Stellar staring pitching lifted Binghamton to a doubleheader sweep over first place Portland in Eastern League action on Wednesday.
The B-Mets got 12 innings of scoreless work from their starters, five innings from Angel Cuan in a 6-1 victory in the opener and a complete game 1-0 shutout from Gabriel Ynoa in the nightcap.
Pitching has been described as the art of disrupting a batter’s timing. Using an assortment of off-speed pitches, 5’11”, 150 pound Cuan matched that description in the opener. The little lefty threw five scoreless innings, scattering three hits while striking out five without yielding a walk. Cuan did hit one Sea Dog batter.
Portland misfired on their two opportunities to score on Cuan. First, Shannon Wilkerson ripped a one out single in Portland’s first at bat. Then the Sea Dog center fielder stole second and advanced to third when B-Met catcher Xorge Carrillo’s throw sailed into centerfield. But, Cuan struck out Blake Swihart and got Sean Coyle to fly out to centerfield to get out of the jam.
Peter Hissey singled with one out for Portland in the third, but Cuan picked the Sea Dog right fielder off first. Some nifty Binghamton defense helped Cuan escape trouble in the fourth. With one out, Cuan hit Swihart with a pitch. One out later, Michael Almanzar lined a base hit in the right field corner. B-Met right fielder Travis Taijeron played the ball quickly to second baseman Dilson Herrera who made a speedy transfer to first baseman Brian Burgamy when Almanzar took a first base turn that stretched to wide. Burgamy executed a perfect run down, holding Swihart safely at third before flipping the ball to teammate T.J. Rivera to tag out Almanzar.
Burgamy got Binghamton on the board in the B-Met first blasting his 16th home run of the year, a towering shot over the right-center field wall estimated to have traveled 470 feet. Dustin Lawley would continue to demonstrate his batting prowess following Burgamy’s home run blast with a broken bat double off the left field wall.
In the 5th inning, Lawley’s two-run home run rocket ended a four run Binghamton frame giving the home team a 5-0 lead.
It started with Carrillo igniting a rally with a one out single. Brandon Nimmo stroked a double in the gap in right-center field with Dilson Herrerra’s single driving home both B-Met runners. Herrera later scored on the Lawley’s home run, the B-Met slugger’s 16th of the year, and 10th since June the 15th.
Binghamton’s final run came in the sixth when Jayce Boyd doubled to lead off the frame then scored on a Taijeron single.
Portlands lone run came on Almanzar’s solo home run in the seventh.
Binghamton’s Gabriel Ynoa locked up with Portland’s Michael McCarthy in a classic pitchers’ duel in the nightcap. Utilizing a fastball consistently in the 90’s and topping out at 96, Ynoa prevented the Sea Dogs from advancing a runner past second base in his complete game shutout.
Ynoa was masterful all night long, allowing four hits, striking out nine without walking a batter. The B-Met right-hander allowed a Wilkerson double in the first, a Almanzar single in the second and a pair of singles by Stefan Welch and Peter Hissey in the fifth. The only other batter to reach base was Michael Brenly who struck out swinging with two gone in the seventh but reached first when the ball got away from B-Met catcher Kai Gronauer.
Ynoa still had good stuff and was coasting at the end of his outing, striking out three Sea Dogs in his final inning on the hill.
McCarthy was equally impressive allowing only one hit through six innings; Ryan Sandoval’s RBI single in the second. Temporary loss of the strike zone would cost the Portland starter dearly when he walked both Rivera and Nimmo to set up the lone score of the game on Sandoval’s RBI single.
With the doubleheader sweep, Binghamton has won the first three games of the four game series with the first place Sea Dogs.
The B-Mets, 17 games above .500, still have some catching up to do trailing Portland by five games.
The series concludes with a 1:05 p.m. Super Splash day contest on Thursday.
