Mets Minors Daily: Flores Busts Out For B-Mets, Cyclones Keep Rolling, Kingsport Finally Wins One

Bisons Fall Back Below .500 With 4-3 Loss

By Connor O’Brien

The Bisons lost a close one to the Durham Bulls last night by a score of 4-3.

Matt Harvey got the start for the Bisons. He struggled to find his command early, but turned it around as his start progressed. The Bulls scored their first run off Harvey in the second on an RBI single to center by Matt Mangini. The Bisons tied it up in the fourth with a Fred Lewis home run to make the score 1-1. However, the Bulls responded in the bottom of the frame with a run of their own to take a one-run advantage. That’s all Matt Harvey would allow. He finished up after allowing two runs on seven hits in five innings. He also walked two and struck out six, but ended up with a no decision.

Both teams resumed the scoring in the sixth. In the top of the inning, Josh Rodriguez, playing his second game with the Bisons, hit his first home run of the year to tie the game at two apiece. Justin Hampson entered the game in the bottom of the sixth and allowed two runs. First he allowed a home run to Matt Mangini to lead off the inning. Then, he gave up a double and a sacrifice bunt to put a runner on third with one out. Later in the inning, he throws a wild pitch, allowing the run to score and gave the Bulls a 4-2 lead.

That’s all the Bulls would need on the night. Fred Lewis hit a solo home run, his second of the game, to cut the advantage to 4-3, but that’s all the Bisons would get. The offense could score no more and the Bisons lost their fifth straight.

Herd Rumblings: Justin Hampson, who many have been saying should be pitching for the Mets, dropped to 4-2 on the year with that unimpressive sixth inning. Josh Edgin threw a scoreless eighth inning, allowing just a hit. On offense, Josh Rodriguez, Fred Lewis, and Josh Satin were the Bisons with multiple hits. Lewis had a huge game with those two home runs. He was 3-for-5 on the night. Lewis only had two home runs coming into last night’s game. Josh Satin was 2-for-3 and also walked. He now has three straight multi-hit games. Dylan Owen was placed on the DL after the game and Mark Cohoon has been called up to take the mound on Monday in the series finale in Durham. First pitch is at 12:05.

Binghamton Prevails In 7-5 Win Over Erie

By Joe D.

The Binghamton Mets staved off a late game charge by the Erie Sea Wolves to secure a 7-5 score victory on Sunday afternoon at Jerry Uht Park.

Armando Rodriguez started the game for Bingo after scheduled starter Mark Cohoon was promoted to Triple-A Buffalo earlier that morning. Rodriguez gave up a solo homer in the first inning to put Erie ahead 1-0, but was hit pretty hard and was only able to last three innings before finally being yanked and replaced by reliever Erik Turgeon. Rodriguez was charged with three runs on six hits (two home runs) and a walk while striking out none.

Turgeon gave Binghamton two scoreless innings and he was followed by Ryan Fraser who added two scoreless innings as well. Both relievers have been struggling this season, so it was encouraging to see them both deliver quality efforts out of the pen.

Adrian Rosario came into the game next and was absolutely awful in the eighth inning allowing four base-runners and one run before he was replaced by Robert Carson who contained the damage and was able to register the final two outs to end that inning. Carson would come back out for the ninth to pick up a five-out save, his sixth of the season.

Wilmer Flores started at third base and led the offensive attack with a big four-hit day that included a pair of doubles, two runs driven in, and a run scored.

Pedro Zapata also had a nice game including a clutch RBI single that put the B-Mets up for good in the third inning and he later gave his team a much needed insurance run with a solo home run in the sixth.

Jefry Marte was hitless in the game, but did work out two walks and came around to score both times.

B-Mets Buzz: The game lasted three hours and twenty-two minutes, the longest nine-inning B-Mets game of the season. Ryan Fraser earned the official scorer-awarded victory, his first win as a B-Met. Wilmer Flores is scorching the ball since his promotion to Binghamton and is batting .471 (8-for-17) with six RBI. The B-Mets wrap up their four-game series against Erie and complete their nine-game road-trip Monday night at 7:05 PM. RHP Zack Wheeler goes for Binghamton.

