El Paso 17, Las Vegas 6 (13-12) Box Score
The 51s offense staked starter Rafael Montero to a 5-0 lead going into the second inning but he was unable to hold on and suffered his first loss of the season. He allowed seven runs on eight hits (two HR) and three walks in four innings. Opponents are now hitting .338 against him in Triple-A this year. Montero did hit 94 MPH with his fastball, though he showed little command of any of his pitches.
Despite the bad start from Montero the came was close up until the 8th inning when the Chihuahuas offense exploded for nine runs off the combination of Erik Goeddel and Stolmy Pimentel. Josh Edgin made his second 51s rehab appearance throwing a scoreless inning with a walk and a strikeout. He has given up just two hits in 6.1 innings and struck out eight during his rehab stint. Josh Smoker threw a scoreless 7th inning with two strikeouts, he now has 18 K’s in 10 innings this season.
Ty Kelly led the Vegas offense going 3 for 4 with a RBI and run scored, he leads the Pacific Coast League with his .421 average. Brandon Nimmo continued his hot stretch with a 2 for 5 night, he is now 11 for 24 with seven RBI during his six-game hitting streak. Coming off his monster game on Tuesday night, Dilson Herrera went 1 for 5 with two strikeouts.
Gavin Cecchini extended his hitting streak to seven-games, he was 1 for 3 with a walk and run scored. He is now hitting .300 on the dot and has more walks (13) than strikeouts (12). Travis Taijeron went 1 for 4 to push his own hitting streak to 11-games but struck out three times. T.J. Rivera was 1 for 5 with a RBI, he has now hit safely in ten straight games.
Las Vegas takes on El Paso again tonight at 8:35 ET with Seth Lugo (2-2, 9.68) on the mound.
Binghamton (13-10) 6, Portland 3 F/7 Box Score
The B-Mets beat the Sea Dogs for the second straight night, this one in seven innings because of the rain. Binghamton was trailing 2-0 headed to the 5th inning before they scored two runs in three consecutive innings. Matt Oberste, Kyle Johnson and Maikis De La Cruz each had two hits on the night and knocked in a run. Johnson is 6 for 16 with seven walks over his last five games while Oberste is now hitting .301/.363/.425 for the season.
Dominic Smith was 1 for 3 with a walk and a run scored, he didn’t strike out for the fourth straight game. He is now hitting .277/.327/.447 in his first 94 Double-A at bats. Everyone in the lineup with the exception of the ninth place hitter Phillip Evans reached base.
Tyler Pill pitched a complete game (six innings), picking up his second straight win and allowed three runs on seven hits. He is now 2-2 with a 4.25 ERA and 1.25 WHIP on the season.
Binghamton takes the Sea Dogs on again today in an early start at 11:00 AM ET with Rainy Lara (2-2, 3.47) on the mound.
St. Lucie (14-12) at Bradenton was postponed.
The Mets are back at it tonight in Fort Myers against the Miracle at 7:05 with Corey Oswalt (1-1, 5.89) as the scheduled starter.
Columbia (14-12) 8, Greensboro 3 Box Score
After the first inning in which he allowed two runs, Fireflies starter P.J. Conlon settled down and didn’t allow the Grasshoppers to score over the next 5.1 innings. He allowed just the two runs on seven hits and two walks while striking out five. He moved to 4-0 with a 1.50 ERA and 1.13 WHIP in his first five starts of the season.
Right-handed reliever Christian Montgomery pitched 1.2 scoreless innings with three strikeouts. He has struck out 17 this season in 12.2 innings and hasn’t allowed a run over his last 5.2 innings. Nicco Blank struck out three in the ninth inning but did surrender a solo homer.
The Fireflies offense was led by the same guy that has been doing it all year in David Thompson who went 4 for 5 with his third home run of the season. He also scored three times and knocked in four giving him 31 on the season, which leads all of baseball. Thompson hit his tenth double as well, which is the second most in the South Atlantic League.
First baseman and cleanup hitter Dash Winningham was 4 for 5 with a double, run scored and knocked in two runs. He is now hitting .313 on the season but has yet to homer after leading the Appalachian League in homer runs during the 2015 season. Center fielder Ivan Wilson 2 for 4 with a walk, RBI and a run scored.
Columbia plays Greensboro tonight at 7:05 with Thomas McIlraith (1-1, 4.50) getting the start.
Good to see Smith taking walks and cutting down on the K’s. I know it’s early but he has the highest ISO% of his career at .176. Hopefully he can continue showing power while cutting down on the K’s and walking more.
I think the fact it’s early makes it even more impressive, I know some expected him to have a little bit of a learning curve in his first AA action. He has been pretty good when you consider his age. The biggest issue I saw where the K’s and he has limited those recently.
Looking at BBref, his last 10 games he has a .922 OPS. Going back 20 games he has an .880 OPS. So he was only really bad for the first few games. After that he has really turned it on.
Ya he has more had a few bad games instead of long stretches like he had last year.
David Thompson is on pace to have 150 RBI if he gets 600 AB.
Is that good?
We have had a number of college players that go right to Brooklyn and just can ‘t get any traction, only to break out the next year. Ike Davis and Captain Kirk come to mind as guys that had tough starts and then flew through the system.
If Thompson can improve his throwing he looks ready to pass Urena as the heir apparent at 3B.
Not sure his throwing is something that will improve, that was the big issue with him going into the draft. Most believed it would push him to first base. Has Thoracic Outlet Syndrome and has already had surgery to repair a torn labrum.