Mark Vientos, Photo by Ed Delany of MMO

After an outstanding May in Syracuse, seeing Mark Vientos land on the injured list after just two June games was concerning. However, his injured list stint lasted just 10 days and he returned to the lineup no worse for wear, as he blasted a long home run in his second at-bat of Sunday’s game.

AAA: Syracuse Mets (21-38) 10, Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders (23-37) 1  Box Score

  • Dominic Smith DH: 3-for-4, 2 R, HR, 2 RBI, BB, SB, .270/.308/.459
  • Mark Vientos 3B: 1-for-5, R, HR, 2 RBI, 2 K, .248/.331/.482
  • Daniel Palka RF: 1-for-4, R, HR, RBI, 2 K, .238/.335/.481

The Mets rode a power surge to a blowout victory on Sunday afternoon. Seven of their 12 hits went for extra bases, and three left the ballpark. Vientos, who was playing his first game since landing on the injured list 10 days earlier, blasted a homer to right-center field in the third. Smith capped off the Mets’ scoring in the eighth with an opposite-field shot of his own, his second in the nine games since his demotion. Amid all the power shown by Syracuse, there was still room for some small ball by Johneshwy Fargas. In the third inning, Fargas attempted a sacrifice bunt but would end up making it all the way to third base on a throwing error. During the next at-bat, Fargas attempted and successfully executed a straight steal of home.

After making his organizational debut in the Florida Complex League last week, Cahill pitched two innings in his Syracuse debut on Sunday. Despite the lack of walks, he was not particularly efficient, as he needed 45 pitches to make it through those two innings. Otanez’s improved control has regressed since his promotion to Triple-A: after walking just six batters in 15.0 innings in Binghamton, he has already walked five batters in 3 2/3 innings with Syracuse.

AA: Binghamton Rumble Ponies (21-35) 7, New Hampshire Fisher Cats (27-29) 4  Box Score

Binghamton’s trio of top prospects powered the Rumble Ponies to victory on Sunday afternoon. Álvarez continued his absolutely torrid stretch at the plate with yet another home run. He now has a 12-game hitting streak and has hit nine home runs over his last 15 games. He is currently fifth in the Eastern League in home runs and sixth in OPS. Baty’s power is starting to come around, as he hit his second home run in the last week and is hitting .375/.459/.563 in June. And finally, the rarest event of the night was Mauricio’s two-walk game, his first such game in exactly one year (his last was June 12, 2021).

Kisena’s seven strikes were his most in a game since April 29 of this year. Yamamoto continues to work out of the bullpen during his rehab stint. Through three games with Binghamton, he has an 8:1 K:BB ratio over 4 2/3 innings pitched. Núñez has been absolutely dominant out of the bullpen in his return from Tommy John surgery: he has struck out 10 batters without walking anyone over his first five appearances of the year.

A+: Brooklyn Cyclones (24-31) 5, Aberdeen Iron Birds (38-18) 2  Box Score

The Cyclones struggled to get anything going for the first six innings of Sunday’s game, and they entered the seventh inning down 1-0. Palmer broke up the shutout and gave the Cyclones a lead that they would not surrender with one big swing of his bat; despite his struggles this season, Palmer’s grand slam puts him just one home run shy of his career-high of seven home runs in a season.

Zwack had yet another dominant start with Brooklyn, with the third-inning home run against him being his lone blemish. For the season, across two levels, the lefty has a dominant 49:7 K:BB ratio over 35 2/3 innings pitched. Although he struggled with control in Sunday’s game, Tavarez has cut his walk rate from nearly 10 BB/9 in 2021 to 5.8 this season while still maintaining an exceptionally high 13.2 K/9. Hartwig has thrown five straight scoreless appearances to begin his time in Brooklyn.

A: Jupiter Hammerheads (29-26) 5, St. Lucie Mets (37-19) 4  Box Score

Consuegra was responsible for the majority of St. Lucie’s offense on Sunday. He got the team on the board with a two-run single in the first inning and then blasted a solo home run to left-center field in the sixth. The home run had an exit velocity of 103.6 MPH. Ramirez drove in the fourth run to tie the game on a line-drive single up the middle in the ninth inning.

Ventura threw 33 pitches over two innings in his second appearance back from Tommy John surgery (and his first appearance with St. Lucie). His fastball averaged 92.9 MPH and topped out at 95.3 MPH, which is right in line with where he was before surgery. His changeup was his best pitch on Sunday, as he generated six swings and misses on nine swings (the batter swung at every changeup) with the pitch. Askew made his second appearance since his month-long stint on the IL and continued to dominate opposing batters. Batters are hitting .125/.211/.219 against him this season. He sat in the low-90s and got whiffs on all three of his pitches.