Francisco Alvarez/Photo by Allen Greene Photography

Indianapolis (52-49) 1 , Syracuse (50-52) 0 Box Score

This was pitcher’s duel from start to finish on base sides on the diamond as the Indians and Mets combined for three hits total. Tejada’s single in the bottom of the sixth inning was the only thing that prevented Syracuse from being no-hit.

  • RHP Chris Mazza: 5.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 5 K, 1 BB | 3-3, 3.45 ERA, 1.00 WHIP
  • LHP Ryan O’Rourke: 1.1 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 K, 0 BB, Loss | 1-3, 3.26 ERA, 1.42 WHIP

Mazza was superb in his first start back with the (AAA) Syracuse team holding the Indians to only one hit across 5.2 IP before reaching his pitch limit. O’Rourke took the loss after allowing a run to score from third on a balk with two outs in the seventh inning.

Reading (61-41) 8, Binghamton (52-48) 6 Box Score

  • 2B Gavin Cecchini: 1-for-4, R, HR(2), 2 RBI(15), BB | .232/.295/.362
  • RF Jason Krizan: 2-for-5, 2 R, HR(10), 2 RBI(47), K | .262/.339/.443
  • CF Quinn Brodey: 2-for-2, 2 R, HR(3), RBI(11), 2 BB | .230/.305/.349

The Rumble Ponies offense scored four of its six runs on home runs by Cecchini, Krizan, and Brodey with Cecchini adding another run via a bases loaded walk. While the offensive performance was certainly strong enough to earn a win, the team could have done better as they went 2-for-10 with runners in scoring position leaving a total of ten runners on base.

  • RHP Tony Dibrell: 3.2 IP, 7 H, 8 R, 8 ER, 4 K, 5 BB, Loss | 0-2, 11.17 ERA, 1.97 WHIP
  • RHP Adonis Uceta: 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 K, 0 BB | 3-3, 1.90 ERA, 1.15 WHIP

It was a tough day for Dibrell as the Fightin Phils jumped on him right from the start of the game. After back to back two out walks, Dibrell allowed three straight base hits resulting in four runs scoring in the first inning followed by two more runs scoring in the second inning after another two out walk. He would toss a clean third inning but allowed two more runs to score on a home run in the fourth inning to end his day. On a more positive note, Uceta continues to dominate the Eastern League as he posted his eighth clean appearance in the last ten games pitched.

St. Lucie (56-46) 8, Palm Beach (45-54) 2 Box Score

The St. Lucie offense put on show with fifteen hits in the game including six of the extra base variety as every batter in the lineup reached base at least once. After hitting .339 AVG/.957 OPS for the Columbia Fireflies, Lagrange continued his red-hot month of July with his third multi-hit performance in five games with the St. Lucie Mets.

  • RHP Joe Cavallaro: 5.0 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 5 K, 3 BB, Win | 4-3, 3.93 ERA, 1.31 WHIP

Making only his second start of the season, Cavallaro was solid once again striking out five batters for the third straight appearance (once as a reliever). After coming into the game in the first inning in relief of Kyle Wilson on July 14th, Cavallaro seems to have earned himself a spot in the St. Lucie rotation after twenty-four games in the bullpen. Since his ERA peaked at 6.75 at the end of May, Cavallaro has held opponents to a .218 AVG/.574 OPS resulting in a 2.64 ERA over the last two months.

Augusta (54-47) 5, Columbia (39-60) 0 Box Score

Not much to discuss offensively in this game as the Fireflies were shutout and held to only three hits on the day.

  • RHP Willy Taveras: 4.2 IP, 7 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 3 K, 0 BB, Loss | 5-9, 5.44 ERA, 1.37 WHIP

A rough beginning and a rough end overshadowed Taveras’ good work in between as the GreenJackets scored three runs in the first inning and two in the fifth inning.

Brooklyn (21-16) 9, Tri-City (15-22) 2 Box Score

The Cyclones ran wild on the the ValleyCats starter stealing four bases in the first inning and scoring a total of five runs to knock him out of the game early. The recently promoted Jose Peroza supplied the only extra base hit in the game for the Cyclones with a two run homer as part of that five run first inning.

  • RHP Frank Valentino: 4.2 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 5 K, 2 BB | 1-1, 3.33 ERA, 1.11 WHIP
  • RHP Mitch Ragan: 2.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 3 K, 0 BB | 1-2, 1.83 ERA, 0.66 WHIP

The undrafted free agent from New York Institute of Technology continues to provide quality innings for the Cyclones holding the ValleyCats to only two runs on two hits although he did fall one out short of qualifying for a win. Ragan would benefit from that as he finished off the fifth inning for Valentino and went on to toss 2.1 perfect innings of work to earn his first career victory.

Johnson City (17-16) 7, Kingsport (15-18) 1 Box Score

The Kingsport offense was held in check in the first game of the doubleheader as they could only muster one run on five hits thanks to Francisco Alvarez’s home run in third inning.

  • LHP Cesar Loaiza: 2.2 IP, 3 H, 4 R, 0 ER, 0 K, 3 BB, Loss | 1-1, 3.38 ERA, 1.33 WHIP

Loaiza did not have his best stuff in this game allowing six base-runners to reach in only 2.2 innings of work. In fairness, he was also not helped out by his defense either as a throwing error by Chris Pujols in the third inning resulted in four unearned runs scoring.

Johnson City (18-16) 11, Kingsport (15-19) 3 Box Score

The Kingsport offense was much better in the second game of the doubleheader as every batter in the lineup reached base at least once. Unfortunately, all of their runs and most of their hits came in the first inning of the game. After that, the offense could only muster three more hits the rest of the way.

  • RHP Ramon Guzman: 3.0 IP, 1 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 4 K, 2 BB | 1-1, 4.44 ERA, 1.29 WHIP

Guzman struggled with his command allowing two walks and uncorking two wild pitches but was still decent enough to leave the game with a 3-2 lead. From there though things fell apart for the Kingsport pitching staff as the Cardinals would score nine runs against the bullpen in the last three innings of the game.

DSL Mets1 (22-18) 12, DSL Nationals (11-29) 8 Box Score

  • SS Cesar Berbesi: 3-for-4, 2 R, 2 2B, 5 RBI(19), BB, K | .750/.800/1.250

Berbesi was transferred from the DSL Mets2 to the DSL Mets1 team for this game and posted his best game of the season driving in five runs to help the team comeback from being down 5-0 to score twelve runs against the DSL Nationals bullpen.

  • RHP Jose Valerio: 3.0 IP, 1 H, 3 R, 0 ER, 3 K, 2 BB, Win | 4-2, 4.76 ERA, 1.32 WHIP

Valerio was the beneficiary of the late game rally by the team earning his fourth win of the season.

DSL Mets2 (20-25) 8, DSL Diamondbacks2 (25-20) 3 Box Score

  • CF Ronis Aybar: 2-for-5, R, 2B, RBI(1), SB(1), BB, K | .400/.500/.600

Unlike their counterparts, the DSL Mets2 offense did most of their damage at the beginning of the game scoring five runs in the first and holding on the rest of the way. 2019 IFA signee Ronis Aybar made his season debut for the DSL 2 team and had an immediate impact hitting the only extra base hit of the game for the team and driving in a run with a bases loaded walk in the fifth inning.

  • RHP Daniel Juarez: 2.2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 6 K, 3 BB | 0-1, 4.11 ERA, 1.43 WHIP