Las Vegas (35-29) 8, Reno 7
The 51’s had a very comfortable 6-0 lead heading into the top of the 8th with starter Logan Verrett cruising along unscathed before Reno scored seven in the last two innings and had the tying run on 3rd when Jon Velasquez struck out D’Backs prospect Peter O’Brien to end the game. Verrett ended up going 7.2 innings allowing two runs on five hits while striking out five and walking nobody. Cody Satterwhite relieved Verrett with a runner on and was unable to stop the bleeding as he gave up a 3-run homer to O’Brien to close the gap to 8-4. John Church started the 9th quickly exiting after letting all four hitters he faced reach base leaving with the bases loaded. Velasquez allowed two of the inherited runners score before getting the final out for his 3rd save in Las Vegas.
Travis Taijeron hit what ended up being the game-winner with a 2-run homerun in the bottom of the 8th inning for his 11th on the season. The defensive minded backup catcher Dan Rohlfing was 3-4 with a 3-run homer (2nd) in the 2nd inning. Alex Castellanos had a good game going 3-4 with two doubles, two runs scored, his 4th stolen base, and drove in his 39th run. Jayce Boyd was 0-2 with two walks and two runs scored on the night. Wilredo Tovar had his 9-game hitting streak snapped with an 0-4 night while Matt Reynolds didn’t start the game but did finish the game playing SS as part of a double switch. Box Score
Darin Gorski (3-5, 5.28) is on the mound for the 51’s are they look to win their 5th straight game playing against Salt Lake at 10:05 ET tonight.
Binghamton (32-31) 6, New Britain 5 Walk-Off
Michael Conforto was having a rather off day for him going 0-3 with a walk and striking out twice before he came to bat in the bottom of the 9th with two outs and the winning run on third base. The B’Mets and Conforto were down to there last strike but on a 1-2 pitch Michael capped the sweep New Britain with a RBI single up the middle to end the game. Here is video of the hit. Conforto is now hitting .299/.383/.498 with 9 HR’s, 39 RBI’s, 17 doubles, and a 30/39 BB/K combined between St. Lucie and Binghamton. Josh Rodriguez started the game on the bench but made is presence felt with a RBI double in the 7th and a RBI single in the 9th to tie the game after being double switched in. Rodriguez now has 12 RBI’s in his last 19 at bats giving him 43 on the year which is good enough for 2nd in the Eastern League, he leads the EL with 11 homeruns. Eudy Pina was 1-3 with a 3-run homerun, his first of the season after hitting nine in St. Lucie last year. L.J. Mazzilli was 0-5 last night as he is having a tough time adjusting to AA pitching so far sporting a .179 average in Binghamton. Very rough night for Gavin Cecchini who went 0-4 with his 15th error and had to leave the game in the 9th after getting a ground ball in the groin area.
John Mincone hadn’t pitched all year after spending last year in Savannah but picked a good time for his first outing pitching a scoreless 9th picking the win in his Binghamton debut. Seth Lugo went 6 innings giving up four runs (three earned) on seven hits (HR by Rockies #12 prospect Trevor Story) one walk and struck out five batters. Beck Wheeler gave up a run in his 1.2 innings breaking his streak of 9 scoreless appearances in a row. Box Score
Binghamton has the day off before heading to Portland on Tuesday to play the Sea Dogs.
St. Lucie (32-31) 5, Palm Beach 2
The St. Lucie Mets were trailing 2-1 heading to the bottom of the 6th when Brandon Nimmo (rehab assignment) led off with walk, Maikis De La Cruz followed with a walk too putting the go-ahead run on first. After a strike out by Matt Oberste, Dominic Smith came to the plate an did what everyone thought he would hitting a 2-run double to right field for what ended up being the game winning hit. Smith finished going 4-4 for his first four hit game of the season. Smith is now leads the FSL in doubles (21), 4th in RBI’s (36), 6th in avg (.298), 7th in SLG (.434), and 9th in OPS (.769), not bad for a guy that turns 20 years old today. Jeff McNeil was 2-4 with his 8th double and 9th stolen base while still leading the Florida State League in hitting at .335 on the year. Nimmo was 0-3 with a walk and a run scored while playing center field and hitting 2nd in his first game action since hurting his knee on May 15th. Amed Rosario continued his June long slump going 0-4 with his 15th RBI, now hitting .167/.231/.229 this month. Victor Cruzado was 1-3 with his 7th double, 4th RBI, and 13th walk of the year, he has now reached base in all seven games since being activated from DL.
Kevin McGowan was the starting pitcher for St. Lucie giving his best performance of the year finishing 8 innings for just the 2nd time in his pro career. In his 8 innings he allowed two runs (both unearned) on only four hits and zero walks while striking out four hitters. McGowan picked up his 5th win of the year and dropped his ERA to 4.26, WHIP down to 1.43 on the year. Before getting the great news that he had been promoted Akeel Morris came in to pitch the 9th picking up his 13th save while striking out two. Box Score
St. Lucie plays tonight at 7:00 against Clearwater with John Gant (0-0, 2.75) on the mound.
Hickory 8, Savannah (34-29) 1
The Sand Gnats were deadlocked in a scoreless game heading into the bottom of the 6th when the Savannah bullpen imploded to give up eight runs in the final three innings. Ricky Knapp made just his 3rd start of the year and was fantastic pitching 5 scoreless innings giving up three hits, zero walks, and striking out five. Dawrin Frias and Ben Griset followed him allowing a combined eight runs on eight hits and two walks.
The Savannah offense could muster only seven hits on the night with the 6-9 hitters collecting six of them while scoring and knocking in the only Sand Gnats run. Adrian Abreu was the offensive star collecting two hits and knocking in the only run on his 24th birthday. Vicente Lupo had two hits as well as scoring the only run, he is now hitting .303 over his last 10 games raising his average from .179 to .213 in that span. Wuilmer Becerra was 1-4 having now hit safely in 8 of his last 10 games, hitting .325 with nine RBI’s over that span. Jonathan Johnson had his 9-game hitting streak snapped with an 0-4 night dropping his average to .331 which still leads the SAL. Both Luis Guillorme and Eudor Garcia had rare disappointing nights combining to go 0-8 with Garcia striking out three times. Box Score
Casey Meisner (6-1, 1.82) looks for his 5th straight start with a win as he goes against 40-22 Hickory tonight.
Over The Weekend
On Saturday we found out what had been rumored for awhile that Savannah Sand Gnat lefty Brad Wieck was named as the player to be named later in the Alex Torres deal and is now officially San Diego Padre property. Wieck was a 7th round pick last year and was having a solid season going 3-5 with a 3.21 ERA with 74 strikeouts in just 56 innings so far. On Saturday the B’Mets swept a doubleheader over New Britain with Robert Gsellman pitching 6 solid innings to get his first career AA win. Conforto also had his 2nd AA homerun on Saturday which you can watch here. Las Vegas won on Friday night thanks to a walk-off RBI single by Matt Reynolds who is hitting .405 over his last 10 games. The Sand Gnats won 8-6 on Friday night behind Jonathan Johnson who was 3-5 with his 2nd HR and just a double short of a cycle. In the same game Wuilmer Becerra hit his 8th homerun of the year, he is now hitting .288/.339/.502 with 33 RBI’s and 27 extra base hits on the year.
