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8/22/11

Harvey 2, Smyly 0

Matt Harvey fired seven shutout innings and the B-Mets offense scratched out just enough offense to defeat the Erie SeaWolves 2-0 tonight at NYSEG Stadium.



The victory extends Binghamton’s winning streak to five games, matching a season-high. They have been won eight of their last nine games and lead the league with 13 victories in the month of August.



Harvey hit a speed bump right out of the gate. The right-hander struck out Jamie Johnson to start the ballgame, but allowed a single to Brandon Douglas and walked Justin Henry to put two aboard. After falling behind on Bryan Pounds 2-0, pitching coach Marc Valdes headed out to the mound. The meeting paid off when Pounds bounced the next pitch to third to begin an inning-ending double play.

Harvey settled down after the first and retired eight straight before getting into trouble in the fourth. He allowed back-to-back singles with one out, but Rawley Bishop bailed him out by grounding into another inning-ending twin killing.



Harvey, ranked by Baseball America as the fourth-best prospect in the New York Mets’ system, was opposed by left-hander, Drew Smyly. The Arkansas native entered this season ranked eighth in the Tigers’ system by the same publication.



The southpaw lived up to the hype, allowing just one hit over his first three innings. The B-Mets finally broke through against him in the fourth.



Juan Lagares and Reese Havens started the frame with consecutive singles. After Brahiam Maldonado struck out, Mike Fisher sent a bouncer to short that had double play potential. Instead, it took a high hop and bounced off Cale Iorg’s glove for his fourth error of the season.



With the bases loaded, Dusty Ryan did not need to swing to collect his 14th RBI of the year. The catcher watched four straight pitches miss the strike zone as Smyly forced home a run with his only walk of the night.

Eric Campbell doubled the Binghamton lead with a foul pop up down the first base line. After first baseman Rawley Bishop made a running catch over his shoulder, Havens tagged from third and slid in ahead of the throw to make it 2-0.



It turned out to be all the offense the B-Mets would need. Harvey capped off his strong night by facing one over the minimum in his final three frames. The right-hander exited after seven shutout innings. He finished with five strike outs and allowed just four singles.



The B-Mets could not tack on more against Smyly after the fourth. The southpaw retired the final eleven he faced and left after seven innings. Smyly matched a career-high with ten strike outs.



Josh Stinson got the call out of the pen in the eighth and took the game to the finish line. He worked around an error by Reese Havens to put up a scoreless eighth and tossed a perfect ninth to rack up his fifth save. It made a winner of Harvey for the fourth time this year.



Although both runs allowed by Smyly were unearned, he was saddled with his second Double-A loss. Austin Wood tossed a scoreless inning to round out Erie’s night on the mound.

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