B-Mets drop opener at New Hampshire

8/14/2012 (Updated 10:54:48 PM)

MANCHESTER, NH  The Binghamton Mets struck out a season-high 14 times in a 5-2 loss to the New Hampshire Fisher Cats Tuesday night at Northeast Delta Dental Stadium. Five Fisher Cats pitchers, led by Major League rehabber Brandon Morrow, surrendered just five hits in the series opener.

The Fisher Cats drew first blood against starter Gonzalez Germen in the fourth. Brad Glenn led off the frame with a single, moved to third on two ground outs and came home on Ryan Schimpfs two-out single to right.

Morrow, pitching in his second rehab game with the Fisher Cats, struck out six over 4.2 scoreless innings and allowed three hits while issuing no walks. He exited after allowing a two-out double to Francisco Pena in the fifth. Michael Dubee entered the one-run game and struck out Wilfredo Tovar to strand the tying run on base.

New Hampshire added to their lead with more two-out hitting in the fifth. With a runner aboard, Kevin Howard blistered the first pitch he saw from Germen over the right field wall for his sixth homer of the season.

Dubee returned for the sixth and surrendered Binghamtons only runs. With two outs, Eric Campbell singled to left and Allan Dykstra blasted a two-run homer to left field to cut the deficit to one.

The Fisher Cats had a quick rebuttal, plating two runs in the sixth against Germen. With the bases loaded, Brian Jeroloman dribbled a ground ball up the first base line. Germen fielded the roller cleanly, but his throw home was off-target and sailed past Pena, allowing two runs to score.

Jeff Kaplan closed the inning by getting two outs and tossed a shutout seventh. Edgar Ramirez threw a perfect eighth after getting activated from the disabled list prior to the game.

Binghamton failed to generate any offense after Dykstras blast. Marcus Stroman, Chorye Spoone and Sam Dyson each chipped in with a hitless, shutout inning to close the door. Dyson collected his sixth save.

Dubee (3-4) earned the official scorer-awarded win. Germen (6-10) suffered his fourth straight loss with the B-Mets.

The B-Mets (59-63) continue their series against the Fisher Cats Wednesday at 7:05 PM. LHP Darin Gorski gets the ball for Binghamton against RHP Deck McGuire.

Courtesy: bmets.com