Minor League Recap

Late power surge propels Bisons to 12-7 win over Syracuse

The Buffalo Bisons mounted a late-game rally, scoring 11 times on their way to a 12-7 victory against the Syracuse Mets on Thursday evening at NBT Bank Stadium.

The Herd fell behind Syracuse early with a pair of runs in the bottom of the first inning. It was the first time all week that the Mets scored first when Dominic Smith hit a two-run double scoring Travis Jankowski and Jake Mangum. The runs came against Bisons starter Bowden Francis.

Francis allowed a total of four runs, including solo tallies in the second and third innings. However, the right hander would receive a no decision in his 2.1 innings of work. J.T. Riddle belted a solo homer in the second to extend the lead to three, while an RBI groundout by Daniel Palka ballooned the lead to 4-0 after three frames.

Buffalo got on the scoreboard thanks to the first career Triple-A hit by John Aiello. His single to right field scored Davis Schneider and cut the deficit to 4-1. Syracuse answered back to extend the lead back to four, 5-1.

However, the Bisons recorded their first of two five-run innings in the top of the sixth for their first lead of the night. The team sent all nine batters to the plate in the inning against a pair of Syracuse relievers. Stephen Nogosek did not record an out of the four batters he faced. L.J. Talley’s first hit of the night was an RBI single to cut the deficit to 5-2.

After a Rafael Lantigua base hit drove in a run to make the score 5-3, Yoshi Tsutsugo’s two-run singe tied the game 5-5. Stevie Berman added his 22nd RBI of the season with a sacrifice fly that gave the Herd a 6-5 lead. The Mets answered against Matt Peacock to even the score 6-6 through six innings.

Nathan Lukes rudely greeted Jordan Yamamoto with a solo home run in the top of the seventh to give the Bisons a 7-6 lead. Lukes was the first batter that the right hander faced in his inning of relief. The solo shot was the veteran outfielder’s team best 10th of the season. Riddle answered in the bottom half of the inning with his second homer of the night to knot the score up at 7-7.

The Bisons put the final touches on their win with a second five-run inning, this time in the top of the eighth. Talley capped the frame with a bases clearing double that scored Otto Lopez, Lukes, and Schneider. Lopez’s RBO base hit earlier in the frame extended his hitting streak to eight straight games, as well. 

The Mets will continue their series against Buffalo Friday.  The game is scheduled for 6:35 PM.

Ritter’s Double Completes Comeback in Wild Win

Luke Ritter’s bases clearing double into the right centerfield gap capped off a wild 10-9 victory in 11 innings for the Binghamton Rumble Ponies over the Hartford Yard Goats (32-33, 75-59) on Thursday night at Mirabito Stadium. The Ponies also snapped a seven-game losing streak.

Zach Ashford got the rally started with a single bringing designated runner Jeremy Vasquez to third. Wyatt Young walked to load the bases which set up Ronny Mauricio’s single to right and cut the deficit to 9-7. Ritter then took the first pitch he saw from Boby Johnson (0-1) into the right centerfield gap to bring home Ashford, Young and Mauricio and complete the comeback.

The two sides went into extras tied 5-5 and traded runs in the tenth. Hartford added three runs in the top of the 11th to take a 9-6 lead. Zac Veen and Kyle Datres each recorded RBI hits in the 11th. Datres finished 2-5 with two RBI.

After falling behind 5-0 after Hartford’s five-run second, Binghamton (23-40, 52-81) cut into the lead in the third. Ashford reached with a two out single and Young worked a walk and brought Carlos Cortes to the plate. Cortes belted his 11th homer of the season, a three-run shot, which made it a 5-3 game.

Jeremy Vasquez made the Hartford lead 5-4 with an RBI groundout in the fourth bringing home Hayden Senger. In the sixth, Brandon McIlwain scored on a passed ball and the game was tied 5-5.

The Ponies will continue their series against Hartford. Friday’s game is scheduled for 7:05 PM.

Cyclones Drop Game Two, Sets Up Winner Take All on Friday

The Cyclones dropped Game Two of the SAL Division Series by the score of 6-1 on Thursday night setting up a winner-take-all Game Three on Friday evening at Ripken Stadium. Dominic Hamel was tagged with the loss for Brooklyn after allowing five runs, earned, on five hits while walking four and striking out five.

