Maldonado has now homered in three straight games and ranks second in the Eastern League with 27 bombs. Binghamton has won four straight and defeated Erie in their last five meetings. The B-Mets have lost just once in their last twelve games.
B-Mets starter Robert Carson began on the right foot. The lefty needed just 13 pitches to retire the side in order in the first. He allowed a lead-off double to Bryan Pounds in the second, but got the next three SeaWolves to strand Pounds. The southpaw cruised in the third, posting a perfect inning with two more strike outs.
The B-Mets had difficulties early on against Erie starter Trevor Feeney. In his second start at the Double-A level, the righty posted a perfect inning in the first and worked around a one-out walk to Allan Dysktra to put up a scoreless second. He allowed a single to Niuman Romero in the third, but escaped harm when Romero was thrown out trying to steal second.
Binghamton almost broke through in the fourth. Juan Lagares led off with a single up the middle, extending his hitting streak to 19 games. After Reese Havens flied out to left, Lagares swiped second and moved to third on a wild pitch. He was stranded there when Allan Dykstra grounded out to third to end the inning.
The B-Mets finally got on the board in the fifth. Mike Fisher and Kai Gronauer started the inning with back-to-back singles. After Jean Luc Blaquiere and Romero were both retired, Matt den Dekker walked to keep the rally going. Lagares roped a two-out single to left to give Binghamton a 2-0 lead. Lagares is now 7-for-12 as a B-Met with runners in scoring position and two outs.
Binghamton added another run when Feeney balked on a pick-off throw to first. The misplay brought home den Dekker from third and gave the B-Mets a 3-0 lead.
Erie struck back in the sixth inning. Shawn Roof started the frame with a triple to right field. He was quickly brought home when Jamie Johnson ripped a double to center.
The next batter, Brandon Douglas sent a pop up behind first that plopped to the outfield grass when neither Dykstra nor Reese Havens went for it. Johnson tried to advance to third, but Dysktra gunned him out. Justin Henry followed the fluky play with a scorcher up the middle.
The hit prompted Wally Backman to make a call to the bullpen for Ricky Brooks. The righty could not stop the hit parade. Bryan Pounds greeted him with a single to load the bases and Rawley Bishop tied the game with a two-run single up the third base line.
Rob Waite kept the B-Mets on a leash after taking over in the sixth. The righty worked around a one-out double by Allan Dykstra in a scoreless sixth. He retired the final seven he faced and exited with three scoreless innings of relief.
Ricky Brooks faced the minimum in the seventh and gave way to Brad Holt in the eighth. The righty worked around a one-out error by shortstop Niuman Romero to keep Erie off the board.
Tyler Stohr inherited a tie game when he entered in the ninth inning. Maldonado changed that when he ripped a 2-1 pitch over the left-centerfield fence for his team-leading 27th homer of the season. Binghamton threatened later in the frame, but could not push any more runs home.
Josh Stinson took over for Holt in the ninth. Bryan Holaday started the inning by rolling an infield single up the first base line. He moved to second on Michael Rockett’s sac bunt and advanced to third on Brent Wyatt’s ground out.
With the tying run ninety feet away, Shawn Roof failed to check his swing on a pitch in the dirt, striking out to end the game. Stinson collected his sixth save and made a winner of Brad Holt for the seventh time this season. Stohr suffered his second loss.
Carson was handed the no-decision after allowing three runs on five hits in five innings of work. Brooks suffered his seventh blown save after allowing both inherited runners to score in the sixth.
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