*All results from games played on Saturday, June 30th.
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AAA - Buffalo Bisons (41-42)_______________________________________
DURHAM 12, BUFFALO 6 (Box)
Poor Mark Cohoon. When I saw him last year for Binghamton he looked like a guy who could maybe serve as a sixth starter type as soon as this year, but he has been wandering in the wilderness since his rushed promotion to Buffalo last year and his stuff has gone backwards. He was promoted back to Buffalo last week to take Dylan Owen's spot while the righty is on the DL, and in his two starts at AAA he has pitched to a 14.63 ERA. Yikes. Buffalo's bats made a furious comeback in the late innings, but a 12-0 hole is kind of hard to dig out of. The Bisons dip back under .500 and are now 0-5 against Durham this year.
- CF Jordany Valdespin: 0-5, K; Guess we are trying this again. Though, in some ways Valdy's toolset makes more sense in the outfield.
- CF Matt Den Dekker: Day off
- 1B Josh Satin: 2-4, 2B, 3B, 2 R, RBI, K, E (2); Finished June with a .333/.419/.543 line for the month. HAIL!
- DH Valentino Pascucci: 0-2, RBI, BB, 2 K
- RHP Jenrry Mejia: 2 IP, 0 ER, 1 H, 0 BB, 1 K; 19 of his 27 pitches went for strikes. That's more like it
- LHP Josh Edgin: 1 IP, 0 ER, 1 H, 0 BB, 1 K; Walks are the issue here, as he's striking out almost 40% of the LHB he's faced for Buffalo.
AA - Binghamton Mets (36-43)_____________________________________
ALTOONA 8, BINGHAMTON 2 (Box)
Through 4 innings, Zack Wheeler had only allowed three baserunners and struck out 4. The wheels came off after that, though, as over his next 2 2/3 innings of work he would allow 11 to reach base. It's not time to panic, but worth noting as last season got into its dog days, Wheeler started having trouble with his fastball command. Could be happening again. Probably just the Verducci effect, though, you guys.
- CF Juan Lagares: 0-3, BB, 2 K
- 3B Jefry Marte: 0-4, K
- 2B Reese Havens: 3-4, HR (6), R, RBI; Hitting .269/.364/.462 in June, perhaps some of us (like say, me) were writing him off too soon
- 1B Wilmer Flores: 0-4; Interesting that Flores plays first base before Marte in this rotation. Could just be due to not having a DH for the game, but Pedro Lopez could have just as easily penciled Marte in there.
- SS Wilfredo Tovar: 1-3, R, E (3)
- C Juan Centeno: 1-3, K
- C Francisco Pena: 0-1
- RHP Zack Wheeler: L, 6.2 IP, 6 ER, 7 R, 9 H, 3 BB, 5 K, HBP; His June stats, however: 32.2 IP, 30 H, 15 ER, 18 R, 22 K, 14 BB.
- RHP Adrian Rosario: 2 IP, 0 ER, 0 H, 1 BB, 4 K; First really dominant AA outing in over three weeks.
Hi-A - St. Lucie Mets (4-6 // 53-25)________________________________________
JUPITER 14, ST. LUCIE 2 (Box)
You might think I would run out of things to say after the third blowout of the evening. You would be right.
- RF Cory Vaughn: 2-4, R, 2 K
- C Blake Forsythe: 1-4, 2 K
- 3B Robbie Shields: 0-3, BB
- LHP Hamilton Bennett: 1 IP, 0 ER, 0 H, 0 BB, 0 K; Totally not including Hamilton just because he appeared on my podcast. Also, totally not just unsubtly plugging my podcast.
- RHP Erik Goeddel: L, 3.1 IP, 6 ER, 7 R, 8 H, 4 BB, 4 K, 2 WP; Goeddel had been putting together a solid season before this game. Those 3 IP, 6 ER games will do a number on your ERA.
- LHP Jack Leathersich: 2.2 IP, 3 ER, 5 H, 0 BB, 4 K, 1 HR; Leather Rocket's last three appearances: 6 IP, 11 H, 8 ER, 9 K, 4 BB.
