B-Mets 3, New Hampshire 2

Fresh off the disabled list, righty Tobi Stoner faced two over the minimum in a seven-inning start to pick up a 3-2 win over New Hampshire in his return from the disabled list. Despite giving up a home run in the ninth inning, closer Roy Merritt notched his 10th save of the season going the final 1.2 innings. The win ended a three-game losing streak.



Stoner, who had been on the shelf with a slight labrum tear in his right shoulder, retired the final 11 men he faced to notch the win. In 17.1 innings, Stoner has yielded just one run to the Fisher Cats dating back to 2008.



Binghamton (14-15) jumped on the scoreboard first in the second inning. Starter Rey Gonzalez gave up back-to-back two-out singles to Mark Kiger and Carl Loadenthal. Then, Ruben Tejada hit a routine ground ball to short, but Luis Sanchez booted the ball allowing Kiger to score, giving the B-Mets a 1-0 lead.



Josh Thole, who hadn’t homered since last August with St. Lucie (High-A), smacked a 2-1 offering from Gonzalez over the right field wall for his first AA home run. The shot gave Binghamton a 2-0 lead.



In the sixth, the B-Mets scored another run thanks to Gonzalez’ control issues. After walking two men in the inning, Gonzalez gave up an RBI single to Carl Loadenthal, which scored Shawn Bowman from second to give Binghamton a 3-0 lead. Loadenthal was the only player for either team with a multi-hit performance, knocking three hits in four trips to the plate.



Stoner exited after seven leading to righty Julio De La Cruz who allowed the first two he faced to reach on singles in the eighth. After getting, Al Quintana to foul out to Lucas Duda, De La Cruz was removed in favor of the closer, Merritt. Merritt walked the first man he faced, Sean Shoffit, to load the bases before allowing an inherited runner to score on a Luis Sanchez sacrifice fly, making it 3-1.



In the ninth, Merritt struck out the leadoff man David Cooper, but then gave up a long home run to Brian Dopirak to get New Hampshire (17-14) within one. However, the lefty settled down and retired the next two hitters on groundballs to clinch the win, 3-2.



Gonzalez was hung with his first loss of the season, giving up three runs in six innings.