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MMN Recap: Vientos Homers As Kingsport Drops First Playoff Game

By Daniel Muras

September 1, 2018 No comments

Mark Vientos/Photo by Ed Delany, MMN

Las Vegas (69-68) 11, Sacramento (54-83) 2   Box Score

Las Vegas’s blowout victory pushed them over .500 for the season, which has been a rarity for them, with only a few games left. Since being sent down, Reinheimer has gone 2-4 in all five games he’s played, and is batting .348 in 14 games for the 51s. Alonso had a monster day with two homers to finish off a fantastic August in which he batted .308/.392/.731. He has 35 home runs and 117 RBI on the season now. Borenstein and Plaia both homered to put the game out of reach and continue each of their solid seasons.

  • LHP Matt Gage (W, 5-8, 6.43 ERA): 6.0 IP, 5 H, 2 R, BB, 10 K
  • RHP Corey Taylor (2-1, 4.44 ERA): 2.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K
  • RHP Gerson Bautista (2-1, 5.50 ERA): 1.0 IP, H, 0 R, 0 BB, K

Gage pitched much better in his second start as a 51, with ten strikeouts and six baserunners in six very solid innings. He spent most of this year actually pitching for the River Cats, where he posted a 6.53 ERA in 53 innings. Taylor continued his excellent run of success with two scoreless innings. He’s been dominating for Binghamton since June, and has continued his success into Las Vegas where he has a 1.54 ERA in five games. Bautista also pitched well but has been inconsistent all season.

In addition, the 51s announced their end-of-season awards yesterday. Peter Alonso won the Mayor’s Trophy, which was decided by a fan vote, as a reward for his brilliant season. Zach Borenstein won MVP as while he was streaky, he stayed on the field and produced a solid season. Drew Gagnon, the PCL strikeout leader, won Most Valuable Pitcher, while bullpen coach Jeremy Accardo and catchers Jeff Glenn and Colton Plaia won the Community Service Award.

Portland (61-75) 4. Binghamton (63-74) 1  Box Score

The Rumble Ponies were held without a run for the first seven innings of Friday’s game before finally pushing one runner across the plate in the eighth. They scored their lone run when Jhoan Urena drove home Terdoslavich in the eighth inning. Strom picked up his first Double-A hit with a single in the third inning.

Gonzalez continues to struggle mightily in Double-A. He has received the loss and allowed at least 3 earned runs in each of his nine starts with Binghamton and has struck out more than three batters just twice over that span. Nogosek has walked more than a batter per inning since his promotion to Binghamton. Blackham has 63 strikeouts over 49.0 innings pitched in 2018.

Jupiter (70-63) 4, St. Lucie (53-76) 2  Box Score

Despite recording ten hits in the game, the Mets had trouble scoring runs as they were held to just two for the game. Cecchini was playing his first rehab game with St. Lucie; this was the first time he appeared in a minor league game since injuring his foot on May 9.

  • LHP Anthony Kay (L, 3-7, 3.88 ERA) 4.1 IP, 6 H, 2 R, ER, BB, 5 K
  • RHP Gabriel Llanes (7-9, 4.27 ERA) 3.2 IP, 7 H, 2 ER, 2 K

Kay was making his final start of the 2018 regular season and had a decent outing. Unfortunately, while pitching with a low pitch count (58 pitches) in the fifth inning, Kay was hit by a comebacker and had to be removed from the game. With St. Lucie being rained out each of the last four days, all Mets pitchers were well-rested, which allowed Llanes to be used in long relief. It was his first relief appearance since 2016. Llanes finished his season strong as he had a 2.52 ERA over his last 10 appearances of the season.

Columbia (50-53) 4, Augusta (51-54) 0  Box Score

  • Scott Manea C: 1-for-4, R, 2B, RBI, K, .257/.368/.422
  • Dionis Paulino 1B: 2-for-4, K, .244/.287/.372
  • Zach Rheams DH: 2-for-4, R, HR, 2 RBI, K, .234/.321/.455

This game was started on July 29, but had to be suspended for a month due to rain. The Fireflies got on the board almost immediately when Hansel Moreno reached 3rd on an error and then scored on a balk. Manea would add a run in the same inning with a RBI double. Rheams would pad the team’s lead when the game resumed as he hit a two run homer in the 8th.

Viall was excellent in this game before his start was cut short due to rain. After this appearance, Viall would make one more start before being placed back on the disabled list with an undisclosed injury. While his season was plagued by inconsistency and injury, Viall still flashed impressive stuff and ended up striking out 94 batters in 66.1 innings pitched.

Augusta (65-69) 4, Columbia (63-68) 0  Box Score

The Fireflies’ offense was nonexistent in Friday’s game. During the seven inning game, Columbia was held to just three hits and struck out a total of 12 times. Winaker finished his strong August with a .319/.418/.638 slash line for the month.

  • RHP Luc Rennie (L, 3-4, 4.07 ERA) 6.0 IP, 6 H, 4 ER, 2 BB, 7 K

Rennie received the complete game, but once again struggled with preventing runs from scoring. In each of his last five starts, Rennie has allowed at least three earned runs and has seen his ERA rocket from 0.65 to 4.07 over that span. On the bright side, Rennie still has a 60:11 K:BB ratio over 55.2 innings this season, which is very good.

Hudson Valley (42-29) 4, Brooklyn (38-34) 1  Box Score

The Cyclones were held to just a single run on two hits, both of which were singles. The team’s lone run scored in the first inning on an error. Ross Adolph was removed from the game in the top of the fourth inning after being hit by a pitch in the previous half inning.

Wilson allowed four earned runs in a game for just the second time all season. Wilson has also walked one batter or less in each of his last six starts. Gilliam has 30 strikeouts in 16.1 innings, but has also walked 13 batters over the same span. Zabaleta has a 16:2 K:BB ratio for Brooklyn this season.

Elizabethton (1-0) 7, Kingsport (0-1) 3  Box Score

The Mets dropped the first game of the Appalachian League semifinals after being held to just three runs on six hits.  Kingsport hitters also struck out a combined 15 times over the course of the game. Vientos had a big game as he picked up two hits, including his team’s only home run (his 12th total for the season).

Taveras started the playoff game and battled through six innings, while keeping the Mets in the game. This has been an impressive season for Taveras, as he had a 2.35 ERA across two levels during the regular season. Winans came in to the game in relief and had trouble getting anybody out. The two run home run he allowed with one out in the seventh would ultimately put the game out of reach.

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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