Carson Balks in Balk-Away

Reliever Robert Carson balked in the winning run in the top of the ninth inningand the Trenton Thunder defeated the Binghamton Mets in comeback fashion, 5-4,Tuesday night at NYSEG Stadium. The B-Mets failed to hold two separate leads ina game that saw three lead changes.

Withthe game knotted at four, Carson took over in the ninth. Rob Segedin greetedhim with a leadoff double, but was nabbed attempting to advance to third onYadil Mujica’s ground ball to short. Jose Pirela made up for the gaffe and putrunners on the corners with a single. With a 1-0 count against AddisonMaruszak, Carson never came to the set position for his second pitch and wascalled for a balk. The misstep forced in Mujica with the game-winning run.

TheBinghamton had drawn first blood in the game with a run in the third against Trentonstarter Dellin Betances. Juan Centeno doubled with one out and came home whenReese Havens dumped a double into center.

Meanwhile,B-Mets starting pitcher Greg Peavey kept the high-powered Thunder roster incheck for five scoreless frames. Trenton finally broke through in the sixth,plating a run on three consecutive singles.

Inseventh, J.R. Murphy gave Trenton the lead with a solo home run against Peaveyto start the inning. Mujica doubled with one out and Pirela doubled him home,ending Peavey’s night. The righty allowed three runs on eight hits over 6.1innings. Armando Rodriguez recorded two outs to keep the deficit at two.

Afterbeing kept off the board for three innings, Binghamton struck back againstBetances in the seventh. Allan Dykstra launched a double to center and MikeFisher chased Betances from the game on a walk. Lee Hyde entered and bobbled asac bunt by Dustin Martin, loading the bases.

WilfredoTovar, hitting .474 with runners in scoring position entering the game,delivered by ripping a game-tying, two-run double down the left field line.Centeno gave Binghamton the lead with a sac fly to left. Kelvin Perez enteredand extinguished the flames by recording two outs.

Rodriguezreturned for the eighth and watched the lead disappear with one swing. LukeMurton crushed his league-leading 20th homer of the season off thebatter’s eye in center to knot the game at four.

AfterCarson (0-2) allowed the go-ahead run to score, Perez (5-1) came back out forthe ninth and tossed a perfect inning to earn his fifth win. The righty tossed2.2 innings and allowed just one baserunner on an intentional walk.