Mets Daily Prospect Report, 6/1/15: What could've been versus what could be, down in LV

*All results from games played on Sunday, May 31^st, 2015

Triple-A - Las Vegas 51's (29-22)_______________________________________

NASHVILLE, LAS VEGAS 1 (Box)

It was a battle of what could have been versus what might be as Barry Zito toed the rubber against Steven Matz at First Tennessee Park yesterday afternoon. Inclement weather delayed the start of the game, and when it did begin, Matz's issues with the 1^st inning continued. Of the 14 runs that Matz has allowed this season, half of them came in the 1^st inning. Nate Freiman made it eight runs allowed, driving in Ryan Roberts with a double into right. With that out of the way, the Long Island lefty got down to business to defeat the Sounds. And, he would have done just that if his offense showed up. Seriously- the run that he gave up in the first was the only run scored all afternoon. Barry Zito blanked the 51s for eight innings, allowing two hits and walking three. R.J. Alvarez pitched a 1-2-3 9^th for his third save, and that was that.

Matz needed 79 pitches (50 strikes, 29 balls) to get through five innings. It wasn't an optimal pitch count, but according to Frank Viola, he wouldn't have been in the game much past 80 pitches regardless, as the organization is keeping Matz at around an 80 pitch limit in order to save innings for September. While he seemed to have issues with his command, all three pitches were working - the fastball consistently sat in the low-to-mid 90s, the curveball was nasty and the change-up was dropping off the table. Surprisingly, he only struck out two for the afternoon. His first victim, Anthony Aliotti, was called out on a good curve. His second, Matt Carson, struck out looking on a 91 MPH fastball. It wasn't the best outing for Matz, but it wasn't a poor one, either. Coming into the game, his ERA was an impressive 1.99. After this outing, he actually lowered it, by one hundredth, to 1.98.

• DH Brooks Conrad: 0-4, K
• 2B T.J. Rivera: 0-3
• PH Johnny Monell: 0-1
• 3B Alex Castellanos: 0-4, K, E (3)
• 1B Brandon Allen: 0-3, 2 K
• SS Matt Reynolds: 0-3, K, E (8)
• RF Travis Taijeron: 0-2, BB
• LF Jayce Boyd: 1-2, BB, CS (2)
• CF Cory Vaughn: 1-3, K
• C  Nelfi Zapata: 0-2, BB, K, PB (1)
• LHP Steven Matz: 5 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 2 K
• RHP John Church: 2 IP, 0 H, 0 BB, 1 K
• RHP Zach Thornton: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 BB, 0 K

Double-A - Binghamton Mets (26-24)_____________________________________

BINGHAMTON 5, ALTOONA 3 (Box)

Binghamton avoided the sweep thanks to the power of Aderlin Rodriguez's bat and some shoddy defense on the part of the Curve. Aderlin launched his first home run in the 2^nd over the left field wall to give Binghamton a 1-0 lead, and then hit his second in the 7^th, a towering blast that was just inside the left field foul pole, to bring Binghamton within one run. Down 3-2 in the 8^th, Yeixon Ruiz got things started with a bunt hit down the third base line. Yhonathan Barrios, the pitcher, missed the first baseman and threw the ball into the outfield, allowing Ruiz to reach third on the error. Michael Conforto drove him home with a triple down the right-field line, his first Double-A hit, and came home to score when Eudy Pina hit a slow roller to short that Gift Ngoepe booted. To add insult to injury, reliever Yhonathan Barrios balked with Josh Rodriguez on third, bringing the go-ahead run across the plate.

• 2B Yeixon Ruiz: 1-5, R, 2 K
• SS Gavin Cecchini: 2-4
• LF Michael Conforto: 1-3, R, 3B, RBI, BB, K; I'm glad Conforto is finally in AA but it's frustrating to see the other highly polished college bat from the 2014 Amateur Draft, Kyle Schwarber, already on the cusp of AAA or even the MLB in basically the same amount of time.
• 3B Josh Rodriguez: 0-3, R, BB, K, SB (4)
• 1B Aderlin Rodriguez: 3-4, 2 R, 2 HR (5, 6), 2 RBI, PO, CS (1)
• RF Eudy Pina: 0-4, 2 K
• C Albert Cordero: 0-4, K
• CF Gilbert Gomez: 0-3, BB, K
• PH Dustin Lawley: 0-1, K
• PH Jared King: 0-1
• RHP Seth Lugo: 6 IP, 5 H, 3 ER, 2 BB, 4 K, HR
• RHP Matt Koch: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 BB, 0 K
• REHAB ALERT RHP Vic Black: 1 IP, 1 H, 1 BB, 1 K
• RHP Paul Sewald: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 BB, 1 K, SV (9)

