Brett Baty, Photo by Rick Nelson

The Binghamton Rumble Ponies won in walk-off fashion on Thursday, defeating the Reading Fightin Phils by a score of 5-4.  Brett Baty hit his seventh home run of the season and his fourth in the month of June, while Brandon McIlwain delivered the knockout punch with a game-winning single in extras.

AAA: Rochester Red Wings (39-30) 10, Syracuse Mets (26-42) 9 Box Score

The Mets nearly clawed their way back from two separate massive deficits, but they fell just short in an agonizing defeat. Nick Dini crushed a grand slam in the fifth inning to make it a 6-4 game, but by the eighth inning, the Mets found themselves down 10-4. Johneshwy Fargas homered in the eighth and Quinn Brodey hit a bases-clearing triple in the ninth to pull the Mets within one, but Brodey was tagged out in a rundown to end the game.

Vientos was on base four times and his OPS over the last 30 games is now 1.028. He has played two straight games at first base.

  • RHP Connor Grey: (L, 3-3), 3.2 IP, 9 H, 6 R (4 ER), 2 BB, 4 K, 5.49 ERA
  • RHP Joe Zanghi: 2.0 IP, 3 H, 3 ER, 2 BB, 3 K, 5.56 ERA
  • RHP Yennsy Díaz: 1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, BB, 7.23 ERA

Connor Grey did not have his best stuff working on Thursday, and he fell victim to a two-out rally in the fourth inning that knocked him out of the game and put the Mets down 6-0 early. The next two relievers did not fare much better, combining to allow four runs which proved to be just one too many. Yennsy Díaz’s scoreless eighth was one of the only clean innings a Mets pitcher had all night, but it was all for naught as the hole was too big for the offense to climb out of.

AA: Reading Fightin Phils (29-37) 4, Binghamton Rumble Ponies (25-41) 5 Box Score

The Rumble Ponies came out on top in a dramatic back-and-forth affair, winning in the bottom of the 10th inning on a walk-off single from Brandon McIlwain. McIlwain is hitting .400 through five games since being promoted to Binghamton. Brett Baty smacked his seventh home run of the season and is continuing an outstanding month of June, during which he has accrued an impressive .343/.418/.529 slash line.

Meanwhile, opposing pitchers have apparently decided that the best way to avoid giving up home runs to Francisco Álvarez is to not give him any pitches to hit, as he has now been walked five times in his past two games.

Jesús Vargas did his best to work deep into this one after the Rumble Ponies were forced into their bullpen early on in Wednesday’s game, fighting his way through 6 1/3 innings. Andrew Mitchell and Antonio Santos were brilliant in relief, combining to strike out six batters across the final 3 2/3 innings while allowing just a single hit.

A+: Jersey Shore BlueClaws (25-41) 1, Brooklyn Cyclones (30-36) 3 Box Score

The Cyclones only mustered three hits on Thursday night, but a three-run fourth inning proved to be the difference and helped them over the line for the victory. Matt Rudick had two of Brooklyn’s three hits, and both went for extra bases.

Mike Vasil gave up a run on three hits in the first inning, but he found his composure and allowed just a single hit across his final five innings of work. The bullpen arms were just as impressive, as Justin Courtney tossed two shutdown innings and Grant Hartwig retired all three batters he faced for the save. Hartwig has a 0.75 ERA across eight appearances (12 IP) for Brooklyn since an early-season call-up from St. Lucie.

A: St. Lucie Mets (40-25) 3, Palm Beach Cardinals (30-34) 7 Box Score

The Mets find themselves in their first real rut of the season, as they lost in pretty convincing fashion on Thursday and have dropped six of their last seven games. Omar De Los Santos continues to fill up the stat sheet, collecting another two hits and bringing his stolen base tally up to 39 on the year. Junior Tilien’s two RBI helped the Mets to an early lead in the first inning and tied the game in the third inning, but the Mets failed to score another run from that point on.

Joel Diaz failed to get out of the second inning, allowing the first three batters to reach base and ultimately surrendering three runs. Diaz has allowed at least two runs to score in each of his four appearances (three starts) this season for a lackluster 11.17 ERA. Christian Scott gave up another three runs in the third inning to seal the Mets’ fate.

Scott had a whopping 19 whiffs on the night and his fastball was up to 97. He’s been a tough luck pitcher in 2022 with a 5.81 ERA, but a FIP under 3.00. He has 41 strikeouts and only eight walks in 26 1/3 innings for St. Lucie.

Gomez was up to 98 mph with his high spin fastball in the game and he has 23 strikeouts in 16 innings.

Complex League: FCL Nationals (7-5) 11, FCL Mets (8-5) 6 Box Score

The Mets mounted a valiant comeback effort to tie it in the ninth but proceeded to give up five runs in the top of the 10th for the extra-inning loss.

Dominican League: DSL Mets2 (7-6) 7, DSL BAL Black (5-9) 3 Box Score

Jesus Baez made all the difference with his sixth inning grand slam, breaking a 3-3 deadlock and granting the Mets a victory.

Dominican League: DSL Cubs Red (5-9) 2, DSL Mets1 (6-7) 7 Box Score

Simon Juan drove in the first run of the game for the Mets, who tacked on six more for a comfortable victory.