B-Mets Swept Away By Reading’s Lively

Binghamton Mets @ Reading Fightin Phils

September 12, 2015

Gabriel Ynoa @ Ben Lively

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

W: Lively; L: Ynoa; Save: Shackleford

MiLB.com Boxscore

The Highlights:

Pitchers

Gabriel Ynoa – 2.1 IP, 6 H, 4 R, 3 BB, 3 SO, 2 HR, 71 Pitches (38 Strikes), 2 GO: 2 FO, (1-1)

Beck Wheeler – 1.2 IP, BB, 3 SO, 1 FO, 3 IR – 0 S

Jeff Walters – 2 IP, 2 BB, 4 SO, HBP, 36 Pitches (20 Strikes), 2 GO

Josh Smoker – 1 IP, H, BB, 2 GO

Jon Velasquez – 1 IP, 2 SO, 1 GO

Ben Lively – 5 IP, 4 H, 2 R, BB, 6 SO, HR, 80 Pitches (54 Strikes), 3 GO: 5 FO

Reinier Roibal – 1 IP, 1 GO: 2 FO

Ryan O’Sullivan – 1 IP, 2 BB, SO, 1 GO

Jimmy Cordero – 1 IP, BB, 1 GO: 1 FO

Stephen Shackleford – 1 IP, H, 2 GO: 1 FO

Batters

L.J. Mazzilli – 1-4, SO

Vince Belnome  - 1-3, R, 2B, BB

Joe Benson – 2-4, R, 2B, HR, 2 RBI, SO

Nick Williams – 1-5, R, HR (2), 2 RBI (3), 3 SO

J.P. Crawford – 1-2, R, HR, RBI, 3 BB, CS

Brock Stassi – 1-3, BB, SO

Cam Perkins – 1-3, HBP, SB, SO

Dylan Cozens – 2-3, R, 2 2B (4), BB

Harold Martinez – 1-2, R, 2 BB

Recap

            The B-Mets 2015 title run was cut short Saturday night in Reading, as the Fightin Phils finished a 3-game sweep of Binghamton in Round 1 of the Eastern League playoffs. Just like in the first two games of the series, Reading jumped ahead early and never looked back. J.P. Crawford and Nick Williams hit homeruns off of Gabriel Ynoa, who was knocked out of a start in less than 3 innings for the first time all season. Fightin’s starter Ben Lively was great, featuring a fastball that topped out at 96 MPH, and a big breaking ball that kept the Binghamton hitters off balance all night (check out some of the ugly swings below). Joe Benson continued his strong series with another great catch in CF and two of the four hits from B-Mets position players (Ynoa went 1-1 before leaving), including the two run homerun that put Binghamton on the scoreboard again. Both bullpens did a great job, with only one hit allowed by each side, although the walk allowed made for some interesting final innings.

            The B-Mets and Sand Gnats both ended their season Saturday night, which means the Mets minor’s season is over. It’s been a fun and successful season for the Mets farm system, and I’ve enjoyed covering as much of it as I could. Now it’s time to reflect on what just happened all offseason.

Scoring Highlights

B-Mets Can’t Solve Thompson In Game Two Loss

Reading Fightin Phils @ Binghamton Mets

September 11, 2015

Jake Thompson @ Robert Gsellman

Teams	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9		R	H	E
Reading	0	1	1	0	0	1	0	0	0		3	10	0
Binghamton	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0		0	3	0

W: Thompson; L: Gsellman

MiLB.com Boxscore

The Highlights:

Pitchers

Robert Gsellman – 4.1 IP, 9 H, 2 R, 3 BB, 5 SO, 84 Pitches (52 Strikes), 3 GO: 3 FO

