BINGHAMTON, N.Y. — The Binghamton Mets enjoyed a rare home-field advantage while ending Portland’s five-game road winning streak on Thursday.
NYSEG Stadium went from nearly empty every night to beyond its official capacity when more than 100 school buses helped transport students from classrooms in southern New York and northern Pennsylvania for the morning start.
With the largest Binghamton crowd in nearly four years – 6,216 – cheering them on, Luis Cessa, Chase Huchingson and Paul Sewald combined on a five-hitter to lead the Mets to a 2-0 victory over the Sea Dogs, ending Binghamton’s four-game losing streak.
“It was loud out there,” Mets Manager Pedro Lopez said after his pitchers breezed along, retiring 16 of 17 batters at one point. “It was nice. Out of all the years that we’ve had days like that, today was really the first time that we’ve had the kids here all the way to the ninth inning.
“Usually they’re out and they’re loud all the way to the fifth or sixth inning, then they’re gone and the stands are empty.”
The players may have just been waking up from playing night games Tuesday and Wednesday but their young fans added a spark.
It was a different feel from many games in Binghamton, which ranks last in the Eastern League in attendance despite being the defending champion.
“We all love to have the stands full of people, whether they’re with you or against you,” Lopez said. “It takes the game to a different level.”
Cessa fought his way through the first inning, throwing more than 30 pitches while facing just four batters and approaching a New York Mets farm system rule that would have given him a mandatory exit if he reached 40 pitches in an inning.
“He was one or two batters from being out of the game,” Lopez said.
Jantzen Witte, the only Sea Dog with two hits in the game, doubled with two outs and got to third on a wild pitch. He was stranded there, and Portland did not get another runner to third until the eighth inning.
David Chester walked and Huchingson hit Blake Tekotte with a pitch to begin the eighth, giving the Sea Dogs their best threat.
No. 9 hitter Danny Bethea was twice unable to get a bunt down, and then grounded into a double play that allowed Chester to reach third. Chester was stranded when Marco Hernandez popped out to short.
The Sea Dogs had their only two-hit inning in the ninth, but Sewald got Aneury Tavarez to foul out in front of the visitors’ dugout to end the game.
The loss was just Portland’s fifth in 14 games, and the Sea Dogs still managed to win the series. They had lost five of seven games to Binghamton earlier this season, but that was before Hernandez returned from the disabled list and Tavarez joined the team.
Lopez said both players make a difference.
“Hernandez brings a lot to the table as a left-handed hitter who can run a little,” Lopez said.
“They’re swinging the bats a lot better.”
Hernandez, the leadoff-hitting shortstop, has hits in 12 of the last 14 starts and is hitting .310 in that stretch.
Tavarez, an outfielder, is 5 for 16 (.313) in four games since his promotion from High-A Salem where he batted .280.
Justin Haley (1-6) took the loss after allowing two runs on nine hits in five innings.
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