Strange Play Costs B-Mets in Series Opener,3-2

AKRON,OH – A ground ball to third base in the bottom of the eighth inning started achain of events that gave the Akron Aeros the lead for good in a 3-2 win overthe Binghamton Mets Monday night at Canal Park.

Withthe game knotted at one and two men aboard for Akron in their half of theeighth, Aeros second baseman Ryan Rohlinger sent a chopper to Jefry Marte atthird. The ball took an awkward hop, bounced past Marte and rolled into leftfield, allowing Chun Chen to score from second.

Leftfielder Pedro Zapata missed the cutoff man with his throw to home, enticingpinch-runner Ben Copeland to try for third. Centeno’s throw to the bag was ontime, but Marte muffed it, allowing the ball to roll into left again. Copelandscampered home, giving Akron a two-run lead. The Aeros held off a late rally bythe B-Mets in the ninth to secure the win.

Thegame had started as a pitcher’s duel as Darin Gorski and Steven Wright matchedzeroes for four innings. That changed in the fifth when the B-Mets finallycrossed home. Travis Ozga led off by shooting a double to the right field gap.Matt den Dekker pushed him to third with a hard hit single to center and JoshRodriguez brought him home with a sacrifice fly to right field.

Thelead was short-lived. Facing the bottom third of the batting order, Gorskiallowed the first three batters to reach on two walks and a single. With thebases loaded, Tim Fedroff tied the game with a ground out to first base. Gorskiescaped any further damage by retiring the next two batters without allowing arun.

Wrightput up a scoreless sixth before seeing his night end in the seventh. AfterLagares walked to start the inning and was bunted to second, Wright wasreplaced by Rob Bryson. With the potential go-ahead run on base, the righty gotout of the inning by inducing Ozga to fly out and Pedro Zapata to ground out.

Gorskiallowed two base runners in the sixth, but put up a scoreless inning to end hisouting. The lefty allowed one run on six hits and struck out three over sixinnings in the no-decision.

Aftertossing a shutout seventh, reliever Edgar Ramirez allowed the first two battersto reach to set the table for the decisive play in the eighth.

Thefinal run scored proved vital for Akron as Binghamton put up a rally in theninth against Bryson. Lagares scorched a two-out single to center and moved tothird on an infield single by Centeno combined with a throwing error byRohlinger at second. Ozga cut the deficit to one with a single to right field.Rafael Fernandez was called upon to pinch hit for Zapata, but stranded thetying run at third by striking out to end the game.

Althoughonly one run was earned, Ramirez (0-1) suffered his first loss. Bryson (2-0)allowed one run over 2.2 innings of relief to collect his second win.

TheB-Mets (12-11) continue their series Tuesday night with first pitch scheduledfor 7:05 PM. RHP Greg Peavey takes the ball for Binghamton against LHP T.J.House who makes his Double-A debut. The Horizons Federal Credit Union pre-gameshow begins at 6:50 PM on Newsradio 1290 WNBF.