After staring the week slowly with two straight losses in New Hampshire, the Binghamton Mets battled back to win four of their final five games of the season to raise their record to 18-15. The B-Mets sit in third place in the Eastern League’s Eastern Division 3.5 games behind first place Portland.
The dominant theme in Binghamton this week is the hope that two B-Mets, one a position player and one a pitcher in the starting rotation, may have finally begun to figure out the Double-A baseball game. First baseman Jayce Boyd and right-handed starting pitcher Tyler Pill both put together some impressive baseball play this week. If Binghamton hopes to contend again this season for the Eastern League regular season title, they will need continued success on the diamond from Boyd and Pill.
Last Monday the B-Mets dropped a 5-0 contest in New Hampshire. As he had been for most of the month of April, Boyd was quiet in the batter’s box going 0-for-4 and dropping his season’s batting average to a paltry .175. There was little indication at that time that Boyd was poised to bust out of a season long hitting funk.
Pill, on the other hand, showed some new found life in his pitching game last Monday. The B-Met righthander picked up his fifth loss of the young season, but turned in his most impressive outing to date allowing only three New Hampshire runs in five innings of work. Pill got almost no hitting support when the B-Mets could manage only six singles in the contest.
The B-Mets fell again to New Hampshire on Tuesday, but Boyd exploded. The Binghamton first baseman had a breakout game going 4-for-4, with a home run, two doubles, and an RBI. The B-Met infielders Matt Reynolds and Wilfredo Tovar continued their consistent performance at the plate, both getting a pair of hits for Binghamton. Hansel Robles picked up his first loss of the year allowing five runs in five innings for the B-Mets.
After 11 consecutive scoreless appearances Cody Satterwhite allowed his first run of the season out of the pen.
Boyd continued to rake at the plate as the series concluded in New Hampshire on Wednesday. Boyd went 2-for-3 and scored two of Binghamton’s six runs as Greg Peavey tossed a sparkling complete game, two-hit shutout to down the Fischer Cats, 6-0. Binghamton used the long ball in the victory with Brian Burgamy blasting a three run shot in the third inning and Dustin Lawley slamming his first Double-A home run, a two run blast in the eighth.
Boyd, who was the Player of the Game on Thursday, went 2-for-3 with a three-run home run, a double and four RBI’s as Binghamton won the series opener, 12-6 over Harrisburg. Darin Gorski picked up his third win of the season against a single loss yielding only a pair of solo home runs over six innings. Gorski was also a hitting star in the game, when his bases loaded single in the second plated Binghamton’s first two runs. With the score tied at 2-2, Gorski led off the fourth with a double and later scored the tiebreaker. Kevin Plawecki had two hits and threw out two Senator base runners, and Travis Taijeron slammed a solo home run.
A ninth inning run off Chase Bradford gave Harrisburg their only win of the series, 4-3, on Friday. Matthew Bowman pitched well for Binghamton allowing three runs, two earned, over five innings but left the contest with the B-Mets down, 3-1. Kevin Plawecki accounted for all of the Binghamton runs with a solo home run in the fourth and a two-run single to tie the game in the B-Met eighth.
Rainy Lara continued his impressive mound work picking up his third win of the season, 5-2, over the Senators on Saturday. Lara worked 6 2/3 innings, striking out seven and allowing only one walk and four hits. Dustin Lawley’s three-run shot in the second inning gave Lara all the breathing room he would need. John Church and Jack Leathersich turned in scoreless work in relief to back up Lara. Center fielder Kyle Johnson contributed an outfield assist gunning down the Senator’s Rick Hague at the plate.
Pill mixed his pitches well and turned in six scoreless innings to complete a successful B-Met week and pick up his first win of the season on Sunday. Pill, struck out seven without walking a batter but hit one and scattered four hits in getting the win. Kevin Plawecki had a major role in the outcome gunning out three Senator runners trying to steal second base including one strike ‘em out throw ‘em out double play. Plawecki’s double down the right field line scored Kyle Johnson, who had doubled to lead off the second inning, with the B-Mets first run of the game. Dustin Lawley led off the sixth with a double, advanced to second on Cory Vaughn’s single to center and tagged and scored the game winner when Darrell Ceciliani flied out to center field.
