Steven Matz won his fourth consecutive decision pitching Binghamton to a 4-2 decision over first place Portland and helping the B-Mets avoid a Sea Dog sweep. Matz worked seven innings allowing two runs on seven hits, striking out four and walking only one.
Matz surrendered a solo home run to Sean Coyle, the Portland second baseman’s 12th round tripper of the season. Coyle is having a terrific season for the Sea Dogs batting .326 with a .401/.562/.963 stat line.
Binghamton’s Ryan Sandoval matched Coyle’s solo feat hitting his first home run of the season, a long shot to straight away centerfield to led off the B-Met third. Binghamton shortstop T.J. Rivera helped put the B-Mets in front leading off the visitor’s fourth with a double. Darrell Ceciliani’s ground out to second base advanced Rivera to third, and the B-Met shortstop scored when Jayce Boyd grounded a single through the box and into centerfield.
The B-Mets were at it again scoring two more times in the fifth. Second baseman Dilson Herrera got things going lining a one out single to left. Herrera stole second and moved to third when Brian Burgamy singled. A red hot Travis Taijeron’s double plated Herrera and advanced Burgamy to third. The two-bagger was Taijeron’s 25th of the season good for third best in the Eastern League. Rivera lifted a sacrifice fly to centerfield to complete Binghamton’s scoring for the night.
Three Portland singles got one run back in the home sixth, but that would be as close as the Sea Dogs would get as the B-Met bullpen shut the door behind Matz. Randy Fontanez worked a scoreless 8th earning his 5th hold, striking out two and allowing one-hit. Cody Satterwhite continued his mound dominance throwing a scoreless ninth with two strikeouts to chalk up his 9th save of the season. Satterwhite lowered his team best ERA to 1.42.
Dilson Herrera continues to decimate Eastern League pitching. The B-Met second baseman went 2-5 to raise his batting average to .361, eclipsing the .355 mark of Matt Reynolds before Reynolds took his game to Las Vegas. Herrera’s .420 on-base-percentage is second to Reynolds but his .574 slugging percentage and .994 OPS are both B-Met team bests.
In the last three Binghamton series, Herrera has gone 19-39 from the batter’s box good for a .487 batting average, scoring 10 runs with five doubles, two triples and two home runs. In just 30 games since his arrival from Port St. Lucie, Herrera has 16 extra base hits and has driven home 26 runs, exceptional power numbers for the B-Met second baseman.
