Photo by Ed Delany, MMO

Pawtucket (22-31) 4, Syracuse (28-26) 2   Box Score

The Mets scored their only runs in the fourth and fifth innings on an RBI single by Espinosa and a sac fly by Tejada. In 12 games between Binghamton and Syracuse, Tejda is now batting .477/.538/.682 as he looks to make his way back to the Majors. Kemp, another veteran looking to prove he still has something left, is 2-10 with two singles through two games in the Mets system.

  • RHP Zach Lee (L, 3-2, 5.86 ERA): 6.0 IP, 7 H, 4 R, 3 ER, 3 BB, 3 K
  • LHP Daniel Zamora (0-0, 1.60 ERA): 1.0 IP, H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K
  • RHP Paul Sewald (2-1, 3.97 ERA): 1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K

Lee retired the first five batters, but lost his command quickly as the Red Sox scored two in the second and two in the third on three walks and five hits. From there, however, Lee settled down and ended up providing six solid innings. Zamora, fresh off his demotion, returned to form as he pitched a scoreless seventh with two strikeouts. Dating back to April 6, he has five consecutive scoreless minor league appearances. Sewald continued his up-and-down season an a positive note, throwing a perfect eighth to keep the Mets in the game, but the offense could not stage a comeback.

Portland (18-34) 8, Binghamton (30-20) 7 (F/7)   Box Score

The bulk of the Rumble Ponies’ offense came in the first, when they scored five runs on six hits. Barnes had another productive day as he continues to be the team’s biggest surprise, albeit still only through 88 at-bats. Paez gave Binghamton a 7-5 with his second homer of the year in the sixth. He’s still struggled overall, but over his last ten games he owns a .486 slugging percentage, so he may be slowly starting to turn things around.

  • RHP Tommy Wilson (0-1, 7.27 ERA): 4.2 IP, 5 H, 5 R, 3 ER, 2 BB, 4 K
  • RHP Matt Blackham (L, 2-1, 2.82 ERA): 2.1 IP, 4 H, 3 R, BB, 3 K

Outside of a first-inning solo homer, Wilson was solid through the first four innings. He started getting hit around in the fifth, with a pair of homers following a leadoff error and a double. Thus, he wasn’t able to make it through the frame. His two starts in Binghamton have not gone quite as well as his eight starts in St. Lucie, where he posted a 2.01 ERA. Blackham came in having recorded six consecutive scoreless appearances, and he continued that streak through the sixth inning. However, he was unable to shut the door in the seventh, allowing a three-run homer to give the Sea Dogs an 8-7 lead.

The Rumble Ponies could not score in the bottom of the seventh and lost what was supposed to be the first game of the doubleheader, but the second game got rained out.

Charlotte (29-26) 12, St. Lucie (26-28) 1   Box Score

The Mets scored their lone run in the top of the second, when Winaker tripled home Jacob Zanon with nobody out. However, they could not get anything else across for the rest of the game as they went 1-10 with runners in scoring position. Vasquez continues to show impressive on-base skills, although his lack of power, especially for a first baseman, has been disappointing.

Wilson came into the game having posted a 3.32 ERA in his previous four starts, but Saturday’s affair was a mess. He gave up fourteen baserunners and had to be pulled in the fourth inning having thrown 75 pitches with no outs in the inning. Hernandez came in and was even worse, as his rough season continued following a solid 2018 campaign. Mitchell turned in another dominant performance, as he looks to be on a relatively fast track through the system. Taylor gave up a single run in the eighth to finish out the blowout loss.

Columbia (21-34) 3, Augusta (26-29) 2   Box Score

Vientos had a good first day of June, leading the offense as he doubled home a run in the first and singled home a run in the third. Juan Uriarte added an RBI single in the third, providing all the offense that they needed to win. Newton’s numbers still look bad because of his rough start, but he’s been coming around recently, posting an 1.147 OPS in his last ten games.

  • RHP Christian James (W, 2-4, 4.39 ERA): 5.2 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 3 BB, K
  • RHP Tylor Megill (1-0, 1.00 ERA): 1.1 IP, H, 0 R, BB, 2 K
  • RHP Jose Moreno (2-1, 1.74 ERA): 2.0 IP, H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K

James wasn’t overpowering, and didn’t have his best command, but he stayed in control through 5.2 solid innings, only running into some trouble due to a series of hits in the fifth. Megill has been really good for Columbia, striking out 13 and only allowing one earned run in nine innings. He has, however, walked eight, so obviously that’s a problem that has to be fixed if he wants any kind of sustained success. Moreno continued his very good season, lowering his ERA to 1.74. He’s handling his first full season very well, striking out 23 in 20.2 innings.

DSL Mets1 (1-0) 7, DSL Orioles2 (0-1) 6 Box Score

  • Freddy Valdez LF: 2-for-4, HR, BB
  • Darwyn Encarnacion DH: 2-for-4, BB, 2 R

Valdez hit a homer in his pro debut, the Mets gave him a $1.45 million bonus last year as their second highest international free agent signee.

  • RHP Williams Valencia (0.00) 2.1 IP, 2 H, o R, 0 BB, 3 K

Valencia had a 0.66 ERA in 2018 despite walking 15 batters in 13.2 innings.

DSL Mets2 (1-0) 5, DSL Tigers1 (0-1) 3 Box Score

  • Juan Loyo C: 2-for-4, 2B, RBI, R
  • Cesar Berbesi SS: 2-for-5, R
  • Dyron Campos CF: 2-for-5, 2 SB, 2B

Campos and Berbesi, both from Venezuela, were making their pro debuts.