Jeff Walters – 1.2 IP, H, R, SO, HR, 2 GO: 1 FO, 3 IR – 0 S

Adam Kolarek – 1 IP, 3 GO

Jon Velasquez – 1 IP, 2 SO, 1 GO

Akeel Morris – 1 IP, SO, 1 GO: 1 FO

Jake Thompson – 9 IP, 3 H, BB, 8 SO, 108 Pitches (66 Strikes), 8 GO: 9 FO

Batters

L.J. Mazzilli – 1-4, 2B, SO

T.J. Rivera – 1-4, 2B

Amed Rosario – 1-3, 2 SO

Nick Williams – 2-5, R, HR, RBI, SO

J.P. Crawford – 1-5, R

Andrew Knapp – 1-3, BB, SO

Brock Stassi – 1-4, R, 2B, 2 SO

Cam Perkins – 3-4, 2B, 2 RBI

Harold Martinez – 1-4

Angelo Mora – 1-4, SO

Recap

            The B-Mets fell behind 2 games to 0 in their best-of-5 series with Reading Friday night after Fightins starter Jake Thompson carved through their lineup with the best start of his young career. Thompson put on a pitching clinic, working ahead in the count all night, inducing a lot of weak contact early in AB’s, and breaking out a nasty slider if he got to two strikes. As you can see in Table 2 below, Thompson only needed more than 14 pitches for an inning in the 9^th, when he allowed a double to L.J. Mazzilli and walked Josh Rodriguez. He entered that 9^th inning with a chance for a ‘Maddux’ (complete game shutout with less than 100 pitches thrown), but that’s when Binghamton finally stepped up and started making him work for his outs – talk about too little too late.

Meanwhile, B-Mets starter Robert Gsellman got in trouble by consistently falling behind the Reading batters throughout his start, and he was leaving his fastball up, which led to a lot of hard contact. Per the B-Mets announcer, Gsellman was getting a good number of swings-and-misses with his changeup, which is great to see, but he was missing his groundball touch. Reading might’ve opened this game up against Gsellman in the 3^rd inning, but Joe Benson and Josh Rodriguez made great diving plays in the OF to rob Reading of a pair of hits – the entire game was full of defensive gems (see below). When Gsellman got into bases loaded trouble in the 5^th inning, manager Pedro Lopez decided to bring in Jeff Walters with just one out. Walters induced an inning ending 4-6-3 double play, which could’ve been a huge moment for Binghamton if they came back in this game.

This series moves to Reading for up to 3 more games starting Saturday night at 7:05 PM. Gabriel Ynoa is scheduled to pitch for Binghamton opposite Ben Lively, with Reading moving on to the Championship round if they win any of the next 3 games.

Scoring Highlights

Game One Loss Tough Pill To Swallow For B-Mets

Reading Fightin Phils @ Binghamton Mets

September 9, 2015

Zach Eflin @ Tyler Pill

Teams	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9		R	H	E
Reading	4	0	0	0	3	2	0	0	0		9	18	1
Binghamton	0	1	0	0	0	0	1	2	0		4	8	0

W: Eflin; L: Pill

MiLB.com Boxscore

The Binghamton Mets 2015 Playoff Roster

The Highlights:

Pitchers

Tyler Pill – 5 IP, 12 H, 7 R (6 ER), 2 BB, 4 SO, HR, 89 Pitches (55 Strikes), 7 GO

Beck Wheeler – 1 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 2 BB, 1 GO: 2 FO

Adam Kolarek – 1 IP, H, SO, 1 GO: 1 FO

Josh Smoker – 1 IP, BB, 2 GO: 1 FO

Akeel Morris – 1 IP, 2 H, BB, SO, 1 FO

Zach Eflin – 7 IP, 6 H, 2 R, BB, 4 SO, HR, 91 Pitches (58 Strikes), 7 GO: 6 FO

Tom Windle – 0 IP, H, 2 R (0 ER), BB, 1 GO

Edubray Ramos – 1 IP, H, 2 SO, 1 FO, 2 IR – 1 S

Jimmy Cordero – 1 IP, SO, 2 FO

Batters

T.J. Rivera – 1-4, R, GIDP

Josh Rodriguez – 1-4, RBI (1), SO

Vince Belnome – 1-4, R, HR (1), RBI (1), 2 SO

Joe Benson – 2-4, R, RBI (1)

Xorge Carrillo – 1-4

Amed Rosario – 1-4, RBI (1)

Nick Williams – 2-6

J.P. Crawford – 3-4, 3 R, 2 BB

Andrew Knapp – 3-6, 3 R, 2B, GIDP

Brock Stassi – 2-2, 2 R, 2B, HR, 4 RBI, 3 BB

Cam Perkins – 1-4, RBI, SF, SO

Dylan Cozens – 2-5, R, 2 2B, 3 RBI, SO

Harold Martines – 3-5, 2B, RBI

Angelo Mora – 2-4, BB, SO

Recap

            The Binghamton Mets began their opening round playoff series with Reading Wednesday night at home by taking a 9-4 loss behind Tyler Pill. Pill was also the game one starter in both playoff series the B-Mets won last year, and he’d allow 5 R in the first game of last year’s title run, but the B-Mets were able to come back and win that game. His struggles in this game came against the 2-3-4 batters of the Reading lineup: J.P. Crawford, Andrew Knapp, and EL MVP Brock Stassi, who nearly hit two three run homeruns off of Pill (settling for just the one). Those three would go 7-8 with two doubles, a homerun and a walk against Pill, and they were the driving forces in the two Reading rallies against Pill.

