Alex Ramirez, Photo by Ed Delany of MMO

AAA: Lehigh Valley IronPigs (17-12) 4, Syracuse Mets (9-19) 1 BOX SCORE

It was a quiet night offensively for the Syracuse Mets, as they scored one run on four hits. The only scoring play of the night was a Cody Bohanek home run that he crushed into deep left field during the third inning. Carlos Cortes, Patrick Mazeika, and Branden Fryman had singles in Saturday’s game, but the Mets were unable to string together enough hits to further cut into the IronPigs’s lead.

Mike Montgomery pitched well tonight except for the third inning. Montgomery allowed four earned runs in the inning on a couple of doubles, a triple, and a single. Khalil Lee also had a throwing error in the inning that aided the scoring attack for the IronPigs. Jake Reed relieved Montgomery to help him close out the sixth inning, and then he proceeded to also pitch a scoreless seventh inning. Eric Orze pitched well in the final two innings of the game, allowing only one hit and striking out four batters.

AA: Binghamton Rumble Ponies (8-17) 5, Hartford Yard Goats (14-12) 4 BOX SCORE

The Rumble Ponies narrowly escaped the Yard Goats on Saturday night, fueled by a five run, ten hit day by the offense. Brett Baty had a strong night at the plate, hitting two singles and scoring Luke Ritter on a fielder’s choice in the seventh inning.

Jeremy Vasquez had a two-out, two-RBI double in the top of the sixth inning that tied the game at 3-for-3 and shifted the momentum back to the Rumble Ponies. Also, Ritter had a significant double in the top of the seventh inning, scoring Matt Winaker and giving Binghamton their first lead of the game. Francisco Álvarez did not do too well today, going 0-for-4 with a walk.

The Rumble Ponies used four pitchers in this game, starting with David Griffin. Griffin seemed to be having some slight control issues, as he threw 32 balls over 75 pitches. He only allowed one extra base hit, a double to Aaron Schunk in the fourth inning, but allowing too many walks and singles. This caused manager Reid Brignac to send in Joe Zanghi.

Zanghi and Campos combined for 4 1/3 scoreless innings to set up Michel Otanez for the save. Otanez got into some trouble when Ezequiel Tovar hit an RBI-single and advanced to second on a Ronny Mauricio throwing error, putting the tying run on 2nd with one out. However, Otanez struck out the next two batters to secure the eighth win of the year for Binghamton.

A: Palm Beach Cardinals (10-16) 13, St. Lucie Mets (18-8) 9 BOX SCORE

The St. Lucie Mets had their seven game win streak snapped yesterday against the Cardinals. The good news is that Alex Ramirez had a home run, a double, a single, and three runs batted in. Ramirez has had a scorching hot May so far, going 14-for-29 with three doubles, a triple, two home runs, and seven RBIs. Carlos Dominguez and William Lugo both had two-RBI games, with Lugo’s coming from a home run in the top of the ninth inning that also scored Dominguez.

For the most part, St. Lucie pitchers had very little success against the Cardinals on Saturday. Dominic Hamel got the start and was replaced in the fifth inning due to allowing four earned runs and not having his best command (39 balls across 88 pitches and four walks). Trey McLoughlin earned the loss for this game. He allowed three earned runs from Tyler Reichenborn‘s 3 RBI double in the bottom of the sixth inning.

Note, High-A Brooklyn Cyclones had their game postponed due to weather.