B-Mets Beat Up In Trenton

Friday, July 24, 2015

B-Mets Beat Up In Trenton

Binghamton Mets @ Trenton Thunder

July 23, 2015

John Gant @ Joel De La Cruz

Teams	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Binghamton	0	1	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	8	1
Trenton	2	0	3	0	0	2	0	0	X	7	11	2

W: Vargas (W, 6-0, 3.28 ERA); L: Gant (4-5, 4.70 ERA)

The Highlights:

Pitchers

John Gant (L, 4-5, 4.70 ERA) – 5.1 IP, 9 H, 7 R (6 ER), BB, 3 SO, 96 Pitches (63 Strikes), 9 GO: 2 FO

Dario Alvarez (3.19 ERA) – 0.2 IP, H, BB, 2 SO, 2 IR – 1 S

Akeel Morris (6.10 ERA) – 2 IP, H, SO, 3 GO: 1 FO

Batters

L.J. Mazzilli – 4-4, R, 2B (13), BB

Josh Rodriguez – 1-4, R, BB, SO

Brandon Nimmo – 1-3, BB, HBP, SO

Joe Benson – 1-5, R, 2B (2), RBI (4), 2 SO

Jared King – 1-3, RBI (33), SF, 2 SO

Recap

The first place Binghamton Mets rolled into Trenton Thursday with a 1.5 game lead over the Thunder, which is a role reversal from where these two teams found each other when they squared off in Binghamton last week. Just like last week, the Thunder won the first game of this 4-game series, so now it’s on the B-Mets to win the next 3.

Not to make any excuses for John Gant, but lady luck was not in his favor from the start of this game. Danny Oh led off the 1^st with a lazy liner into the right-center field gap for a hit, and turned it into a hustle double when he caught Nimmo off guard by going for 2B. The next batter would hit a weak roller to first baseman Jonathan Galvez, but Galvez made a poor toss to Gant, and Oh came around as it bounced up the line. Two batters later, Mark Payton attempted to lay down a sac bunt, but popped it up down the 3B line. Unfortunately for Gant, he was the only player who had a chance on it, and his diving attempt came up about a foot short. He’d retire the next 3 batters on groundouts, but a second run would come home in the frame.

After a perfect 2^nd inning, the B-Mets jumped ahead with 3 runs over their next two trips to the plate, but the lead would not last long. Gant allowed 3 runs on a walk sandwiched by a pair of doubles in the 3^rd, and then another pair of runs in the 6^th. The second double allowed in the 6^th was inches away from being the second out of the frame, but Nimmo’s dive came up just short. Dario Alvarez had to bail Gant out in the 6^th, and he’d allow one of two inherited runners to score. Akeel Morris worked the final two innings for Binghamton, and he looked good (as far as I can tell in the grainy Trenton footage), topping out at 96 MPH with his fastball.

This series continues Friday night at 7:00 PM, with Robert Gsellman (4-5, 3.76 ERA) scheduled to start for the B-Mets. Gsellman is coming off his best AA start of the year, when he threw 7 shutout innings and held Trenton to just 2 hits in his last outing.

Scoring Highlights

L.J. Mazzilli had a nice day at the plate, and it started with a single in the 1^st inning.

Joe Benson led off the 2^nd inning with a double and then came around to score on a sac fly from Jared King.

Josh Rodriguez and Brandon Nimmo hit consecutive singles to load the bases with one out in the 3^rd, and the B-Mets would get two runs home in the inning on a groundout and E4.

Mazzilli added a single with two outs in the 4^th (originally ruled an error), a leadoff single in the 7^th, and a leadoff double in the 9^th. Jared King led off the 4^th with a single.