For Reading, Zach Eflin went to work after being handed a 4-0 lead before he even took the mound. This was his first start against Binghamton this year, and he induced a lot of bad contact. Vince Belnome launched Eflin’s only mistake for a solo blast, and the rest of the hits he allowed were singles. Dylan Cozens also had a nice day at the plate, providing two RBI doubles as he continues his assault of Binghamton pitching – he went 4-14 with two homeruns during the 4-game series these two teams played in “Baseball town” last week.

Beck Wheeler was the first to relieve Pill, and Reading would tack on a pair of runs against him, but then Adam Kolarek, Josh Smoker, and Akeel Morris threw scoreless innings to finish the game.

Check out the scoring details and game highlights below. This series continues Thursday night at 6:35 PM, with Robert Gsellman scheduled to pitch opposite Jake Thompson in game two. Jake Thompson is now the best pitching prospect in the Phillies system (ranked #2 overall by MLB), and he beat the B-Mets on 8/31: he finished the season with a 1.80 ERA in 45 IP after being traded to Philly, with 33 H and a .569 OPS allowed, and 34 K: 12 BB (166 BF). While Gsellman is not on the same prospect level as Thompson, he’s arguably the top pitching prospect left in the system once Matz officially graduates off the rankings and he lost to Reading in his second AA start: he finished the season with a 2.45 ERA over 51.1 IP, with 43 H and a .534 OPS allowed, and 21 K: 100 BB (209 BF).

Scoring Highlights

B-Mets Waste A Fine Performance From Mickey

Binghamton Mets @ Reading Fightin Phils

September 3, 2015

Mickey Jannis @ Ethan Martin

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

W: O’Sullivan (2-2, 2.31 ERA); L: Jannis (0-2, 3.65 ERA); Save: Shackleford (29, 4.53 ERA)

MiLB.com Boxscore

The Highlights:

Pitchers

Mickey Jannis – 7 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 2 BB, 7 SO, 102 Pitches (66 Strikes), 14 GO

Jon Velasquez (2.09 ERA) – 1 IP, BB, 1 GO

Ethan Martin (3.06 ERA) – 5 IP, BB, 5 SO, HBP, 76 Pitches (51 Strikes), 10 GO: 1 FO

Ryan O’Sullvan – 2 IP, H, R, 4 SO, HR, HBP, 31 Pitches (24 Strikes), 2 GO

Reiner Roibal (H, 6, 1.68 ERA) – 1 IP, BB, SO

Stephen Shackleford – 1 IP, H, 1 FO

Batters

T.J. Rivera – 1-4, R HR (5), RBI (27)

Jonathan Galvez – 1-4, 3B (2), SO

Rene Garcia – 1-4, SO

Dylan Cozens – 1-3, R, SB (1)

Harold Martinez – 1-3, 2 RBI (32)

Recap

            Although both Reading and Binghamton had each already clinched a playoff spot during this series, there was still the matter of which team would finish the season in 1^st place. While the B-Mets got a great start from knuckleballer Mickey Jannis, the Reading pitching staff was able to equal his performance on this night, and the Fightins pushed two runs across in the 7^th to jump ahead for good. Neither side had a hit until the 4^th inning, and they were at only one hit each when Reading came up in that 7^th inning. The first B-Mets hit got them on the board, as T.J. Rivera went deep for the 5^th time in AA this season. Jonathan Galvez would add a two out triple in the 9^th inning for Binghamton, but it was too little too late. A pair of B-Mets made their AA debut in this game: Victor Cruzado came into LF midway through the game and went 0-2, while Jeff McNeil was used as a pinch-hitter for Mickey Jannis in the 8^th and walked. The dancing knuckleball from Jannis was a lot of fun to watch, and he induced a lot of swinging strikes and weak groundouts. With a better defensive effort from L.J. Mazzilli with two outs in the 7^th, Jannis would’ve kept Reading off the scoreboard, but it’s not Mazzilli’s fault that Jannis couldn’t retire either of the next two batters.

            After the game the B-Mets headed home for their final regular season series of the year. They start a 4-game set against Altoona Friday night at 7:05 PM, with Robert Gsellman (7-6, 3.06 ERA) scheduled to pitch for Binghamton opposite Steven Brault (8-3, 2.20 ERA). Binghamton is scheduled to receive their final rehabbing major leaguer of the season in the form of Lucas Duda this weekend, so get ready for some Duda GIFs!

Scoring Highlights