Col. Springs 11, Las Vegas (29-18) 1
The Sky Sox jumped on Tyler Pill early and often scoring atleast a run in each of the four innings and continued hitting against the bullpen scoring atleast a run in the last three as well. Pill ended up going only 4 innings allowing seven runs on twelve hits and a walk while striking out only two taking his 2nd loss of the year. Cody Satterwhite followed in relief and was the only 51’s pitcher not to give up a run throwing two scoreless with three strikeouts. Satterwhite has extended his scoreless streak to 8 innings over his last five appearances striking out 12 in that span. Zack Thornton gave up one unearned run (error on 3B Nelfi Zapata) in his inning of work despite not allowing a hit or walk, he hasn’t gave up an earned run since May 8th. Scott Rice allowed a run in the 8th inning, it was the first run he has given up since April 12th and just the 2nd all year. Chase Bradford followed giving up two runs in his inning of work, the first runs he has allowed in 5 appearances.
The 51’s bats were quiet collecting only five hits and two walks on the night with Brandon Allen being the only hitter to reach twice with his two hits knocking in the only run. Allen is now 14-33 with seven RBI’s over his last 10 games. Alex Castellanos was 1-4 with his 13th double of the year while Johnny Monell was 1-4 with a single. T.J. Rivera failed to get a hit for the first time in a start for Vegas but he did walk. Matt Reynolds did not play at all in a game where Wally Backman used Logan Verrett as a pinch hitter and had to use Zapata (two errors) at 3B for the first time this year. Box Score
Matthew Bowman (2-5, 6.98) gets the start for the 51’s tonight at 10:05 ET as they host Col. Springs once again.
Portland 3, Binghamton (24-22) 2
Dillon Gee wasted some of his bullets in Binghamton last night going 6.1 innings allowing three runs (two earned) on five hits, two walks while striking out four hitters. Gee threw 96 pitches with 67 of them for strikes while his line could have looked better if it wasn’t for two errors made behind him by Jairo Perez and reliever Matt Koch allowing an inherited runner score in the 7th. Koch allowed only the inherited runner in his 1.2 innings giving up three hits with a strikeout. He has now allowed just one run in 16 innings since moving to the bullpen. Paul Sewald pitched a scoreless 9th lowering his ERA to 1.59 with the league hitting just 1.71 against him in 22.2 innings.
The B’Mets had a measly three hits but Sea Dogs pitching was wild walking 7 hitters and hitting one. Binghamton was unable to capitalize on their scoring chances going 0-9 with runners in scoring position and leaving 9 runners on base including Eudy Pina on 3rd in the bottom of the 9th. Going into the 9th trailing 3-2 Pina lead off the 9th with a double, moved over to 3rd on a ground out by Perez. Gilbert Gomez followed needing only a sac fly but struck out swinging then after Gavin Cecchini walked on four pitches Jared King struck out swinging to end the game and saddle Gee with the loss. Pina also walked, knocked in a run (6th), scored a run, and stole his 6th bag of the season. Jayce Boyd had his 12-game hit streak snapped but still walked twice scoring one of the B’Mets runs. Cecchini was 0-3 with two walks on the night while King was 0-5 dropping his average to .213. Box Score
Binghamton looks to avoid the sweep early today at 10:35 AM with Luis Cessa (3-3, 3.58) on the mound.
Lakeland 4, St. Lucie (22-24) 1
Big story here is the mush anticipated return of Travis d’Arnaud who caught the first 7 innings going 0-3 with three groundouts to second base. The groundout in the 1st inning did move Jeff McNeil to 3rd who would eventually score on a Michael Conforto RBI groundout. McNeil was 1-4 scoring the Mets only run and stealing his 7th base of the season while lowering his FSL leading average to .346. The Mets only had four hits on the night with the surging Dominic Smith collecting two of them including his 11th double of the year and his 8th in the last 11 games. Smith now has a 9-game hitting streak going 13-34 in that span. Conforto got his lone hit with a single in the 9th inning while the struggling Champ Stuart was 1-3 with his 12th steal but struck out for the 19th consecutive game.
Starter Logan Taylor had a rough first inning giving up four runs but settled in to throw 5 scoreless to end his outing. Taylor ended up going 6 innings allowing the four runs on five hits, four walks, striking out two, and getting 11 groundball outs on the night. Lefty Kyle Regnault followed pitching 2 scoreless innings striking out three hitters lowering his ERA to 2.38 and his WHIP to 1.19 on the year. Box Score
Rob Whalen (2-2, 2.38) takes the hill tonight at 6:30 vs. Lakeland at Tradition Field.
Savannah (21-25) 7, Asheville 2
Casey Meisner followed up last weeks gem ( 7IP, H, 10 K’s) with another solid start going 7 innings allowing only two runs on five hits, two walks, striking out five, and throwing 95 pitches with 62 for strikes. The win moved Meisner to 4-1 with a 2.02 ERA, 1.04 WHIP, and the league is hitting just .208 against him. Paul Paez pitched two scoreless innings to close out the game collecting three strikeouts giving up one hit. Paez has yet to allow a run this year over 7.1 innings and 4 appearances.
Jean Rodriguez charged the offense going 3-3 with a walk, scoring two runs, and blasting his 2nd homerun of the year in the 7th inning extending the Sand Gnats lead to 6-2. Wuilmer Becerra chipped in going 1-4 with his 10th double and 19th RBI of the season. Third basemen Eudor Garcia was 1-4 with two RBI’s giving him 11 on the year in just 22 games for Savannah. Luis Guillorme was 1-5 scoring a run and has a hit in 7 of his last 10 games. Box Score
Savannah is back at it tonight with Ricky Knapp (0-0, 1.80) scheduled to get his 2nd straight start after pitching exclusively out of the bullpen vs. against Charleston at 7:05
Minor League News and Injury Notes
St. Lucie Mets right hander Robert Gsellman has been promoted to AA Binghamton after going 6-0 with the 4th best ERA in the FSL (1.76), 5th in WHIP (0.94), and 6th in innings pitched at 51. B’Mets pitcher John Gant will be demoted to St. Lucie in the corresponding move, he was 2-3 with a 4.75 ERA while walking 5.2 per 9 innings.
Possibly devastating injury news for highly ranked pitching prospect Marcos Molina who is now being evaluated for possible Tommy John Surgery. He has been shut down on May 14th a day after his worst pitching performance of the year in which he showed diminished velocity with what they were calling at the time elbow stiffness. MMO’s 9th ranked prospect had started the season out 1-4 with a 4.41 ERA and 4.00 SO/W ratio a year after dominating Brooklyn with a 1.78 ERA and 0.842 WHIP.
Third basemen Jhoan Urena has been sitting out since hurting his wrist during a swing on Friday but has yet to be placed on the DL for St. Lucie and is not expected to be a serious concern.
