Las Vegas (49-38) 10, Salt Lake 5
The Las Vegas offense was an extra base hit machine producing nine of them on the night incuding two doubles a piece by Dilson Herrera, Cory Vaughn, and Dan Rohlfing. Travis Taijeron had two extra base hits as well, his 11th double and 15th homerun of the season. Unfortunately Rainy Lara did not stick around long enough to pick up his first AAA win in five chances.
Herrera finished with three hits, two RBI, run scored, and his 5th stolen base of the year while continuing to hit out of the leadoff spot for the 51’s. Anthony Recker was 1-2 with three walks and played first base for the second time in Las Vegas since being demoted. In 15 games since being demoted Recker is hitting .315/.413/.722 with seven homeruns and sixteen RBI. Both Alex Castellanos and Jayce Boyd were 1-5 on the night with this being only the second game Boyd has played since June 20th. Wilfredo Tovar was 1-3 with a run scored, RBI, sac bunt, his 22nd stolen base of the year, and his 30th RBI.
Lara continued his struggles at the AAA level lasting only 4 innings giving up four runs on seven hits, two walks, and two strikeouts. He now has a 7.13 ERA and has allowed 48 baserunners in 24 innings for the 51’s. John Church gave up a run on two hits (HR to Gary Brown) while striking out two and picking up his fourth win on the season. Scott Rice pitched a perfect 7th inning with two strikeouts, ERA down to 2.59 but has also walked 20 batters in 24.1 innings. Vic Black came into pitch the 9th throwing a scoreless inning allowing just a single while striking out. Maybe more importantly is the fact he threw 16 pitches with 11 strikes. Prior to the game Matt Reynolds was finally placed on the DL with his elbow issue. Box Score
New Britain 3, Binghamton (42-42) 2
Gabriel Ynoa became the first pitcher in B’Mets history to throw 8 innings in three consecutive starts since 2007 but is just 1-2 in those games as Binghamton is only 17-16 in one-run games this year. The B’Mets offense started off strong scoring twice in the first inning thanks to doubles by Gavin Cecchini and L.J. Mazzilli before the bats went cold the rest of the game going 2-11 with runners in scoring position.
Ynoa pitched 8 innings allowing three runs on seven hits and zero walks while striking out two hitters, he needed just 78 pitches (51 strikes) to complete his outing. Over his last 38.2 innings Ynoa has givev up just 24 hits and 2 walks while holding opponents to a .452 OPS. He has lowered his season ERA to 4.06 and WHIP to 1.18 but his record fell to 5-6 with the loss. Jon Velasquez pitched a perfect 9th with one strikeout.
Gavin finished with his 2nd straight three hit game that extended his hitting streak to 9 games including his 17th double, a walk, and scored the B’Mets first run. Cecchini is hitting .366/.409/.463 during the streak and is now hitting .292/.345/.423 overall for the year. On the bad news side for Cecchini he committed his 19th error of the year with another of the throwing variety. This error was very similar to all the throwing ones he has had this year, a high throw pulling the first basemen off the bag. The error came on a fairly routine groundball right at him, to me it looks like he is rushing his throws which is breaking down his mechanics and getting under the ball with his elbow too low.
Michael Conforto returned to the lineup after getting a day off going 1-5 with a single and struck out swinging to start the bottom of the 9th inning to see his average drop down to .308 for Binghamtn. Brandon Nimmo was 2-4 with a walk before striking out to end the game, he has reached base seven times in last three games. Josh Rodriguez was 2-4 with his 14th double and his 54th RBI (2nd in EL). Box Score
St. Lucie (42-43) 3, Charlotte 2 Walk-off
Earlier in the day Dominic Smith was named the Florida State League player of the month for June and went out did the heavy lifting for the Mets offense hitting a two-run homerun in the bottom of the first for his third of the year. He also hit his league leading 26th double of the season and was intentionally walked in the bottom of the 9th with the tying run on second base. Jairo Perez made Charlotte pay by delivering a walk-off single to score Jeff McNeil who doubled to lead off the inning.
