New Britain 1, Binghamton 0

The Binghamton Mets came up on the short end of a pitcher’s duel and fell to the New Britain Rock Cats, 1-0, on Thursday afternoon at New Britain Stadium. The B-Mets were limited to six hits in the series finale and settled for the four-game split.

After waiting through a 70-minute rain delay to start the contest, the B-Mets threatened, but failed to break through over the first five innings against New Britain starter Logan Darnell. Binghamton put seven on base on five hits, a walk and a hit batsman, but went 0-for-5 with runners in scoring position and stranded six in the process.

Binghamton Mets starter Mark Cohoon breezed through his first four innings. The southpaw needed just 37 pitches and allowed two singles through four scoreless frames. His cruise was halted in the fifth when Danny Ortiz ripped a homer to right to lead off the inning.

Darnell took the one-run advantage and ran with it. The lefty worked around an error in a scoreless sixth and put up a perfect seventh. His biggest challenge came in the eighth, his final inning. Cesar Puello singled with one out and stole second, but was left stranded when Cory Vaughn popped out to end the threat.

Ortiz’s round-tripper proved to be the only blemish for Cohoon. The lefty capped his day with three shutout innings, securing Binghamton’s first complete game of the season.

Michael Tonkin took over for Darnell in the ninth and hit Joe Bonfe with a 1-2 pitch, putting the tying run on base. The righty survived the scare by inducing Xorge Carrillo to bounce into a fielder’s choice and Wilfredo Tovar to ground out to end the game.

Darnell (4-3) struck out nine over eight shutout innings to collect his team-leading fourth win. Cohoon (3-2) allowed just one run on six hits and struck out seven over eight frames in the hard-luck loss. Tonkin secured his sixth save.

The B-Mets (26-21) return to the Southern Tier and celebrate Memorial Day Weekend with a four-game series against the Portland Sea Dogs. The set starts on Friday night at 7:05 PM. RHP Cory Mazzoni gets the ball in the opener against RHP Anthony Ranaudo.

Key Stats

Mark Cohoon: 8.0 IP, 6 H, 1 HR, 1 BB, 1 ER, 7 K

Cesar Puello: 1-for-3, 1 SB

Richard Lucas: 2-for-4, 1 2B

Josh Rodriguez: 1-for-3, 1 BB

Cory Vaughn: 1-for-4

Xorge Carrillo: 1-for-4

(Team Report)