Mets Minors Daily: Mazzoni Rocked, Mejia Ineffective Again, St. Lucie Wins In Extras

Meji-UGH, Bullpen Fails in 4-3 Loss to Louisville

By Seah Kenny

Jeurys Familia wasn’t spectacular, but was effective today and the Buffalo bullpen proved ineffective for the second straight night in the 5-3 series opening loss to the Louisville Bats.

Familia had his best outing in his last four, going five and two-thirds innings while giving up one run on six hits, striking out three and walking two. Familia did not have his best control today, throwing 48 of 84 pitches for strikes, but was wildly effective and minimized the walks. The key to Familia’s growth will be to learn to throw strikes because pitches in the zone = more hittable and contact can become an out, but a walk just can’t.

Once Familia left, Josh Edgin pitched a solid inning, walking one and striking out two. The Jenrry Mejia experiment still proves frustrating, as Jenrry Mejia made it through the seventh only allowing a hit, but faced three batters in the eighth without getting an out. Mejia’s final line was two runs allowed on two hits with two walks in one inning. Mejia has struggled with everything – missing bats, staying in the strike zone, even being consistent. Fernando Cabrera came out for the save situation, and went two innings allowing two runs on two hits while walking two and striking out two.

The Buffalo bullpen has been bullish in its performance. The bullpen does not have one sure-fire stopper, and the Mets could use someone in Buffalo to prove they can get outs after the starters.

The offense scattered eleven hits for three runs. Den Dekker, Satin, Lewis and Rodriguez each had two-hit games. Matt Den Dekker had a solo home run on the day, Jordany Valdespin drew a bases-loaded walk and Matt Tuiasosopo had an RBI double. The Bisons drew four walks to four strikeouts and put some solid contact on pitches, but just couldn’t get the runs across when they needed them most.Lucas May had another poor defensive day, with two passed balls giving him eight on the season.

Herd Rumblings: Matt Den Dekker has continued to show overall growth, adapting fairly well to AAA pitching while still playing great defense. Mejia is struggling in his relief role, and seeing him in Flushing any time soon looks more like an August thing than anything else. The Bisons will look to take a game from the Bats tomorrow, sending LHP Garrett Olson (2-4, 4.79) up against RHP Pedro Villareal (2-4, 3.86)

Binghamton Gets Clobbered By Bowie

By Joe D.

Binghamton kicked off an eight-game homestand by welcoming in the Bowie Baysox for the start of a four-game set on Tuesday night. But things got out of hand rather quickly for the B-Mets as they were demolished in a 10-1 blowout loss.

Cory Mazzoni started and got in trouble right away when he was tagged for a three-run homer in the first inning which pretty much set the tone for the rest of the game. Mazzoni coughed up another home run in a three-run sixth inning that capped off his night. All told Mazzoni was charged with seven runs, six earned, ten hits, a walk and four strike outs. Shake it off kid…

Adrian Rosario came out to pitch the seventh and I use the word “pitch” very loosely. He was tagged for another three runs on four hits and two walks in his one inning of work. His ERA is an unsightly 7.24 and I have no idea why he hasn’t been demoted to St. Lucie yet. Brad Holt got mop-up duty and pitched two scoreless innings to end the misery.

As for the offense? The B-Mets had just three hits and the only one that mattered was a solo home run by first baseman Eric Campbell in the seventh. wish I had more for you, but that’s it.

B-Mets Buzz: Eric Campbell is second among all Mets affiliates with a .500 slugging percentage. Only the Bison’s and former B-Met Matt den Dekker has a higher slugging at .563. But be still my heart as nobody has a higher on-base than Campbell’s .439 OBP. The B-Mets will continue their series with the Bowie Baysox on Wednesday night at 6:35 PM. RHP Gonzalez Germen (4-4, 3.72) will take the hill and face off against RHP Tim Bascom (3-5, 4.26).

St Lucie Edges Out Cubs In 12-Inning Affair

By Satish Ram

The St.Lucie Mets took care of business with the Daytona Cubs on Tuesday, walking off with a 4-3 win in the 12th inning on an Alonzo Harris single. The two-out single scored Travis Taijeron, who has been enjoying relative success since his promotion. The Mets scattered their other three runs throughout this game, with TJ Rivera scoring on a Robbie Shields double in the fifth, Alonzo Harris driving in TJ Rivera in the seventh, and a clutch single by Rylan Sandoval in the ninth to tie up the game by scoring Harris which saved the Mets from a loss.

