Mets Minors postseason roundup for September 8th

There were three games on the docket for last evening, but that number was quickly trimmed to two when the NY Penn league playoffs were again postponed due to lousy weather in the northeast.  The St. Lucie Mets took to the field in game 2 of their series against the Bradenton Marauders fresh off the back of Tuesday's 4-2 win with Zack Wheeler taking the mound.  The Sand Gnats kicked off their playoff series with the Augusta Green Jackets behind starting pitcher Angel Cuan.

The St. Lucie Mets got themselves in some trouble in the first inning with a Wilmer Flores throwing error and a wild pitch, but Zack Wheeler managed to strike out Elevys Gonzalez to end the threat without a run crossing the plate.  After a second inning where Wheeler produced three easy groundouts and a third where he struck out the side it appeared we were in store for quite a pitchers duel.  Unfortunately for Wheeler, the wheels proceeded to fall off in the 4th inning.  After striking out the leadoff batter Wheeler allowed a walk, two doubles, and two singles to end his night.    His final line for the evening looked like this: 3.2 IP, 5 H, 4 ER, 7 K, 2 BB.  

Unfortunately for the Mets, Wheeler's line was probably the highlight of the evening.  The bullpen picked right up where Wheeler left off, allowing an additional 6 runs to cross the plate in their 5 1/3 innings of work.  The offense was quite possibly worse, as the only hits registered were a double by Gilbert Gomez in the 1st and a single by Pedro Zapata in the 6th.  Francisco Pena also managed a walk to bring the baserunner talley up to a whopping three for the game.  The complete box can be found here, and the series will remain in St. Lucie this evening as the Mets look to win the series behind Greg Peavey.  

Savannah and Augusta were also locked in a pitchers dual last night.  Angel Cuan was dominant over 6 innings, spreading 6 hits over that span without allowing a run to cross the plate.  He struck out 5 and walked none before being pulled due to pitch count issues for the start of the 7th.  He'd leave with a lead, as Joe Bonfe led off the 5th inning with a triple and was driven in on a soft grounder by Aderlin Rodriguez.  Unfortunately for Savannah, that was it for their scoring on the night. 

Chase Huchingson entered the game in relief in the 7th inning, and Augusta quickly jumped all over him.  After a pair of walks and a seeing eye single tied the game at one, Adam Duvall cleared the bases when he launched one over the center field wall to put Augusta ahead 4-1.  That's where the game would finish, as Savannah was unable to muster any other offense on the evening.  The complete box can be found here.  The Gnats will have tonight off before sending Taylor Whitenton to the mound Friday in a must win game in Savannah.

The Cyclones will have another go at starting their playoff series against the Yankees on Thursday with the game scheduled to start at 7:05.  The best of three series will begin with Marco Camarena facing off against Bryan Mitchell in Brooklyn before the series shifts to Staten Island for the 2nd and 3rd games.  Let's all hope they manage to get going tonight, and that this evening's games bring us a little more offense than we saw last night.