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MMN Recap: Alonso, Brentz Homer in 51s’ Sweep

By Daniel Muras

August 13, 2018 No comments

Peter Alonso/Photo by Jennifer Nieves, MMN

Las Vegas (59-59) 14, Reno (61-57) 2  Box Score

This was a continuation of Saturday’s game which was suspended in the fifth inning. The 51s were losing 2-1 at the time, but the Aces pitching staff completely imploded as Las Vegas scored two in the seventh and 11 in the eighth. Brentz drove in six of those runs just by himself with a grand slam and a double in the inning. Alonso continued his extremely strong stretch with another extra-base hit while Smith continued his inconsistencies with a three-strikeout game. He’s hit for more power in August, but also has just a .293 OBP.

Copeland turned in a solid start before his outing was slightly shortened because of the suspension. He’s had a solid season, albeit with most of it coming in Double-A. Bautista’s been figuring it out, with a 1.96 ERA over his last ten appearances. Regnault is off to strong start in August with a 1.23 ERA in four appearances.

Las Vegas (60-59) 3, Reno (61-58) 1   Box Score

After completing the suspended game, the 51s played a shortened seven-inning game. Alonso continues to absolutely rake, as he hit his 29th home run of the season and now has 105 RBI on the season. Plaia also continued what’s been a career year since June, at least when he’s been healthy. He has taken a small step back in August however and is yet to draw a walk in 23 at-bats with a .261/.261/.391 slash line. Drew Gagnon helped his own cause with a single and was one of only four 51s hits.

  • RHP Drew Gagnon (W, 5-4, 4.81 ERA): 7.0 IP, 4 H, R, BB, 10 K

It was one of the better outings of the season for the PCL’s strikeout leader. He pitched a technical “complete game” in a manageable 97 pitches, with 65 going for strikes. All ten of the strikeouts were swinging strikeouts.

Reading (58-60) 8, Binghamton (55-64) 5  Box Score

Binghamton jumped out to a four run lead in a big first inning that included Terdoslavich’s fifth home run of the season. The Rumble Ponies offense would not be able to get another run on the board until Mazeika hit his seventh home run of the season in the eighth inning. Mazeika is hitting a robust .615/.667/.846 in August, albeit in that very small sample size of four games.

McGowan continued to struggle with his conversion back to a starting pitched as he gave up three home runs and six total runs over five innings. He has given up 6 runs in two of his four starts with Binghamton. Ryan has hit his first real rough stretch since joining the Mets organization a year ago and has given up 9 earned runs in his last 5.2 innings pitched.

Clearwater (63-54) 4, St. Lucie (47-68) 1  Box Score

Wright finally made his return to the field and played five innings at third base while going 0-for-3 at the plate. It was his first time appearing in a game since August 26 of 2017. The rest of the team struggled offensively as well. Carpio led off the game with a solo home run, breaking out of a 2-for-40 slump, but the Mets couldn’t push across a single run after that. They were 0-for-7 with runners in scoring position.

Cavallaro has shown major improvements during his last three starts with St. Lucie. Over his last three starts, Cavallaro has allowed 5 earned runs in 17.1 innings pitched (2.60 ERA) and has a 22:7 K:BB ratio. Cobb has not had the same dominance with St. Lucie as he had with Columbia, but before this poor outing, he had thrown 9.1 scoreless innings.

Columbia (53-62) 2, Delmarva (59-56) 1  Box Score

The Fireflies had eight hits in the ten-inning game, but were held to just two runs, largely because they were 1-for-11 with runners in scoring position. Moreno got Columbia on the board with his fifth-inning home run, It was his fifth home run of the season, which is a career high for Moreno. Rheams walked it off for Columbia with a single that brought home Moreno in the tenth inning.

Debora started Sunday’s game and his best start of the season, needing just 92 pitches to get through seven dominant inning. Most impressively, Debora struck out 10 batters for the first time in his seven year minor league career. O’Neil continued his solid season with three shutout innings in relief.

Brooklyn (30-25) 3, Lowell (29-25) 1  Box Score

Medina drove in Adolph with a single in the first inning, but the Cyclones were held without another run until the top of the eighth inning. Two runs would score in that inning, which included another Medina RBI single, to put Brooklyn permanently in front.

Vilera was better this time out than in his last start, in which he allowed four runs in 4.1 innings, but didn’t have his best command. He needed 81 pitches to get through five scoreless innings and didn’t strike out a single batter. Gilliam has been dominant since joining the Cyclones after being drafted in the 5th round of June’s draft. He has 20 strikeouts in 10.2 innings pitched.

Kingsport (27-24) 8, Bluefield (31-21) 3  Box Score

Kingsport’s offense had a big afternoon, scoring eight runs on seven hits and nine walks. Kelenic has been steadily adjusting to the Appalachian League and now has multiple hits in three of his last four games, bringing his Kingsport batting average back over the Mendoza Line. Vientos continued his impressive season and his 10 home runs are tied for third in the Appalachian League.

Despite striking out three batters in the opening inning of the game, Nunez couldn’t get any batters out who balls in play and ended up giving three runs. A rain delay knocked him out of the game after that rough first inning. Peden, who had struggled greatly while starting this season, came out of the bullpen for his best appearance of the season. Peden needed just 71 pitches to make it through a career high seven shutout innings.

GCL Astros (25-21) 3, GCL Mets (20-26) 2  Box Score

The Mets had just two hits in the game, but still had plenty of scoring opportunities as they were able to draw nine walks. Unfortunately, the offense was just 1-for-13 with runners in scoring position, so they could only push across two runs. Lindsay and Jacob Zanon both continued their rehab in the Gulf Coast League.

Santos,  who is 6’8″ and is still just 16-years old, was making his stateside debut after an excellent performance in the Dominican Summer League. It is very interesting to see the Mets give an aggressive midseason promotion to such a young player and may indicate that the organization is very pleased with the young righty’s progress.

Las Vegas portion of recap done by Mojo Hill.