*All results from games played on Tuesday, September 7, 2016
Triple-A: Las Vegas 51s (70-74)
NO GAME - SEASON OVER
Double-A: Binghamton Mets (63-75)
NO GAME - SEASON OVER
Advanced-A: St. Lucie Mets (73-61 / 0-1)
BRADENTON 11, ST. LUCIE 6 (Box)
As the only Mets affiliate to finish with a winning record, St. Lucie merited a spot in the Florida State League playoffs by virtue of winning the Southern Division in the second half.
Last night, Chris Flexen had one of his worst starts of the season as the Mets fell to the Bradenton Marauders 11-6 in first game of their best-of-three series. The first five batters of the game all singled off Flexen, putting St. Lucie in a 3-0 hole before the game’s first out was recorded. The inning would only get worse as a Patrick Biondi throwing error turned a one out bases-loaded single by Christian Kelley into a bases-clearing single -- I don’t type that often — and a two-base error which allowed Kelley to advance to third base. The Marauders were held off the board for the rest of the inning but the 6-0 deficit was more than enough damage to St. Lucie.
Bradenton starter and Pirates uberprospect Mitch Keller held the St. Lucie bats in check for the first four innings before the Mets were able to get to him for three runs in the fifth to cut the deficit in half via a Patrick Biondi RBI single, a Keller throwing error, and a David Thompson RBI double.
The score would remain the same until the seventh when Alex Paisha allowed hits to the first four batters he faced, scoring two Bradenton runs before allowing a three-run one out home run to Marauder leftfielder Jordan Luplow that put the game out of reach. St. Lucie would score one run in the seventh and two more in the ninth, but those runs would all prove to be in vain.
The Mets will try to keep their season alive tonight as they travel to McKechnie Field for Game 2 of the series, however, it will be a Sisyphean task as St. Lucie was 0-9 in Bradenton during the regular season.
- CF Patrick Biondi: 2-4, 3 R, RBI, BB, 2 K, E (1)
- LF Kevin Kaczmarski: 0-1, BB, K
- PH-LF Michael Katz: 0-3, 2 K
- 3B David Thompson: 3-5, R, 2 2B, 2 RBI
- DH Kevin Taylor: 0-3, 2 BB, K
- C Tomas Nido: 1-4, RBI, BB, K, E (1)
- RF John Mora: 1-4, RBI, BB, K
- SS Luis Guillorme: 1-5
- 1B Jhoan Urena: 0-2, R, 2 BB
- 2B Vinny Siena: 1-4, R, 2 K
- RHP Chris Flexen: 4.0 IP, 9 H, 6 R, 5 ER, 0 BB, 7 K, HB, L (0-1)
- RHP Domingo Tapia: 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 3 K
- RHP Alex Palsha: 2.0 IP, 5 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 0 BB, 3 K
- RHP Tyler Bashlor: 1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 3 K
Low-A: Columbia Fireflies (36-34 / 30-39)
NO GAME - SEASON OVER
SS-A: Brooklyn Cyclones (36-38)
NO GAME - SEASON OVER
Rookie: Kingsport Mets (27-41)
NO GAME - SEASON OVER
Rookie - GCL Mets (26-29)
NO GAME - SEASON OVER
Star of the Night
David Thompson
Goat of the Night
Chris Flexen, Alex Paisha