4/28/09

Portland 9, B-Mets 8

Roy Merritt blew his first save in nine chances this season and Binghamton gave up a three-run ninth inning to allow Portland to come from behind for a 9-8 victory Tuesday night. The loss comes after Binghamton pounded out a season-high 14 hits and tied a season high with 8 runs.

Merritt, who came on in the eighth and needed just one pitch to induce an inning-ending double play, issued a one-out walk to Juan Apodaca and a two-out single to Ryan Khoury before walking Lars Anderson to load the bases. With the bases loaded and two outs, Aaron Bates drove in two with a clean single to right to tie the game at eight. Then Bubba Bell followed with a broken-bat single through the left side to score Anderson from third and walk off with the 9-8 win.

With the game tied at two after two innings, the B-Mets struck for five straight singles in the third scoring two runs off of Portland (8-9) starter Adam Mills. Then with the bases loaded and one out, Jonathan Malo and D.J. Wabick followed with RBI singles to make it a four-run inning and give Binghamton (9-7) a 6-2 lead.

The B-Mets added a seventh run in the fourth when Josh Thole doubled with one out followed by a Josh Petersen walk. Lucas Duda drove Thole in with an RBI single off of Chad Rhoades, making it 7-2.

Portland plated two runs in the sixth to close the game to within three at 7-4 and plated two runs in the eighth to get within two at 8-6, ahead of the three-run rally for the win in the ninth.

In the eighth inning, when Fernando Nieve was pulled for Merritt, arguments ensued on the mound between home plate umpire Jon Byrne and the Binghamton battery over the strike zone. This resulted in Thole and Nieve being thrown out of the game.

Wabick led the way for Binghamton offensively going 3-4 with 4 RBI including a double. Duda also output a three-hit game going 3-4 with 2 RBI and a walk.

Merritt was hung with his first loss of the season, giving up three runs in 1.1 innings of work. Dylan Owen tied a season-long 5.2 innings as the starter, giving up four runs on five hits while walking three in the no-decision.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Whats the deal with Fernando Nieve? Do the Mets see him as a starter or relief pitcher?

Mack Ade said...

I think at this point the Mets would take either.

Omar likes to sign past #1/#2 draft picks in their mid to late twenties, figuring some of these guys just might have been handled wrong... it's a good idea on paper..

Nieve has SP potential, but not this year... he will pitch in Buffalo or follow Freddy to the airport