Photo by Ed Delany, MMO

Indianapolis (51-49) 7, Syracuse (50-51) 6 Box

Kay has been pretty oKay since his initial adjustment period at Syracuse. He pitched five innings for the fourth consecutive start while striking out six batters, which he only accomplished one other time during his tenure with the Mets. After two starts with the Mets, his ERA sat an ugly 16.20. He’s since lowered it to 6.61, which speaks to his improvement during his tenure in the minor’s highest level.

Flexen hasn’t really settled into a reliever role yet; he’s failed to have a perfect outing yet. Despite taking the loss, Peterson had been pretty solid with Syracuse. He currently has the lowest ERA and the WHIP on the team.

The Mets scored six runs in the seventh but weren’t able to generate any offense in the game outside of that inning. The Mets entered the frame down by four, but Danny Espinosa halved the lead with a two-run shot, his 15th homer of the season. After the red-hot Tejada doubled, Herrera traded places with him with an RBI single and a stolen base. Luis Guillorme tied up the game with an RBI single that drove in Herrera. After a pitching change, Travis Taijeron quickly untied the game with his 22nd blast of the year. Trailing by one in the ninth, Arismendy Alcantara, Braxton Lee, and Gregor Blanco went down 1-2-3.

Another reason why Luis Guillorme is a defensive magician:

Binghamton (52-46) 2, Reading (59-41) 0 Game 1 F/7 Box 

  • RHP Zach Lee (3-0, 0.87 ERA): 5.2 IP, 5 H, R, 3 K, BB
  • RHP Eric Hanhold (2-0, 1.42 ERA): 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 2 K

Lee’s been on quite the roll since being demoted to Binghamton in early July. Despite not striking out tons of hitters, he’s gotten success by inducing a ton of weak flyballs. Hanhold’s another player that recently joined Binghamton and has excelled. Brent Hershey of Baseball HQ raved about his performance, noting his impressive velocity on both his fastball and his slider.

The Mets couldn’t muster much offense, but their five hits were more than enough for Lee and Hanhold. Much like their Triple-A squad, they did all on their damage in one frame. In the third inning, Sam Haggerty knocked home Quinn Brodey to kick off the scoring. Two batters later, Patrick Mazeika singled home Haggerty to extend the lead.

Reading (60-41) 8, Binghamton(52-47) 6 Game 2 F/7 Box 

  • RHP Mickey Jannis (5-2, 3.65 ERA): 4 IP, 8 H, 6 ER, 6 R, 2 K, 2 BB
  • RHP Joseph Shaw (1-3, 2.38 ERA): 2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, K
  • RHP Joe Zanghi (2-2, 1.96 ERA): 0.0 IP, H, 2 R, 2 ER, BB

In his first start since returning from Syracuse, Jannis struggled with his knuckler from the outset, giving up three runs in the first inning. It’s been an insanely frustrating season for Jannis, who’s consistently strung a few of solid starts before faltering in his next few appearances. Zanghi gave up a walk-off two-run homer to Cornelius Randolph in the bottom of the seventh frame.

Fresh off a game where their offense couldn’t get much going, Binghamton made sure not to replicate that in their second game of the day. Luis Carpio led the way with his fourth three-hit game of the season. In his first extended time with Binghamton, he has a .717 OPS.  Gavin Cecchini made a pinch-hit appearance in the seventh inning; it’s strange that he’s playing in Binghamton despite playing the last several seasons with their Mets’ Triple-A affiliate. Fresh off being named the Eastern League Player of the Week, Jason Krizan contributed three hits.

St.Lucie (55-46) 3, Palm Beach (45-53) 0 Box

  • RHP Luc Rennie (6-4, 3.95 ERA): 7 IP, H, 0 R, 5 K, BB
  • RHP Alec Kisena (2-2, 3.98 ERA): 2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 2 K

Luc Rennie, have yourself a day! Rennie, who was signed out of the independent league just last year, absolutely dominated the Cardinals, holding them to only a hit over seven innings. He made quick of the Palm Beach batters, hurling just 86 pitches. The seven innings tied a season-high for Rennie, who’s pitched to a 2.67 ERA over his last three starts. Outside a couple of blowouts, Kiensa’s been pretty effective this year.

