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Mets Daily Prospect Report, 8/24/18: A wild night in Kingsport, and a great start in Columbia

Catch up on all the Mets prospects in yesterday’s minor league action!

By Thomas Henderson
MLB: Pittsburgh Pirates at New York Mets
Jarred Kelenic
Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports

*All results from games played on August 23, 2018

Triple-A: Las Vegas 51s (63-66)

SALT LAKE 8, LAS VEGAS 6 (Box)

The pitching got Las Vegas behind the eight ball, but the bats did little to get themselves out of it in the early portion of this game. Drew Gagnon was okay, spreading four runs across six innings of work (two in the first, one in the fourth and one in the fifth), but the offense was silent through the first five innings. They finally got on the board in the sixth, as Bryce Bentz, Luis Guillorme, and Ty Kelly all drove in runs with RBI singles, turning a 4-0 game into a close 4-3 win. That was quickly erased in the top of the seventh, however, when Gerson Bautista came in for Drew Gagnon. He surrendered back to back singles to open the frame, and eventually gave up a three run homer to push the deficit to 7-3. Christian Colon hit a two-run homer in the bottom of the frame to make it 7-5, but Logan Taylor would quickly give a run right back in the eighth inning. Colton Plaia would hit a solo shot in the bottom of the eighth to make it a two run game again, but they were shut down after that, losing 8-6.

Double-A: Binghamton Rumble Ponies (60-69)

HARTFORD 2, BINGHAMTON 1 (Box)

All of the scoring in this one was confined to the fourth inning. Patrick Mazeika led off the top of the fourth with his ninth home run of the season. Franklyn Kilome gave it right back, though, as he surrendered a two out, two-RBI double to give Hartford a lead that ended up being permanent.

Despite that half inning, the recently-acquired Kilome was solid, striking out six over five innings, and surrendering just four hits. He was a bit of a hard-luck loser, as the Binghamton offense was pretty non-existent. They amassed just five hits (two extra base hits) in the loss.

ROSTER ALERT: RHP Nabil Crismatt assigned to Binghamton Rumble Ponies from Las Vegas 51s.

ROSTER: ALERT: RHP Kevin McGowan assigned to Las Vegas 51s from Binghamton Rumble Ponies.

Advanced-A: St. Lucie Mets (27-40/24-34)

TAMPA 8, ST. LUCIE 2 (Box)

St. Lucie held a lead early in this game, as a Quinn Brodey RBI triple, and a Blake Tiberi RBI single, put them up 2-1 in the bottom of the second. The wheels quickly fell off for St. Lucie, as starter Blake Taylor got tagged in the fourth inning. He surrendered five runs before being pulled. Seth Davis came in to relieve him and promptly gave up a double, which retroactively gave Taylor his sixth and final earned run of the outing. Davis gave up two runs of his own, an earned one in the fifth and an unearned one in the seventh, capping off a tough game for the Mets.

Low-A: Columbia Fireflies (34-33/24-31)

COLUMBIA 8, ASHEVILLE 5 (Box)

The Fireflies cruised through the first five innings, putting up all eight of their runs in that span. Back to back solo shots by Zach Rheams and Jose Brizuela got them a 2-0 lead in the second, and a three-run homer by Scott Manea in the third inning gave them a 5-0 lead rather quickly. A trio of RBI singles by Rigoberto Terrazas, Carlos Sanchez, and Hansel Moreno made it 8-0, and the game looked all but over.

Starter Zac Grotz took advantage of the cushion, as he attacked the Asheville lineup, raking up ten strikeouts over a stellar seven innings of shutout work. The bullpen made a laugher a close game, as Joshua Payne surrendered four in the eighth, and Darwin Ramos gave up a run in the ninth, but the deficit was far too big for Asheville.

SS-A: Brooklyn Cyclones (34-30)

CONNECTICUT 7, BROOKLYN 2 (Box)

A derth of offense and a poor start from Briam Campusano saw the Cyclones lose their fourth straight game in the midst of their hunt for playoff baseball.

