Matt Bowman matched a career-high with eleven strikeouts over seven shutout innings to lead the Binghamton Mets past the New Hampshire Fisher Cats by a 4-1 score on Thursday night at NYSEG Stadium. The righty allowed just four singles and retired 15 straight at one point to earn his second win in as many starts.
For the eighth time this season, the B-Mets got on the board first. Darrell Ceciliani started the first, and extended his season-opening hitting streak to eight games, with an infield single to short. The B-Mets center fielder took second on a single and scampered for third on a wild pitch by Scott Copeland. Matt Clark brought him home on a broken-bat groundout to third.
Binghamton added to their lead with a two-spot in the second. With Matt Reynolds on first, Fisher Cats catcher Yusuf Carter failed to handle Copeland’s first pitch to Travis Taijeron. The ball skipped to the backstop enticing Reynolds to go from first to third. Carter’s throw to third sailed into left, allowing the B-Mets second baseman to cross home. Taijeron followed with a walk, took third on a single, and came home on another wild pitch.
It was plenty of support for Bowman who pounded the strike zone in his first start against the Fisher Cats. The Princeton product allowed two singles in the first two innings and flipped into cruise from the second all the way to the seventh. After a one-out single by Gabe Jacobo in the second, Bowman nailed down 15 straight hitters. In a span of four consecutive perfect innings from the third through the sixth, he threw just 36 pitches, 28 for strikes.
His lone jam arrived in the seventh when he walked Brad Glenn, his only free pass of the night and surrendered a single to Andy Burns. With two aboard and two outs, Carter rolled a grounder to Wilfredo Tovar’s extreme right at short. He got the tip of his mitt on the roller, but could not fully stop it. As the ball dribbled into left, Glenn turned third and raced for home. Tovar pounced on the pearl and fired a one-hopper to the plate in plenty of time to nab Glenn, preserving Binghamton’s 3-0 lead.
The B-Mets plated their final run of the game in the eighth against Casey Lawrence, who chewed up 5-2/3 innings in long relief. Ceciliani smoked a double to the right-field alley and came around on a sac fly from Clark.
John Church struck out two in a perfect eighth inning and Chasen Bradford was touched for a run on a pair of two-out doubles before securing the final out in the ninth.
Bowman (2-0) fanned a B-Met season-high 11 in the win. He threw 55 of his 80 pitches for strikes and scattered four singles over seven innings. Copeland (0-3) was pulled after just 1-2/3 innings. He allowed three runs (one earned) on four hits in his third loss.
The B-Mets (8-4) continue their three-game series against the Fisher Cats (4-8) on Friday night at 7:05 PM. LHP Darin Gorski takes the hill against RHP Aaron Sanchez. The Horizons Federal Credit Union Pregame Show begins at 6:50 PM on Newsradio 1290 WNBF.
POSTGAME NOTES: Despite 11 hits, the B-Mets went 0-for-9 with runners in scoring position and left 11 men on base…the B-Mets have collected eight hits or more in each of their last nine games…Thursday’s game was the first B-Mets contest decided by three runs or fewer since they beat the Erie SeaWolves, 5-4, on April 6…Bowman last struck out 11 as a St. Lucie Met (High-A) on May 20, 2013 performing the feat against the Dunedin Blue Jays - team press release
1 comment:
Ceciliani trying to show he's got the goods to get to the big show. And Matt Reynolds may be a bit far off, but may soon enter the SS conversation if he keeps hitting.
Post a Comment