“I think they’re done for now.” That was an assessment of one of the Portland pitchers charting pitches in the Section directly behind home plate at NYSEG Stadium when his teammate David Chester blasted a 3-1 fastball for a 3 run home run giving Portland a 5-1 lead in the sixth inning of the first game of the Eastern League’s opening round playoff action. What the Portland pitcher would soon learn is that Pedro Lopez’s Binghamton team is built to last.
The B-Mets scratched and clawed battling back to tie the game in the bottom of the eighth then scored three more times when T.J. Rivera smashed a two-out walk-off home run on the first pitch he saw in Binghamton’s final at bat. Rivera’s HR shot was his fourth hit on the night including a pair of doubles.
Ironically, the game started off as a pitcher’s duel. Binghamton nicked Portland’s left-handed ace Brian Johnson for a run in the third inning but ran themselves out of a potential big inning. Xorge Carrillo worked a walk to lead off the inning then moved to second when Wilfredo Tovar singled to left field. After Brandon Nimmo fanned, Rivera lined a single to left field scoring Carrillo, then got himself caught in a run down trying to advance to second when the left fielder’s throw to home plate was fielded up the line by Portland catcher Carson Blair. Tovar was stranded at third when Brian Burgamy grounded out to third base.
Meanwhile, Binghamton starter Tyler Pill coasted out of the gates retiring the first 11 Sea Dogs he faced. Sean Cole ended Pill’s string hitting a 90 mph fastball over the left field wall to knot the score at 1-1 in the Sea Dog fourth.
Baseball is a game of inches as fate would prove for Pill and his B-Mets in the sixth. Rusney Castillo led off the inning with an infield single. Mike Miller bunted Castillo to second. Castillo stole third after a ground out to Dustin Lawley at third base gave Pill the second out of the frame. Pill went to work on Portland’s cleanup hitter Keury DelaCruz. Pill was one pitch away from escaping unscathed but with a 3-2 count, DelaCruz went with an outside corner change-up grounding a single between third and short to plate the leading run.
Carson Blair followed with a single, but it was Chester who delivered the big blow, rocketing a 3 and 1 fastball over the left-field wall for what the young Portland pitcher doing charts believed to be the game changer.
Not so fast. Binghamton’s revival actually began with Hansel Robles who replaced Pill. Robles was terrific igniting a downfallen Binghamton crowd with his power pitching. In 3 1/3 innings of relief, Robles, who at one point struck out four batters in a row, allowed only one baserunner, a two out ground single threw the box in the eighth.
The B-Met rally started modestly with the home team picking up a single run in the home sixth. Once again, Rivera left his fingerprint ripping a one out double into the left field corner. One out later, Jayce Boyd’s single to right center field plated Rivera for the second B-Met run.
Johnson was removed after seven inning of stingy work fanning nine B-Mets and walking only one. Binghamton greeted his replacement Robbie Scott rather rudely when Tovar led off the eight with a double that helped change the B-Met fortunes. Rivera’s second double of the night, this one a screamer just inside the right field line, scored Tovar.
After Burgamy worked a walk, the B-Mets got a little help from the Portland defense. Boyd tapped a slow roller to second base that in retrospect, Portland second baseman Cole wished he had played to first for an out. Instead, Cole rushed a throw to second looking for a force, throwing the ball into short left field allowing Rivera to score and Burgamy to advance to third. Darrell Ceciliani followed with a clutch long sacrifice to the warning track in right center field to score Burgamy with the tying tally.
Once again, the B-Mets got a little help from their friends in the ninth when with one out Portland third baseman Mike Miller allowed a Carrillo grounder to go between his legs into left field for an error. Tovar followed with a single to left, his third hit of the night setting the table for Rivera. Portland pitcher Noe Ramirez got Nimmo on a strikeout but Rivera crushed the first pitch he saw over the left-center field wall for the walk-off dinger.
Cody Saterwhite, who kept B-Met fans on the edge of their seats pitching the ninth, was the winning pitcher. Saterwhite walked the lead-off batter Shannon Wilkerson, then allowed a two-out bloop single to right field that advanced Wilkerson to third. But, Saterwhite fanned Cole to get out of the jam.
Dustin Lawley was the defensive player of the night for Binghamton making three flashy plays around the bag at third. Burgamy’s leaping stab of a Ryan Dent line drive was also impressive.
Greg Peavey will be on the hill Thursday night as the B-Mets look to take a two game advantage in the best of five series with the Sea Dogs.
Just some highlights from the local Binghamton News including Rivera’s walk off shot.