Molina racks up 12 more K's for Brooklyn

Right-hander Marcos Molina, the Mets' No. 16 prospect,, struck out a career-high 12 batters in seven scoreless innings Friday, helping short-season Brooklyn defeat Vermont, 7-0.

Molina held the Lake Monsters to one hit (a second-inning single), one walk and one hit batsman. He retired the final six batters he faced, striking out four of them.

Molina has now matched or exceeded his career high for strikeouts in each of his last three starts. That streak began when he matched his then-career high of nine strikeouts in eight innings on Aug. 2 against Connecticut. He struck out 11 in six innings Saturday at Batavia before one-upping himself on Friday.

With the victory, Molina improved to 6-2 with a 1.58 ERA in 10 starts. The 19-year old has struck out 73 batters and walked 12 in 62 2/3 innings this season. He leads the New York-Penn League in strikeouts and WHIP (0.83) and ranks second in ERA.

The Cyclones got an offensive boost Friday from Michael Conforto, the Mets' first-round pick in the 2014 First-Year Player Draft. He went 1-for-3 with a walk and two runs. In 27 games, Conforto, the Mets' No. 4 prospect and No. 82 on MLBPipeline.com's Top 100 Prospects List, is hitting .320/.415/.440.