Somerset Patriots Series Recap Vs Binghamton Rumble Ponies 6/9-6/14

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The Somerset Patriots could not have picked a better time to play their best baseball of the

season.

With the first half winding down and the Northeast Division still within reach, Somerset took care of business at TD Bank Ballpark, winning five of six against the Binghamton Rumble Ponies in one of its most important series of the year.

It was not flawless. Friday night served as a reminder that nothing in Double-A is handed out

cleanly, especially against a division opponent trying to play spoiler. But over the course of six games, the Patriots looked like a club rounding into form at exactly the right moment.

Somerset opened the series with three straight wins, dropped a tight one Friday, then

responded the way contending teams are supposed to respond. The Patriots grabbed

back-to-back one-run victories over the weekend, capped by Sunday’s 7-6, 10-inning win that

sealed their second five-win series of the season.

The surge also pushed Somerset to seven wins in its last eight games and sent the Patriots into the final week of the first half sitting just a half-game behind Hartford in the Northeast Division. The Patriots are not just hot right now. They are in the race, and they are playing like a team that knows it.

The Patriots Keep Punishing Mistakes at the Plate

At this point, Somerset’s power numbers are starting to feel absurd.

The Patriots spent the week doing what they have done all season: leaving the yard and

wearing out the gaps. Somerset reached 100 home runs on Thursday, becoming the fastest Double-A team to hit that mark in the Research Tool Era, and continued to build on a franchise-record extra-base hit streak that stretched to 63 straight games by the end of the

series.

That is no longer a hot streak. That is who this team is.

Jackson Castillo was the biggest reason the lineup kept rolling. He entered the series with one home run on the season, then completely flipped the week on its head. Castillo homered twice in Tuesday’s 10-2 win, went deep again Wednesday, added another homer Saturday, and finished the series with 11 RBI.

That kind of week changes the conversation around a player. Castillo was not just part of the

offense. He was driving it.

DJ Gladney continued to look like one of the most dangerous bats in the Eastern League. He

launched a 474-foot homer Friday night, doubled home runs Saturday and Sunday, and extended his on-base streak to 14 games by the end of the series. Since the calendar flipped to May, Gladney has looked like a different hitter, bringing real impact power to a lineup that

already has plenty of it.

And then there is Garrett Martin, who keeps showing up in the middle of everything. Martin

collected three hits and drove in two runs Sunday, pushing his Eastern League-leading RBI total to 49. He has been one of Somerset’s most reliable run producers all season, and when the Patriots need a big swing or a professional at-bat, Martin usually finds a way to be involved.

Pitching Set the Tone

The bats will get the headlines, but the pitching staff deserves a lot of credit for how this series started.

Trent Sellers opened the week by giving Somerset five solid innings in Tuesday’s win, while the bullpen punched out eight over four hitless, scoreless innings. Cade Smith followed that with the best start by a Somerset pitcher this season, throwing seven scoreless innings in Wednesday’s 3-0 win.

That outing from Smith was huge. It was efficient, controlled, and exactly what the Patriots

needed with the first-half race tightening.

Thursday brought another strong pitching night, with Alexander Cornielle giving Somerset 4.1

innings of one-run ball before Xavier Rivas and Michael Arias combined to close it out. At that point, the bullpen was on a serious run, and Somerset had outscored Binghamton 16-3 through the first three games of the series.

Kyle Carr kept it going Saturday with 6.1 innings in a 4-3 win. Carr has quietly become one of

the most reliable arms on this staff, and his run since the beginning of May has been exactly

what a contender needs from a starter.

Chase Hampton’s Return

Friday night’s 7-5 loss was the only blemish of the week, but it still carried one of the most

important developments of the series: Chase Hampton was back on the mound for Somerset.

Hampton made his first start for the Patriots since coming off the injured list, and more

importantly, it was part of his return from Tommy John surgery. The line was not perfect — three innings, three hits, three runs and three strikeouts — but this was never going to be about chasing a dominant box score right away.

The encouraging part was the second inning, when Hampton struck out the side with three

straight punchouts on the sweeper. That is the kind of sequence that reminds you why the

Yankees have been so high on him. The stuff is still in there. The feel is still in there. Now it is

about building him back up.

For Somerset, getting Hampton back into the rotation mix is a massive development. For the

Yankees system, it is even bigger. He has been one of the more talented arms in the

organization, and if he can stay healthy and gradually find his rhythm, he gives the Patriots

another legitimate arm during a critical stretch.

Somerset Showed Some Edge Late

The best thing about this series might be how Somerset responded after Friday.

Good teams win blowouts. Better teams answer when things get uncomfortable.

After the win streak was snapped, the Patriots came back Saturday with a tight 4-3 win behind Carr, Castillo and Ben Grable. Then on Sunday, they won another one-run game, this time in extra innings, when Owen Cobb’s bunt led to the winning run scoring in the 10th.

That matters because this team has played a ton of close games. The Patriots moved to 12-11 in one-run games and 22-17 in games decided by three runs or fewer. That is a lot of tight

baseball, and while it can be stressful, it also tells you this group is used to playing in the margins.

With six games left in the first half, that experience might matter.

Final Takeaway

This was a statement week for Somerset.

The Patriots took five of six, kept their power surge rolling, got big performances from Castillo, Gladney, and Martin, watched Cade Smith shove, saw Kyle Carr continue his strong run, and welcomed Chase Hampton back to the mound.

That is a lot to like.

Are there still things to clean up? Of course. Friday showed how quickly a game can slip away, and the Patriots have had to survive too many tight finishes. But at this point in the season, results matter more than style points.

Somerset is 20-10 since May 12, owns the best record in the Eastern League over that stretch, and is heading into the final week of the first half with everything still in front of them. That is all you can ask for. Now they have to finish it.

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