MMO Farm Report: Cecchini’s Grand Slam Lifts Kingsport, Aderlin Picks Up Four Ribbies, Familia Rocked

Indianapolis 6, Buffalo 0

By Connor O’Brien

Last night in Indianapolis, the Bisons were defeated once again by a score of 6-0.

Jeurys Familia, coming off a stretch of great starts, got the start for Buffalo. In his previous start, he gave up seven runs against Charlotte and failed to make it out of the fifth inning. He struggled with his command and was pounded. Simply put, he continued that last night. Familia got hit early on in the second inning when the Indians rallied and scored four runs off Familia. He got off to a terrible start in the inning, giving up four straight hits, including one by former Met Anderson Hernandez. Finally, after giving up two runs, Familia tried to take control back of the inning by striking out a batter. However, during the next at-bat, Familia threw a wild pitch, allowing runners to advance to second and third. Then, he gave up an RBI-single that scored both runners and made it 4-0 Indianapolis. The Indians almost got more. With a runner on second and two outs, Familia threw another wild pitch, allowing a runner to go to third. Familia proceeded to walk the next batter, but got out of the inning after giving up only the four runs.

The Indians weren’t done however. They rallied again in the third against Familia to score another run, making it a 5-0 lead for the Indians. Familia was pulled after giving up five runs on six hits over three innings. He also struck out two and walked two.

With the Bison offense struggling recently, a five-run lead seemed like an almost impossible deficit. Once again last night, the bats went silent. Jeff Locke of Indianapolis absolutely dominated Buffalo, holding them to just four hits in seven strong innings. On top of that, the bullpen was just as dominant against Bufffalo, allowing only one hit in two innings.

Herd Rumblings: Familia dropped to 7-7 on the season with the loss. Over his last 7.2 innings, he has given up 12 runs. With Familia knocked out early, someone had to take the innings. Luckily, Jeff Stevens was there for mop-up work, allowing only one run and going 2.2 innings. Pedro Beato also chipped in with two scoreless innings of his own in which he allowed only one hit and struck out four. On offense, it was more of the same. No Bison had multiple hits. No one even walked multiple times. It was a very uneventful night for the offense and not a memorable one for the team. Chris Schwinden (3-4, 2.49 ERA) gets the start today against the Indians. First pitch is at 1:15.

Portland 5, Binghamton 1

By Tim Burns

The Binghamton Mets brief two game winning streak came to an end on Saturday night as the visiting Portland SeaDogs took game three of the four game series by a score of 5-1.

Greg Peavey was on the hill at the outset for the B-Mets, and before the first inning was over the SeaDogs had enough runs to their credit to ensure their 48th win of the season. After walking the first batter of the game Jackie Bradley, Peavey gave up a home run to Jeremy Hazelbaker in the next at bat. The next two batters in the inning each had doubles, and before you knew it the B-Mets were behind by three runs before they ever came to bat.

Peavey allowed single runs in the top of the second and fifth innings, and in the end was charged with his seventh loss of the season. Peavey’s final line on the night read six innings pitched, five runs – four of which were earned – on five hits, two walks and four strikeouts.

Armando Rodriguez came on in relief of Peavey in the seventh, throwing the next two frames. Rodriguez allowed two hits, giving up no runs, with four strikeouts and a walk.

Adam Kolarek came on in the ninth inning to make his first appearance for the B-Mets. He got the SeaDogs to go three up and three down in his one inning worth of work, striking out two along the way including Jeremy Hazelbaker who had gone 2-for-4 up to that point.

The B-Mets batters scattered six hits across nine innings in the game, with the bottom of the third being the only inning where they recorded more than one hit. It was in the third when Binghamton scored their lone run of the game as well as.

At the plate, Wilfredo Tovar – who went 1-for-4 in the game – had the only multi-base hit, that being a third inning double. Tovar eventually was the only B-Mets player to cross the plate in that inning as well.

Eric Campbell went 1-for-4 in the game and extended his current hitting streak to seven games. Campbell’s season high streak sits at eight games.

B-Mets Buzz: The rubber match will be played on Sunday afternoon at NYSEG Stadium with Mark Cohoon (5-7, 3.60) taking the hill for the B-Mets against Portland’s Stolmy Pimentel (4-4, 4.83). Frank Francisco remains on the B-Mets roster and is still scheduled to make another relief appearance for Binghamton before rejoining the New York Mets, although Francisco told Press and Sun-Bulletin reporter Lynn Worthy that he did not pitch on Saturday night due to soreness on his left side.

