Francisco Alvarez, Photo by Rick Nelson

Jose Butto made plenty of bats miss in the first game of the Binghamton Rumble Ponies’ doubleheader on Thursday, recording a career-high 11 strikeouts in a 5-3 victory.

AAA: Syracuse Mets (16-33) 8, Worcester Red Sox (25-26) 4 Box Score

  • DH Daniel Palka: 3-for-4, 2 RBI, 1 R, 1 BB, .230/.329/.473
  • SS JT Riddle: 2-for-4, 1 3B, 1 R, 2 SO, .220/.256/.376
  • 2B Cody Bohanek: 1-for-4, 1 2B, 2 RBI, 1 R, 2 SO, .157/.236/.226

The Syracuse Mets have just 16 wins on the season, but they seem to have Worcester’s number, as they have taken six of nine games against the WooSox this season. The Mets jumped out to an early 6-0 lead in the second inning, and they rode that momentum to a victory, snapping a six-game losing streak. Daniel Palka got three hits, including two run-scoring singles, and JT Riddle now has four hits in his first three games since being acquired earlier this week from the Cincinnati Reds.

  • RHP Félix Peña: (W, 1-5), 5.2 IP, 5 H, 2 R (0 ER), 1 BB, 7 K, 4.06 ERA
  • LHP Alex Claudio: (H, 2), 1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 4.76 ERA
  • RHP Eric Orze: 1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 2 K, 6.20 ERA

Félix Peña recorded his first victory of the season, working efficiently through the first five innings and racking up seven strikeouts. The WooSox scored all four of their runs in the sixth, but the back end of the bullpen shut them down from there. Alex Claudio and Eric Orze combined for two perfect innings to secure the win.

AA: Game 1 – Somerset Patriots (29-17) 3, Binghamton Rumble Ponies (18-28) 5 Box Score

The Rumble Ponies came through with a comeback victory to win the first game of Thursday’s seven-inning doubleheader. The victory gave the Rumble Ponies their first third three-game winning streak of the season. Ronny Mauricio launched his seventh home run of the year to turn the tides in a four-run bottom of the fifth inning. Francisco Álvarez is showing no signs of slowing down, as he recorded a third consecutive multi-hit game.

  • RHP Jose Butto: (W, 2-4), 6.0 IP, 3 H, 3 R (2 ER), 3 BB, 11 K, 3.86 ERA
  • LHP Andrew Mitchell: (S, 1), 1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 1 K, 4.86 ERA

Jose Butto gave up a two-run homer in the second inning, but he put together a very impressive outing, overpowering the Patriots’ offense on his way to a career-high 11 strikeouts. Andrew Mitchell made his first appearance of the season for the Rumble Ponies after a demotion from Syracuse, and he got through a hitless frame for the save.

AA: Game 2 – Somerset Patriots (30-17) 6, Binghamton Rumble Ponies (18-29) 4 Box Score

  • 1B Luke Ritter: 1-for-3, 2 R, 1 SO, .247/.363/.435
  • C Francisco Álvarez: 1-for-4, 1 R, 1 SO, .276/.349/.491
  • 2B Manny Rodriguez: 1-for-3, 1 2B, 1 RBI, 1 R, 1 SO, .183/.206/.376

The Rumble Ponies failed to complete the doubleheader sweep, falling short in extra innings. Francisco Álvarez has a hit in seven of his last eight games, and Luke Ritter scored two of the team’s four runs in the game. However, no player had more than one hit, and a sacrifice fly from Manny Rodriguez in the bottom of the eighth wasn’t enough to spark a comeback.

  • RHP Jose Chacin: 5.1 IP, 5 H, 3 ER, 2 BB, 5 K, 3.60 ERA
  • RHP Mitch Ragan: 1.2 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 1 K, 4.85 ERA
  • RHP Antonio Santos: (L, 0-1), 1.0 IP, 2 H, 3 R (2 ER), 1 BB, 2 K, 9.24 ERA

Jose Chacin has been scuffling of late after a brilliant start of the season with Brooklyn, allowing at least three earned runs in each of his past three starts. Mitch Ragan did a fantastic job to shut down the Patriots’ offense across 1 2/3 innings, pushing the game to extras. Antonio Santos did not fare nearly as well as his counterpart Andrew Mitchell in his first appearance for the Rumble Ponies since their demotion. He surrendered three runs and was tagged with his first loss of the year

A+: Thursday’s game between the Brooklyn Cyclones and the Jersey Shore BlueClaws was postponed due to rain. The game is scheduled to be made up as part of a doubleheader on Friday, starting at 5:05 pm ET.

A: Daytona Tortugas (19-29) 4, St. Lucie Mets (32-16) 10 Box Score

Another day, another victory for the St. Lucie Mets, who are winners of four straight. It’s the third winning streak of at least four games this season for the Mets. Justin Guerrera had an outstanding night, going yard twice by the third inning. Jack-Thomas Wold and Junior Tilien also hit homers, and six of the team’s 13 hits went for extra bases.

Making just his second start of the year, Joel Diaz labored through 3 2/3 innings of work, giving up eight hits but only allowing two runs to score. The 18-year-old did get 10 whiffs on the night, and had a 33 CSW% on his fastball.

Franklin Sanchez ended up with the win, as he was able to cancel out his three walks by striking out four across two innings. Saul Gonzalez struck out the side in the ninth to finish out a comfortable victory.

Max velocity readings for Mets pitchers: Diaz 96, Sanchez 98, and Gonzalez 95