Lo-A - Savannah Sand Gnats (3-7 // 44-33)__________________________________
SAVANNAH 3, AUGUSTA 0 (Box)
Hey, a win! Four Savannah pitchers scattered ten hits over nine innings, while Augusta went 0-7 with RISP and left 11 on base. The Gnats' bats continue to labor in the second half without Taijeron and Rivera, but their three runs tonight were enough to continue the long slog back to .500
- C Cam Maron: 1-3, 2B, RBI, K
- 3B Aderlin Rodriguez: 1-4, K
- SS Matthew Reynolds: 0-4, K; Mets second round pick this year was a 3B until tonight. Guess they are serious about making him a middle infielder.
- CF Gilbert Gomez: 1-4, 2 K
- CF Brandon Nimmo: 2-4, HR (1), R, 4 RBI; Also of note, the Cyclones program does contain a Finding Nimmo joke within its pages.
- SS Philip Evans: 2-5, 2B, 2 R, K, E (2); In terms of current, in-game baseball skills, the best player on the field these last two games. Rob mentioned the Rany Jazayerli study yesterday in regards to Evans versus Nimmo. I think part of the draw with Evans was how polished he was coming out of high school. Nimmo has a higher ceiling to grow into, but I think Evans is the safer bet. Also, he started using this as his walk-up music last night, which is awesome..
- DH Kevin Plawecki: 1-4, BB
- 1B Cole Frenzel: 1-4, RBI, BB
- 2B Juan Carlos Gamboa: 2-5, 2 SB (2)
- RHP Gabriel Ynoa: 6 IP, 2 ER, 3 H, 1 BB, 6 K; Another starter who didn't look quite as good as his stat line suggests. Ynoa gives lefties an awful long look at the ball with his low armslot, and he tends to really slow down his armspeed on his breaking ball. Change was pretty good for the NYPL, though.
Short Season A - Brooklyn Cyclones (9-4)__________________________________
BROOKLYN 6, ABERDEEN 2 (Box)
Brooklyn struck early in this one, scoring twice in the first inning, but the Ironbirds struck back with a two-run double off the bat of Roderick Bernadina (yep, that's Roger's brother). Brooklyn continued to put ducks on the pond throughout the early and middle innings, but couldn't get the big hit to drive them in. They ended up 2-12 with RISP, but that second hit was a doozy. In the bottom of the seventh with two out, Brandon Nimmo came to the pate with the bases loaded. After watching the Stefan Sabol and Nelfi Zapata get on ahead of him with two-out walks, Nimmo came out swinging. He turned on a first pitch fastball and deposited it in the right field bleachers for a Grand Slam. The rest was academic. Meanwhile, I head up to Hudson Valley tomorrow to catch Luis Mateo pitch against the Renegades as my whirlwind NYPL weekend continues. Anyone want to recommend a good podcast for the drive? I'm all caught up with my backlog now.
Appalachian League (R) - Kingsport Mets (3-9)__________________________________
KINGSPORT 13, BLUEFIELD 9 (Box)
Yep, it was one of those Appy League games. Teams combined for 22 runs, 25 hits, 11 walks and 10 errors. At least the K-Mets won.
- SS Gavin Cecchini: 1-5, 2 R, K, E (3)
- LF Joe Tuschak: 2-5, 2B, R, 3 RBI
- DH Michael Bernal: 3-4, 2 2B, 2 R, 3 RBI, BB, K; Outfielder making his stateside debut this season. Showed some pop in the DSL last year and is still only 20.
- RHP Robert Gsellman: 3.2 IP, 4 ER, 5 R, 4 H, 5 BB, 2 K, HBP
Star of the Night
Brandon Nimmo, natch.
Goat of the Night
When four of your affiliates give up a combined forty-three runs, there are plenty of options, so Erik Goeddel, Zack Wheeler and Mark Cohoon all share the ignominious honor tonight. That is 2/3 of a horn each for those keeping score at home.