Casey Meisner was making his third start for St.Lucie and struggled a little bit giving up two runs over 6.1 innings but allowed 11 runners to reach (8 hits, 3 walks) while striking out only one. His ERA stayed right at 2.84 however and minimized the damage to keep in team in the game. Mike Hepple stranded two inherited runners and pitched 1.2 scoreless allowing a hit while striking out one. Kyle Regnault pitched a scoreless 9th to pick up his 3rd win of the year and lower his ERA to 2.04 with the league hitting .224 against him.
Smith finished 2-3 with a walk and two RBI giving him 51 on the season tying him for first in the Florida State League. McNeil was 2-4 with his 12th double and scored two runs, his league leading average up to .321 for the year. Champ Stuart was 1-3 with a walk but was caught stealing twice and still hitting only .199 for the year. Amed Rosario was still out of the lineup. Box Score
Lexington 2, Savannah (43-40) 1 Walk-off
The Sand Gnats were on the wrong side of a walk-off when Savannah closer James Duff gave up a single with two outs to Luis Valenzuela to end the game. Savannah had Eudor Garcia as the go-ahead run on third base with two outs in the top of the 9th but Tomas Nido struck out swinging to end the threat.
Savannah collected five hits on the night with none of them coming with runners in scoring position as they went 0-8 stranding 6 men on base in that situation. The offense was led by Luis Guillorme who was 2-3 with his 7th double of the season lifting his slash line to .304/.378/.329 for the year. John Mora, Jean Rodriguez, and Garcia all singled on the night while Vicente Lupo drove in the only run on a groundball out.
Martires Arias went 6 strong innings allowing one run on four hits, three walks, and three strikeouts while inducing 10 groundball outs. He lowered his ERA to 3.08 and hasn’t given up more than three runs in a start since May 29th when he gave up four. He has allowed only 61 hits in 79 innings but has hit 11 batters and struck out 76 in that time. Lefty Paul Paez pitched two scoreless innings before Duff came on giving up the winning run on two hits and a walk. Box Score
Brooklyn (13-5) 5, Hudson Valley 3
Mets 4th round pick David Thompson continued his strong offensive year going 4-5 on the night while playing 3rd base and hitting in the cleanup spot, now hitting .349 in his first 12 pro games. Michael Bernal was 3-5 with two runs scored, he is hitting a robust .347/.431/.694 for the Cyclones this year. Vinny Siena was 0-4 with a walk, he has reached base in all but one game to start his career.
Gaby Almonte picked up his 2nd win of the season going 5.1 innings giving up three runs (one earned) on six hits and two strikeouts without issuing a walk. P.J. Conlon, 13th round, pitched a perfect 8th inning with a strikeout to move his scoreless streak to four innings to start his career. Alex Palsha picked up his fourth save of the season throwing a perfect 9th inning, he is unscored upon in 10.1 innings for Brooklyn this year. Box Score
Kingsport (9-7) 8, Elizabethton 2
Luis Carpio had his 2nd straight three hit game with a walk and his 7th RBI of the season, he is hitting .341 over his last ten games. Luis Ortega also had three hits with a run and RBI giving him six hit and three RBI over his last three games. Dash Winningham was 2-4 with a walk and his 14th RBI which is 3rd in the Appalachian League. Kevin Kaczmarski was 1-3 with a walk, RBI, and two runs scored.
Harol Gonzalez got the win going 7 innings allowing two runs on four baserunners and struck out five. Mets 29th rounder Seth Davis pitched a scoreless 8th with a walk and strikeout, has 3.1 scoreless to start career. Dillon Becker, 16th rounder, pitched a scoreless 9th allowing a hit but striking out three. Box Score
GCL Cardinals 6, GCL Mets (7-5) 5 Game One
Ali Sanchez was 1-2 with a walk, HBP, and two RBI keeping his average right at .500 for the years but did allow two runners to steal on him. Ivan Wilson was 3-4 with two doubles and two RBI. Mets 11th round pick Jake Simon (but 4th highest slot bonus) pitched in his 2nd career game, one cleaning with zeroes across the board. Box Score
GCL Cardnials 9, GCL Mest (7-6) 2 Game Two
Kenneth Bautista and Sanchez combined to go 0-7 with three strikeouts. Victor Moscote, Walter Rasquin, and Anthony Dimino each had two hits in the game. Box Score
