Syracuse (3-1) 6, Pawtucket (1-3) 5  Box Score

• Dilson Herrera 2B: 2-for-3, 2 R, 2 2B, 2 RBI, K, 2 E, .625/.700/1.250
• David Thompson 3B: 2-for-3, 2B, 3 RBI, K, .250/.273/.375
• Colton Plaia C: 2-for-3, K, .750/.800/1.000

Syracuse’s offense had a strong game, scoring six runs on ten hits on their way to a third straight victory. David Thompson had a big day for the Mets, getting his team on the board with a sacrifice fly in the third, extending the lead to 5-0 in sixth inning with a RBI single, and ultimately driving in the go-ahead run with a double in the eighth. Thompson is coming off a lost season in which he played in just 25 games, so it is great to see him healthy and producing.

Herrera finished up his outstanding opening series with two doubles, the first of which brought home three runs (although, due to an error on the play, he would only get credit for two runs batted in).

• RHP Drew Gagnon (0-0, 0.00 ERA) 5.1 IP, 3 H, BB, 5 K
• LHP Ryan O’Rourke (H, 0-1, 12.00 ERA) 1.0 IP, H, 2 ER, BB, 2 K
• RHP Tyler Bashlor (0-0, 40.50 ERA) 0.2 IP, 4 H, 3 ER, BB
• RHP Paul Sewald (W, 1-0, 0.00 ERA) 1.0 IP, H, BB
• RHP Arquimedes Caminero (S, 0-0, 0.00 ERA) 1.0 IP, BB, K

Syracuse pitchers were cruising in this game until a very rocky seventh inning. Returning to the Mets organization for a second season, Gagnon got the start for Syracuse and was excellent, as he allowed just four baserunners over 5.1 shutout innings. O’Rourke entered the game in the sixth inning and recorded the final two outs. Returning for the seventh inning, O’Rourke allowed recorded one out and allowed two hitters to reach base before has was replaced by Bashlor. Bashlor’s season debut could not have gone much worse, as he allowed five of the seven batters he faced to reach base and allowed five total runs to cross the plate. Sewald would keep the game tied in the eighth and Caminero would close it out in the ninth.

New Hampshire (2-2) 3, Binghamton (2-2) 1  Box Score

• Barrett Barnes RF: 2-for-3, R, HR, RBI, K, .273/.385/.545
• Patrick Mazeika C: 0-for-2, BB, .133/.278/.200
• Andres Gimenez SS: 0-for-4, K, .071/.071/.214

The Binghamton offense was stymied all game by New Hampshire’s pitching. Barnes’ two hits represented the only two hits by the team for the entire game. The second hit left the park in the eighth inning and would end up as the lone run that the Rumble Ponies would score. Gimenez returned to lineup after sitting out Saturday’s game.

• RHP Michael Gibbons (L, 0-1, 3.00 ERA) 6.0 IP, 5 H, 2 ER, 4 BB, 5 K
• RHP Ryder Ryan (0-0, 3.38 ERA) 2.0 IP, 2 H, ER, K

After making brief cameo appearances in Binghamton in 2015 and 2018, Gibbons is starting 2019 in the Rumble Ponies rotation and pitched fairly well in his first start. Gibbons’ control was a bit off in this outing and he allowed nine baserunners, but he still able to get through six innings and only two runs. Both runs scored in the fifth inning on a two run homer. Ryan, who is returning to Binghamton after spending the second half of 2018 there with mixed results, pitched the seventh and eighth innings with his lone blemish coming on a two out double in the seventh inning.

St. Lucie (1-3) 3, Bradenton (3-1) 0  Box Score

• Todd Frazier 3B: 2-for-5, R, K, .167/.167/.167
• Blake Tiberi DH: 1-for-4, R, BB, .143/.400/.143
• Manny Rodriguez SS: 1-for-3, BB, K, .222/.364/.222

The Mets offense struggled to get much going early in this game as they had just three singles entering the eighth inning. All three runs would score in that inning, which featured quite a bit of successfully executed small ball by the offense. Tiberi scored the first run from second base on a bunt single from Cody Bohanek followed by a throwing error. A groundout by Quinn Brodey would score Frazier and Matt Winaker would ultimately bring home Bohanek on a sacrifice bunt.

• RHP Kyle Wilson (0-0, 0.00 ERA) 5.2 IP, 5 H, BB, 3 K
• RHP Conner O’Neil (W, 1-0, 0.00 ERA) 1.1 IP, BB, 3 K
• LHP Blake Taylor (S, 0-0, 0.00 ERA) 2.0 IP, 2 H, BB, K

After quietly putting together an impressive season for Brooklyn last year, Wilson skipped over Columbia and entered the St. Lucie starting rotation. He was very good in his first start of the season, needing just 77 pitches to make it through 5.2 scoreless innings. He didn’t strike out many batters, but he pounded the zone and threw 66.2% of his pitches for strikes. O’Neil made his first appearance of the season and kept the game game tied heading into the eighth inning. Taylor made his second relief appearance of the season and worked around some trouble to register the six-out save. In will be interesting to see if Taylor can be more consistent now that it seems that he has been moved to a bullpen role.

Charleston (3-1) 7, Columbia (1-3) 2  Box Score

• Walter Rasquin LF: 3-for-5, 3B, .444/.444/.778
• Ronny Mauricio SS: 1-for-5, 3 K, E, .333/.412/.333
• Mark Vientos 3B: 1-for-3, R, 2 BB, 2 E, .154/.353/.154

With ten hits and six walks in Sunday’s game, the Fireflies offense had plenty of opportunities to score runs, but would end up going just 2-for-17 with runners in scoring position and would leave 15 runners on base. Both runs would score on a Zach Rheams single in the fifth inning. Mauricio had five hits in his first series with Columbia, but also struck out six times and made three errors.

• RHP Christian James (L, 0-1, 4.50 ERA) 4.0 IP, 5 H, 5 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 5 K
• RHP Billy Oxford (0-0, 2.70 ERA) 1.0 IP, H, ER, 3 K
• RHP Ezequiel Zabaleta (0-0, 0.00 ERA) 1.0 IP, 2 H, 2 K

James made his first start of the season and struggled through four innings. While he ran a high pitch count of 78 pitches and would have a WHIP of 1.75 for the game, two errors by Vientos in the third inning certainly didn’t help his cause. Even with a pickoff and a double play in the third inning, nine batters would come to the plate and five runs would score. The Fireflies bullpen combined to allow two runs and strike out six batters over the final five innings of the game. Chris Viall was used as a reliever for the second straight game to open the season, indicating that this may be a permanent shift to the bullpen for the hard-throwing righty.