November 20, 2024
MINOR LEAGUE BASEBALL

Mets’ weak hitters beat up Sea Dogs

PORTLAND – There would be no middle or late inning heroics for the Portland Sea Dogs Tuesday night.

Despite a game-time temperature 15 degrees warmer than the previous night, the Dogs’ attendance was almost half of Monday’s 6,900, the bats were cold, the pitching wasn’t any warmer, and Binghamton (N.Y.) walloped Portland 12-0 on a comfortable, clear night at Hadlock Field.

“You can’t do much about this one,” said Dogs manager Ron Johnson. “This is one of those you turn the page on. I already have. It’s done man … This one’s done.”

The 5-5 Mets outhit the Dogs 14-3 and put together two big innings as each starter in the batting order had at least one hit.

“We had been struggling offensively, but then we come in here and get 28 hits in two nights,” said Mets manager John Stearns.

They also got big efforts from two lefties: left fielder Marvin Seale and lefthanded starter Phil Seibel.

Seale went 4-for-4 with a walk and three runs from the No. 9 slot in the batting order.

“Being the number nine hitter? I really don’t think that much about it,” said the 23-year-old from Durango, Colo. “I’ve been a number one and number two hitter, and that’s been my job, to get on base. It’s still my job. As long as you’re still out there, wearing a glove, I don’t care where I am in the order.”

Seibel evened his record at 1-1 after allowing two hits and a walk while striking out four in five innings. Stearns said the 24-year-old Austin, Texas, native was ticketed for Triple A out of spring training, but got “caught in a numbers game.”

The Mets broke on top in a big way in the third inning, sending nine batters to the plate and getting five hits. They got things rolling with back-to-back singles from John Wilson and Seale. After striking out Jeff Duncan, Jorge De La Rosa gave up an RBI double to Daniel Garcia.

De La Rosa shook it off and struck out Ron Acuna, but Seale scored on a wild pitch before Craig Brazell plated Garcia with a single to right.

De La Rosa, whose lifetime ERA at Hadlock was 24.45 coming into the game, was lifted after walking Rodney Dye, but reliever Charles Weatherby didn’t fare much better as Chris Basak greeted him with a two-run double to right center off a 1-1 fastball.

The Mets added two more in the fourth and again it was the bottom of the order that lit the fuse. Seale hit a one-out single and then went to third on Duncan’s double to deep left. Both scored on Garcia’s sacrifice fly as the relay throw from shortstop Nelson Castro to third base was wide right.

When Binghamton tacked on more insurance in the sixth, guess who was the catalyst? Yup … Seale. He singled on the second pitch of the inning, moved to second on a walk to Duncan, and scored on – yup, Garcia’s – RBI seeing-eye single through the left infield hole. An Acuna single loaded the bases and sent Weatherby to the dugout.

Portland sidearmer Jake Chapman came on and struck out the first two batters he faced on seven pitches. He was on his way to escaping the mess, but Kevin Youkillis’ fielding error allowed Duncan to score on what should have been an inning-ending force play and gave DH Kirk Asche a chance to hit, which he did with a two-run single to right. A groundout to second ended the four-run outburst.

Chapman pitched three innings of shutout ball. He had three strikeouts and no walks while yielding just two hits.

METS 12, SEA DOGS 0

Binghamton (4-5) Portland (3-3)

Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI

Duncan, cf 3 2 1 0 Castro, ss 4 0 0

Barcani, 2b 2 0 0 1 Nieves, 2b 4 0 0

Garcia, 2b 4 2 2 4 Youkillis, 3b 1 0 0

Deschenes, cf 1 0 0 0 Headley, dh 4 0

Acuna 5 1 2 0 Sherrod, rf 4 0 0

Brazell, 1b 4 1 1 1 Dominique, c 3 0 0

Nye, 3b 4 1 1 0 Nathans 1 0 0 0

Basak, ss 5 0 1 3 Brown, lf 3 0 0

Asche, dh 4 1 1 2 Brisson, 1b 3 0 0

Wilson, c 4 1 1 0 Owens, cf 3 0 0

Seale, lf 4 3 4 0

Totals 40 12 14 11 Totals 30 0 3 0

Binghamton 005 204 001 ? 12

Portland 000 000 000 ? 0

E?Garcia, Castro, Youkillis; LOB?Binghamton 8; Portland 6; 2B?Duncan, Garcia, Basak, Brown; DP?Youkillis-Garcia-Brisson; S?Garcia

Binghamton IP H R ER BB SO

Seibel (W,1-1) 5 2 0 0 1 4

Elliot 2 0 0 0 1 0

Hee 1 1 0 0 0 1

Mattioni 1 0 0 0 0 2

Portland IP H R ER BB SO

DeLaRosa (L,0-2) 2 2/3 5 5 5 1 4

Weatherby 2 1/3 7 6 2 2 2

Chapman 3 2 0 0 0 3

Adams 1 0 1 1 3 1

HBP?Youkillis by Mattioni; WP?DeLaRosa; T?2:56; ATT?3,950


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