting out since May 16th, and went 0-for-3 with a walk last night. Nice to see Aderlin Rodriguez looking like he just might be adjusting to work in A+ Ball. The Brevard County Manatees roll into St.Lucie to start a series with the Mets tomorrow, with the first game at 4:00 PM. Brevard County will go with righty Andy Moye (4-1, 4.67) while St. Lucie counters with right-hander Tyler Pill (2-1, 2.41).

Lakewood 8, Savannah 1

By Fonzie13

Saturday night the Savannah Sand Gnats (50-40) took a pounding at the Hands of the Lakewood BlueClaws 8-1. The BlueClaws scored early and often to put this game out of reach before Savannah could mount any kind of offense. The BlueClaws took an insurmountable lead four batters in, as BlueClaws first baseman Chris Duffy unloaded a grand salami off of Gnats starter Jimmy Fuller to give Lakewood a quick 4-0 advantage. Duffy had a killer night going 4-for-4, with his sixth home run of the year, two runs scored, five RBI, and one SB.

The Gnats scored their lone run in the top of the third when left-fielder Greg Pron collected his first of three hits as he led off the frame with a triple and scored on a Charley Thurber ground out. Pron went 3-for-3, with one run, and a triple on the day.

Lakewood put up two runs in each of the bottom of the third and forth innings to put the game out of reach and end the scoring for the night. Lakewood starter Moises Rivas shut down the Savannah attack over six innings and Gabe Arias pitched three scoreless innings of relief.

Gnats lefty Jimmy Fuller (2-2, 6.00) coming off five no-hit innings against Charleston showed his rust having not pitched in seven days, surrendered all eight Lakewood runs in 3.1 innings giving up eight hits to go along with three bases on balls, struck out two, and yielded two gopher-balls. Savannah received excellent work out of the bullpen from Jared West 2.2 innings, and Randy Fontanez with two innings of scoreless relief.

Gnats Gnotes: Young fireballer Domingo Tapia has been much better than his ERA would indicate, although sitting at a solid 3.49 the young righty has been a victim of tough luck and shoddy defensive play behind him. Domingo is a groundball machine that frequently hits triple digits on the radar gun. That has drawn the attention of opposing teams scouts as his name pops up in potential trade talks. Don’t look for Tapia to be heading anywhere though as this kid has stud potential. Sunday afternoon the Sand Gnats look to even up the series sending Tapia (4-2, 3.65) to the mound to take on Lakewood’s Ethan Stewart (4-8, 3.49).

Brooklyn 6, State College 3

By Dave Landon

The Cyclones took the first game of a three-game series against State College on Saturday night, topping the Spikes by the score of 6-3. Luis Mateo had to battle it out on the mound, as there was a pitching duel through the first five frames. Mateo was flirting with a no-hitter through one out in the fifth inning until he surrendered his first hit of the game. Mateo cruised through seven scoreless innings to earn his fourth win of the season. He allowed just that one hit, one walk, and fanned eight batters. He has lowered his ERA to 1.47. This kid has impressive stuff.

The Cyclones didn’t score a run to back up Mateo until the the sixth inning, with an RBI double from Dimas Ponce to score Eudy Pina. The Cyclones added three more runs in the seventh thanks to an RBI single by Phillip Evans, a sac-fly by Dimas Ponce, and two costly errors by the Spikes. Brooklyn scored two more in the eighth after an RBI triple from Brandon Nimmo, his first triple of the season. Nimmo later scored after an RBI single from Jeffrey Glenn.

Ernesto Yanez pitched a scoreless inning in relief, with one hit and one walk allowed, while striking out one. David Wynn had trouble only getting two outs in the ninth and allowed three runs to score on two hits and two walks. Luckily, Tyler Vanderheiden came in to shut the door with one hit, one walk, and a strikeout to end the game. He gets his fifth save of the season.

Reynolds and Nimmo each had a multi-hit game. Reynolds was 2-for-5 with a run scored, while Nimmo went 2-for-3 with a triple, two runs scored, and an RBI.

Brooklyn Brew: In his last ten games Brandon Nimmo has produced a slash of .314/.442/.514 with nine runs scored and six RBI. Jeff Reynolds picked up his first hit and scored his first run since turning pro. The Cyclones will take on the State College Spikes again today at 6:05 PM. Luis Cessa who is 1-1 with a 3.20 ERA will take the hill.

Johnson City 11, Kingsport 3

By Pete Shapiro

The good news about getting rained out three days in a row this week was that Kingsport hadn’t lost a game since Tuesday. The bad news is that when they returned to action last night they got hammered and lost their seventh game in a row, this time to the Johnson City Cardinals by a score of 11-3.

Right-hander Persio Reyes got the start for Kingsport and looked pretty good until the third inning, then all hell broke loose. The K-Mets had staked him to an early 1-0 lead on a Gavin Cecchini sac-fly in the top of the third which scored catcher Tomas Nido, who had doubled to get on. But Johnson City quickly erased the deficit when Reyes (0-4, 11.49) gave up two earned runs in the third on a two-run single by Ildemaro Vargas, and three more earned runs in the fourth on a solo home-run by Bruce Caldwell, and a two-run triple by Lance Jeffries to put the Cardinals up 5-1.

Right-hander Chris Flexon, the 14th round draft-pick from this year’s draft by the Mets, made his professional debut in relief of Reyes when he came on to start the fifth inning, and put up one of the most bizarre pitching lines ever. In 1.2 innings pitched, he gave up six earned runs on six hits, a walk, and a wild-pitch, a home run, and six strikeouts. That’s right six strikeouts in 1.2 innings which means one over the minimum due to the fact that he let a batter get on after striking him out on a wild-pitch. So he struck out everybody he got out, but in between, he gave up six runs on six hits, okay…..

Flexon gave up four runs in the fifth, the big blow being a three-run bomb by Carson Kelly, which made it 9-1. Kingsport scored two runs in the top of the sixth when Gavin Cecchini got on on an error, and went to second on a wild-pitch before scoring on a Jeff Diehl RBI-double making it 9-2. Diehl would later score on a sac-fly by Maikis De La Cruz which made it 9-3. Flexon then returned for the sixth inning and proceeded to give up a couple of more runs before exiting for Ramon Estevez, who came on to get the final out but not before the Cardinals had increased their lead to 11-3.

Estevez pitched 1.1 innings with a strikeout, and Matt Budgell pitched an inning with a strikeout to finish it out for Kingsport. Eris Peguero was the only K-Met to record multiple hits going 2-for-5 with a pair of singles. Jeff Diehl went 1-for-4 with a double, a run and an RBI, and Tomas Nido went 1-for-3 with a walk, a double and a run scored.

Kingsport Knews: The loss was the seventh straight for Kingsport which bested their season long, 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 is at 6:00 PM Sunday night with righty John Gant (0-1, 7.98) going for Kingsport and right-hander Cory Jones (0-0, 4.09) pitching for the Cardinals.