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MMN Recap: Alonso Legs Out Inside-The-Park Homer

By Sam Lebowitz

July 20, 2018 No comments

Photo by Jennifer Nieves, MMN

Las Vegas (46-52) 6, Salt Lake (51-47) 4 Box Score

It was hopefully a slump busting night for Alonso, he was just 4-for-his-last-35 going into Thursday. His home run was actually an inside-the-parker to the right center field gap. He now has 22 home runs and 76 RBI for the season. McNeil has reached base in 28 of his 29 games for Vegas.

Binghamton 3 (46-50), Trenton 2 (52-44) Box Score

Binghamton’s bullpen saved them in this game against the Thunder. Ricky Knapp left the start after just a single inning for unknown reasons, leaving Luis Rojas to scramble to find a way to fill the last eight. Thankfully, Rojas had received a seven-inning performance from Scott Copeland the night before, so the bullpen was well rested and ready for the task. He got length from his two lefties, David Roseboom and Daniel Zamora, who were each solid in three scoreless. Zamora, specifically, allowed just a single baserunner. All told, three Binghamton relievers kept Trenton off the board throughout the night, and struck out eight men in their eight innings.

After falling behind in the top of the first, Binghamton bounced back with two runs of their own in the bottom half thanks to a Kevin Taylor RBI triple followed by a Nido run-scoring single. The Ponies went ahead in the second inning when Tim Tebow scored on a passed ball, and that would be enough for the eventual victory by that same score. Tebow left the game in the seventh inning after feeling discomfort in his wrist after a swing. He will receive an MRI. Champ Stuart was placed on the disabled list for Binghamton and J.J. Franco was brought up from St. Lucie. 

Palm Beach 3 (52-40), St. Lucie 1 (37-57) Box Score

  • LHP Blake Taylor (2-4, 4.58 ERA): 5 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 2 BB, 8 K
  • RHP Stephen Villines (4-4, 0.68 ERA): 2 IP, 1 H, 1 BB, 1 K
  • RHP Adam Atkins (L, 1-3, 2.83 ERA): 1 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 K

Blake Taylor was solid in his five innings for St. Lucie. The lefty stuck out eight men and gave up just four singles in his outing. Stephen Villines kept the ballgame tied with two more strong innings. The sidewinder has now given up just one earned run in eight outings (13.1 IP) since his promotion. Things went south for Adam Atkins, who returned from the disabled list for this game, in the eighth inning. With two out, he gave up a go-ahead two-run homer to Andy Young to put Palm Beach ahead for good. In related news, Gary Cornish was placed on the disabled list prior to the game.

St. Lucie scored their lone run on a double play grounder in the fifth off the bat of Raphael Gladu. The Mets failed to record an extra-base hit but managed to leave nine men on base. Despite just six hits, they walked five times as well. Andres Gimenez stole his 27th base of the season in the losing effort. Blake Tiberi made his High-A debut after a promotion from Columbia and went 0-for-3 with a walk while serving as the designated hitter.

Columbia 5 (46-47), Augusta 2 (47-48) Box Score

  • RHP Tony Dibrell (W, 4-5, 3.38 ERA): 7 IP, 7 H, 2 R, 1 BB, 10 K
  • RHP Connor O’Neil (3-0, 1.75 ERA): 2 IP, 2 K

Tony Dibrell turned in one of his longest and strongest outings of the season with a seven-inning, 10-strikeout performance. Both marks matched or set season highs. Dibrell threw 99 pitches, 68 of them for strikes. He had seven outs on the ground and only two in the air. Though the seven hits against him is a high mark, he allowed just one hit for extra-bases. Connor O’Neil nailed down a six-out save, his second save of the season, in a perfect outing.

Columbia opened the night with an Edgardo Fermin solo homer, tying the game at one after Augusta fired the opening salvo. The two teams traded zeroes before each team put up a run in the sixth inning. Columbia scored in that inning on a bases-loaded walk drawn by Zach Rheams. The Fireflies went ahead for good in the seventh thanks to a clutch three-run homer off the bat of Scott Manea with two men out. It was Manea’s eighth long ball of the year, and he continues to slug surprisingly well.

