Minors Recap: Clifford Swats Seventh Homer In June (2024)

The Binghamton Rumble Ponies came back from an early 3-0 deficit to beat the Akron Rubberducks. Sparked by a fourth-inning Ryan Clifford home run – his seventh in June – the Ponies earned the victory on a two-out, two-run single by Drake Osborn.

Clifford now has a 1.138 OPS in June with seven home runs, four doubles, and a walk-to-strikeout ratio of 18:15. Though he is graded as a pure hitter, Clifford has been a three-true-outcome batter this month, boasting a .226 batting average in that span.

Triple-A

Syracuse Mets (46-27) 1, Rochester Red Wings (37-35) 9

BOX SCORE

• CF Luisangel Acuña: 2-for-5 (.687 OPS)
• DH Ben Gamel: 2-for-3, R, 2B, BB (.973 OPS)
• 3B Brett Baty:1-for-3, BB, 2 K (1.145 OPS)
• C Austin Allen: 1-for-4, RBI (6), 2 K (.840 OPS)

The Syracuse Mets were defeated 9-1 by the Nationals’ top prospect, James Wood, and the Rochester Red Wings Saturday night. The Mets had no answer for Wood, who went 2-for-4 with a solo blast to left center field. The Mets’ offense was dormant in the loss, going 2-for-8 with RISP and collecting only one extra-base hit.

Luisangel Acuña had his sixth multi-hit game of June, lifting his triple slash to .288/.350/.384 (.734 OPS) in the month.

• LHP Joey Lucchesi (4.61 ERA): 4 1/3 IP, 8 H, 6 ER, 3 BB, 3 K (83 pitches/ 45 strikes)
• RHPWilkin Ramos (0.00): 1 2/3 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K
• RHP Eric Orze (3.48): 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K
• RHP Cole Sulser (2.01): 1 IP, 2 H, 1 R (0 ER), 0 BB, 2 K
• RHP Yacksel Rios (3.30) 2/3 IP, 1 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 1 K
• RHP Yolmer Sanchez (0.00)1/3 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K

Lucchesi was roughed up in a second straight outing, seeing dips in his year averages in velocity and spin rate for every pitch, which was the case for his last outing. Joey Fuego has allowed six home runs and nine walks in his previous three outings, troubling for a pitcher whose bread and butter is earning ground balls.

Double-A

Binghamton Rumble Ponies (35-31) 6, Akron Rubberducks (36-32) 5

BOX SCORE

• CF Alex Ramirez: 4-for-4, R, RBI (31) (.679 OPS)
• 1B Ryan Clifford: 1-for-4, HR (8), 2 RBI (21), K (.868 OPS)
• C Drake Osborn: 1-for-4, R, 2 RBI (13), K (.698 OPS)
• DH Brandon McIlwain:1-for-3, R, 2B, BB, K (.648 OPS)

A four-run seventh inning propelled the Rumble Ponies to a win Saturday night over the Akron Rubberducks. Led by another Ryan Clifford home run and a four-hit night from Alex Ramirez, the Binghamton offense strung together hits to complete the comeback. The Rubberducks went up 3-0 in the third inning after a Petey Halpin homer. Still, the Ponies were resilient and chipped away at the Akron lead with the aforementioned Clifford blast in the fourth inning and a Ramirez RBI single in the fifth. Drake Osborn provided the game-winning knock in the seventh with a 2 RBI single to center field.

Clifford the Big Red DAWG @ryanclifford21 ? launches a homer down the Right Field line in the 3rd to cut the @AkronRubberDuck lead to 3-1 in the 3rd pic.twitter.com/fCKcEgDbwd

— Binghamton Rumble Ponies (@RumblePoniesBB) June 23, 2024

• RHP Luis Moreno (4.54): 4 1/3 IP, 6 H, 4 R (3 ER), 2 BB, 7 K (81 pitches/52 strikes)
• RHP Daniel Juarez (4.35): 2/3 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K
• RHP Bryce Montes de Oca (0.00): 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K
• RHP Justin Jarvis (3.28) 3 IP, 2 H, 1 R (0 Er), 0 BB, 5 K

After a shaky start from Moreno, the Ponies’ bullpen held firm, allowing the team to win in comeback fashion. Montes de Oca continues his rehab following elbow surgery and looked fantastic in his solo inning. Justin Jarvis was dynamic in the final three innings of the ballgame, striking out five Rubberducks en route to his first save with Binghamton.

High-A

Jersey Shore BlueClaws (40-28) 8, Brooklyn Cyclones (33-35) 0

BOX SCORE

• SSWilliam Lugo: 0-for-4 (.637 OPS)
• CF Stanley Consuegra: 0-for-4, K (.723 OPS)
• 1B Mateo Gil: 1-for-2, BB, 2 K (.723 OPS)

Coming off of their tough extra-inning loss, Brooklyn was stymied by the Jersey Shore pitching and was held to one hit in their 8-0 loss. It was a woeful game on both sides of the ball for Brooklyn, who only got four baserunners on and struck out 12 times. In comparison, the Cyclones’ pitching staff allowed 13 baserunners and struck out only two BlueClaws.

• RHP Dakota Hawkins (4.20): 4 1/3 IP, 7 H, 6 ER, 2 BB, 1 K (72 pitches/ 45 strikes)
• RHP Jawilme Ramirez (4.73): 4 2/3 IP, 3 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 1 K

Despite his offense’s lack of run support, Jawilme Ramirez was solid in long relief for the Cyclones. Ramirez has allowed two runs or less in six of his eight appearances (starts and long relief) for Brooklyn.

Low-A

St. Lucie Mets (22-46) 0, Fort Myers Mighty Mussels (33-34) 5

BOX SCORE

• 1B Ronald Hernandez: 2-for-4, 2B (.776 OPS)
• 2B A.J. Ewing: 1-for-4, K (.601 OPS)
• C Jose Hernandez: 0-for-2, 2 BB, K (.475 OPS)

St. Lucie was held to just three hits and zero runs for the second consecutive game. On the bright side, the Mets only struck out 11 times in their loss on Saturday (13 on Friday night).

• RHP Ernesto Mercedes (5.19): 5 1/3 IP, 4 H, 4 R (2 ER), 3 BB, 7 K (95 pitches/57 strikes)
• RHP Cristofer Gomez (5.60): 2 2/3 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 K
• RHPMiguel Alfonseca (6.61): 1 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 0 K

Cristofer Gomez gave a solid middle-relief performance for St. Lucie, striking out three and allowing only two hits in his two and two-thirds innings on the mound.

Dominican Summer League

DSL Mets Blue (4-10) 1, DSL Rockies (8-5) 4

BOX SCORE

• SS Jose Subero :1-for-3, 2B, RBI (.885 OPS)
• RF Haniel German:1-for-3, K (.850 OPS)
• LF Vladi Guerrero: 0-for-2, R (.322 OPS)

DSL Mets Orange (7-7) 4, DSL Tigers (7-8) 1

BOX SCORE

• DH Keiver Garcia: 2-for-4, 2B, K (.831 OPS)
• C Arnaldo Montano: 1-for-2, RBI, BB, K (1.167 OPS)
• RF Rocky Solano: 1-for-3, RBI, K (.650 OPS)