Photo by Rick Nelson

Omar De Los Santos would steal two more bases in St. Lucie’s 7-4 win over Jupiter, giving him 70 on the season. Elsewhere, Ronny Mauricio‘s three-hit night would carry the Rumble Ponies to their fifth straight win, the Cyclones would drop a heartbreaker to Wilmington 11-7 but still moved into first place in the South Atlantic League second-half standings, and Syracuse’s offense would fall flat in a 6-1 loss in Scranton.

Syracuse Mets (52-72) 1 vs Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders (65-58) 6   BOX SCORE

The Syracuse Mets wouldn’t be able to capitalize on their ten hits as they went 1-for-10 with RISP and left ten on base in their 6-1 loss to the RailRiders.

Mark Vientos ended his scorching hot August with an uncharacteristic 0-for-4 at the plate. Vientos is a name a lot of fans would like to see in Queens, and with a .356 average and an OPS of 1.009 in August, he’s getting hot at the right time.

The Mets are calling up infielder Deven Marrero and right-hander Adonis Medina from Syracuse as their two September call-ups.

Montgomery turned in another rough outing for Syracuse as he would only make it through two innings. He labored through those two innings, throwing 53 pitches and giving up three earned runs. One of Syracuse’s best relievers, Stephen Nogosek, would have a rare off night only managing to go 2/3 innings, giving up a run and grinding through 25 pitches to do so. The backend of the bullpen did well as Yoan López, Phillip Diehl, and Michel Otanez would combine to throw four innings of shutout ball in the 6-1 loss.

Somerset Patriots (73-47) 2 vs. Binghamton Rumble Ponies (49-71) 6   BOX SCORE

  • 2B Wyatt Young: 2-for-4, 2 R, 2B, BB, .270/.366/.375
  • SS Ronny Mauricio: 3-for-4, 2 R, RBI, .261/.294/.481
  • DH Luke Ritter: 1-for-2, R, HR (13), 2 RBI, BB, .210/.319/.384

The Rumble Ponies’ winning streak would hit five as they beat the best team in the best overall team in the Eastern League 6-2. Binghamton jumped on Somerset early by scoring three runs in the first inning with RBI hits from Ronny Mauricio and Hayden Senger. In the second inning, the Rumble Ponies would again put up three runs as another hit from Mauricio and then a two-run home run from Luke Ritter put Binghamton up 6-0 after two innings.

With his RBI in this game, Mauricio now has 79 on the season. After struggling through July, Mauricio saw nearly all his offensive numbers improve in August, which included his highest monthly average (.279) and second highest OPS (.782)

  • RHP Jose Chacin: (W,3-8), 6 IP, 4 H, 2 R, ER, 3 BB, 5 SO, 5.75 ERA
  • LHP Cam Opp: 1 IP, H, 0 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, SO, 12.27 ERA
  • RHP Dedniel Núñez: 2 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 3 SO, 4.18 ERA

After putting up some of his best Double-A numbers in August, Chacin ended the month appropriately with another stellar pitching performance. This start might have been Chacin’s best yet, as he went six solid innings, giving up just one run, striking out five, and earning himself the win. Chacin had his struggles through most of the summer in Double-A, but all signs point to him perhaps finding his groove with Binghamton. His final ERA for August was 2.84, and he lowered his overall ERA from 7.04 to 5.75.

Relievers Opp and Núñez would lock down the win for Chacin and the Rumble Ponies by pitching a combined three shutout innings out of the bullpen and striking out five in the 6-2 victory over Somerset.

Wilmington Blue Rocks (61-60) 11 vs. Brooklyn Cyclones (63-59) 7   BOX SCORE

After scoring five runs in the first inning, the Cyclones seemed to be on their way to their eighth consecutive win in this game. The five-run surge was capped off by back-to-back home runs from Mena and Lugo to give Brooklyn an early 5-0 advantage. Brooklyn would score again in the fourth as Lugo would tack on another RBI and gave the Cyclones a 6-1 lead. Wilmington would chip away at the Cyclone lead and eventually busted the game open with a six-run eighth inning. Brooklyn’s offense, even though they’d collect 14 hits, wouldn’t be able to respond in a tough 11-7 loss.

Despite the defeat, Brooklyn still moved into first place by percentage points as Hudson Valley lost their game. The Cyclones are fighting off Hudson Valley and Aberdeen for the second-half title in the South Atlantic League.

Last year’s fifth-round draft choice for the Mets, Christian Scott, made his fourth start with Brooklyn since being promoted to High-A. Over four innings, Scott would allow one run and struck out a personal High-A best six batters. The most impressive stat for Scott was his control. He allowed no walks and threw 51 of his 71 pitches for strikes.

The bullpen wouldn’t be able to continue Scott’s success. Trey McLoughlin would be knocked around for four runs in 2 1/3 innings. Sammy Tavarez wouldn’t fare much better as he would only last 2/3 of an inning and gave up two more runs. Dylan Hall would come in next and gave up a grand slam in the eighth inning to Leandro Emiliani, which would prove to be the knockout blow in an 11-7 loss.

Jupiter Hammerheads (58-61) 4 vs. St. Lucie Mets (68-52) 7   BOX SCORE

  • LF Omar De Los Santos: 3-for-5, R, 2B, 2 SB, .270/.337/.447
  • 3B Chase Estep: 2-for-3, 2 R, HR (4), 3 RBI, BB, .276/.403/.534
  • 2B D’Andre Smith: 1-for-4, R, HR (1), 3 RBI, .233/.303/.467

Jupiter and St. Lucie would engage in the back-and-forth game through the first six innings in this one. D’Andre Smith produced much of the offense early on for the Mets, which included his first professional home run, a two-run shot, in the fifth inning to give the Mets a 4-1 lead. Jupiter would tie the game up at four in the sixth inning until another 2022 draft selection, Chase Estep, crushed a three-run home run to give the Mets a 7-4 lead. Estep’s fourth home run of the season was enough to deliver a 7-4 win to St. Lucie.

Omar De Los Santos stole two more bases in this game to bring his total up to 70 on the season. De Los Santos leads the FSL in stolen bases by almost 40, and he’s only been caught stealing 14 times in 84 attempts.

  • RHP Carlos Ocampo: 1 IP, 2 H, R, ER, SO, 4.50 ERA
  • RHP Eric Orze: 2 IP, H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 4 SO, 4.70 ERA
  • RHP Dylan Tebrake: 1.2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 4 SO, 0.00 ERA
  • RHP Jordan Geber: (W,1-0), 4.1 IP, 3 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 3 BB, 6 SO, 5.87 ERA

Carlos Ocampo was the starting pitching in this one and acted as an opener. He pitched through one inning, allowing one run and striking out one in his rehab stint with St. Lucie. He was relieved by another pitcher on a rehab assignment, Eric Orze. Orze would cruise through two innings of shutout ball while striking out four of the six batters he faced.

Orze would be relieved by the Mets eighth-round draft choice in this year’s draft, Dylan Tebrake, who would make his Single-A debut. Things went very well for Tebrake as he worked through 1 2/3 innings allowing only two hits, no runs or walks, and struck out four. Finally, Jordan Geber, who the Mets signed earlier this month, would earn his first professional win as he pitched the remaining 4 1/3 innings and kept the 7-4 lead intact for St. Lucie.