Tyler Pill actually started this game, and pitched very effectively, albeit it was forgotten in the grand scheme of things. He pitched into the seventh, allowing five hits and a walk over 6.2 IP while striking out six, lowering his ERA to 2.78. Jack Leathersich took over after and struggled, even after preventing the inherited runner from Pill from scoring. He was charged with all three of the Daytona runs on Tuesday afternoon, with one of them being allowed by Jeffrey Walters, who toed the rubber after him. Leathersich struck out three over an inning and two thirds pitched, but had difficulty with location, allowing three hits and two walks. He was stuck with his first blown save.

Kudos to John Church and Hamilton Bennett, who combined for a scoreless three innings in the extra frames and kept the Mets right in the game. Bennett ended up picking up the win, improving to 7-1 . Two Daytona errors definitely did not help matters for them at all.

Lucie Logistics: Every St.Lucie player that had a hit in this game had multiple hits: Shields(4-5, 2 2B, RBI), Taijeron (2-5, 2B), Forsythe (2-6), Sandoval (3-6, RBI), and Harris (4-7, 2B, 2 RBI, SB). 6-17 with RISP for the A-Mets. The Mets continue their series against Daytona tomorrow and I would love to tell you who is starting. But at 2:40 AM, the Mets still have not listed tomorrow’s starters. Woo-hoo.

Charleston Beats Savannah In Extras

By Joe D.

It was heartbreak hotel for the Savannah Sand Gnats on Tuesday night as they blew a four-run lead late in the game and allowed the Charleston RiverDogs to tie it and win it in the tenth inning by a score of 7-6.

Domingo Tapia started for the Gnats, but a bout of wildness kept him from finishing the fourth inning and he was pulled before he could register an out. He allowed just one earned run on two hits while walking three and striking out three. He was replaced by Carlos Vasquez who allowed one of the inherited runners to score and then allowed another run to bring the RiverDogs a little closer at 6-2. However it was reliever Jared West who allowed Charleston to tie the game in the seventh with a forgettable performance that saw him let up four earned runs on three hits and two walks. Chasen Bradford kept Charleston off the board in the eighth and ninth innings, but a fatigued Bradford came out to pitch the tenth and before he could register an out, he allowed the game winning run to score.

CF Gilbert Gomez and 1B Brian Harrison each had three hits and a pair of doubles each. Harrison drove in a pair of runs and Gomez scored a pair. Both of them are moving ever so closer to the .300 mark in batting. Catcher Camden Maron continues to scorch the ball and also had three hits in the game and is now batting .299.

Gnats Gnotes: Sand Gnats pitchers walked seven batters in the game, most of which came back to bite them in their stingers. Cam Maron has a .456 SLG and .857 OPS in his last ten games with seven RBIs, not bad for a catcher. Jared West had his third blown save of the season and has a 5.56 ERA. The Gnats continue their series with the RiverDogs on Wednesday at 7:05 PM.

Renegades Dismantle Cyclones 4-2

By Clayton Collier

Despite another solid performance out of their starter, defensive shortcomings and a lack of run production resulted in a 4-2 loss for the Brooklyn Cyclones at the hands of the Hudson Valley Renegades.

Luis Cessa was on the hill for Brooklyn for his second start on the year and had a very similar start to that of his First one against the Yankees last week, except this time he was even better. In both starts Cessa allowed six hits over five frames, but the differene this time was around was that the 20-year old allowed ony one run instead of two in his first outing.Last week however, Cessa got the win, this time around he wasn’t so fortunate, taking a no decision.

Here’s why Cessa didn’t get his much deserved “W” on the day. After pitching a scoreless sixth, Dawrin Frias came on for his second inning of work in the seventh. After getting himself into a 1st and second with one out jam, Frias got a ground ball that Cole Frenzel tried to stretch into a 3-6-3 double play. Two throwing errors later however, and it was now a tied ballgame with runners at second and third with still only one out. From there the Renegades scored another two on a wild pitch and a sac fly to make it a 4-2 ballgame, putting HUdson Valley on top for good.

