The intricacies of baseball can be fascinating. Often, it’s the ‘game within a game‘ that captures the deep passions of the game of baseball.

The four game series in Binghamton, between the B-Mets and Harrisburg during the weekend of May 8 – May 11, provided some thought provoking mini battles embedded within the total context of the series. Often these battles are waged between a pitcher and a batter.

Harrisburg’s speedy center fielder Michael Taylor left his calling card with B-Met pitcher’s in Thursday’s opening game of the series, finishing only a double shy of the cycle.  Taylor slammed the first pitch of the game, a Darin Gorski fastball, over the left field fence to greet Binghamton.  Later, Taylor would smack two more fastballs for a single and triple to complete his three hit game.

B-Mets starting pitcher Tyler Pill was paying attention.  Sunday when Pill got his chance to face the Senators on the hill, fastballs were a limited part of his pitching menu when facing Taylor.  In three at bats on Sunday, Pill served 18 pitches to Taylor, only four of which were fastballs, with Pill striking out the Senator center fielder swinging in every at bat.  On a similar note, B-Mets relief pitcher Jon Velasquez used a 95 mph fastball to catch Taylor looking in his final plate appearance.

Another riveting ‘game within a game‘ came in the B-Met second inning on Sunday with shortstop Wilfredo Tovar at the plate.  With the game scoreless at the time, Binghamton had runners on first and second and two men out.  A scintillating 12 pitch battle between Harrisburg pitcher A.J. Cole and Tovar ensued.

Here’s a breakdown of the Tovar at bat with each pitch, it’s outcome and the speed of every pitch:

What a battle!  The tension mounted with every pitch.  Some might minimize Tovar’s at bat because it ended with a fly out to right field.  Yet, Tovar’s gritty, persistence at the plate along with a nine pitch Cole battle with Dustin Lawley that ended in a walk in the same inning built Cole’s pitch count to 33 pitches in the second inning alone.  Cole, who fired consistently between 92 and 94 mph in the first two innings, saw his fastball dip down to the 89 to 91 mph during his final inning. And, Cole’s elevated pitch count resulted in an early exit after just 4 2/3 innings of work.