Rains Wash Out St.Lucie

 By Satish Ram

Sunday’s matchup between the St.Lucie Mets and the Daytona Cubs was postponed due to bad weather. The game was rescheduled as part of a doubleheader on Monday. Game one will begin at 4:00 PM. The teams will play two seven-inning games with Angel Cuan ( 4-3, 2.55) slated to start the first game.

Cyclones Pound Out 10-5 Win Against Aberdeen

By Clayton Collier

While the Mets failed to take a series win against their crosstown “chickens” last night, the Cyclones beat up on some fowl of their own, tenderizing the Aberdeen Ironbirds 10-5.

Gabriel Ynoa took the hill for his second go-around of the year and continued to hit the ground running in this 2012 season. Despite a hiccup in the seventh that opened up a big inning for the Ironbirds, Ynoa still had himself a solid outing, hurling six frames allowing two runs on three hits, walking one while punching out four, taking his first win of the year while raising his ERA to an oh-so gaudy 1.50.

The bullpen continued to be shaky as the seventh inning left something to be desired for Brooklyn. After Ynoa allowed the first two batters to reach base, he was pulled for Ernesto Yanez, who loaded up the bases before allowing a nice grand slam off the bat of Doug Bream to make it a 10-4 ballgame. After that, Yanez loaded up the bases again before being relieved by Tyler Vanderheiden, who retired the side but allowing a run to score in the process to cut the ‘Clones lead to five.

The real story of the evening however was the offense, who scored ten runs on 13 hits to put this one out of reach for Aberdeen. With only two extra base hits in the form of a Eudy Pina double and a Nelfi Zapata solo shot, the Cyclones had the art of playing small ball in a big way to score in six of their nine frames played today to get out of Aberdeen with a win.

Brooklyn Brew: Brandon Nimmo went 0-for-2 but had three walks and two runs on the night. He had hit up and around the Mendoza line but due to the high volumne of walks has an on-base percentage of over .450 in 2012. Hometown kid Jon Mincone closed out the night with 1 2/3 scoreless frames to slam the door on the Ironbirds. Alexander Sanchez stayed hot with a four hit game to boost his average to a cool .387 on the year. Nelfi Zapata Cole Frenzel and Jonathon Clark all had multi-hit games as well in the win. The Cyclones move on to Hudson Valley to take on the Renegades Monday starting at 7:00 PM.

August Sinks Savannah 2-1

By Fonzie13

Another pitchers duel Sunday afternoon at Historic Grayson Stadium in Savannah as the Augusta Greenjackets (35-38) handed the Sand Gnats (42-29) a 2-1 loss, dropping three of four to Augusta to start the second half.

The Sand Gnats sent Jimmy Fuller to the mound for his first start since 2010 after missing the entire season a year ago with injury. Fuller had a rough go of it, lasting only three innings, letting up two runs on five hits, did not walk a batter and fanned two.

Augusta got to Fuller early as they scored a run in the second, coming after two out. A single and a run scoring triple gave the Greenjackets a 1-0 lead. After a leadoff double in the top of the fourth, Fuller was lifted for Randy Fontanez. After a sacrifice bunt, Fontanez surrendered an RBI single to give the Greenjackets a 2-0 lead. Fontanez would then shut down the Greenjackets offense for three innings letting up only two more hits, did not walk a batter and punched out six.

Augusta starter LHP Adalberto Mejia gave Gnat hitters fits all day as he did not allow a hit over his six innings of work, yielding just two walks, striking out five.

Hitless until the seventh inning the Gnats would finally break through. A one out walk to RF Dustin Lawley followed by an 3B Aderln Rodriguez single, the first hit for Savannah. Then after 1B Brian Harrison popped up to the shortstop, RF Greg Pron singled through the hole on the right side to score Lawley, cutting the Augusta lead in half, 2-1. Rodriguez took third as the ball trickled away from Augusta third baseman Garret Buechelle. The Gnats would come up short in their attempt to come back, C Xorge Carillo was whiffed on three pitches, stranding two aboard.