The stifled offense did not to the Cyclones any favors in attempting to pull out a win this ballgame. Scoring only twice in the second off of RBI singles by Eudy Pena and Cole Frenzel, the Hudson Valley bullpen made the ‘Clones offense look foolish, allowing just three baserunners over five shutout frames to take this ballgame and now tie the ‘Clones for first place in the McNamara division of the New York-Penn League.

Brooklyn Brew: A big factor in the disappearence of the offense was the fact that the 1-2-3 in the order, Richie Rodriguez, Brandon Nimmo and Steve Phillips went a combined 0-for-12 on the night. 2012 1st supplemental round pick Kevin Plawecki went 1-3 on the evening with a walk and a run scored. Despite his big error in the seventh, Cole Frenzel went 1-for-3 on the night with an RBI, now batting .385 to start the season. Eudy Pina and Stefan Sabol both had two hit games, raising their averages to .265 and .250 on the season respectively. Despite taking a loss, Luis Cessa lowered his ERA to 2.70. The ‘Clones look for better results tomorrow against the Hudson Valley Renegades with Hansel Robles (0-1 1.80) on the mound in a battle for first place Wedensday starting at 7pm at MCU Park.

Kingsport Comes Up Short Again

By Pete Shapiro

The Kingsport Mets came up empty again losing their second game in a row to Danville, and the seventh loss in their first eight games by a score of 5-3 on Tuesday night. Left-hander Steve Matz (0-1) started for the K-Mets and took the loss despite the fact that he pitched very well going five innings and giving up just two runs, one earned on three hits and a walk, with five strikeouts. The 7th round pick from this year’s draft, right-hander Corey Oswalt made his pro debut and pitched the final three innings for Kingsport. Unfortunately he allowed Danville to score three more times on four hits and a walk, while striking out three.

Kingsport scored first when left-fielder Joe Tuschak singled with one-out in the first inning and shortstop Gavin Cecchini followed with his first triple of the year to drive in Tuschak from first, making it 1-0 Kingsport. The score remained that way until the bottom of the fourth. With one out an error on K-Mets first-baseman Jonathan Leroux put Danville DH Josh Elander on first. Left-fielder Edison Sanchez followed with a double to left-field, and first-baseman Aris Alcantara singled to score both runners and give Danville a 2-1 lead. Danville would score a single run in the sixth on a lead-off triple by third-baseman Carlos Franco off Corey Oswalt. With one out Franco would score on a sac-fly by Edison Sanchez to make the score 3-1.

The Braves put the game on ice in the seventh when with one out catcher Troy Snitker singled to center. Center-fielder Logan Robbins then doubled to left to score Snitker, and then after a balk, shortstop Ronald Luna doubled home Robbins to make the score 5-1. The Kingsport offense started to stir towards the end of the game but it was too little too late. In the eighth second-baseman Branden Kaupe drew a walk and with two outs, singles by Cecchini and right-fielder Jeff Diehl would plate Kaupe to make it 5-2.

Right-hander Nathan Hyatt came in to pitch the ninth for Danville and promptly walked DH Michael Bernal. After there was one out, Nathan threw back-to-back wild pitches to move Bernal to third. Then with two outs, pinch-hitter Eris Peguero singled to score Bernal making it 5-3, and bringing the tying run to the plate in pinch-hitter Jeyckol De Leon. But De Leon struck out swinging to end the game and make a winner of Danville who have now won five in a row.

Righty Frank Lafreniere (1-0) got the win for the Braves by throwing six innings and only giving up one run on four hits with six strikeouts. Seven different hitters had one hit each for Danville, the K-Mets managed eight hits on the day, with Cecchini and catcher Tomas Nido getting two hits apiece.

Kingsport Knews: Outfielder Eris Peguero is sixth in the Appalachian League in hitting with a .406 batting average. Branden Kaupe is third in the league in on-base percentage with a .542. Catcher Jeyckol De Leon is tied for third in the league in doubles with 4. Danville is now 6-2 and in first place in the Eastern Division of the Appalachian League. At 1-7 Kingsport is mired in last place in the Western Division. Danville will try to break out the broom on Wednesday and see if they can sweep the K-Mets out of town. The third game of the three-game set is scheduled to begin at 7:00 pm with right-hander Persio Reyes (0-1) the scheduled starter for Kingsport.