On Superhero Night at TD Bank Ballpark, Binghamton right-hander Christian Scott was an Avenger on the mound. The Florida product twirled 6 1/3 effective frames to help the Rumble Ponies advance to one game back of the Patriots in the Eastern League standings.

The night started on an inauspicious note as three pitches into the game, a rain cloud engulfed the ballpark for ten minutes, necessitating a 30-minute respite. Once the game started at 7:35, the rain stopped long enough to fit in the two-hour, 17-minute contest.

After the delay, Drew Gilbert kicked off a first-inning rally with a walk, which was followed by a JT Schwartz single to put runners on the corners for trade deadline acquisition Jeremiah Jackson. With two strikes, Jackson swung at nothing, but air.

On a humid, 80˚ night, Scott struggled with his command to begin his outing, allowing a loud Ben Rice double to kick off his outing. The following batter, Jasson Domínguez shot a ball deep down the right field line, which settled just to the right of the yellow foul screen. After the Domínguez scare, Scott settled in nicely, striking out both Jasson and Agustin Ramirez and inducing a ground-out from Elijah Dunham.

With two outs in the top of the following frame, Hayden Senger knocked a single to right field, but was erased by the backstop Rice trying to steal second.

The following two and a half frames were relatively quiet, with a Jackson walk consisting of the only offensive action. After a rough first, Scott found his groove, retiring 14 batters in a row at one point.

He pounded the zone with his 93-96 mph fastball throughout the night, inducing weak contact. Despite its sinker-like qualities, he located it up in the zone, beating Domínguez with multiple sinkers up. Among all MiLB pitchers with 70 innings this season, Scott’s 69% strike rate ranks 4th, coming into the night.

Throughout his outing, he sprinkled in an 85-87 mph slider that many evaluators grade as his best offering. Fangraphs‘ Eric Logenhagen had this to say about the pitch, “Scott’s power, mid-80s slider is his best pitch, and hitters struggle to identify it out of hand.” Scott’s slider, as noted by MLBPipeline, was based on Max Scherzer’s grip.

In the fourth inning, his backstop Senger, fresh off a single in his last at-bat, knocked Sauer’s first pitch of the fourth over the left-field wall. The home run was Senger’s fifth of the season, giving Binghamton a 1-0 lead.

The Ponies added on in the sixth. Just like the beginning of the night, when it rained, it poured for Somerset. A well-struck single off the bat of Gilbert to right kicked off the frame.

Drew Gilbert’s sixth-inning single and JT Schwartz’s following walk has knocked Patriots’ starter Matt Sauer out of the game. Gilbert and Schwartz have both been on base twice tonight.

Ducks on the pond; Jackson and Peroza up for the Ponies

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Following a Schwartz walk, Patriots’ skipper Raul Dominguez elicited to switch out Sauer in favor of southpaw Ryan Anderson to face Jackson. The shortstop deposited Anderson’s offering just over the center field, past the reach of a leaping Domínguez, bringing home three Ponies.

In the sixth, Scott smacked Jesus Bastidas in the hip to break up his streak of retiring 14 batters in a row, but managed through the frame unscathed. Scott lasted one more batter in the seventh; his final line for the night: 6.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 5 K, 0 BB, 1 HBP.

Although towards the end, he was helped out by some impressive defense by Gilbert and Jaylen Palmer, credit is where credit’s due. As he’s done all year, Scott pounded the zone, inducing weak contact throughout the game and rendering Somerset’s league-leading lineup hapless against a barrage of sinkers and sliders.

Tyler Thomas, a lefty with a unique arm slot, not unlike former Met farmhand Keyshawn Askew, relieved Scott and kept Somerset off the board for the final 2.2 frames.

On the offensive side, Gilbert, Schwartz, and Senger all had strong games. Senger finished a triple short of the cycle, accounting for the Ponies’ first run of the game with a fourth-inning blast and pouring on a ninth-inning double.

Gilbert exhibited plenty of patience throughout the night at the plate, showcasing an impressive eye. Even though he had two strikes on him in the first, Balls 3 and 4 were still close enough to be called strikes. In the fourth, with two strikes, he took one of those close pitches, with home plate ump Gabe Alfonzo ringing him up on an inside pitch. Gilbert expressed his displeasure, chirping at Alfonzo all the way back to the dugout.

Drew Gilbert strikes out on an inside pitch during a fourth inning at-bat

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Throughout his four at-bats, Gilbert sprayed line drives all throughout the field while doing his best to cause havoc on the bases. After an eighth-inning single, he stole second, with Rice not even attempting a throw. He attempted another steal during Schwartz’s fifth-inning at-bat, though that was rendered moot by Schwartz taking ball four.

The Ponies have a chance to tie the Patriots in the Eastern League standings with a win tomorrow. RHP Dominic Hamel (6-5, 4.53 ERA) vs. RHP Blane Abeyta (6-6, 5.01 ERA) is the pitching duel set for tomorrow’s contest at 5:05 p.m.