Mark Vientos, Photo by Ed Delany of MMO

On a day where all four Mets Minor League teams went undefeated, some of their top prospects provided some fireworks. Mark Vientos launched two home runs in a Mets win over the RailRiders, while Brett Baty and Ronny Mauricio played long ball as well helping the Rumble Ponies beat the Fisher Cats.

Syracuse Mets (11-20) 8 vs. Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders (11-20) 7  BOX SCORE

  • CF Nick Plummer: 3-for-5, 1 R, 2 2B, 1 HR (5), 5 RBI, 1 SB, .278/.333/.542
  • 3B Mark Vientos: 3-for-5, 2 R, 2 HR (3,4), 2 RBI, .208/.336/.442
  • RF Quinn Brodey: 2-for-4, 1 R, 1 SB, .169/.234/.339

It’s been a rough start to the season for high touted prospect, Mark Vientos. Much of it has had his average sitting below the Mendoza line. However, over these last few games he’s been showing signs of why he was considered one the hottest hitters in the Mets system last summer. In this game, Vientos might have put together his most impressive performance of the season to date. Powering up to mash two home runs in his first two plate appearances and ending his afternoon with three hits.

Plummer put together a three-hit game as well, along with a home run and putting the Syracuse offense on his back, driving in five of their eight runs as the Mets took down the RailRiders 8-7.

Recent waiver claim Gosuke Katoh had three walks and stolen a base for Syracuse.

  • LHP Rob Zastryzny: 3 IP, 6 H, 4 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 4 SO, 4.82 ERA
  • RHP Jose Rodriguez: (W, 1-1) 3 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 3 SO, 8.38 ERA
  • RHP Eric Orze: (H, 1) 1 IP, 1 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 2 SO, 8.03 ERA
  • RHP Colin Holderman: (S, 3) 2 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 3 SO, 2.92 ERA

Three errors by the Syracuse defense made this game seem a bit worse for their pitchers on the scoreboard than it actually was. Rob Zastryzny started the game off smoothly firing two scoreless innings but in the third a Syracuse error along with a Zastryzny wild pitch would eventually lead to a four-run RailRider inning. That would be the end of the line for Zastryzny but the bullpen would hang on the rest of the game allowing just two earned runs, including an impressive three shutout inning performance from Jose Rodriguez as Syracuse would wrap up their matinee in Scranton with an 8-7 victory.

Binghamton Rumble Ponies (10-18) 9 vs. New Hampshire Fisher Cats  (12-16) 2  BOX SCORE

The Rumble Ponies set the tone early in this game and wouldn’t let up until they scored nine runs in a 9-2 rout over Fisher Cats. Baty and Mauricio would get things started right away in the first inning with back-to-back home runs which opened up a 3-0 lead for the Rumble Ponies. That was just the beginning of the offensive onslaught for Binghamton, on a night that saw five batters collect RBIs, eight batters record a hit and all nine batters reach base. The Rumble Ponies would cruise to their second victory in a row over the Fisher Cats.

  • RHP Mitch Ragan: 4 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 3 BB, 4 SO, 6.38 ERA
  • RHP Alex Valverde: (W, 1-2) 5 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 6 SO, 6.94 ERA

Ragan continues to show improvement in the month of May. After a miserable April in where his ERA wound up at 8.76, so far in May he has a 1.50 ERA through six innings. While he came just an inning shy of qualifying for the win, he certainly contributed towards it, throwing four scoreless innings and managing to work out of trouble despite giving up three hits and three walks. Valverde would go on to pitch the final five frames and earn himself his first win as a member of the Rumble Ponies.

Wilmington Blue Rocks (14-14) 4 vs. Brooklyn Cyclones (13-15) 5  BOX SCORE

Newly promoted prospect, Shervyen Newton, on one swing collected his first hit and RBI as a Cyclone, in the first inning with an RBI double. That hit was apart of a very productive first inning for the Cyclones as a Matt O’ Neill RBI triple and then a JT Schwartz RBI groundout gave Brooklyn an early 3-0 lead. Nic Gaddis would provide some additional offense in the third with an RBI double of his own and in the fifth, Wilmer Reyes would drive in what would prove to be a crucial insurance run on an RBI sacrifice fly as the Cyclones would even up their series with the Blue Rocks in a 5-4 victory.

  • LHP Nick Zwack: 4 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 3 SO, 1 HR, 3.00 ERA
  • RHP Hunter Parsons: (W, 2-0) 3 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 3 SO, 0.00 ERA
  • RHP Justin Courtney: (S, 3) 1.1 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 3 SO, 3.86 ERA

Nick Zwack had his second start with the Cyclones since being promoted from St. Lucie and continues to prove to the organization that he was deserving of the callup. Zwack turned in another solid outing for the Cyclones, going four innings and limiting Blue Rocks to just two runs on two hits while striking out three and never relinquished the lead his offense gave him in the first.

The most impressive pitcher of the night and perhaps in the Cyclones bullpen was Hunter Parsons. He was dominant again tonight firing three scoreless innings and earned himself his second win of the season. Parsons has been virtually untouchable all season long. Through 12 1/3 innings of work he still has yet to give up an earned run. Justin Courtney ran into a bit of trouble in the ninth, letting Wilmington squeak back to make it a one-run game but would effectively slam the door on any comeback hopes for the Blue Rocks in a 5-4 Cyclones triumph.

Luis Moreno, Photo by Ed Delany of MMO

Lakeland Flying Tigers (13-15) 1 vs. St Lucie Mets (19-10) 3  BOX SCORE

The St. Lucie Mets didn’t exactly set the world on fire with their offense in this game. In fact, they only managed to muster up two hits, but they made them count. That, and a couple of Lakeland miscues in the field would lead the Mets to score more runs than hits in a 3-1 win over the Flying Tigers. A couple wild pitches by Lakeland starter Nick Davila and a run scoring error by Lakeland first baseman Mike Rothenberg would allow the Mets to score three runs without recording an RBI in the entire game. Stanley Consuegra provided one of the two hits with a first inning triple in which he would later score thanks to a wild pitch to the next batter as the Mets took advantage of sloppy Lakeland play en route to their 19th win of the season.

  • RHP Mike Vasil: (W, 2-1) 5 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 4 SO, 2.33 ERA
  • RHP Luis Moreno: (S, 1) 4 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 4 SO, 3.75 ERA

Mike Vasil continues to impress in his first full professional season. He would frustrate Lakeland batters all night through five innings, allowing only two hits and striking out four as he earned his second win of the season. In the month of May through two starts he has an ERA of 0.90 and on the season is holding opponents to an average of .192.

Luis Moreno would come in relief and get the unconventional four inning save. Moreno would allow Lakeland to bust up the shutout the ninth but it was only a bump in the road as the St. Lucie continues to ride their dominant pitching to another win and they remain the best team in the Florida State League.

Vasil was up to 96 mph on the night and Moreno topped out at 97 mph. Moreno actually threw more curveballs (36) than he did fastballs (35). Moreno averaged an impressive 2981 rpms on his curve in the outing.