The Mets’ offense was quiet outside of a three-run third. In the frame, the Mets loaded the bases with no one out. The Mets tacked on a run due to a wild pitch by Cardinals’ pitcher, Griffin Roberts. After fielding error by the Cardinals’ 2018 first-rounder Nolan Gorman allowed another run to score, Jeremy Vasquez drew a walk with three ducks on the pond to score another run.

Columbia (39-59) 2, Augusta (53-47) 1 Box

The 18-year-old was outstanding yet again, shutting down the GreenJackets over five innings with seven strikeouts. As MetsMerizedOnline.com’s Mathew Brownstein noted, this marked the second consecutive outing by Woods-Richardson that he threw five scoreless frames without walking a batter. While his poor 3-8 record and 4.25 ERA doesn’t do him justice, his xFIP ranks sixth in all of the Minor-Leagues and his 14.5% SwStr% ranks first among all Mets farmhands. He’s absolutely exceeded expectations this season.

Just like the many of their fellow minor-league affiliates, Columbia failed to get much going in this one. Vientos has been heating up as of late; he knocked in his 16th RBI of the month. It’s his first season with the Fireflies and like usual, he’s needed an adjustment period to adapt to the new level. With a .323/.370/.556 slash line over his last month worth of games, it’s evident that he’s gotten over that adjustment period.

Tri-City (15-21) 4, Brooklyn (20-16) F/6* Box

*The game was shortened due to inclement weather in the top of the sixth inning.

The Mets only collected three hits all game. Reyes drove in their only run of the game with a first-inning single that drove in Chandler Avant. Reyes has been the Cyclones’ best hitter this season; he’s been showing impressive power despite not walking as much as some would prefer. Jose Peroza went hitless in his first game with Brooklyn.

  • RHP Colin Holderman (3-1, 3.89 ERA): 2 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 K, 2 BB
  • RHP Corey Gaconi (L, 1-1, 4.85 ERA): 3 IP, 4 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 2 K, BB
  • LHP P.J. Conlon (0-0, 0.00 ERA): 0.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, K

The 6″7′ Holderman continued his rehab with his first start in Coney Island. Gaconi piggybacked him and wasn’t at his sharpest, tying his career-high by allowing three runs. Conlon, who’s also on the rehab trail, struck out a batter before the rain forced the postponement of the game.

GCL Nationals (8-4) 5 GCL Mets (6-6) 3 Box *

* Records are from July 8th, the original day the contest was started

In their first game of the day, the GCL Mets wrapped up their suspended game from July 8th. Due to weather, the umpires paused the game midway through the 11th inning with the Nationals up 5-to-3. After Zach Ashford flew out for the first out, Anderson Bohorquez and Warren Saunders batted out of order which allowed the Nats to easily win the game.

GCL Mets (13-11) 9, GCL Nationals (11-13) 3 Box

Ventura has been perfectly serviceable since coming up from the Dominican Summer League. The Mets seem to be toying with the idea of Gonzalez developing as a multi-inning reliever. After failing to impress out of the rotation last year, he’s pitched strictly out of the bullpen this season.

The Mets were down for the majority of the game, but they scored seven runs in the last two innings to complete the comeback. Ashford enjoyed the best game of his career, driving in tie-breaking runs in both the fourth and eighth innings. Ashford’s been raking since being sent to the Gulf Coast; his .905 OPS ranks second among all 2019 Mets draftees. Willian Lugo has greatly struggled in his pro debut; he’s recorded only three extra-base hits in his first 22 professional games.

DSL I Yankees (19-20) 9 DSL Mets 1 (21-18) 7 Box

Despite drawing 18 baserunners, the Mets couldn’t drive anyone in, going a mere 4-for-15 with runners in scoring position.

  • RHP Ronny Rincones (1-0, 1.45 ERA): 2.2 IP, 5 H, 5 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 3 K

This start was clearly the worst of Rincones’ professional career. He simply couldn’t control where the ball was going, issuing two walks and five wild pitches, which was rather surprising considering his 3.2 BB/9 mark entering the day.

DSL Mets 2 (19-25)  17, DSL Tigers (14-29) 8 Box

SS Cesar Berbesi: 2-5, 2 R | .301/.404/.397

The Mets’ offense dominated the entire game with five multi-run frames. The bottom third of the lineup (Walter Pereira, Samuel Marte, Jhonny Ventura) combined for five hits and eight RBIs.

It was Vargas’ first professional start and he handled it with aplomb. The 18-year-old only permitted a hit over five outstanding innings and he’ll most likely get another turn in the rotation.