The Binghamton Mets matched a season-high with four errors and lost to the Erie SeaWolves, 7-3, in the series opener on Friday night at Jerry Uht Park. Despite a dozen hits, the B-Mets had their four-game winning streak snapped and fell to five games out of first place.
Erie grabbed the lead against Rainy Lara in the first. Following consecutive singles by Jamie Johnson and Devon Travis to start the inning, Daniel Fields rolled a potential double play ball to third. The grounder rolled under Dustin Lawley’s glove for an error and continued into left. Johnson collided with Lawley on his way to third and was tagged out after stopping between third and home when he incorrectly thought the play had been ruled dead.
The SeaWolves fought past the bad break and put themselves on the board with their next batter. With runners at the corners, Steven Moya lifted a sacrifice fly to center, plating Travis with the game’s first run.
The B-Mets flirted with cracking the scoreboard in the fourth inning against Kyle Ryan. After back-to-back singles by TJ Rivera and Dustin Lawley, Travis Taijeron pulled a two-out single into left. Rivera attempted to score from second, but Johnson gunned him down with a one-hop throw to the plate, preserving Erie’s 1-0 lead.
After surrendering four hits to the first seven batters he faced, Lara settled in. The right-hander stranded two in the second, starting a stretch in which he retired eleven of the next twelve SeaWolves he faced.
The righty’s run came to an end in the sixth when the SeaWolves loaded the bases on two walks and a single. With two outs, Lara uncorked a wild pitch, prompting Travis to dash home with Erie’s second run. Xorge Carrillo’s toss to the plate sailed past Lara and allowed Moya to scamper home on the play.
Trailing by four, Binghamton fought back and cut the deficit in half in the seventh. With a runner on first, Carrillo started a two-out rally with a single to right. After a walk by Rylan Sandoval loaded the bases, Kyle Johnson ripped a two-run single up the middle, trimming Erie’s lead to two. Reliever Bryan Augenstein took the reins from Ryan and retired Burgamy, stranding the potential tying run at first.
Binghamton continued their comeback bid in the eighth. With Lawley on first base, Darrell Ceciliani ripped an RBI double off the wall in right-center field. Ceciliani’s hit, Binghamton’s first one for extra-bases, cut Erie’s lead down to one. Augenseting recovered to strike out Taijeron and Angel Nesbitt entered to retire Nimmo to end the threat.
Erie took advantage of more defensive misplays to put the game to bed against Adam Kolarek in the eighth. A pair of singles and a throwing error by Lawley put runners at second and third. Following a hit batter and a pop out, Johnson skipped a potential inning-ending double play ball to short. Rivera failed to field the hop cleanly, allowing a run to score and opening the door for a three-run inning. Travis tacked on with a sacrifice fly and Fields capped the frame with an RBI double.
Nesbitt returned for the ninth and worked around a walk and a single to post a scoreless inning, earning his second save of the season.
Lara (5-3) allowed four runs (three earned) on six hits while walking four over six innings in the loss, his first since May 28. Ryan (6-8) surrendered two runs on nine hits, all singles, over 6-2/3 innings to snap a five-game winless streak.
POSTGAME NOTES: Binghamton committed four errors most recently on June 28 against the Altoona Curve…Binghamton’s first 10 hits were all singles…Erie has won of the last six meetings with the B-Mets…the B-Mets have collected ten hits or more in 16 of their last 23 games - team press release
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