New York Mets Minor League Report: Yohairo Cuevas Can't Stop Hitting Home Runs

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Yohairo Cuevas is on one huge heater. He stayed scorching Friday night with a three-run home run in Brooklyn's 8-7 loss to Frederick. It was his fifth round-tripper in the past five games and his seventh in 12 games dating to June 16. Strangely, he had hit no home runs before then this season.

Cuevas, 22, was promoted to Brooklyn from Single-A St. Lucie on June 18 after homering in back-to-back games. He's in his sixth pro season after being signed for $500,000 as an international free agent in January 2021. His path to the Mets' system was circuitous: He was born in New York and raised in the Bronx and Manhattan (find out more in this Amazin' Avenue piece), but his family sent him to the Fernando Tatis Baseball Academy in the Dominican Republic (per Brooklyn Reporter) to accelerate his development. Former Met Juan Samuel is Cuevas' uncle.

Now, he's back home (he played in 30 games for the Cyclones last year, as well), and trying to hit his way to upstate New York and the upper levels of the farm system.

Brooklyn's loss was part of a 1-3 night for the Mets' full-season affiliates. Syracuse notched the lone win, a rain-soaked 8-7 triumph over Worcester. M.J. Melendez homered for a second consecutive night, a go-ahead two-run blast in the seventh.

Binghamton dropped a 5-4 decision to Chesapeake. R.J. Gordon threw five scoreless innings before the bullpen blew up.

Brooklyn came back from a 6-0 deficit and took a 7-6 lead in the sixth before Chesapeake answered with two in the seventh. John Bay and JT Benson also homered for the Cyclones.

St. Lucie was shut out for the third time in four games, this time losing, 1-0, to Tampa. The Mets left the bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth and wasted a 16-strikeout effort by Mets pitchers.

The FCL Mets-Marlins game was suspended after 3 1/2 innings because of lightning with the teams tied, 1-1. Roberto Pena worked the first three innings for the Mets. Their run scored on a wild pitch.

DSL Mets Blue's ninth-inning rally ended a run short in the club's 13-12 loss to DSL Rangers. The Mets scored seven in the frame to get close.

DSL Mets Orange lost, 5-4, to DSL Giants Black. Wandy Asigen played five innings and went 0-for-1 with two walks. He made his pro debut this week after missing the first month of the DSL season with a hamstring injury.

Mets Transactions

No Roster Moves

Melendez Blast Pushes Syracuse Past Worcester

Syracuse won a wild back-and-forth game in the driving rain in Central New York.

The Mets scored six times in the bottom of the sixth to erase a 4-0 deficit. Zack Short's two-run double put the Mets up, 5-4, and a Worcester throwing error to give them a two-run cushion. The Red Sox tied the game with two runs in the seventh, but Melendez answered in the bottom half with his fifth homer of the season.

Jihwan Bae reached base three times, going 2-for-4 with a walk. He also scored twice and stole a base.

Tobias Myers (three innings) and Xzavion Curry (3 1/3 frames) piggybacked the starting pitching, Neither one was overly effective. Daniel Duarte earned the win with 1 1/3 innings of relief, and Jefry Yan closed it out for the save, striking out three over 1 1/3 innings and escaping a one-out, bases-loaded jam in the ninth.

Player	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	K
Nick Morabito	5	0	1	0	0	1
Jorge Polanco	3	1	0	0	1	0
Christian Arroyo	0	0	0	0	1	0
Jihwan Bae	4	2	2	0	1	0
MJ Melendez	5	2	2	3	0	0
Ryan Clifford	3	1	1	0	1	2
Yonny Hernández	2	1	1	1	2	0
Ben Rortvedt	3	0	0	0	1	1
Cristian Pache	4	0	0	0	0	2
Zack Short	3	1	1	2	1	1

Player	IP	H	R	ER	BB	K
Tobias Myers	3	2	2	2	1	3
Xzavion Curry	3 1/3	4	3	3	1	2
Daniel Duarte	1 1/3	3	1	1	0	2
Jefry Yan	1 1/3	2	1	0	0	3

Gordon Dazzles, But Baysox Rally Sinks Rumble Ponies

R.J. Gordon was in line for a win after working five scoreless innings. He scattered five hits, walked one and struck out two. The right-hander left the game with Binghamton up, 2-0. But the bullpen couldn't protect that lead.

In fact, the 'pen gave up two leads. First, Zach Peek surrendered three runs in the seventh as Chesapeake tied the game, 3-3. Second, Felipe De La Cruz gave up two runs in the ninth for a blown save after Binghamton had taken a 4-3 lead in the bottom of the eighth.

No. 9 hitter Nick Lucky paced the offense, going 3-for-4 with three RBIs. Matt Rudick reached base four times with three walks and a hit..

