Mark Vientos, Photo by Herm Card

After being named the International League Player of the Week last week, Mark Vientos continues to roll in Triple-A as he collected two more hits in a 6-4 Syracuse loss. Meanwhile, the Rumble Ponies were in Reading where Jake Mangum is picking up right where he left off after missing two months with a back injury. The Cyclones would win in ten innings over Jersey Shore and St. Lucie would stun Palm Beach with a wild walk-off victory.

Worcester Red Sox (60-59) 6 vs. Syracuse Mets (51-68) 4   BOX SCORE

  • 3B Mark Vientos: 2-for-4, R, RBI, .293/.369/.553
  • 1B Daniel Palka: 1-for-4, R, HR (24), 2 RBI, .278/.354/.541
  • RF Travis Blankenhorn: 1-for-4, R, HR (15), RBI, .269/.344/.468

The Mets jumped out to a fast start on back-to-back home runs by Palka and Blankenhorn that would give Syracuse an early 3-0 lead after the first inning. The Syracuse offense would stall after that and score one run over the rest of the game in an eventual 6-4 loss. That run would come in the form of a Mark Vientos RBI single, which only adds to his eye-popping stat line for August. Vientos is batting .407 through 13 games during the month and is carrying an OPS of 1.162. What’s perhaps most impressive is that he has 22 hits, which is double the amount of strikeouts he’s totaled in August.

Francisco Álvarez was given the night off tonight. Travis Jankowski went 1-for-5 and Dominic Smith with 2-for-4 with a double.

 

  • LHP Mike Montgomery: 4 IP, 6 H, 4 R, 2 ER, 4 BB, 4 SO, 6.68 ERA
  • LHP Locke St. John: (L,2-4), 2 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 3 SO, 4.81 ERA
  • RHP Trey Cobb: 3 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 4 BB, 2 SO, 4.53 ERA

The Syracuse pitching staff has already seen a handful of their staff move up to Queens to help with a rash of injuries to New York’s rotation. The stakes would be far less dire in and this game for him, but Montgomery wouldn’t have in best stuff. Over four innings, he would allow six hits, and two earned runs and struggled with his control giving up four walks.

Montgomery was pulled after loading the bases with no outs in the fifth. He was relieved by another ex-Cub, Locke St. John, who would allow Worcester to tie the game and in the next inning, take the lead 6-4, which would wind up being the final score.

Binghamton Rumble Ponies (44-71) 3 vs. Reading Fightin Phils (53-63) 4   BOX SCORE

  • SS Ronny Mauricio: 1-for-3, 2 R, BB, .253/.287/.473
  • CF Jake Mangum: 2-for-4, .310/.377/.446
  • LF Carlos Cortes: 2-for-3, 2B, RBI, BB, .225/.299/.357

Much like Syracuse, Binghamton would also come out firing in the first inning. RBI hits from Carlos Cortes and Luke Ritter would stake the Rumble Ponies to a 2-0 lead. After Reading tied the game, Nick Meyer would give Binghamton the lead in the sixth inning with a perfectly placed bunt single. In the ninth inning, a Ritter error would open the door for, a Reading rally as the Rumble Ponies dropped a heartbreaker 4-3.

Jake Mangum, for the second straight game, would have a multi-hit performance as after missing a significant amount of time with a back injury. Earlier this season, Mangum was ranked in the Mets’ top 30 prospects by MLB Pipeline.

  • RHP Jose Chacin: 6 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, BB, 7 SO, 6.06 ERA
  • RHP Justin Courtney: 2 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 3 SO, 0.00 ERA (Binghamton debut)
  • RHP Grant Hartwig: (L,0-1) 0.2 IP, H, 2 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, SO, 1.20 ERA

It’s been a rough transition for Jose Chacin into Double-A this season. At one point, his ERA was up to 7.60 in mid-July. However, in August, Chacin is showing notable improvement. After working through six innings in this game, allowing two runs and striking out seven, Chacin has an ERA of 2.77 in August and has seen his overall ERA drop by nearly a whole run. Justin Courtney, making his Double-A debut, would come in in relief of Chacin and would adapt perfectly. Courtney would hold Reading to just three hits with no runs, and three strikeouts and would keep the lead for Binghamton heading into the ninth inning.

Grant Hartwig was just two outs away from recording the save and the win, but Luke Ritter’s error would allow Reading to tie the game at three. The next batter, Aldrem Corredor, would put the game away on a walk-off sacrifice fly to send Binghamton to a tough 4-3 loss.

 Brooklyn Cyclones (58-58) 5 vs Jersey Shore BlueClaws (44-72) 4 F/10   BOX SCORE

In a back-and-forth extra-inning game, the Cyclones came away with a crucial 5-4 win as they continue their chase for a playoff spot in the South Atlantic League postseason. Stanley Consuegra would put the Cyclones on the board in the first inning with an RBI single. With Jersey Shore leading in the fifth inning, Shervyen Newton would break the tie and give Brooklyn the lead with a two-run home run.

The game was tied going into the ninth inning until Consuegra launched a go-ahead home run to reclaim the lead. Jersey Shore would rally back to tie the game in the ninth, but a Matt Rudick sacrifice fly in the tenth would give the Cyclones the lead and the win as Brooklyn is just a half-game back of first place in the SAL second-half standings.

  • RHP Junior Santos: 5.2 IP, 3 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 8 SO, 4.76 ERA
  • RHP Dylan Hall: 2.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 2 SO, 3.60 ERA
  • RHP Daison Acosta: (W,5-6) 2 IP, H, R, ER, 5 BB, 2 SO, 5.43 ERA

After a rough previous two starts in which he gave up 12 runs in eight innings combined, Santos seemed to settle down in this outing. Santos would make it through 5 2/3 innings, allowing only three hits and two earned runs with a couple of walks. He had his strikeout pitch working through this game as he set a season-high with eight. Dylan Hall would turn in 2 1/3 innings of scoreless relief with two strikeouts of his own. Daison Acosta would allow Jersey Shore to tie the game in the ninth but redeemed himself in the tenth by getting out of a bases-loaded, one-out jam to deliver a 5-4 win for Brooklyn.

D’Andre Smith, Photo by Ed Delany of Mets Minors

Palm Beach Cardinals (57-57) 4 vs. St Lucie Mets (67-48) 5   BOX SCORE

Palm Beach pitching would hold the usually productive St Lucie offense scoreless through the first six innings and took a 4-0 lead. St. Lucie would get on the scoreboard in the seventh with three runs, which included a Brad Malm two-run double to cut the Cardinal lead to one. The score would stay like that going into the ninth inning. A Raul Beracierta single would set the stage for D’Andre Smith, the Mets 5th round pick this year, who would rip an RBI triple to tie the game. A wild throw to third would fly into the dugout, allowing Smith to score the winning run as the Mets walked off on the Cardinals’ third error of the game.

Jordan Geber would turn in his longest outing since joining the Mets organization last month. Geber kept St Lucie in the game despite giving up seven hits he’d only allow three earned runs and struck out five. Joshua Cornielly would earn the win with three innings of scoreless relief on five hits and was in control of his pitches, giving up no walks and striking out two.