Mark Vientos, Photo by Ed Delany of Metsmerized


AAA (Game 1): Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders (7-7) 9, Syracuse Mets (9-5) 7  Box Score

Syracuse’s offense was powered by five extra base hits in Sunday’s defeat, including home runs by Vientos, Perez, and Jaylin Davis. Perez got the Mets on the board in the second inning with a two-run homer to right field; it was just Perez’s second hit of the season. Vientos added another run for Syracuse with a third-inning home run of his own. Vientos’ five home runs tied him for sixth in the International League. Mauricio extended his hitting streak to six games with his second-inning single, although that streak would be broken in the second game of the doubleheader.

The Mets were not the only team to have a power surge in the first game of Sunday’s doubleheader. Bundy gave up four home runs in his nightmarish organizational debut, including three to Jake Bauers. Rossman and Hunter were solid out of the bullpen, but the damage had already been done.

AAA (Game 2): Syracuse Mets (10-5) 7, Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Railriders (7-8) 4  Box Score 

  • Mark Vientos 1B: 3-for-3, 3 R, 2 2B, 2 RBI, .346/.417/.692
  • Jonathan Araúz 2B: 2-for-3, R, 3 RBI, .385/.450/.538
  • Jaylin Davis DH: 1-for-4, 2B, 2 RBI, K, .227/.261/.409

The Mets matched their offensive production from the first game without hitting a home run thanks to an impressive 4-for-8 performance with runners in scoring position. Vientos followed up his huge first game with an equally strong performance in the second game. He five-hit performance in the doubleheader boosted his season OPS from .930 to 1.109. Araúz increased his hitting streak to six games with his two hits; four of the six games during his streak have been multi-hit games.

Mejia righted himself with five shutout innings on Sunday after starting the season with two very rocky starts. The bullpen struggled with its control, walking five batters over the final two innings of the game but were able to limit the damage and keep the Mets in the lead for the remainder of the game.

AA: Binghamton Rumble Ponies (3-6) 2, Somerset Patriots (5-4) 0  Box Score

The Rumble Ponies had almost no offense in Sunday’s victory: they had just three hits in the game, two of which came off the bat of Fryman, and went 0-for-6 with runners in scoring position. All of Binghamton’s runs came on a Fryman two-run home run to left center field in the seventh inning. It was the second consecutive game in which Fryman has homered. Binghamton’s offense has struggled mightily all season, as they are hitting just .182/.315/.295 as a team in 2023.

Vasil was fantastic in his abbreviated start on Sunday afternoon (it was planned to be an abbreviated start). He needed just 24 pitches to strike out five of the six batters he faced in two perfect innings of work. Outside of one home run in his last start, Vasil has been nearly flawless this season: over six innings of work, he has struck out 13 batters while walking only one. Tavarez continues to be productively wild in his appearances, only throwing half of his pitches for strikes but making it through a scoreless inning. He has a 6:6 K:BB ratio in 4 1/3 innings of work this season.

High-A: Winston-Salem Dash (5-2) 10, Brooklyn Cyclones (3-6) 4  Box Score

The Cyclones had only seven hits in Sunday’s game and went just 1-for-10 with runners in scoring position, so it was only with some impressive baserunning that they were able to push across the four runs that they managed to score. They stole four bases over the course of the game and De Los Santos manufactured a run of his own in the sixth inning by singling, stealing second and third base, and then scoring on a sacrifice fly. De Los Santos leads the South Atlantic league with six steals and has not been caught once. Ramirez has recorded at least one hit in each of his last four games.

Like Vasil, Tidwell was scheduled for an abbreviated start and excelled in this start. He threw 21 of his 28 pitches for strikes and allowed just one single over two innings of work. After a strong first outing of the season, Geber was not so fortunate and was allowed to struggle likely in an attempt to save the bullpen. After 97 pitches and nearly six innings of work he was pulled for McLoughlin to get the last out.

Low-A: Jupiter Hammerheads (5-4) 5, St. Lucie Mets (3-6) 3  Box Score 

The Mets could push across just three runs on eight hits in Sunday’s defeat. Adrian Hernandez got the Mets on the board with a 373-foot solo home run in the third inning; it was Hernandez’s first home run since June of 2021. Perozo has recorded multiple hits three of the five games he has played this season. Tilien’s second-inning line drive single was the hardest hit ball by the Mets in this game, leaving his bat at 102.4 MPH.

Atencio’s second appearance of the season was not quite as disastrous as his first but there was still plenty of room for improvement. He made it through the first three innings without surrendering a run but ran into trouble in the fourth inning and ended up giving up three runs before being pulled with two outs in the inning. His peripheral stats were, again, slightly better (he had a 33% CSW% and his changeup generated a 63% whiff rate) but it is hard to know how much stock to put into those numbers given the overall results. Garcia has walked six batters this season while only striking out one batter.