St. Lucie 8, Bradenton 3

Aderlin Rodriguez went 2-for-4 with four RBIs as the Mets defeated the Lakeland Flying Tigers 8-3 on Saturday at Digital Domain Park.

Rodriguez hit a bases clearing double to right-center to give the Mets a 3-2 lead in the fourth inning. Robbie Shields hit an RBI double down the third base line into the left field corner to plate Rodriguez to extend the Mets lead.

The Mets pulled away with a four-run fifth inning. Cory Vaughn ripped an RBI single to left to score T.J Rivera to make it 5-2. Richard Lucas doubled to right to score Muno and Vaughn to give the Mets a 7-2 advantage. Rodriguez followed with an RBI single to right to bring home Forsythe.

Tyler Pill tossed seven innings and allowed two runs and seven hits with two walks and seven strikeouts to win his fifth consecutive game.

John Church allowed an unearned run in two innings while giving up two hits and striking out one.

Rivera went 2-for-5 and scored two runs while Muno went 1-for-1 with two runs scored and three walks.

Lucie Logistics: Tyler Pill is 5-1 with a 2.09 ERA since his promotion to St. Lucie. In 18 combined appearances that includes Savannah, Pill has a 2.35 with 95 strikeouts and 20 walks n 103.1 innings pitched this season. The Mets have won five straight games and will host the Lakeland Flying Tigers at 1:00 p.m. on Sunday at Digital Domain Park. Logan Verrett will make his debut for St. Lucie as the Mets look to complete a four-game sweep. (From team report.)

Rome 9, Savannah 8

By Fonzie13

The Rome Braves (ATL) defeated the Savannah Sand Gnats (57-46) 9-8 Saturday night at State Mutual Stadium in Rome. Despite a fifteen hit outburst and an early four run lead by the Gnats, Rome fought all the way back to squeak by Savannah.

The Sand Gnats came roaring out of the gate as they scored four runs in the first inning off of Rome starter Greg Ross. Dustin Lawley doubled home Gilbert Gomez while Gregory Pron, Cole Frenzel, and Albert Cordero each had runs scoring singles. Rome put a run on the board in the fourth on a Kyle Kubitza RBI triple and added two more runs in the fifth on a two run single by William Beckwith to make it a one run game.

The Sand Gnats took their four run lead back in the sixth with three runs making it a 7-3 game. Designated Hitter Camden Maron and Third-baseman Dustin Lawley each had RBI hits and Right-fielder Gregory Pron added a sacrifice fly.

Heading into the bottom of the seventh with a 7-3 advantage the Braves exploded with six huge runs. Ross Heffley got the party started with a two run double. Beckwith doubled to score two more runs tying the game at 7-7. With the bases full and one out, Will Skinner hit an infield ground ball to Third-basemen Dustin Lawley allowing Beckwith to score from third with the go ahead run. Lawley tried to turn a double play getting a force out at second but Yucarybert De La Cruz’s throw to first was a wild one and allowed another run to cross the plate giving Rome a 9-7 lead.

Trailing by two Cole Frenzel led off the ninth inning for Savannah with his second home run of the year closing Rome’s lead to one run. Still nobody out, Catcher Alberto Cordero draws a walk puttting the tying run on first base with no outs. After a pitching change Right-fielder Charley Thurber grounds into a force play and Second-baseman Yucarybert De La Cruz goes down looking . Shortstop Matt Reynolds works out a walk putting the tying and winning runs aboard but Center-fielder Gilbert Gomez strikes out swinging to end the game.

Domingo Tapia (5-2, 3.56) took the rubber Saturday night, coming off seven one hit innings in his last start, also against Rome was not nearly as sharp this time out. D-Tap did not factor in the decision pitching five and one third innings surrendering three earned runs on three hits, four walks, a hit batsmen and six punchouts. Randy Fontanez came on in relief of Tapia in the sixth, worked out of the sixth unscored but got hammered in the seventh which was the six run explosion by Rome. Randy would be credited with pitching two thirds of an inning giving up four earned runs on three hits and a walk. Chasen Bradord spelled Fontanez in the seventh, allowed two inherited runners to score and two unearned runs to follow. In Chasen’s two innings of work he was charged with two unearned runs, one hit and two strikeouts.

