During his time as Binghamton’s skipper, and with the help of pitching coach Glenn Abbott, Pedro Lopez has been able to develop a relief pitcher into an accomplished closer.

Two seasons ago when Binghamton set a franchise record in regular season wins, Lopez called on Jeff Walters to shut down opponent’s in the games final frame, and Walter’s responded by becoming the B-Mets all-time leader in saves. Last season, it was Cody Satterwhite who got the call. The big right-hander was an important piece in Binghamton’s Eastern League championship season.

With the B-Mets off and running at 14-8, it looks like Lopez man have found his ninth inning man once again in 2015. With two outs in the ninth inning, the tying run on first, and his B-Mets clinging to a 2-1 lead, Lopez called on Paul Sewald to nail down the final out. It was Sewald’s ninth appearance, all in relief in the young season. So far, the B-Met right hander has a near perfect slate throwing 13 1/3 innings without allowing a run.

Saturday, Sewald got New Hampshire’s Jake Murphy swinging at a third strike to record his fourth save in five chances. The strikeout was Sewald’s 14th of the season against just two base-on-balls.

Here’s the sequence of pitches Sewald used to record the game’s final out. The B-Met righty started with an 81 mph curveball for a called strike. Murphy swung and missed at a Sewald 92 mph fast ball. A 91 mph fast ball just missed to the outside of the plate for ball one. Murphy fouled off an 80 mph curveball then watched a 78 mph curve break high for a second ball. Sewald set Murphy up with a 91 mph fastball that the Fischer Cat pinch hitter fouled then fooled Murphy with an 82 mph curve breaking off the outside part of the plate for the final strike.

Late last season, Binghamton got great mileage turning starter Hansel Robles into a late inning reliever. In fact, it would be hard to argue that the B-Mets could have captured the Eastern League crown without Robles stellar work out of the pen, work that has elevated him all the way to Citi Field early in 2015. Perhaps the Mets are using similar thinking with Binghamton pitcher Matt Koch.

This year’s opening day pitcher, Koch has made three shaky starts this year for the B-Mets. But, the tall, lean and athletic Koch throws hard, four time reaching 96 mph in a perfect two inning of relief out of the pen. Koch, who appeared to be working on both a slider and a curve, struck out two and recorded his other four outs with balls hit into the air, two to center field and two to right field.