Bridgewater, NJ – The Binghamton Rumble Ponies (23-37) drop three straight against the Somerset Patriots (33-27), falling 3-1 at TD Bank Ballpark.
New York Mets right-hander Kodai Senga made his fourth rehab start of the season and his first with Double-A Binghamton tonight against Somerset.
Senga pulled in a quality start with 6.0 innings pitched, allowing just one hit and one run while punching out five batters. The 33-year-old threw 75 pitches, 51 of them being strikes.
The 6.0 innings pitched ties a season high that Senga set with the Mets on March 31 against the St. Louis Cardinals.
The go-to pitch for Senga is the “ghost fork,” and he used that pitch on four of his five strikeouts tonight.
Binghamton gave Senga an early 1-0 lead as Chris Suero came to the plate as the first batter of the game and clubbed a home run. Suero is now tied with Nick Lorusso for the team lead with nine home runs.
Somerset tied the game 1-1 and hit their Double-A lead, 100th home run of the year, in the second inning off the bat of third baseman Coby Morales, who tallied Somerset’s only hit off of Senga.
The Patriots took a 3-1 lead in the seventh inning as left-hander Felipe De La Cruz (0-1) took the rubber.
After designated hitter DJ Gladney and third baseman Coby Morales led off the inning with singles, catcher Manny Palencia gave Somerset the lead with a sacrifice fly, and one batter later, Connor McGinnis slapped an RBI single to extend the lead.
The Rumble Ponies left four on base across the fifth and sixth innings. First baseman JT Schwartz led off the fifth inning with a single but was stranded at third, and in the sixth inning, third baseman Jacob Reimer roped a one-out double but was also left stranded at third base.
Somerset right-hander Alexander Cornielle made his first Double-A start of the year, tossing 4.1 innings while just surrendering one run across three hits and striking out five.
After right-hander Michael Arias got the final two outs of the fifth inning for the Patriots, left-hander Xaiver Rivas (3-3) threw scoreless final 4.0 innings, allowing just two hits to notch the win.
Binghamton has scored three runs in the series over the first 27 innings and was 0-for-4 with runners in scoring position tonight.
The Rumble Ponies continue a six-game series against the Somerset Patriots (Double-A, New York Yankees) on Friday at TD Bank Ballpark. First pitch is set for 7:05 p.m., and the game will be broadcast on News Radio 1290 AM & 92.1 FM and the WNBF News Radio App.
Postgame Notes: Kodai Senga (6.0 IP, 1 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 5 SO, 75 pitches, 51 strikes)...Chris Suero clubs his ninth home run, tying a team lead with Nick Lorusso (1-for-3, R, HR, RBI, BB)...JT Schwartz (1-for-4)...Kevin Villavicencio (1-for-3)...Saul Garcia (1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 0 SO).