Stellar starting pitching is the key for Binghamton’s early 2014 Eastern League success. The B-Mets went 4-3 over the second week of the season raising their season’s slate to 9-5, good for second place and only one game behind the Portland Sea Dogs in the Eastern Division standings.
Rainy Lara continues to impress on the mound for Binghamton. The lean righthander had a win and no decision while pitching 13 innings last week, and yielding a single unearned run. Over 18 innings, Lara is 2-0 with a sparkling 1.47 ERA and a 0.93 WHIP on the year.
Matthew Bowman turned in a dazzling NYSEG Stadium debut throwing seven scoreless innings over New Hampshire. Bowman fanned 11 Fischer Cats while walking only one. At one time the B-Met righty retired 15 consecutive batters, with five straight strike outs during that streak. In two starts this season, Bowman is 2-0 with both a 0.75 ERA and WHIP, striking out 15 batters and walking only two.
Darin Gorski continues to shine but came out on the short side of a decision against New Hampshire. Outside of three pitches, all solo home runs served up by Gorski, he was near perfect on Friday night. The tall lefty is 1-1 on the season with a 2.32 ERA over 15.2 innings of work.
Hansel Robles continues to find the Eastern League fare much to his liking. Robles pitched five innings of scoreless ball, improving his record to 2-0 and running his consecutive scoreless innings streak to 10 innings on the young season. Robles showed the grit required of pitching out of trouble, twice escaping jams during his five inning outing.
The B-Mets have yet to pick up a victory from the other two slots in the starting rotation filled by Greg Peavey and Tyler Pill, although Peavey has fanned 10 batters in 9.1 innings of work.
Cody Scatterwhite continues to excel in relief. The right handed setup man has worked in five games this season covering 8.2 innings without allowing a run. After some opening day jitters on the hill John Church seems to be settling in nicely. Like Scatterwhite, Church has one win in relief. The hard throwing righty has fanned 12 batters in nine innings of relief work. Jack Leathersich maintains a torrid strike out rate, fanning slightly over two batters per inning but has averaged one walk and one hit per inning on the young season.
Offensively, middle infielder Matt Reynolds had a turnaround week. Reynolds sizzled at the plate hitting .500 (12 for 24) on the week to raise his batting average to a team high .383. Reynolds has a penchant for getting on base, with his five base-on-balls giving him a .453 on-base-percentage.
Darrel Ceciliani continues to play an impressive baseball game in the batter’s box and in centerfield. Ceciliani went 6-for-19 during the week, scoring three runs and driving home two. The B-Met outfielder is batting .359 on the season with a .375 OBP, has scored seven runs and shares the team lead in doubles with four.
Matt Clark has established himself as Binghamton’s primary power source. Clark went 8-of-22 over the week, but one-half of those hits were round trippers. Clark, who shares the B-Met home run lead with Brian Burgamy, has knocked home a team high 12 RBI’s and flashes a .453 OBP.
Brian Burgamy shared the team home run lead with Clark and also leads the team in base-on-balls with 11. Burgamy is batting .286 with a .434 OBP.
The B-Mets continue to get consistent offensive production from the catcher’s position. Kevin Plawecki went 5-for-14 during the second week of the season. The Binghamton catcher has walked (four) almost as many times as he has struck out (five) and has a .359 OBP. Although he doesn’t earn as many starts as Plawecki, Xorge Carrillo has been a portrait of consistency in the early season. Carrillo has played in five games going 1-for-3 in every start, scored three times, knocked in three runs, and has a .421 OBP.
