B-METS DEFEAT TRENTON YANKEES

B-Mets Storm Past Thunder in Finale, 8-0

TRENTON, NJ – Seth Lugo fired seven scoreless innings and the Binghamton Mets pounded out a dozen hits in an 8-0 win over the Trenton Thunder on Sunday evening at ARM & HAMMER Park. Binghamton maintained sole possession of first place in the Eastern Division and closed a 5-2 week-long road trip with their ninth shutout win of the season. Travis d’Arnaud went 2-for-5 with a run scored as the designated hitter in his second rehab game with Binghamton.
Joe Benson started Binghamton’s big offensive day with a three-run blast off Eric Ruth in the second. After Brock Peterson and Josh Rodriguez started the inning with singles, Benson launched his second home run as a B-Met to left-field. The B-Mets added to their lead on a run-producing fielding error by third baseman Jose Rosario in the third.
Binghamton chased Ruth from the game and blew the game open with a four-run fifth. Benson and LJ Mazzilli each supplied RBI infield singles before Geoff deGroot took over and struggled to find the strike zone. The righty spiked a wild pitch to invite Benson home and walked three straight, forcing in Binghamton’s eighth run.
Trenton forced Lugo to clear some hurdles before he settled in. The righty stranded two in the first after surrendering a leadoff single and walking Tony Renda. The Louisiana native avoided harm in the second after issuing a pair of walks.
Lugo found a groove with a perfect third and worked around a two-out single in a blank fourth. He side-stepped a leadoff single in the fifth and struck out a pair in a scoreless sixth. Lugo capped his night with two more strikeouts in a shutout seventh.
Jeff Walters, pitching with Binghamton for the first time since September 2013, worked around two singles in a scoreless eighth. Akeel Morris closed Binghamton’s ninth shutout win with a blank ninth.
Lugo (6-4) stranded six and matched a season-high with eight strikeouts over seven scoreless innings to earn his fourth win in as many starts. Ruth (6-3) allowed season-highs with eight runs on eleven hits over 4-2/3 innings in the loss.
The B-Mets (55-45) return home to start a three-game series against the New Britain Rock Cats on Monday night at 6:35 PM. RHP Gabriel Ynoa makes the start against LHP Ryan Carpenter. The Horizons Federal Credit Union Pregame Show can be heard starting at 6:20 PM on Newsradio 1290 WNBF and the Binghamton Mets channel on TuneIn.
POSTGAME NOTES: Eight of Binghamton’s nine starting position players recorded at least one hit…Walters’ last appearance as a B-Met came against the Thunder in Trenton on September 4, 2013 in Game 1 of the Eastern Division Championship Series…Seth Lugo has allowed one total run in his last four starts (25.0 IP)