Tri-City 7 (19-14), Brooklyn 3 (18-15) Box Score

  • LHP Kevin Smith (3-0, 0.64 ERA): 2 IP, 1 H, 2 K
  • RHP Tylor Megill (0-0, 9.64 ERA): 2 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 1 K
  • RHP Billy Oxford (3-1, 1.37 ERA): 2 IP, 1 H, 2 K
  • RHP Mac Lozer (L, 0-2, 3.07 ERA): 0.2 IP, 4 H, 4 R, 3 ER, 1 K

Kevin Smith began the game on the hill for Brooklyn in this one. He pitched just two innings, which is not abnormal. Smith has not gone more than three innings in any of his six outings, including two starts. He has been very effective so far, with just one run against his ledger. Six pitchers got into the game for Brooklyn, and it was Mac Lozer who made it messy. He blew a 3-2 Brooklyn lead in the seventh inning by giving up four runs. It included a big two-run homer by Gilberto Celestino.

In his 11th game as a professional, Carlos Cortes blasted his first career homer, a solo shot in the Brooklyn fifth. Corets also drove home a run with a single in the second inning, making it one of the best games he’s had so far. The Cyclones had nine hits, but Cortes had the only extra-base hit when he left the yard. They went 1-for-10 with runners in scoring position.

Princeton 6 (19-10), Kingsport 4 (15-12) Box Score

Nunez allowed just one single, but his overall night was not good. He walked two batters and hit two more, and could not last four full innings. He limited the damage, ultimately giving up runs on two sacrifice flies and a groundout, but the outing was not good enough to truly keep Kingsport in the game. Mitch Hickey has not yet to allow a run in five and one-third innings as a professional.

The usually-potent Kingsport offense had few answers against Rays starter Cristopher Sanchez, who held the Mets to just five hits and an unearned run in six innings. Kingsport broke out in the seventh with three runs thanks to RBI hits from Yoel Romero and Luis Santana. However, that late rally would fail to be enough. Jarred Kelenic struck out with the tying and go-ahead runs on base to end that seventh inning rally.

GCL Mets 6 (16-11), GCL Marlins 5 (8-18) Box Score

Bryce Hutchinson faltered in his third start of the season. However, he was bailed out by six sparkling innings of relief from Jorge Cespedes, who kept the Mets in the game long enough to rally ahead late.

  • Jaylen Palmer DH: 3-for-4, RBI, K, .316
  • Ronny Mauricio SS: 1-for-4, 3B, 2 RBI, BB, 2 K

The Mets had an impressive 17 hits on the day, including three-hit games from Jaylen Palmer and Edinson Valdez, and four-hit games from Sebastian Espino and Jose Mena. Espino and Ronny Mauricio each drove in a pair of runs. The Mets came back from an early 4-0 deficit and won after taking the lead on one of Espino’s hits in the top of the ninth.

DSL Mets1 1 (22-17), DSL Phillies Red 0 (14-26) Box Score

The combination of Nixon Silva and Joshua Cornielly put together eight scoreless in this rain-shortened affair. Cornielly was perfect in his relief outing.

The Mets had eight hits but only mustered a single run. That run, coming on a Juan De La Rosa double in the fourth, proved to stand up against a punchless Phillies offense.

DSL Phillies White 2 (23-15), DSL Mets2 1 (18-22) Box Score

Lefty Christopher Dominguez was a hard luck loser in another rain-shortened Dominican Summer League game. He struck out seven in six strong innings, unfortunately taking his first loss of the season.

The Mets had just four hits in this game and could only scratch out a run in what turned out to be their last time to bat in the seventh of the rain-soaked game. Ezequiel Pena plated that run on an RBI single following a double by Jeison Rodriguez.