'Dogs and Mets split a twinbill
GAME 1 RECAP
Binghamton, NY - The Binghamton Mets (14-10) continued to build off the win on Friday night and took down the Portland Sea Dogs (15-10), 3-2 in game one of Saturday's doubleheader.
Scoreless in the bottom of the second, the Mets broke out for the pair of runs against Portland's Henry Owens and plated both with two outs. Cory Vaughn started the rally with a single to left and Jayce Boyd pushed him to second with a walk.
Travis Taijeron followed with an RBI single to left and Wilfredo Tovar drove home the latter with a single to the Portland shortstop Deven Marrero. Owens bounced back and induced a foul pop to third off the bat of Darrell Ceciliani for the final out
Portland's offense was stymied by the Mets' southpaw Darin Gorski, until the sixth when the 'Dogs tied it up. Shannon Wilkerson began the inning with a leadoff double and Mookie Betts followed with a single that moved the lead runner to third with nobody out. Two batters later it was Travis Shaw that stroked a single into right, which scored two and tied the game at 2-2.
Owens returned to the mound in the sixth and gave up the go-ahead and final run to the B-Mets. With one out he hit Matt Clark with a curveball and gave up a double to Kevin Plawecki, which moved two into scoring position with the one out.
With Cory Vaughn batting, Owens threw a wild pitch that plated Clark from third and gave the B-Mets the lead. The Portland starter battled back to strike out Vaughn and retired Jayce Boyd on a groundout to second for the final out of his outing.
The Sea Dogs had a chance in the final frame as they loaded the bases with one out against Chase Bradford. Betts hit a short fly ball to left for the second out and Marrero hit a sharp line drive to center for the final out of the game.
Owens (3-2) earns a complete-game loss as he tossed the six innings and gave up the three runs on six hits; he walked one, hit one, and struck out six. Gorski (2-1) matched Owens' six innings and gave up two runs on six hits; he didn't walk anyone and struck out five. Bradford earned his fifth save of the season with the scoreless 7th.
GAME 2 RECAP
The Sea Dogs suffered a tough loss in game one, but that did not carry over into game two. Portland received a hit from every starter and Brian Johnson (1-0) hurled 5.1 innings in his Double-A debut, as the 'Dogs (16-10) thrashed the B-Mets (14-11) 9-3, earning a split of the doubleheader.
Johnson began the game with two perfect innings, and scattered three hits, two runs (unearned) without a walk and three strikeouts. The #14 prospect in the Red Sox system according to Baseball America, threw 61 of 94 pitches for strikes, and improved to 4-1 between Portland and High-A Salem.
Portland's offense collected 12 hits and had 16 baserunners off four Mets pitchers. Matt Bowman (3-1) suffered the worst loss of his professional career, yielding nine runs on 10 hits over 4.1 IP.
Mookie Betts reached base safely in both games, extending his on-base streak to 55 regular season games, but 60 including the 2013 Carolina League Playoffs. Travis Shaw continued his hot hitting, going 3-for-4 and is 7-for-11 in the series. Carlos Rivero and Shannon Wilkerson each had 2 RBI.
Bowman had allowed only two earned runs in his first 18.2 IP in Double-A, but that changed in the second inning. Portland took a 4-0 lead on four hits against the 22-year old righty. Henry Ramos (2-for-4) started the rally with a one-out double and scored on a bloop-single by Matt Spring. Derrik Gibson drew a walk, with Peter Hissey moving up the runners on a sacrifice bunt - then the two-out magic started for Portland. Wilkerson (2-for-4) laced a two-run triple and Betts followed with a run-scoring single.
Ramos came through with an RBI single in the third inning to put the 'Dogs in front 5-0. The first-year Sea Dog has 15 RBI and has hit safely in 14 of his last 15 games.
Johnson gave up his first run in Double-A in the third. Travis Taijeron reached on an error by Rivero and scored on a single by Kyle Johnson.
The Sea Dogs responded with the home run ball in the fifth inning. Deven Marrero led off the frame with a solo-homer to left, his first Double-A blast. Shaw reached on an infield single and Rivero clobbered a two-run homer to left field. Hissey added the final run with a single.
Binghamton scored an unearned run off Johnson in the sixth and unearned run off Jose Valdez (1.2 IP) in the seventh.
Portland is 4-3 against Binghamton this season and snapped a three-game losing streak.
The Sea Dogs and B-Mets will wrap up the four-game series with the beginning at 1:05 Sunday from NYSEG Stadium. The Sea Dogs will send out RHP Mike McCarthy (1-2, 6.10) while Binghamton will start RHP Rainy Lara (2-0, 3.68). Radio coverage begins at 12:45 PM on the U.S. Cellular Sea Dogs Radio Network and www.seadogs.com.