Player	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	K
Chris Suero	5	0	1	0	0	3
Jose Ramos	5	0	1	0	0	1
JT Schwartz	4	0	1	0	1	1
Kevin Parada	5	0	1	0	0	1
Vincent Perozo	3	0	0	0	0	3
Matt Rudick	1	3	0	0	3	0
Wyatt Young	4	0	0	0	0	0
Kevin Villavicencio	3	1	1	1	0	0
Nick Lucky	4	0	3	3	0	1

Player	IP	H	R	ER	BB	K	HR
R.J. Gordon	5	5	0	0	1	2	0
Justin Armbruester	1	1	0	0	0	2	0
Zach Peek	1	4	3	3	1	2	1
Felipe De La Cruz	2	2	2	2	2	0	0

Cyclones' Homers Not Enough In Loss To Frederick

Cuevas, Bay and Benson powered Brooklyn's rally with their long balls. The latter two went back-to-back in the sixth to put the Cyclones in front. Cuevas' homer, a three-run shot, came in the third and halved Brooklyn's deficit to 6-3.

Starter Dakota Hawkins put the Cyclones in a hole early, giving up six runs (five earned) on five hits with three walks and a strikeout over two innings. Parker Carlson and Juan Arnaud combined for three scoreless innings of relief, before Gregori Louis allowing two runs in the seventh for the loss.

It was an all-or-nothing night for the Brooklyn offense. Cyclones hitters struck out 14 times to go with the home runs. Colin Houck fanned once, but he also reached base three times with a hit and two walks.

layer	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	K
Mitch Voit	5	0	0	0	0	2
Yonatan Henriquez	4	1	1	0	0	3
Ronald Hernandez	4	0	1	0	0	2
Corey Collins	3	1	0	0	1	1
Daiverson Gutierrez	3	0	0	0	1	1
John Bay	4	1	1	3	0	1
JT Benson	3	2	1	1	1	2
Colin Houck	2	1	1	0	2	1
Yohairo Cuevas	3	1	2	3	1	1

Player	IP	H	R	ER	BB	K	HR
Dakota Hawkins	2	5	6	5	3	1	2
Parker Carlson	2	1	0	0	0	1	0
Juan Arnaud	1	0	0	0	0	2	0
Gregori Louis	2	2	2	2	1	3	0
Ryan Dollar	1	0	0	0	0	1	0

St. Lucie Pitching Shines But Bats Blanked By Tampa

St. Lucie managed just five hits as it lost for the eighth consecutive time. Trey Snyder had two of the hits, one of them a double. He also stole a base.

The best part of the night was the Mets' pitching. Starter Christian Rodriguez struck out seven and walked none over 3 2/3 innings. He allowed just the one run despite giving up seven hits.

Tyler McLoughlin followed with 2 1/3 scoreless innings and five strikeouts, Kevin Herget added two scoreless innings, and Ernesto Mercedes closed with a scoreless inning and two strikeouts.

St. Lucie's hitters did a fair amount of punching out, too, fanning 13 times. They loaded the bases in the ninth, but Branny De Oleo grounded back to the pitcher to end the game.

Player	AB	H	BB	K
Elian Peña	4	0	0	2
Trey Snyder	4	2	0	0
Chase Meggers	4	1	0	3
Julio Zayas	3	1	1	0
Branny De Oleo	4	0	0	1
Simon Juan	2	0	0	2
Jeremy Rodriguez	3	0	0	1
Jackson Hauge	3	0	0	2
Jack Scanlon	2	0	0	2
Antonio Jimenez	1	1	0	0

Player	IP	H	R	ER	K
Christian Rodriguez	3 2/3	7	1	1	7
Tyler McLoughlin	2 1/3	0	0	0	5
Kevin Herget	2	1	0	0	2
Ernesto Mercedes	1	0	0	0	2

Top-20 Prospect Performance

Carson Benge: MLB
A.J. Ewing: MLB
Jonah Tong: DNP
Elian Pena: 0-for-4, SB, 2 K
Jack Wenninger: DNP
Ryan Clifford: 1-for-3, BB, 2 K
Jacob Reimer: DNP
Nick Morabito: 1-for-5, SB, K
Mitch Voit: 0-for-5, 2 K
Jonathan Santucci: DNP
Chris Suero: 1-for-5, SB, 3 K
Zach Thornton: DNP
Wandy Asigen: 0-for-1, 2 BB
Will Watson: DNP
Eli Serrano III: DNP
Randy Guzman: DNP
Ryan Lambert: DNP
Dylan Ross: DNP
Antonio Jimenez: 1-for-1
R.J. Gordon: 5 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 2 K

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