Campusano surrendered a lead-off home run, and he struggled from there, despite fanning eight in just four innings. He gave up a pair of runs in the third (though one of those was unearned due to the passed ball) and the fourth, which put them behind the eight ball. The bullpen was solid, outside of Ryan Selmer surrendering a pair of runs of his own in the top of the ninth to really put the game out of reach.

The Cyclones offense was pretty quiet outside of a second inning RBI double by Jose Miguel Medina — which proved to be their only extra base hit of the game — and a RBI single by Wagner Lagrange in the third. They were shutout for the final six frames.

Fortunately for the Cyclones, they did not lose any ground in the Wild Card hunt, as the Auburn Doubledays and the Staten Island Yankees both lost as well. Both the Cyclones and Yankees sit just 0.5 games back from the Doubledays, in what is shaping up to be a very competitive Wild Card race.

Rookie: Kingsport Mets (32-30)

KINGSPORT 15, BRISTOL 7 (Box)

This much needed win for Kingsport was an absolute wild one.

The game was close for the majority of it, with the two teams trading blows through the first four innings. Kingsport got on the board first when Ronny Mauricio chased a run home with a sacrifice fly. Noah Nunez quickly gave the lead back, surrendering two runs in the top of the second. First round pick Jarred Kelenic put the Mets back in the lead with a three-run home run in the bottom of the frame, but an unearned run in the top of the third (the run was still very much on Nunez despite it being unearned, since his poor pick-off attempt put the runner in scoring position), and an RBI single off of Andrew Ryan tied the game up again, this time at four apiece. The next run came in the bottom of the fifth, after a wild sequence.

Kelenic was hit by a pitch (his first at-bat after the three run home run), and the situation escalated from there, as both the Kingsport and Bristol managers, as well as the Bristol pitcher who hit Kelenic, were ejected. Kelenic quickly stole second, and Shervyen Newton chased him home with a single. A Ranfy Adon ground-out forced a run home in the sixth inning, making it 6-4. That ended up being a short lived lead, as Bristol fought back to make it 6-6 after scoring two in the seventh. The bottom of the seventh was where the Kingsport offense exploded, and won them the game.

Mark Vientos started off the scoring in that inning with a three-run bomb, and the Mets piled on from there. A passed ball made it 10-6, a two RBI single by Adon, and another three-run home run, this time off the bat of Yoel Romero, finished off the scoring, putting the Mets lead at 15-6. The game was all but over from there.

The win helped Kingsport separate from Bristol in the playoff race, as they now sit three games above the Pirates. They also gained a game on the first place Elizabethton Twins, who fell 7-1 to the Greeneville Reds. The Mets now sit three games behind the Twins.

Rookie: GCL Mets (23-30)

MARLINS 10, METS 9 / 11 innings (Box)

Despite the high final score, the game was a modest 2-0 through the first five innings, as Hector Rodriguez and Brendan Hardy combined for five solid innings of two-run ball. The Mets offense was non-existent, as they were held scoreless in that span.

The Mets got on the board in the bottom of the sixth, with the first run scoring on a wild pitch. The game tying run came on a Cristopher Pujols RBI ground-out. The Marlins answered with four runs in the top of the seventh, as Christofer Dominguez surrendered a three-run triple and Miguel Ramirez — who came in relief of Dominguez following the triple — quickly balked to chase the run home. A passed ball in the bottom of the inning got the Mets a run back, but Ramirez gave up a run in the top of the eighth, making it 7-3 Marlins.

The bottom of the eight saw the Mets put four on the board, two on the back of a Pujols single, and two on a Wilmer Reyes home run, tying the game at seven apiece. The game stayed tied until the tenth inning, when Boris Sanchez forced a run home with a throwing error on a sacrifice bunt attempt. The Mets did not lay down, however, as Pujols tied the game up with a sacrifice fly. Sanchez gave up two runs in the eleventh inning, the first due to a balk, and the second due to a single. An Anderson Bohoquez single would make it 10-9 in the bottom of the eleventh, by back to back strikeouts by Jhoander Saez and David Lozano would end the game.

Star of the Night

Zac Grotz

Goat of the Night

Blake Taylor

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