Photo by Ed Delany

Syracuse (31-33) 15, Charlotte (35-28) 8 Box

The Syracuse Mets are now undefeated in the “Robinson Cano playing for the Mets on a rehab assignment” era. The Mets tacked on five early runs against Justin Nicolino and never looked back, recording another pair of multi-run frames later in the game. Rivera led the offensive charge, singling in two in the first inning and homering in the seventh inning to drive in Aaron Atltheer. The lineup had a combined 6,307 games worth of Major-League experience and 35 games worth of 35 National League football experience. Cano played for four innings while Nimmo lasted seven frames. Matt Kemp was placed on the IL due to lingering rib soreness.

Wilson opened for the Mets, recording two strikeouts in his inning of work. He should be returning to the Mets within the week. Zach Lee struggled yet again and with another rough start or two and with Ervin Santana expected to appear for Syracuse at some point this season, he could be on the chopping block in terms of his roster spot. Gilliam, in his Triple-A debut, made quick work of Charlotte in an inning and a third, striking out two hitters. Nogosek has yet to allow a run in Syracuse.

Binghamton (33-25) 7, Trenton (34-25) 6 Box

It was a rough first-go for Andrew Church, who allowed the game-tying run to score in his first appearance for the Rumble Ponies. He ruined David Peterson‘s start, which was a step in the right direction for the lanky lefty. Peterson, who has had trouble finding consistency this year, cruised through five scoreless frames before finding trouble in the sixth. He gave up a two-run shot to cleanup hitter Chris Gittens in the sixth before being removed after three batters in the seventh. It marked the longest outing of the season for Peterson.

Both offenses were listless for the early part of the game but both woke up late. After a back-and-forth battle resulted in a tie game going to the bottom of the ninth, Michael Paez knocked in David Thompson for the first Rumble Ponies’ second walk-off in the last two weeks. Thompson has raked since his demotion to Binghamton, posting a .364/.400/.545 slash line in nine games. Ponies’ shortstop Andres Gimenez was dispatched to New York for x-rays on his ailing wrist and thankfully, nothing was broken.

St.Lucie (31-33) 5, Clearwater (35-29) 0 Box

Santana dominated A-ball hitters for the six innings before passing the ball off to Zabaleta for a three-out save. Santana should be on the way to the upper levels of the Mets system sooner than later. Zabaleta’s three-inning save was the first of his career.

Carlos Cortes continued his hot streak; he has a 142 wRC+ in the last two weeks worth of games. Cortes singled in two to extend the Mets lead to 5-0 in the seventh inning. The Mets are transitioning Blake Tiberi to the outfield, he made his 11th career start there last night. Three out of Jacob Zanon‘s four homers have given the Mets the lead.

Columbia (24-37) 8, Asheville (28-37) 1 Box

  • LHP Thomas Szapucki (0-0, 1.42 ERA): 2.1 IP, H, 0 R, 2 K
  • RHP Alec Kiensa (0-1, 4.64 ERA): 0.2 IP
  • RHP Jose Butto (2-7, 4.42 ERA): 5 IP, 2 H, R, ER, 5 K, BB
  • RHP Chris Viall (0-1, 6.75 ERA): 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 2 K, 1 BB

Szupacki continued his rehab, pitching 2.1 innings before reaching his pitch count of 40. Jose Butto played the long-man role, hurling five effective innings. Although it’s in a small sample size, Butto has functioned much better as a reliever this summer. Viall had a very typical outing, striking out two while walking one.

The Fireflies kicked off the scoring early, scoring runs in the first three innings. Three consecutive hits and an error by the Tourists’ starting pitchers led to three unearned runs in the first inning. The Mets scored the seven out of their eight runs with two outs. Ronny Mauricio made his return to the lineup after missing the last game recovering from getting hit with an errant ball during warmups

DSL Nationals (1-7) 9, DSL Mets 1 (5-3) 3 Box

Through two starts, Cornielly has a 0.90 ERA through ten innings, racking up 10 strikeouts along the way. The Mets kept it close until Yeremi Abad gave up six runs without recording an out in the ninth inning, putting the game out of reach.

  • 3B Wilmis Castro 2-4, R | .429/.500/.571

The Mets were no-hit by Andres Castro for the first four innings before faring better against the Nationals bullpen. A lapse of control by Nationals reliever Bryan Caceres led to two of the Mets’ three runs. Freddy Valdez, who the Mets signed for $1.45 million dollars last summer, tallied two more hits.

DSL Rangers 2 (6-3) 2, DSL Mets 2 (3-6) 0 Box

Edward Sosa gave up two runs in the seventh inning as the Rangers rallied late against the Mets’ bullpen. Despite giving up a hit and walking three over 2.1 innings, Rolfy Vargas still had a scoreless outing.

The Mets couldn’t muster any offense as Jhan Zambrano one-hit them over five innings, racking up eight strikeouts. It took until the ninth for the Mets to push a baserunner past first. They struck out 13 times, their second-highest mark of the season.