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MMN Recap: Thomas Szapucki Pitches Well for St. Lucie

By Matt Mancuso

July 10, 2019 No comments

Photo by Ed Delany, MMN

Braxton Lee and Patrick Mazeika represented the Binghamton Rumble Ponies in Tuesday’s Double-A Home Run Derby. Phillies’ first-base prospect Darick Hall won the event.

St.Lucie (46-41) 3, Jupiter (29-53) 2 Box F/8

Thomas Szupacki continued his comeback from Tommy John Surgery as he hurled 3.1 effective innings before being pulled due to a pitch limit. In his second start with St.Lucie, the southpaw allowed four hits and a run while striking out three opponents. A healthy Szapucki would go a long way in improving the Mets’ crop of minor-league pitchers. Zabaleta deserves another promotion; his 6.29 K/BB ratio ranks first among all Mets minor-leaguers by a wide margin.

St.Lucie needed extra-innings to win their first game of a doubleheader. To kick off the scoring, the Mets executed a perfect steal of home with Edgardo Fermin and Nick Meyer. Zanon singled in Moreno an inning later to extend the lead.

While the game shortened to seven innings due to the impending doubleheader, it took until the eighth frame for the Mets to scratch across the go-ahead run. Zanon drove Moreno in what would be the deciding run. Moreno has a .316 batting average in eight games since coming back to St.Lucie, however, all of those hits have singles and he’s only drawn one walk in that span.

Jupiter(30-53) 5, St.Lucie (46-42) 0 Box Score F/7

  • RHP Luc Rennie (L, 5-4, 4.57 ERA): 5 IP, 7 H, 5 R, 4 ER, 2 K, 2 BB
  • RHP Joe Cavallaro (3-3,4.09 ERA): IP, 0 H, 0 R, BB

Rennie got hammered by well, the Hammerheads. Rennie pitched a clean first inning before the wheels fell apart. Jupiter put three runs across the board in the second inning capped by Jhonny Santos‘ two-run homer. Rennie also gave up runs in the third and fifth frames, finishing his night with seven hits and five runs on his ledger. Cavallaro has gotten off to a nice start after the All-Star Break, pitching to a 1.42 ERA in eight games.

The Mets tallied the same amount of hits as they did the first game, however, they failed to string them together this game. Their best chance to score came in the fifth inning when Carlos Cortes singled with Matt Winaker on second. However, Winaker was thrown out trying to score. Among Mets farmhands with over 200 plate appearances, Cody Bohanek‘s .373 OBP ranks fifth.

Rehabbing Major-Leaguer Tayron Guerrero started the game for the Marlins, hurling a scoreless first frame.

Columbia (34-51) 4, Augusta (46-41) 1 Box

James had his best start of a trying campaign. His 91 pitches represented a season-high while his 6.1 innings was the second-most that he’s thrown all season. He’s been unable to figure out A-ball yet, so this start is definitely a step in the right direction. Hutchinson has a 2.63 ERA coming out of the bullpen compared to a nightmarish 8.63 ERA starting.

With the game tied in the eighth inning, Mark Vientos came up clutch with a go-ahead double that scored Brian Sharp. Later in the inning, Wagner Lagrange extended the lead with his third triple of the season. After a concerning start to the season, Vientos has heated up as of late, collecting 13 hits and 7 RBIs over his last ten games. Newton’s turning his season around after a horrendous start; he has a .871 OPS in his last 10 games

Hayden Senger continued his insane month, collecting two more RBIs. Over his last 20 games, he’s slashing incredible .403/.476/.681. Not bad for a 24th rounder!

Tri-City (9-14) 6, Brooklyn (12-12) 5 Box

Bryant enjoyed his best start of the season, only allowing six baserunners over five innings of work (including former Met Luis Santana). The Mets are being very cautious with him; he’s yet to throw over 75 pitches in a start in 2019. Brookyln’s bullpen, which had been lights-out, faltered, allowing five runs over the last four innings of the game. With the Cyclones up one in the tenth inning, Silva gave up a walk-off two-run homer to the ValleyCats’ DH Nathan Perry.

Metoyer currently ranks top five among all Mets farmhands in both K/9 and BB/9.

The Cyclones made it interesting in the later innings but ultimately weren’t able to come away with an extra-inning victory. With Brooklyn down to their last out and trailing 4-2, Mangum doubled in Grandillo to make it a one-run game. The following batter, Branden Fryman  doubled in Mangum to tie it up. Brooklyn tacked on another run in the 10th inning to take the lead, but Brookyln’s bullpen let them down.

Garay, who has struggled tremendously in his first season with the Cyclones, hit a sacrifice fly in the second inning to give Brooklyn a quick 1-0 lead. He only has one hit in his first 25 at-bats with the team. Romero extended his hitting streak to 12 games with a 2-for-5 showing.

DSL Phillies(20-13) 3, DSL Mets II(15-18) 0 Box 

After pitching well in his debut last year, Sanchez has struggled in his sophomore season; he’s allowed 11 walks in only 13 innings.

The Mets couldn’t muster any offense all game, tallying only four hits.

Three Mets have been named to the Dominican Summer League All-Star game: Federico Polanco, Antonio Villalba and Cristian Olivero.

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Written by MMancuso

I'm a recent alum of TCNJ, where I graduated with degrees in business and technology. At MMO, I write data-driven player breakdowns, as well as, cover the Mets minor-league system. Follow me on at https://twitter.com/MattyCuso.

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