Minors Recap - Brooklyn Cyclones clinch crown!

Cyclones Clinch Division Crown with 3-0 Win over Winston-Salem

The Brooklyn Cyclones defeated the Winston-Salem Dash by the score of 3-0 on Friday evening and clinched the South Atlantic League’s Northern Division for the second half. Brooklyn will now advance to play the Aberdeen IronBirds, who won the first half, with the series starting Tuesday night at Maimonides Park.

Jeffrey Colon was the story for the Cyclones on Friday night as the righthander tossed a career-high 7.0 shutout frames, scattering just three hits and a walk while striking out eight.

Winston-Salem’s only real threat came in the bottom of the fourth when Andy Atwood had a one-out double and Alsander Womack followed with a line drive single up the middle but Stanley Consuegra charged and fired a laser to the plate to nail Atwood at home for the second out of the frame. Other than those two hits, the Dash collected just one other base knock in the game.

But the Brooklyn bats were also slow to get started on Friday night, as the game remained scoreless into the top of the 7th when the Cyclones finally broke the scoreless tie. Joe Suozzi got things started with a line drive homer over the left field wall for his 8th round-tripper of the season as the Cyclones took a 1-0 lead. Shervyen Newton and Matt Rudick then had back-to-back singles that put runners on the corners with just one out. Alex Ramirez and Jose Peroza each added an RBI single in the frame to extend the score to 3-0.

That would be more than enough, as Colon turned the ball over to Daison Acosta who tossed two near-flawless frames to close out the win and collect his 10th save of the season. Acosta made the transition to a Cyclones reliever midway through the year and went 5-0 with 10 saves in 41.2 innings out of the bullpen. He allowed just six earned runs for a 1.29 ERA as a reliever after starting the year 0-6 with a 9.93 ERA in 10 starts.

Brooklyn will open the playoffs on Tuesday, September 13th at Maimonides Park against the Aberdeen IronBirds (Baltimore Orioles). Game One will begin at 6:30 PM.

Syracuse rallies back and wins third straight game

The Syracuse Mets kept the good vibes going on Saturday night, rallying back once again from an early deficit to nab a 5-4 win over the Rochester Red Wings on a warm September night at NBT Bank Stadium. The Mets have now won three straight games after dropping the first two games in the six-game series.  

After two scoreless innings to start the game, Rochester (58-76) lifted the scoring lid in the top of the third. The Red Wings did it via extra-base power. Jecksson Flores tripled to start the frame, followed by another triple from Andrew Stevenson that plated Flores for a 1-0 lead. Stevenson, a former LSU Tiger, finished the game 3-for-5 at the plate, his first multi-hit game of the series. Stevenson pranced home later in the inning when John Nogowski doubled him home and made it a 2-0 ballgame.  

From there, it would prove to be Syracuse’s (56-78) night, as the Mets scored the game’s next five runs to put themselves in the driver’s seat for a win. The scoring onslaught started with two runs in the bottom of the fourth. The frame began with a gift – Dominic Smith hit a high popup into shallow right-center field that should have been an easy out, however, the two fielders on that side of the infield (Lucius Fox and Flores) both lost the ball in the lights. The ball landed in the outfield grass, allowing Smith to jog into second with a bloop double. The Mets took advantage from there. First, Daniel Palka ripped a double to the base of the center field wall, scoring Smith with ease to pull the Mets within one, 2-1. Then, after consecutive outs, Syracuse tied the game when Gosuke Katoh grounded a single into right field that plated Palka and tied the game, 2-2, after four innings of play.  

In the fifth, the Mets took the lead for good with another pair of runs to make it a 4-2 game. The runs came on one pivotal blow. After a two-out walk to Travis Jankowski extended the inning, Smith brought Jankowski home by crushing a two-run home run over the left-field wall, an opposite-field shot that put Syracuse in front for good. Smith finished the night 2-for-4 at the plate with a double, a home run, two runs scored, and two runs driven in.   

The Mets capped off their Saturday night scoring on the first pitch of the bottom of the seventh inning. On the 95th and final pitch of the night for Rochester starter Logan Verrett, a breaking ball hung that Nick Dini was happy to see. Syracuse’s catcher swung at the pitch and launched it over the left-field fence, a solo shot that made it a 5-2 game. It was the second homer of the week for Dini and his tenth of the season in Triple-A overall. Logan Verrett gave up all the runs on the evening for the Red Wings, surrendering six hits and five runs with two walks and two strikeouts.   

