The Mets’ farm system had a little bit of everything on 8/26/26: a tough-luck loss in Triple-A, a late collapse in Double-A, and a fireworks show in St. Lucie that kept rolling even after a disaster inning threatened to blow the game open the other way.
At Syracuse, Jonathan Santucci turned in his best outing since reaching Triple-A, but it wasn’t enough. The southpaw worked five innings and allowed two runs on five hits, with one walk and seven strikeouts, yet Lehigh Valley still walked away with a 2-1 win.
The only offense Syracuse could muster came on Ronny Mauricio’s fourth-inning solo homer, his 16th of the season. Chuck King and the IronPigs held the rest of the lineup in check, leaving Santucci with the loss despite a strong line.
Brian Metoyer continued to make his case for more attention out of the bullpen, throwing a scoreless inning with a strikeout. He now owns a 2.25 ERA in 8.0 innings, with 16 strikeouts against five walks and four hits allowed. In a relief group that already includes Daniel Duarte, Chayce McDermott, Jonathan Pintaro, and Jefry Yan, Metoyer at least put his name in the conversation.
Elsewhere in the box, Zack Short collected two hits, including a double, while Nick Morabito and Émilien Pitre each reached base. Mark Vientos, on rehab, went 0-for-3 with two strikeouts and an error. MJ Melendez struck out three times.
Binghamton looked like it had control for most of the night before the game slipped away late. Gary Gill Hill was sharp through five innings, allowing three hits and striking out seven, and the Rumble Ponies backed him with power all over the lineup. Eli Serrano III, Jefferson Rojas, and Chris Suero all went deep, and John Bay and Corey Collins added back-to-back homers in the seventh to push the lead to 6-3.
But the Phils weren’t finished. Gill Hill’s night ended in the sixth after three straight singles and a double opened the door, and Binghamton’s bullpen couldn’t slam it shut.
Cristofer Gomez limited the damage at first, but Carlos Guzman and Saul Garcia couldn’t hold the lead, with Garcia taking the loss and the blown save. The setback leaves Binghamton 3.5 games behind the Phils with the rest of the week still to play.
In Brooklyn, Yonatan Henriquez kept mashing. He went 3-for-4 with two doubles and a homer, his 10th of the year and his fifth in the last calendar week, but that was the entire offensive story for the Cyclones in a 4-1 loss to Hudson Valley. Nicolas Carreno gave Brooklyn a decent start, working 5.2 innings and allowing three runs, but the lineup never gave him much help beyond Henriquez’s solo blast.
St. Lucie delivered the wildest game of the bunch, and the bats just kept coming.
The Mets opened up a 5-0 lead, then watched Daytona tie it in the bottom of the second after Cesar Rivera failed to record an out and was charged with five runs. Instead of unraveling, St.
Lucie answered with more offense and got a huge relief effort from Christian Rodriguez, who covered 3.2 innings and kept Daytona off the board.
Seven hitters had multi-hit games for St. Lucie, with Yovanny Rodriguez and Jake Ogden both collecting three hits.
Yovanny Rodriguez was the star of the night, going deep twice. Aiden Robbins also homered, while Boston Baro, on his second rehab assignment after being shut down in mid-May during his first, went 2-for-5 with a double and two RBI.
Christian Rodriguez’s work out of the bullpen helped steady things after the ugly second inning, and Brett Banks picked up the win.
The day’s top honors went to Yovanny Rodriguez, while Saul Garcia took home the unwanted distinction.
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