Las Vegas (26-14) 2, Tacoma 0
Duane Below got the start for Las Vegas pitching 9 innings of fantastic baseball that saw him give up just four hits and a walk needing only 98 pitches to complete the shutout. Below was making just his 3rd start of the season after starting the year as the long man in the bullpen and evened his record to 3-3 with a 2.51 ERA. Tacoma didn’t get a runner to 2nd base until the 9th inning and only had three hard hits balls all game. Below came out aggressive in the strike zone missing few bats but was able to keep most of the contact away from the barrel of the bat.
Travis Taijeron was the only hitter from either side to collect two hits with the biggest swing being his 7th homerun a solo shot in the 2nd inning that turned out to be the game winner. Here is video of the HR. Taijeron also made a great defensive play in RF robbing Franklin Gutierrez of an extra base hit while his good day at the plate raised his line to .346/.434/.596. Alex Castellanos knocked in the other 51’s run with his 11th double that resulted in his 26th RBI of the year. His double scored T.J. Rivera who reached via single and is now hitting 5-17 in his first four games in AAA. Matt Reynolds was 1-4 with his 14th double of the season but his average dropped to .290, its lowest point since April 17th. Box Score. Las Vegas has the day off Wednesday.
Binghamton (22-16) 7, Harrisburg 6
The B’Mets came into the 7th inning trailing 5-3 until a homer by Xorge Carrillo (3rd), 2B by Eudy Pina, and a RBI double by pinch hitter Aderlin Rodriguez tied the game up at 5-5. The next batter was shortstop Gavin Cecchini who blasted a game winning two-run homerun to left field for his 3rd of the season. Here is video of the go-ahead HR. The scored stayed 7-5 until the bottom of the 9th when Paul Sewald came into get the save for Binghamton which started with an error by 3rd basemen Dustin Lawley. Two singles later the Senators made it 7-6 then bunted to get the tying run to 3rd and the winning run to 2nd. Sewald walked Tony Renda to load the bases escaping the jam with a shallow fly out to center field and a strike out to end the game and pick up his 6th save.
Cecchini also picked up his 8th double in the 3rd inning later coming around to score on a RBI single by Josh Rodriguez. Jayce Boyd has his third straight multi-hit game picking up his Eastern League leading 14th double. Boyd is 12-29 over his last 7 games that has seen his average go from .273 to .305 on the year. Carrillo finishes 1-3 with the HR and a walk that boosted his slash line to .307/.370/.455, not bad for a catcher.
Rainy Lara got the start for Binghamton that resulted in his shortest outing of the year lasting only 2 innings giving up four runs on six hits (HR), no walks, and a single strikeout. Matt Koch followed him with 3 great innings of relief that allowed only 1 hit while striking out two hitters. Matt has now given up just one run over his last 11.2 innings since being moved the Binghamton bullpen. Adam Kolarek pitched a perfect 8th inning stretching his scoreless streak to 15 innings, over that span his ERA has gone from 14.14 to 4.50. Box Score. The B’Mets play a morning game today at 10:30 AM against Harrisburg with Gabriel Ynoa (2-1, 3.72).
Palm Beach 3, St. Lucie (17-22) 0
St. Lucie was able to produce 10 base runners on the night but went 0-8 with runners in scoring position leaving 12 men on. Michael Conforto went 2-5 raising his season line to .285/.349/.464 with a 14/22 BB/SO ratio. Dominic Smith was 1-4 with his 6th double of the year and has now hit safely in 8 out of the last 10 games. Champ Stuart went 0-5 with three strikeouts, he has now struck out 52 times in 128 at bats with his average dipping down to .195 on the year. Amed Rosario was 1-4 and has now hit safely in 7 out of the last 8 games.
Miller Diaz got the start for the Mets going 5.1 innings giving up two runs on 11 base runners while striking out five, falling to 1-3 on the year. Kyle Regnault came in with a runner on pitching 1.2 innings stranding the runner and striking out four hitters. Box Score. St. Lucie plays Palm Beach tonight at 6:35 without a starter listed currently.
Savannah (15-22) 4, Augusta 0
Corey Oswalt threw 4 scoreless innings with four strikeouts before a 2 hour 35 minute rain delay shortened his start. Paul Perez made his 2nd appearance of the year going 3 scoreless innings picking up his first win. Alberto Baldonado came in to pitch the last two innings and did so perfectly with two K’s picking up his 2nd save of the year.
Eudor Garcia continues to be a big boost for the Sand Gnats offense going 3-4 with his 5th double and knocking in his 4th run. Garcia now has a .340/.375/.491 line in 13 games since being promoted. Wuilmer Becerra collected two hits and two strikeouts, his .456 SLG is good enough for 20th in the South Atlantic League in which he is 1.5 years younger than the league average. John Mora, Tomas Nido, Jean Rodriguez, and Patrick Biondi each had a hit a piece. Box Score. Strikeout machine Brad Wieck (0-4, 4.15) looks for his first win tonight at 7:05 against Augusta.