The Sand Gnats would only manage one more hit the rest of the way as two Augusta relievers shut the door on the Savannah attack. All toll the Sand Gnats like Saturday’s contest, would only put three hits on the board as the team has started to feel the loss of their two top hitters to promotions to Advanced A St Lucie. Travis Taijeron and TJ Rivera carried the Savannah offense for much of the season and so far no one has stepped up to take the place of two of the top offensive forces in the S.A.L.

Gnats Gnotes: Savannah heads to Charleston to take on the Riverdogs (NYY) for four games. Like Savannah, Charleston has lost their first three out of four to open the second half of the S.A.L. season. Charleston LHP Matt Bashore (0-1, 2.25) making his debut for the Rivergogs, takes on Savannah RHP Marcos Camarena (5-1, 1.30). Camarena will make his thrid consecutive start after coming out of the pen most of the season. As a starter Marcos has been just as brilliant as he was in relief. Overall Marcos has appeared in 17 games (3 starts), pitched 48 1/3rd innings, allowing only 31 hits 11 runs (7 ER), 1 HR given up, 7 walks, 33 strikeouts, a 186 BAA and a microscopic 0.79 ERA. Maybe the most underrated pitcher in the NY Mets farm system.

Kingsport Nails Down Long Awaited Victory

By Pete Shapiro

The long wait finally ended last night when the Kingsport Mets won their first game of the 2012 season after five straight losses to start off. The K-Mets got six quality innings from 2011 13th-round draft pick, right-hander Robert Gsellman (1-0). The offense backed him with season highs in hits (15) and runs, to take the final game in the three-game series against the Greeneville Astros by a score of 8-3.

Gsellman picked up his first professional win by going six innings with one unearned run on five hits, and three strikeouts. He was relieved by right-hander Christian Chivilli who picked up his first save going 3.0 innings, giving up two runs, one earned, on five hits, with a strikeout.

The game was scoreless until the bottom of the third, when Eris Peguero drove in Branden Kaupe from second-base with a two-out single. Greeneville would plate an unearned run in the fourth, but Kingsport would answer back in their half of the inning on a run-scoring double by catcher Jeyckol De Leon, and an RBI single by right-fielder Maikis De La Cruz, making the score 3-1 in favor of the K-Mets.

Kingsport would pile on four more runs in the fifth thanks to a two-run single by Gavin Cecchini, and a two-run triple by Maikis De La Cruz, bringing the score to 7-1. The final K-Mets run of the game would score in the sixth inning on an RBI double by Bradley Marquez.

The hitting stars of the game for Kingsport were numerous, with contributions up and down the line-up. Jeyckol De Leon went 3-for-4 with two doubles, two runs, and one RBI. Maikis De La Cruz also went 3-for-4 with a triple and three RBI. Center-fielder Bradley Marquez got the first two hits of his professional career going 2-for-4 with a double, a run, and an RBI. Second-baseman Branden Kaupe was 2-for-3 with a walk and two runs scored, while DH Joe Tuschak went 2-for-4. And then there was of course Cecchini who went 1-for-5 on the night, but drove in two runs, and scored two runs.

Kingsport Knews: Eris Peguero went 1-for-5 which was the first time this season he didn’t have a multiple hit game. He still has a six-game hitting streak going though, and he is batting a cool .429 for the year. The other two best hitters for Kingsport so far this season are: De Leon who is 7-for-18 with three runs, four doubles and four RBI. His slash line reads .389/.450/.611. Then there is Kaupe who is off to a nice start at 3-for-10, with five runs and seven walks, good for a slash line of .300/.588/.300. Although they occupy the cellar of the Western Division of the Appy League with a 1-5 record, the K-Mets are only three games back of the division leading Greeneville Astros. Monday night the K-Mets open up a three-game series at Danville against the Danville Braves, game time is 7:05 pm. The probable starter for Kingsport is right-hander Akeel Morris (0-1) who makes his second start of the year.