Gnats Gnotes: Despite Saturday nights loss the Sand Gnats exploded for eight runs on fifteen hits. SS Matthew Reynolds 2 for 4, BB. Cam Maron 3 for 3, 2 R, RBI, 2 BB. Dustin Lawley 2 for 5, 2 2B’s(29), R, 2 RBI. Cole Frenzel 3 for 5, HR(2), 2 RBI’s, R. Sunday night the Sand Gnats send RHP Jacob DeGrom (6-3, 2.47) to the hill to try and salvage one game of this three game series with Rome 40-66.

Mahoning Valley 3, Brooklyn 2

By Joe D.

The struggling Brooklyn Cyclones squandered a solid start by Hansel Robles and lost to the MV Scrappers by a score of 3-2 on Saturday night.

Robles allowed just one earned on five hits in his five innings of work while striking out seven. He gets a no-decision and lowered his ERA to 2.04 for the season. John Mincone has been effective all season long for the Clones and last night was no different as the left-hander notched two more scoreless innings to extend his scoreless streak to 17 1/3 innings. Mincone’s ERA now stands at a microscopic 0.44 this season.

David Wynn got tagged with the loss, his first of the year, after surrendering a two-out, two-run homer in the eighth to give the Scrappers the come-from-behind win. It was also Wynn’s first blown save of the season.

On offense, the Clones scored a run in the first after Brandon Nimmo opened the game with a single and scored on Kevin Plawecki’s two-out double to give Brooklyn the early lead. They scored their second run in the third when Jayce Boyd’s two-out single scored Eudy Pina who had led off the inning with a single and moved into scoring position on a groundout by Phillip Evans.

Brooklyn Brew: The Cyclones had just five hits in the game and did not have a hit after the fourth inning. Brandon Nimmo fanned twice in the game and now has an alarming 46 strikeouts in in 144 at-bats and is batting .222. RHP Julian Hilario (0-3) will take the mound for Brooklyn as he looks for his first win of the season on Sunday. The Clones hope to snap their slide as the face the Scrappers for the second game in their three-game set at 5:05 pm.

Kingsport 9, Bristol 5

Gavin Cecchini could not have picked a better time to hit his first home run as a professional baseball player.

In the fifth inning of Saturday’s series finale with the Bristol Sox, Cecchini belted a grand slam to center field, bringing a quadruple-digit crowd to its feet and breaking open the game as the Kingsport Mets went on to tally a 9-5 victory at Hunter Wright Stadium.

Cecchini’s slam lifted Kingsport to a 6-1 lead, and that would have been enough to win the contest.

Cecchini’s grand slam culminated a big two-out rally by Kingsport in the fifth. Brandon Marquez reached on a fielding error by Bristol shortstop Nick Basto. A single by Eris Peguero and a walk to Maikis De La Cruz loaded the bases. Cecchini and Sox hurler Tyler Kibby battled to a full count before Cecchini cranked Kibby’s offering over the center-left wall.

Cecchini, the Mets’ first-round pick in June’s draft, was batting in the cleanup spot for the first time. He tripled in Friday’s game, a loss to these same Bristol Sox.

Meanwhile, Kingsport starter Corey Oswalt put together the deepest outing of any K-Mets pitcher to date this season. Oswalt went 7 2-3 strong innings, allowing three runs on nine hits and two walks. One key stat? Only one of those nine hits went for extra bases.

The Sox didn’t just fade away in this one. Bristol touched up newly entered reliever Christian Chivilli for two runs on two hits and had the potential tying run at the plate when Chivilli induced Basto into a game-ending flyout.

Kingsport Knews: Bradley Marquez made his first start in more than a month, in his return to the lineup after spending time on the injured list with a leg issue. He won’t be with the team much longer. Marquez reports soon back to Lubbock, where he’s a wide receiver on Texas Tech’s football team. He went 2-for-4, reached on an error and scored a run while batting in the leadoff spot. Aggressive base running helped the Mets scratch a run in the seventh. Jon Leroux reached on an error, advanced to second on an infield hit by Anthony Chavez, then scored from second base on Jorge Rivero’s fielder’s choice groundball. Leroux rounded third and never even slowed up on his way across the plate, while a throwing error by Basto put Rivero aboard second. It was a rough night for the Bristol shortstop Basto, who committed four of his team’s five errors in the field. Kingsport hits the road for six straight away from home before returning to Hunter Wright Stadium for a three-game set with the Princeton Rays that begins Saturday. (From team report)