Aberdeen opened the scoring in the bottom of the first after Heston Kjerstad worked a two-out walk and TT Bowens followed with a home run on the first pitch he saw to give the IronBirds a 2-0 lead.

The lead would swell in the bottom of the third thanks to the same cast of characters. Kjerstad had an RBI double and Jud Fabian added an RBI groundout that extended the ‘Birds lead to 4-0.

In the fifth Donta’ Williams and Frederick Benscome worked a pair of walks to put two men aboard against Hamel in his last inning of work. The righthander struck out Dylan Beavers for out number two but Max Wagner had a seeing eye single that deflected off a diving Jose Peroza and allowed Williams to score from second to make it 5-0.

Brooklyn finally broke through in the top of the fifth courtesy of a long home run off the bat of William Lugo that trimmed the score to 5-1, but the Cyclones would get no closer as the ‘Clones managed just four hits on the night.

Aberdeen tacked on an insurance run in the bottom of the seventh. After Dylan Hall tossed 2.0 scoreless frames for the Cyclones, Sammy Tavarez came in to pitch the seventh. The righthander retired the first two batters he faced, but walked TT Bowens – who was once again at the heart of an IronBirds rally. Jud Fabian singled to put runners on the corners and Billy Cook roped a single into right field to push home Bowens and extend the Aberdeen lead to 6-1. Tavarez departed with the bases loaded, but Nathan Lavender was able to strike out Connor Pavolony to end the threat.

The Cyclones will square off in a decisive Game Three against the IronBirds on Friday evening at 7:05 PM with the winner moving on to face the winner of the Southern Divisional Series between Rome (Atlanta) and Bowling Green (Tampa Bay) – which will also have a winner-take-all Game Three on Friday evening after Bowling Green’s win on Thursday evening.

Mets clip Cardinals, sweep FSL East Division Series

The St. Lucie Mets came from behind to edge the Palm Beach Cardinals 3-2 on Thursday at Clover Park to sweep the FSL East Division Championship series.

The dramatic victory sends the Mets to the FSL Finals for the first time since 2011. They will play the winner of Friday’s game between the Dunedin Blue Jays and Fort Myers Mighty Mussels. That West Division Championship Series is tied 1-1.

Game 1 of the best-of-three FSL Finals is Sunday night at the West winner. Game 2 will be Tuesday at Clover Park at 6:10 p.m. If necessary Game 3 will be Wednesday at Clover Park at 6:10 p.m.

On Thursday, the Mets fell behind 2-0 in the second inning when Palm Beach leadoff hitter Victor Scott hit a two-run double with the bases loaded against Calvin Ziegler.

Mets reliever Paul Gervase came in and struck out Chris Rotondo and got a fly out from Jimmy Crooks to strand runners at second and third. That began a trend of the Mets keeping the Cardinals from capitalizing in scoring situations. The Mets held the Cardinals to 2 for 13 with runners in scoring position after forcing the Cardinals to go 0 for 10 with runners in scoring position in game 1.

Cardinals starting pitcher Tink Hence blanked the Mets through four innings. It was the fourth straight start for Hence not giving up a run in four innings. However, the Mets went to work against reliever Roy Garcia in the decisive sixth inning.

Brad Malm took a leadoff work from Garcia, then Kevin Kendall followed with a double. A passed ball by catcher Leonardo Bernal brought home Malm to cut the deficit to 2-1 and moved Kendall to third base. Kendall scored on the first of three wild pitches by Garcia to tie the game 2-2.

D’Andre Smith worked a walk and advanced to second base and third base on wild pitches. Kevin Parada then smoked a line drive 110 mph off the glove of third baseman Michael Curialle to bring home Smith for a 3-2 lead.

That was enough for Mets pitcher Joel Diaz, who relieved Gervase in the fourth inning. Diaz finished the game by firing six scoreless innings. After a leadoff walk to Curialle in the top of the sixth, Diaz retired the last 12 batters of the game to get the win. He struck out a career high 11 batters.

The Mets now go for their first FSL title since 2006. Ironically that season they also swept Palm Beach 2-0 in the first round. The Mets then swept Dunedin 3-0 in the finals.