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MMN Recap: Thomas Szapucki Tosses Four No-Hit Innings For Columbia

By Daniel Muras

June 29, 2019 No comments

Photo by Ed Delany, MMN

Buffalo (41-38) 3, Syracuse (39-41) 2  Box Score

The Mets offense couldn’t get much going and they were held to just two runs on seven hits in Friday’s game. Tebow has had a miserable season, in which he has been one of the worst hitters in professional baseball, and it seems likely that Triple-A may be the highest level he reaches, but can still get a big hit every now and then. He hit just his second home run of the season in the second inning to cut the Mets’ deficit to one run.

  • RHP Drew Gagnon (L, 2-2, 1.75 ERA) 4.0 IP, 6 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 3 K
  • RHP Zach Lee (4-2, 6.66 ERA) 2.2 IP, 4 H, ER, BB, 5 K
  • RHP Paul Sewald (3-1, 3.48 ERA) 1.1 IP, H, BB, K

Gagnon made his second Triple-A start since his demotion and, despite allowing eight baserunners in four innings, limited the damage against him to just a two-run home run in the first inning. The bullpen was solid and kept the Mets in the game.

Binghamton (39-36) 7, Altoona Curve (40-36) 5  Box Score

With three big late-inning home runs, the Rumble Ponies were able to pull off an impressive comeback victory on Friday night. Barnes would give the team the lead with his eighth inning home run, while Toffey and Quinn Brodey were able to add two extra runs in the ninth inning. Toffey has been in a bit of an extended slump, but he is starting to show some good power over the past month.

This start is largely representative of Peterson’s entire season: He dominated for the first four innings, limited walks, struck out more batters than innings pitched, and 10 out of the 15 balls in play against him were on the ground. These are all signs of a good start, but, once again, a poor fifth inning results in his line looking somewhat poor. It is unclear what are the reasons behind Peterson’s struggles in the middle innings (he only threw 78 pitches) or why his BABIP is so astronomically high (sitting near .360 following this start), but, in theory, he is doing everything he is expected to do succeed. Hopefully the results begin to show in the near future.

Clearwater (44-33) 3, St. Lucie (40-37) 1  Box Score

The Mets scattered nine hits in the 10 inning game, but went an atrocious 0-for-14 with runners in scoring position and could manage to score just the single run. The lone run came on Bohanek’s fourth inning solo home run. Vasquez has yet to find the power expected from a first baseman, but he continues to pick up hits. In the eleven games since the All-Star break, Vasquez is hitting .372/.426/.535 with seven doubles.

Wilson had what was, by far, his best start of the year, needing just 88 pitches to get through seven shutout innings. While Wilson’s 46:30 leaves something to be desired, the 22 year old righty has been on a roll recently: over his last five starts, Wilson has allowed just three earned runs in 25 innings pitched, lowering his ERA from 4.79 to 3.50.

Columbia (29-46) 4, Hickory (48-27) 0  Box Score

The Fireflies didn’t have much offense in this game, producing just five hits all game, with Moreno’s first inning home run representing the only extra base hit. However, with the fantastic pitching performance by Columbia, that one run would have been all the team had needed to win. Mauricio has been in a bit of a slump over the past couple of weeks: Over his last ten games, he is just 10-for-46 with 14 strikeouts and no home runs or walks.

This start represented an important milestone for Szapucki in that it was the first time since July 1, 2017 that he has pitched into the fourth inning or thrown 50 pitches in a start. It was also one of the best starts of his career as he would not allow a single hit before his exit. Megill would pick up where Szapucki left off and pitch brilliantly over a season-high 4.1 innings. He would carry the no-hitter into the ninth inning, in which he would allow a double with one out. Both pitchers have been fantastic for the first half of 2019 and should be in St. Lucie in the near future.

Brooklyn (8-5) 5, Lowell (10-3) 4  Box Score

  • Luke Ritter 2B: 5-for-6, R, 2B, HR, 3 RBI, .231/.326/.436
  • Zach Ashford RF: 2-for-5, R, 3B, 2 RBI, BB, 2 K, .156/.206/.344

It took the Cyclones eleven innings, but they were able to finish the late-inning comeback victory on Friday night. Ritter had struggled a bit since he made his professional debut two weeks ago, but he broke out in a big way in this game. Just a triple short of the cycle, Ritter’s big two out home run in the ninth inning would send the game to extra innings, while his 11th inning single would walk it off for Brooklyn.

Cleveland had his best start of the season, pitching five strong innings for the Cyclones. Familia was excellent in his first rehab appearance; he threw 10 of his 13 pitches for strikes.

Johnson City (5-4) 7, Kingsport (6-4) 4  Box Score

  • Kennie Taylor CF: 1-for-5, R, HR, RBI, K, .263/.282/.395
  • Scott Ota RF: 1-for-3, 2 R, HR, RBI, BB, .259/.417/.556

Taylor and Ota, who joined the organization in this month’s recent draft, launched their first professional home runs back-to-back to lead off the first inning. Unfortunately, the Mets offense was largely stymied for the remainder of the game.

  • RHP Benito Garcia (0-0, 8.31 ERA) 0.2 IP, 2 H, 3 ER, BB, K
  • LHP Nixon Silva (L, 0-1, 13.50 ERA) 2.0 IP, 3 H, 3 ER, BB, K
  • RHP Josh Hejka (0-0, 0.00 ERA) 0.1 IP, H

Garcia and Silva are both 19 year old pitchers who were given aggressive assignments in Kingsport following dominant performances in the DSL last season. Hejka is a submarine/sidearm pitcher who was just signed as an undrafted free agent.

GCL Nationals (3-1) 9, GCL Mets (2-2) 8  Box Score

The Mets had a big offensive day with eight runs on nine hits. Alvarez has had two hits in each of his first three professional games as he is off to a hot start to begin his career. Peroza’s home run was his first since 2017. Top prospect Adrian Hernandez was removed from the game in the third innings following a groundout.

Ventura was making his first stateside start at just 18 years old and was pretty good, striking out three and allowing two runs in four innings. The bullpen was the main culprit in this loss, as three pitchers combined to give up seven runs over the last three innings of the game.

DSL Mets1 (13-8) 8, DSL Twins (8-14) 6  Box Score

Dominguez has hit three home runs in his last four games and is playing in his first professional season. Villalobos recently signed with the Mets after being ranked as the #34 prospect in the 2018-2019 IFA signing period by Baseball America. He just turned 17 years old on June 24.

Rodriguez was nearly perfect, with his only blemish coming from a fifth inning home run. His seven strikeouts represent a career high.

DSL Mets2 (12-12) 9, DSL Rangers2 (10-14) 0  Box Score

Despite only having a single extra base hit in the game, the Mets were able to push across nine runs on the strength of fourteen hits.

It is somewhat rare to see only two pitchers used in a DSL game, but Almonte and Vargas combined to shut down the Rangers offense. Almonte has not allowed more two runs in a game this season.

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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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