Eric Niesen returned from a month-long hiatus due to a concussion and tossed 3 1/3 hitless innings before giving way to Edgar Ramirez and the Binghamton bullpen, which held Richmond to just two hits the rest of the way en route to a 9-1 victory Wednesday night at NYSEG Stadium. Luis Hernandez powered the B-Mets offense with three hits, including his second homer of the season, a solo shot to right off starter Mike MacDonald.
Like Tuesday, Binghamton (22-23) pounced on the Flying Squirrels in the first inning. Kirk Nieuwenhuis doubled to the gap in left off MacDonald to start the marathon inning. Hernandez joined him on base with an infield single. Nick Evans plated the first run of the inning with a fielder’s choice to short. After Marshall Hubbard singled, Eric Campbell cracked an RBI single to center, scoring Evans. The next hitter, D.J. Wabick, also singled to load the bases. With the bags packed, Omir Santos came to the plate for the first time in two weeks and hit a groundball to first that appeared to be a double-play ball. However, first baseman Juan Ciriaco threw wild attempting to force Wabick at second, allowing two runs to score, upping the lead to four. Jose Coronado put the icing on the cake with an RBI single to right to pit the B-Mets a 5-0 lead.
The B-Mets kept the foot on the gas in the second. Hernandez led off the inning with a homer to advance the lead to six. Evans followed and reached on an error committed by shortstop Brandon Crawford, his fifth. MacDonald then walked Hubbard, leading to Campbell, who again singled to drive in a run, upping the lead to 7-0. Campbell’s single chased MacDonald who was hung with his fourth loss of the season. The Maine native tossed a season-low, one-plus innings and surrendered seven runs — five earned — on eight hits.
Richmond (25-21) needed help to score its only run of the game in the third. Niesen walked Nick Noonan on four pitches to start the inning on the wrong foot. Reliever Craig Whitaker followed and was called upon to bunt. His bunt was bobbled by Niesen, who recovered but threw errantly to first, sending the ball down the right-field line. Noonan motored all the way to third and Whitaker cruised into second. With no one out, Darren Ford got the Squirrels on the board with a sacrifice fly to left, making the score 7-1. That proved to be the extent of Richmond’s scoring, however.
Nieuwenhuis answered in the third with a two-out solo blast to right off Whitaker, his second home run in as many games and seventh of the season.
Binghamton capped the scoring in the fourth on an Omir Santos RBI fielder’s choice with the bases loaded off Whitaker. The side-winding righty pitched well, allowing two runs in three innings.
Ramirez took over for Niesen in the fourth and put the game on cruise control. The tall righty fired a season-best 3 2/3 innings of two-hit ball to record his second win of the year, taking the game through seven innings. Emary Frederick and Manuel Alvarez both worked scoreless innings in the eighth and the ninth, respectively, to seal the wire-to-wire win.
Hubbard, Wabick, Nieuwenhuis and Campbell managed two-hit performances. Campbell drove in two more runs Wednesday night and has plated six in the last two games.
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