Photo by James Farrance Photography

Syracuse Mets (28-25) 13, Pawtucket Red Sox (21-31) 4

Syracuse’s offense had a great game Friday night hitting four home runs, two of which being three-run shots, as they piled up 13 runs against the Pawtucket Red Sox.

Rajai Davis led off the game for the Mets with a home run, before Travis Taijeron had an RBI hit in the second inning to put Syracuse up 2-0. Taijeron had a great day at the plate, as he also had an RBI triple in the third inning and hit a three-run home run in the sixth inning. Danny Espinosa accounted for the other three-run homer, driving home Ruben Tejada and Rene Rivera in the third inning.

Starting pitcher Casey Coleman was spotted plenty of run support, as he had 7-0 lead before he took the mound in the third inning. Coleman made one mistake, when he allowed a solo home run in the fifth inning, but that was the only run he yielded in his five innings of work.

Reliever Stephen Nogosek continued his excellent 2019 season with another scoreless outing, as he pitched two innings following Coleman. Nogosek struck out five of the seven batters he faced and kept his perfect 0.00 ERA with Syracuse. Joe Zanghi was promoted at the same time as Nogosek but he has not adjusted as well to Triple-A. After allowing another run in his inning of work, Zanghi has a 6.35 ERA in Syracuse. Ryan O’Rourke yielded two runs in the ninth inning, but they did not count against his ERA. With two outs in ninth, the lefty actually made a throwing error himself, allowing the runs to score.

Portland Sea Dogs (17-34) 20,  Binghamton Rumble Ponies (30-19) 2

Mets top prospect Anthony Kay showed why he is not quite major league ready yet, as he struggled against the worst team in the Eastern League on Friday night. The seven hits that Kay allowed are more alarming then the four runs, as the lefty only yielded one earned run while in the game. A throwing error by catcher Patrick Mazeika allowed a run to score in the fifth and Kay left the game with two runners on base.

Joshua Torres came in an immediately gave up a three-run homer, with two of those runs being charged to Kay. That was the first of three home runs allowed by Torres, as he got rocked in his 1 1/3 innings of work. David Roseboom did not fare much better, allowing two homers and six runs in the seventh inning. With the game out of reach, outfielder Jason Krizan came in for mop-up duty in the ninth and yielded five more runs to the Sea Dogs. Across Portland’s first forty games this year, they had scored a league-worst 158 runs. In one game they moved to the second-worst mark in the league with 178 runs.

It just wasn’t the Rumble Ponies night on Friday, as they not only yielded a boatload of runs but also failed to score many. The team combined to only get six hits all night, with only one of them being for extra-bases. Binghamton did not score until the eight, when Patrick Mazeika got the lone RBI of the game with a base hit. The Rumble Ponies would score one more run, when Ali Sanchez hit into a double play with a runner on third after Mazeika’s hit.

Charlotte Stone Crabs (28-26) 6, Port St. Lucie Mets (26-27) 1

Starting pitcher Dedniel Nunez was pitching great coming into Friday, as he had yielded just one run across 12 innings pitched in his last two starts. In the first inning, Nunez gave up a three-run homer before he even recorded an out. After pitching a 1-2-3 second inning, Nunez yielded another long ball, this one a two-run shot, in the third inning to put the Mets down by five runs. Nunez would allow one more run and a pair of doubles in the fifth inning, before he was taken out of the game with two outs.

Ezequiel Zabaleta inherited a runner on second base in the fifth, but induced a fly out to end the inning. He would stay on to pitch two more innings of perfect relief for St. Lucie. Conner O’Neil worked around a bases-loaded jam in the eighth inning to pitch another scoreless inning for the Mets.

Port St. Lucie struggled mightily to produce any offense Friday night, recording just four hits all game. The only extra-base hit came in the ninth inning, when Carlos Cortes hit his third triple of the season. Cortes came in to score on Quinn Brodey‘s ground out for the Mets lone run.

Augusta GreenJackets (26-28) 8, Columbia Fireflies (20-34) 6

Starting pitcher Colin Holderman had a terrible time on Friday night, allowing eight runs on 10 hits. Three of the runs ended up going unearned, as Holderman made a throwing error in the fourth, which scored two runs. The runner that got on via Holderman’s error also came around to score.

Right-handed pitcher Bryce Hutchinson inherited a bases loaded, one out, jam in the fifth, but escaped the inning after allowing just one run on a wild pitch. Hutchinson stayed on and gave the Fireflies four more great innings of scoreless relief.

Hansel Moreno put the Fireflies on the board in the first inning, by hitting a solo home run. It was a big night at the plate for Moreno, as he went 3-for-5 with an RBI bunt single in the second. With the Fireflies down 4-3 in the bottom of the third inning, Brian Sharp hit an RBI double to tie the game.

After the Fireflies had fallen behind 8-4, they were able to tack on another run in the seventh inning when Wagner Lagrange hit an RBI double of his own. They scored once more in the eighth when Mark Vientos grounded out to score Shervyen Newton, but they were unable to make up for the four-run deficit.