Las Vegas (20-8) 8, Albuquerque 2
Noah Syndergaard had himself a game where his pitching was the biggest story as he came to bat in the top of the 8th a triple shy of the cycle. Noah hit a double off the wall in left center field that traveled about 425 feet in his first at bat. His 2nd at bat he decided that wasn’t good enough and hit a two-run bomb to straightaway center field that had to be close again to 425 feet. Here is video of Thor’s two-run blast to CF. In his 3rd at bat Noah hit a line drive up the middle that almost took the pitchers head off. Needing only the triple for the cycle Noah stayed in to hit with runners on 2nd and 3rd with nobody out but unfortunately took a called 3rd strike to end that fairy tale. Thor was just as impressive on the mound dominating for 5 innings stretching his scoreless inning streak up to 19.2 until he gave up a run in the bottom of the 6th. He needed only 95 pitches (70 strikes) to get through 8 inning allowing two runs on five hits (HR) with no walks and 8 strikeouts. He was hitting 95-96 on the gun which the home announcer was generally 2-3 MPH slow and threw one so hard in the 3rd inning it read 143! The announcer said he was still hitting the 97-98 range in the 7th and 8th inning. Thor also had his hammer curve working they he used to get 6 out of his 8 K’s while he only threw a handful of changeups. Thor is now 3-0 with a 1.82 ERA, 0.94 WHIP and is holding lefty hitters to a .162 average. Jack Leathersich came in for the 9th pitching a perfect frame with two strike outs.
Darrell Ceciliani went 2-5 on the night with his 2nd triple of the season, scored a run, knocked in two, and stole his 3rd base. Ceciliani is now hitting .306/.381/.597 on the year while hitting .379 over his last 10 and somewhere Kirk Nieuwenhuis is breathing a sign of relief that Darrell isn’t on the 40-man roster. Another outfielder putting his name on the list to watch is Travis Taijeron who was 2-4, R, BB, RBI(16), 2B, and had his first steal of the season. Taijeron now has a slash line of .370/.472/.630 and has gone 12-28 in his last ten games with a 10/8 K/BB ratio. Everyone in the lineup had a hit except Matt Reynolds and Danny Muno who combined to go 0-9 on the day. Box Score. The 51’s look to extend their winning streak to 15 games which would match the 1999 Nashville Sounds. The PCL record is 19 by the then Minor League Los Angeles Angels in 1939. Darin Gorski (2-1, 4.38) gets the start tonight at 9:05 ET in El Paso.
Binghamton 5 (16-11), Portland 4
Jared King was getting the day off partially because he was in a 0-12 slump and has really struggled the whole season to adjust to AA pitching. He entered in the bottom of the 9th as a pinch hitter for Gilbert Gomez (0 for his last 23) with Eudy Pina (walk then stole) as the winning run on 2nd with two outs. King ripped a single up the middle that scored the speedy Pina easily giving the B’Mets the split of the series and hopefully Jared a boost of confidence. Gavin Cecchini (1-4) was back in the lead off spot with Brandon Nimmo (1-4) hitting 2nd as they sparked the offense with a single and double respectively in the 1st inning. Josh Rodriguez (2-4, 4 RBI) continues his domination of AA pitching drove in both guys with a two out two-run double to LF. Binghamton wouldn’t score again until the 6th when JRod hit a two-run HR to put them up 4-3 at the time. Pina who had only walked once in 21 games coming into Thursday walked twice and stole two bases.
Gabriel Ynoa got the start as was fortunate to give up just four run in 6.2 innings because he allowed 12 hits. He did not walk anyone though and managed to strike out four while throwing 97 pitches (68 strikes) in his outing. Dario Alvarez came in and pitched 0.2 innings giving up a hit, BB, striking out two with his nasty slider. Paul Sewald made the biggest pitch of the game after he allowed a single to load the bases (two inherited runners on from Alvarez) that produced a 1-2-3 double play to end the top of the 8th and keep the game tied at 4-4. Sewald pitched a scoreless 9th to pick up his 2nd win and extend his scoreless streak to 16 innings to start the season. I have seen him generally in the 88-89 MPH range so far this year but he was able to hit 92 and 93 MPH on the gun last night. Box Score. Luis Cessa (2-1, 2.14) gets the start tonight as the B’Mets travel to Akron to play at 6:35.
Charlotte 3, St. Lucie (13-15) 2
Logan Taylor had his best start of the year but unfortunately the 3rd inning in which he gave up three runs was all the Stone Crabs needed to win. Taylor went 6 innings giving up just those three on four hits, two walks, striking out five. Mike Hepple threw two clean innings of relief and has not allowed a run since April 23rd. Amed Rosario had a hand in both Mets runs kncoking one in with a triple, scoring on the play after an errant throw by the 2nd basemen. Rosario reached base three times boosting his OBP over the .300 mark at .303 thanks to him hitting .333 over his last 10. Jhoan Urena went 1-3 to extend his hitting streak to 6 games while Jeff McNeil and Michael Conforto combined to go 0-8. Champ Stuart was 1-3 with a walk and stole his 10th base of the season but also registered his 38th strike out. Unfortunately Dominic Smith extended his hitless streak to 22 at bats after going 0-4. Box Score. Robert Whalen (0-1, 1.96) pitches tonight for the Mets who take on Charlotte at 6:30.
Savannah (10-16) 7, Greenville 5 F/11
After relinquishing a 4-1 lead in the bottom of the 9th the Sand Gnats came back to scores three runs in the top of the 11th thanks to a two-run 3B by Jon Leroux(2-5). Dawrin Frias made his season debut getting the save despite giving up a run in the bottom of the 11th. Eudor Garcia was the big story going 4-5 with two doubles in just his 2nd game (3-5 in 1st game) of the season after being called up to try and boost the Savannah offense. Garcia was a 4th round pick last year and played just 55 games in the Appalachian League for the Kingsport Mets in his pro career before Wednesday. Luis Guillorme was 1-6 with two RBI’s and his 2nd steak of the year. Brad Wieck made his best professional start pitching 5 innings giving up only one run on four hits, two walks, striking out 9 hitters on 81 pitches. Box Score. Promising pitching prospects Casey Meisner (1-1, 1.93) starts tonight for Savannah at 7:05 in Greenville.
In roster news Jon Velasquez was sent back down to Binghamton after collecting two saves in two days in Vegas and Jake Kuebler was sent back down to St. Lucie in the corresponding move.
