Binghamton 7, Erie 5

The Binghamton Mets pounded out 15 hits and defeated the Erie SeaWolves in the series opener 7-5 tonight at Jerry Uht Park. The B-Mets have won three in a row and 10 of their last eleven. They lead the league with 18 wins in August.



Facing Casey Crosby for the fourth time this season, the B-Mets drew first blood. Brahiam Maldonado led off the second inning by sending a 2-2 pitch over the left-centerfield wall for his team-leading 26th home run of the season.

Erie struck back quickly in their half of the second. B-Mets starter Matt Harvey handed a pair of walks to start the frame. After a fielder’s choice put runners at the corners, Michael Rocket ripped a hard groundball to third that eluded the glove of Mike Fisher. The hit brought home Bryan Pounds from second to tie the game. Brent Wyatt followed with a sharp grounder to second that Jon Malo could not corral. The ball rolled into right, allowing Bryan Holaday to score to give Erie a 2-1 lead.



The advantage did not last for long. Binghamton jumped all over Crosby in the fourth. Niuman Romero started the inning with a single to left and Matt den Dekker followed by shooting a single through the hole on the right side. Jon Malo brought both home by sending a one-hopper to the left field fence for a two-run double.



Juan Lagares kept the hit parade going by sending a single back up the middle. The hit extended Lagares’ hitting streak to 18 games and plated Malo. Lagares came home later in the inning on Mike Fisher’s bloop single to left. Fisher single chased Crosby from the game. The lefty exited after allowing five runs on seven hits. Luis Marte took his place and fanned two B-Mets to end the inning.

Trailing 5-2, the SeaWolves scratched out a run in the bottom of the fourth. Justin Henry roped a one-out single up the middle, advanced to second on Bryan Pounds single to right, and scored when Harvey uncorked a wild pitch, his first of two in the inning.



The B-Mets were completely baffled by Marte. In just three and two thirds innings, the righty racked up ten strike outs. He allowed three hits, but did not give up a single run, extending his scoreless innings streak to 14 innings.



Harvey settled down after the third. The righty put up a perfect fourth inning before working around a two-out walk en route to a scoreless fifth. He exited after five innings after allowing three runs on four hits, while striking out three and walking four.



Piggy-back starter Brandon Moore came on in the sixth for his first relief outing of the season. The righty allowed a lead-off single to Holaday, but retired the next three hitters to end the inning. The righty continued the trend in the seventh when he worked around a lead-off single by Jamie Johnson to put up a scoreless inning.



Binghamton added insurance in the eighth. Eric Campbell greeted new reliever Ryan Robowski with a double off the left field fence. Dusty Ryan brought him home with a double up the third base line. Two batters later, Matt den Dekker sent a chopper to short. Cale Iorg charged and made an errant throw to first that allowed Ryan to come home and give Binghamton a 7-3 lead.



Erie struck back quickly with two runs in the eighth. Rawley Bishop and Bryan Holaday launched consecutive pitches from Moore over the left field fence to cut the lead to 7-5. Bishop’s blast was his team-leading tenth of the year.



Brandon Moore locked things down and retired the next three he faced in the eighth to end the frame. The righty returned for the ninth and needed just five pitches to retire the side in order and earn his first save of the season. Matt Harvey collected his fifth-straight win and Casey Crosby suffered his seventh loss.
 
From team press release