Given some run support, the Syracuse Mets pitching staff soared in the game’s first eight innings. José Rodriguez, Jordan Yamamoto, Michel Otanez, and Sam Clay allowed just two runs on seven hits with seven strikeouts and two walks in those first eight innings of the contest. Rodriguez got the start and started the game well, allowing two runs on five hits in four innings with one walk and four strikeouts.  

It remained a 5-2 contest until the top of the ninth inning when things got interesting. After Daniel Johnson lined out to start the inning, Taylor Gushue and Flores singled to put two runners on base and bring the potential tying run to the plate. Andrew Stevenson then grounded out, moving each runner up a base to third and second base respectively with two outs. Then, Fox lined a drive into shallow left field for a single, plating Gushue and Flores and making it a 5-4 game. Trey Cobb, to his credit, bounced right back to end the game and clinch the win right there. The next batter, John Nogowski, struck out on three pitches to hand Syracuse its third straight win. 

Syracuse wraps up its six-game series against the Rochester Red Wings on Sunday afternoon.

Ponies Come Up Short Against Sea Dogs 

The Binghamton Rumble Ponies fell to the Portland Sea Dogs 4-3 on Saturday afternoon at Hadlock Field. Portland has won four straight games in the series. 

Binghamton (23-37, 51-78) again got off to a quick start, as in the first Wyatt Young led off the game with an infield single against Kyle Hart (2-1). The next batter, Carlos Cortes, belted a two-run homer to right that put the Ponies up 2-0. It is Cortes 10th home run of the season.

Portland responded with a run in the bottom of the first against Tony Dibrell (1-2) to cut the Ponies lead to 2-1. Then in the fourth, with two on and two out, David Hamilton hit a three-run home run off the top of the right field wall and over for a three-run home run to put Portland on top 4-2. Hamilton would finish 3-5 with two runs scored and three RBI along with his franchise-record 65th stolen base of the season. 

In the top of the eighth, with the bases loaded and one out against Brett Kennedy, Luke Ritter lined an RBI single to right that scored Nic Gaddis to make it a 4-3 game, but Cortes was thrown out at home trying to score the game-tying run from second.

In the ninth, after Zach Ashford lined a two out single to left against Kennedy, the Ponies brought the tying run to the plate, but Gaddis flied out to center to end the game, with Kennedy picking up his fifth save of the season. 

Hart picked up the win allowing three hits and two runs over six innings. Dibrell allowed only one earned run over four and two thirds innings in the loss. 

The Rumble Ponies play their final road game of the season Sunday in the series finale against the Sea Dogs.

Mets Sweep Doubleheader vs. Fort Myers

The St. Lucie Mets swept their doubleheader with the Fort Myers Mighty Mussels on Saturday at Hammond Stadium. The Mets won game 1, 5-2, then defeated the Mussels 3-1 in game 2.

In game 1, the Mets offense snapped an 18 inning scoreless streak in the series by scoring five runs in the third. Junior Tilien got the Mets on the board with a RBI single. Later in the inning Carlos Dominguez clubbed a two-run double off Mussels starter Jordan Carr to make it 3-0. Raul Beracierta followed with a two-run single for a 5-0 lead.

Mets starter Layonel Ovalles walked in two runs in the bottom of the fourth to make it a 5-2 game. Paul Gervase came into a bases loaded jam and struck out Misael Urbina to end the Mussels rally.

Gervase (1-1) struck out two more batters in a scoreless fifth inning to get the win. 

Felipe De La Cruz struck out the final six batters he faced over the sixth and seventh innings to earn his first save.

In game 2, the game was tied 1-1 in the final inning. Carlos Dominguez started the seventh inning rally with an infield single. D’Andre Smith slugged the next pitch from Juan Mendez for a double, setting up runners and second and third. Beracierta then knocked a sac fly to center field to put the Mets up 2-1.

Smith later advanced to third on a ground out and scored on a Mendez wild pitch to make it 3-1.

Jawilme Ramirez (1-0) recorded a double play and got a fly out to finish the Mussels off in the bottom of the seventh. He pitched 1.2 hitless and scoreless innings to get his first win.

Beracierta hit a solo home run in the second inning, his 13th long ball of the season.

The Mussels tied the game with a two-out single by Tanner Schobel in the fifth inning. Schobel had two of the Mussels three hits.

Mets starter Jordan Geber tossed four scoreless innings. He gave up two hits, walked two and struck out three.

Mets pitchers combined to walk 12 batters in 14 innings across the doubleheader but held the Mussels to 2 for 18 with runners in scoring position on the day.

The game 2 victory clinched a winning second half for the Mets.

The Mets (73-55, 33-30) and Mighty Mussels (68-57, 27-36) will conclude the 2022 regular season with a single nine-inning game on Sunday.