Kyle Johnson belted a leadoff home run in the first inning and a tiebreaking long ball in the ninth to push the Binghamton Mets past the New Britain Rock Cats, 6-4, on Thursday night at New Britain Stadium. The B-Mets took the first game of the doubleheader in nine innings before the nightcap was postponed due to inclement weather. The B-Mets matched a season-high with four homers to secure their seventh straight winning series.
GAME ONE – B-Mets 6, Rock Cats 4 (9 innings)
Binghamton started the opener with a bang. Kyle Johnson deposited Tyler Duffey’s second pitch of the game over the left-field wall for his second leadoff homer of the season. Dilson Herrera followed three pitches later with another shot over the left-field fence, the first time the B-Mets have hit back-to-back homers this season. Binghamton added to their lead in the second on a run-producing fielder’s choice by Herrera.
Trailing by three, New Britain started their push against Tyler Pill in the bottom of the second inning. After Reynaldo Rodriguez and Aaron Hicks started the frame with a single and a double, Tony Thomas put the Rock Cats on the board with a sac fly. Mike Kvasnicka cut the deficit to one by flaring an RBI single to left.
Hicks erased the lead completely with one swing in the third. Following a two-out walk by Rodriguez, the Rock Cats outfielder launched a 3-1 pitch to right for a go-ahead two-run blast.
Down by one, Binghamton found more power in the fifth. Brian Burgamy led off the inning by belting a 2-2 pitch over the right-centerfield wall. The line-drive shot, his team-leading 14th homer of the season, tied the game at four.
Pill settled down after Hicks’ blast to retire nine straight Rock Cats. Thomas ended the stretch and started a two-out rally with a single in the sixth. Brad Boyer kept the threat up with another base hit. With the potential go-ahead run on base, Pill struck out Kvasnicka with a breaking ball in the dirt to end the threat.
In the seventh, Pill surrendered a one-out single to Stephen Wickens before handing off to Chase Huchingson, who promptly picked the runner off. Following a lengthy rundown, Wickens was tagged out. Huchingson followed by retiring Eddie Rosario to force the game into extras.
Johnson struck again in the ninth against a fellow Johnson. Kyle Johnson took reliever Cole Johnson deep on a 1-2 pitch to start the inning, breaking the tie game. Burgamy followed with a triple off the center field wall and came home when Lawley lined an RBI single to left.
Cody Satterwhite worked around a two-out single to post a scoreless ninth, securing his sixth save of the season.
Huchingson (1-0) tossed 1-2/3 innings in the victory. The southpaw retired the heart of the Rock Cats’ batting order in a perfect eighth inning. Johnson (1-5) allowed two runs on three hits over 1-2/3 innings of relief in the loss. Pill allowed four runs on nine hits over 6-1/3 innings in the no-decision.
GAME TWO - POSTPONED
The nightcap of the scheduled doubleheader was postponed due to inclement weather. The contest will be made up as part of a doubleheader in Binghamton when the Rock Cats make their final visit to NYSEG Stadium in late August. An official date will be announced at a later time. Team press release
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