Advanced-A - St. Lucie Mets (25-25)_____________________________________

ST LUCIE 10, FORT MYERS 4 (Box)

Fort Myers starter Aaron Slegers wishes he could do this one over, for sure. The big man (at 6'10", he's even taller than Brad Wieck) allowed ten runs- eight earned- in three innings. In their four-run 1^st, St. Lucie batted around. In their four-run 2^nd, St. Lucie came closing to batting around again, sending eight men to the plate. Slegers' best inning came in the 3^rd, when he limited the damage to two runs, and faced ‘only' six batters. The Miracle bullpen shut St. Lucie down for the rest of the game, but the hole that Slegers dug the team into was simply too deep to escape from. Every St. Lucie Met notched at least one hit, but Matt Oberste, Dominic Smith, and Amed Rosario were the big winners on the afternoon, combining to go 9-15 with three doubles, one triple, eight RBI and a stolen base. Down by six in the 9^th, the Miracle made a little noise by loading the bases against Kyle Regnault, but Akeel Morris shut the door, throwing one pitch to induce a routine ground ball to end the game. With the win, St. Lucie is back to the .500 mark for the year.

• CF Tucker Tharp: 1-5, R, K
• 3B Jeff McNeil: 1-4, R, BB
• RF Maikis De La Cruz: 1-5, 2 R, 2B,
• 1B Matt Oberste: 4-5, 3 R, 2 2B, 2 RBI
• DH Dominic Smith: 3-5, 2 R, 2B, 4 RBI, K; Extended that hitting streak to 13 games. Dom started May hitting .200/.234/.222 and is ending it hitting .260/.303/.377
• SS Amed Rosario: 2-5, R, 3B, 2 RBI, SB (6); Likewise, Amed began May hitting .250/.276/.333 and is ending it hitting .284/.327/.389
• LF Stefan Sabol: 1-3, 2B, RBI, 2 BB
• 2B Alfredo Reyes: 1-4, BB, 2 K
• C Jeff Glenn: 1-4, BB, K, PB
• RHP Miller Diaz: 6.1 IP, 3 H, 4 R (3 ER), 5 BB, 4 K, 1 WP, HB
• LHP Kyle Regnault: 2.1 IP, 1 H, 2 BB, 4 K, WP, HB
• RHP Akeel Morris: 0.1 IP, 0 H, 0 BB, 0 K

Low-A - Savannah Sand Gnats (24-26)__________________________________

CHARLESTON 9, SAVANNAH 3 (Box)

The winners of five straight, the Sand Gnats came into the afternoon looking to sweep the series with the RiverDogs and make it six. They got things started off right, plating two runs in the 3^rd inning on a pair of extra base hits by Jon Leroux and Joe Tuschak, and a Tyler Moore sac fly, but Charleston didn't stay down for long. Corey Oswalt, who had otherwise been pitching well, gave up six runs to give the RiverDogs the lead, and Ben Griset allowed a few more to make it an eight-run inning. A lot of that damage was preventable- Oswalt walked one, let loose two wild pitches, and Luis Guillorme made a throwing error- but thems the ropes. Savannah scored a run in the 8^th, but it was too little, too late.

• CF Patrick Biondi: 2-4, R, 3B,
• SS Luis Guillorme: 0-4, RBI, K, 2 E (6, 7)
• SS Jonathan Johnson: 0-0
• 2B Jean Rodriguez: 0-4, 2 K
• 3B Eudor Garcia: 0-4
• RF Wuilmer Becerra: 0-4, 2 K
• DH John Mora: 0-3, BB
• 1B Jon Leroux: 2-3, R, 2B, BB, K, E (3)
• LF Joe Tuschak: 1-4, R, 3B, RBI
• C Tyler Moore: 1-2, RBI
• RHP Corey Oswalt: 4.1 IP, 7 H, 7 R (5 ER), 1 BB, 4 K, PO, 2 WP, E (3)
• LHP Ben Griset: 1.2 IP, 2 H, 1 R (0 ER), 0 BB, 2 K
• LHP Paul Paez: 2 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 0 K
• LHP David Roseboom: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 BB, 0 K

Star of the Night

The St. Lucie offense

Goat of the Night

The Las Vegas offense