Mets Daily Farm System Report - 7/6/12: Wheeler Dominates, Walks None

*All results from games played on Thursday, July 5th 2012.

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AAA - Buffalo Bisons (42-46)_______________________________________

BUFFALO 9, SYRACUSE 8 - 14 (Box)

The Bisons jumped up by seven early in this one. But little by little the Chiefs clawed their way back until they tied it up in the seventh. Pitching got dominant for a while until the Bisons were able to push one across in the 14th on a Matt Tuiasosopo single. Big props to the recently demoted Jeremy Hefner for soaking up the final four scoreless; he got sort of a rough break up in Queens so it's good to see him bounce right back.

• CF Matt Den Dekker: 0-6, R, K
  
• 3B-1B Josh Satin: 2-6, HR(8), BB, K; Batting .310 with six homers since June 1st
  
• OF Adam Loewen: 1-5, HR(4), 3 RBI, R, 3 K
• C Lucas May: 4-5, 3 2B, 2 RBI, R, 2 BB
  
• RHP Jeremy Hefner: 4 IP, 0 ER, 4 H, 1 BB, 4 K; Pitched the final four scoreless...totally redeemed himself
  
• RHP Elvin Ramirez: 1 IP, 1 ER, 3 BB, 1 H, 1 K
  
• LHP Josh Edgin: 1 IP, 0 ER, 1 H, 1 BB, 1 K
  
• RHP Manny Acosta: 2 IP, 1 ER, 1 H, 0 BB, 2 K, 1 HR
  

AA - Binghamton Mets (38-46)_____________________________________

BINGHAMTON 5, RICHMOND 1 (Box)

After a two-start hiccup, Zack Wheeler was back to his old dominant self last night. He dominated the Flying Squirrels over seven innings, allowing just a handful of singles and more importantly zero walks. Richmond finally did chase him after a couple singles in the seventh and Armando Rodriguez immediately walked the first two batters he faced to bring a run in. Fortunately the B-Mets bats were on the ball last night as five starters had more than one hit and as a whole the lineup went 6-for-10 with RISP.

• LF Juan Lagares: 2-5, 2B, RBI, SB(13); Despite batting .350 over his last ten, that's his first XBH since June 28th
  
• 1B Wilmer Flores: 2-4, 2B, R, K
  
• 3B Jefry Marte: 0-4, RBI, K; Batting .206 over his last ten
  
• SS Wilfredo Tovar: 2-4, R, RBI, 2 K; Still just six K's in 12 games at Double-A...just one walk though
• 2B Reese Havens: 3-5, RBI
  
• C Francisco Pena: 2-4, 2B, R
  
• LF Eric Campbell: 1-4, 2 K
  
• RHP Zack Wheeler: 7.1 IP, 1 ER, 6 H, 0 BB, 6 K; That's more like it, threw 67 of 101 for strikes and any start where he doesn't walk a batter is a success
  
• RHP Armando Rodriguez: 1.2 IP, 0 ER, 2 BB, 2 K; Forced home an inherited Wheeler runner on a walk
  

Hi-A - St. Lucie Mets (6-9)________________________________________

JUPITER 1, ST. LUCIE 7 (Box)

St. Lucie followed the Binghamton model, riding the back of their dominant starter and ripping hit after hit on the way to a win. In this one it was little righty Rafael Montero who had his best start since joining Hi-A and perhaps his best as a pro. Strangely, while his typically sterling walk rate is up a little in St. Lucie (2.19), so is his K/9 (8.03). On the offensive side each of the Mets bats had at least one hit while five of them went for more than one. Spotlight on Travis Taijeron who crushed another one and now leads the organization with 16 home runs on the season.

• RF Cory Vaughn: 2-4, BB, K
• LF Travis Taijeron: 3-5, HR(4), 2 RBI, 2 R
  
• SS T.J. Rivera: 2-5, RBI, SB(1)
• RHP Rafael Montero: 7 IP, 1 ER, 4 H, 3 BB, 4 K
  
• REHAB ALERT: 3B Zach Lutz: 1-4, RBI, 3 K

Lo-A - Savannah Sand Gnats (4-10)__________________________________

POSTPONED - Rain

Short Season A - Brooklyn Cyclones (13-5)__________________________________

WILLIAMSPORT 5, BROOKLYN 4 (Box)


Mediocre pitching and straight up bad defense defined this one. The two clubs combined for four unearned runs on 7(!) errors. I know this is the NYPL and all but that's bad for the teenagers in the DSL, let alone "polished" college players. Ultimately it was the Cyclones whose errors cost them in the seventh when the Cutters went up for good.

• CF Brandon Nimmo: 1-4, 2B, R, BB, K
  
• SS Philip Evans: 0-4, K
  
• 2B Juan Carlos Gamboa: 2-5, HR(1), K; Anyone watching earlier this week knows that the little lefty has a pretty big stroke and he will indeed hit for some power...after a slow start JCG has now hit in each of his last seven games, batting .345 in that span
• RHP Rainy Lara: 5 IP, 4 ER, 9 H, 1 BB, 9 K, 1 HR; Strange line, nine hits and nine strikeouts? Lara hasn't looked all that special in stints in the DSL and GCL but thus far the 6'4" righty is sporting a 23:3 K-to-BB rate

★ Star of the Night ★

A few very worthy candidates last night . We were initially wowed by Lucas May in Buffalo and his 4-for-5 with three doubles. Last night alone makes him a good candidate to snipe Nickeas. However, star-studded Zack Wheeler was his dominant self for Bingo. And Travis Taijeron -- who himself is no stranger to this space -- acquitted himself well down in St. Lucie with a 3-for-5 and his 16th homer on the season. Tough call, both hitters had a couple steaks, Wheeler didn't walk a guy, three doubles doesn't come around often but sixteenth homer is sixteenth homer. We'll go with the newcomer to the SOTN. Congrats Lucas!

Goat of the Night

Brooklyn's 3B Alexander Sanchez takes the horns off a night where he went 0-for-4, but the real damage was done in the field where he committed three errors.