With family in tow, Peavey goes distance

It could be time to make room for the whole Peavey family on the Binghamton team bus.

With his wife and infant son in attendance Wednesday morning, B-Mets starter Greg Peavey fired a two-hit shutout -- the first of his career -- to help Binghamton snap a four-game losing streak with a 6-0 win at New Hampshire.

"It's been great to have them here. He usually goes to sleep as soon as the game starts, but I know the support is there," Peavey said of his seven-week-old son Graydon.

The 25-year-old right-hander struck out six, did not issue a walk and retired the final 13 batters he faced. He threw just 100 pitches -- 69 for strikes.

It was the second superb start in a row for Peavey, which happens to coincide with the arrival of his family. The Oregon State product yielded one run over six frames against Portland last Friday.

"They got here the day before my last start in Binghamton and came on the road with us -- I guess they'll have to keep traveling with us now," Peavey laughed.

A severe flyball pitcher, Peavey may have benefitted from a 9 mph breeze blowing in from center field at New Hampshire's Northeast Delta Dental Stadium. He recorded 14 flyouts against just three groundouts.

"Ideally I actually like to work down in the zone; today I was fortunate that the pitches I left up tended to be in on the hands or out off the end of the bat," he said. "Like most pitchers I pitch off my fastball, and I was able to locate it to both sides of the plate early, which set up everything else later in the game."

In 59 starts since the Mets made him a sixth-round pick in 2010, Peavey had once pitched beyond the seventh -- an eight-inning complete-game loss for the B-Mets in August 2012.

Neither of New Hampshire's two baserunners reached second base. After Peavey retired the first 11 Fisher Cats in a row, third baseman Andy Burns singled to right in the fourth but was stranded when Mike McDade went down swinging. Yusuf Carter added a two-out single to center in the fifth, and that was all for New Hampshire, which ranks last in the 12-team Eastern League with a .222 batting average.

Peavey got offensive support from Binghamton second baseman Brian Burgamy, who slugged a three-run homer and doubled, and right fielder Cory Vaughn, who added a two-run shot in the eighth.

New Hampshire starter Casey Lawrence fell to 2-3 after allowing four runs on seven hits over 6 2/3 innings. He struck out four.

Peavey improved to 2-1 with the sterling effort and has lowered his ERA from 5.51 to 3.16 in his last two starts.

The Mets now return to Binghamton for a seven-game homestand, with Peavey likely set to face Altoona on Tuesday -- more than enough time to set up a crib in the dugout.