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MMN Recap: McNeil, Alonso Help Vegas to Sixth Straight Win

By Daniel Muras

July 2, 2018 No comments

Jeff McNeil/Photo by Jennifer Nieves

Las Vegas (39-44) 7 , Salt Lake (44-39) 2   Box Score

It was another good day for the offense as the 51s stayed hot, getting their 11th win in their last 13 games, including six in a row. Alonso is still trying to really get things going in Las Vegas but he was still a solid contributor, getting on base twice and driving in two. McNeil remained white hot as nothing seems to be stopping him from absolutely raking. Guillorme has also been heating up, and is now 7-20 since being sent back down.

  • LHP P.J. Conlon (W, 3-5, 6.39 ERA): 7.0 IP, 6 H, 2 R, BB, 3 K
  • RHP Gerson Bautista (1-1, 5.71 ERA): 1.0 IP, H, 0 R, 0 BB, K
  • LHP Matt Purke (2-0, 4.81 ERA): 1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K

Conlon pitched really well outside of a couple solo shots, and settled in as he went along, generating a lot of soft contact to get outs. After hitting a little rough patch, he has three straight quality starts with the 51s. Bautista got three outs after a leadoff double in the eighth, and Purke threw a 1-2-3 ninth to finish it out. Purke has slowly found more success as the season has gone on and he continued his improvements into his first appearance of July.

Binghamton (39-41) 4, Portland (30-50) 3  Box Score

The Rumble Ponies had trouble taking advantage of offensive opportunities in the 11-inning victory, as they went just 3-for-15 with runners in scoring position and left 17 runners on base. The team’s 13 hits were evenly distributed across the lineup, with every player except for Matt Oberste having at least one hit. Allen was ultimately the hero of the game as he drove in the winning run with an 11th-inning double. Ely played his first game with Binghamton since returning from a two month stint on the disabled list.

After back-to-back disastrous starts in which he allowed 16 earned runs over 8.1 innings, Molina had a decent bounce-back start on Sunday afternoon. While he only pitched five innings and struck out just two batters, this was certainly a significant improvement and was the first time in 2018 that he allowed less than 2 runs in a start. Both Ryder Ryan and Zamora came into the game with one-run leads, but ended up allowed the Sea Dogs to tie the game up. Torres pitched three hitless innings and has gone 9 straight innings without allowing a run.

Clearwater (39-39) 2, St. Lucie (30-46) 0  Box Score

The Mets failed to take advantage of several scoring opportunities as they struck out fourteen times and were 0-for-9 in the shutout. Andres Gimenez hit just .202/.287/.360 in June and his slump carried over into the first game of July as he went 0-for-4 with three strikeouts. St. Lucie’s team .624 OPS is the worst in the Florida State League.

Cornish has struggled this season as he entered the start with an ERA approaching 7, but he was excellent on Sunday afternoon. Cornish tied a career-high with seven innings pitched, while his 12 strikeouts are almost double his previous career-high of seven. Villines now has a 1.54 ERA with a 17:1 K:BB ratio over his last ten games between Columbia and St. Lucie.

Augusta (41-38) 11, Columbia (39-38) 2  Box Score

The Fireflies were held to just two runs on seven hits in Sunday evening’s game against Augusta. The first run scored on a Blake Tiberi sacrifice fly in the third inning. The second run came an inning later when Giovanny Alfonzo singled home Manea. Fermin extended his hitting streak to 13 games and is now hitting .389/.421/.556 in the second half of the South Atlantic League season.

After two great starts to begin his Fireflies career, Grotz had a very rough outing this time out. Three errors lead to six unearned runs, but Grotz didn’t help his own cause much, as he allowed 12 baserunners and threw 101 pitches in less than five innings. Hernandez has been dominant since being moved to the bullpen this season; he now has 33 strikeouts in 27 innings and hasn’t allowed an earned run since June 5.

Staten Island (5-11) 3, Brooklyn (10-6) 1  Box Score

  • Wagner Lagrange LF: 1-for-4, 2B, .298/.375/.421
  • Manny Rodriguez SS: 1-for-3, K, SB, .226/.314/.258
  • Angel Manzanarez 2B: 1-for-2, RBI, BB, .294/.368/.353

The Cyclones had a rough night offensively as they were held to just a single run on four hits. Their lone run came in the second inning when Manzanarez grounded out to bring home David Miranda. Chase Chambers had only his second hitless game since joining the Cyclones.

  • RHP Kyle Wilson (0-1, 5.68 ERA) 6.0 IP, 3 H, ER, 2 BB, 3 K
  • RHP Mac Lozer (L, 0-1, 2.35 ERA) 2.1 IP, H, 2 ER, BB, 3 K
  • RHP Ryan Selmer (0-0, 9.35 ERA) 0.2 IP

Wilson made his third start of the season and it was also his best so far as he tied his career-high with six innings and allowed just the one run. Lozer came into pitch and was excellent for his first two innings of work as he struck out two without allowing a baserunner. However, upon being asked to go a third inning for the first time in his career, he walked the leadoff batter and then allowed the game winning two-run home run. Selmer replaced Lozer and quickly recorded the final two outs of the ninth inning.

Pulaski (5-7) 8, Kingsport (7-4) 5  Box Score

The Mets had five runs on 11 hits in the game, but had the chance to score more runs and went just 2-for-12 with runners in scoring position. Dirocie continued his ridiculously hot hitting with two more hits, including his third home run in six games. He easily leads the Appalachian League in OPS through the first 10 games and, considering that he already played with Kingsport in 2017, it seems like he should be in Brooklyn sooner rather than later.

  • RHP Garrison Bryant (0-0, 3.86 ERA) 5.0 IP, 4 H, 3 R, 2 ER, BB, 6 K
  • RHP Christian Tripp (0-0, 0.00 ERA) 1.0 IP, K
  • LHP Ivan Jean (2-0, 4.50 ERA) 1.0 IP, 2 ER, 4 BB

Mets pitchers allowed just five hits in the game, but a combined nine walks gave the Yankees plenty of help in scoring their eight runs. Bryant pitched well, but a rough fifth that included two home runs resulted in him losing the shutout and getting knocked out of the game after the fifth inning.

Las Vegas portion of recap done by Mojo Hill.

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Written by Daniel Muras

I fell in love with the Mets during the 2006 playoff run and became obsessed with the Mets minor league system while looking for a brighter future during the 2009-2014 era. I hope to provide interesting analysis of the minors and am excited to have the opportunity to write for MMO and MMN.

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