Francisco Alvarez, Photo by Rick Nelson

Francisco Álvarez hit a pair of home runs on Thursday night, going yard for the first time in over a month to help power the Binghamton Rumble Ponies to a 6-4 victory.

AAA: Rochester Red Wings (28-17) 9, Syracuse Mets (15-28) 7 Box Score

  • CF Jake Mangum: 4-for-5, 1 2B, 2 R, .318/.388/.455
  • RF Khalil Lee: 1-for-3, 1 HR (1), 2 RBI, 1 BB, 1 SB, .193/.319/.307
  • 3B Mark Vientos: 3-for-5, 1 RBI, 1 R, 2 SO, .239/.323/.470

The Mets couldn’t claim victory in the Duel of the Dishes (Syracuse Salt Potatoes vs. Rochester Garbage Plates), but there were plenty of positives to take away from the offense. Jake Mangum now has eight hits in his first 12 ABs at the AAA level. Khalil Lee has worked his way back to Syracuse after his demotion to St. Lucie, and he finally hit his first home run of the season to give the Mets an early 2-0 lead in the first inning. Mark Vientos stumbled out of the gates to begin the year, but he has an impressive 1.040 OPS in the month of May.

Tim Adleman made his first start of the season, and he went three innings while allowing just one run. The Red Wings were able to mount a late comeback, battering the Mets’ bullpen for eight runs across the seventh and eighth innings. Alex Claudio got the worst of it, as he gave up as many runs in his 1/3 of an inning of work on Thursday (5) than he had in his previous nine outings this year.

AA: Binghamton Rumble Ponies (14-27) 6, Reading Fightin Phils (18-24) 4 Box Score

It was the Francisco Álvarez show on Thursday for the Rumble Ponies, as the organization’s top prospect went yard twice, collected four hits, and reached base in all five of his plate appearances. Álvarez had not hit a home run since April 17, and the huge night at the dish has brought his season OPS back over .800 for the first time since early May. The Rumble Ponies got clutch RBI singles from Jeremy Vasquez and Zach Ashford in the top of the ninth inning to break the deadlock and give the team a much-needed victory.

  • RHP Jose Butto: 5 IP, 6 H, 3 ER, 4 BB, 6 K, 4.00 ERA
  • LHP Andrew Edwards: (W, 2-0), 1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 1 K, 5.40 ERA
  • RHP Michel Otanez: (S, 5), 1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 2 K, 1.29 ERA

Jose Butto allowed a lot of baserunners in his five innings of work, but he did well to limit the damage to just three runs, all scored in the fifth. The bullpen combined for four innings of one-hit ball, striking out seven batters in the process. Michel Otanez collected his fifth save of the season and has not given up a run in any of his last four appearances.

A+: Brooklyn Cyclones (18-21) 1, Bowling Green Hot Rods (25-16) 5 Box Score

The Brooklyn Cyclones are back to being the Brooklyn Cyclones, as they have followed up an 11-run victory in Game 1 of Wednesday’s doubleheader by scoring just one run total over their next two games. Shervyen Newton drove in the lone run with an RBI single in the third inning. The Cyclones managed eight hits and threatened to score in several different innings, but only one of those hits went for extra-bases and the team combined to leave 21 runners on base.

Carson Seymour made his long-awaited Brooklyn debut after tearing it up at St. Lucie to begin the season. Seymour did not have a bad outing by any means, but he did give up a home run for the first time in his pro career. He also received the first loss of his pro career, as this Cyclones offense is nowhere near as capable of picking him up as the high-powered St. Lucie offense is. Sammy Tavarez struck out the side in the seventh inning and retired all six batters he faced.

A: St. Lucie Mets (28-14) 7, Dunedin Blue Jays (18-24) 4 Box Score

The St. Lucie Mets just keep on winning, even after seeing so much of their pitching talent promoted to Brooklyn in the past few weeks. The Mets scored all seven of their runs in the first four innings, punctuated by a two-run homer from Raul Beracierta. All three members of this star-studded outfield made an impact, as Omar De Los Santos swiped his 23rd base of the season, Carlos Dominguez recorded two hits, and Alex Ramirez drove in a run on a sacrifice fly.

Vincent Perozo, only 19, made his stateside debut for St. Lucie. The catcher is ranked as the Mets No. 24 prospect by Baseball America.

Dominic Hamel racked up nine strikeouts across 5 1/3 innings of work, but he did surrender a three-run homer in the sixth inning to end his outing on a sour note. Hamel’s high spin fastball was up to 95 mph and he got an impressive 13 whiffs on the pitch. He also mixed in a curveball, slider, and changeup.

Joshua Cornielly and Daniel Juarez finished the game out with 3 2/3 hitless innings. Things got a little hectic for Juarez in the ninth inning, but he got a big strikeout with two runners in scoring position to end the game. He got an astounding seven whiffs on 10 swings in his inning of work, six of them coming on his fastball that was up to 94 mph.