Cessa Keeps the B-Mets Run of Strong Pitching Going Against New Hampshire

New Hampshire Fisher Cats @ Binghamton Mets

May 2, 2015

Taylor Cole @ Luis Cessa

Teams	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9		R	H	E
New Hampshire	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0		1	7	0
Binghamton	0	0	0	0	2	0	0	0	X		2	7	0

W: Cessa (2-1, 2.14 ERA); L: Cole (0-3, 5.92 ERA); S: Sewald (4, 0.00 ERA)

MiLB.com Boxscore

The Highlights:

Pitchers

Luis Cessa – 5 IP, 7 H, R, 5 SO, 74 Pitches (55 Strikes), 6 GO: 3 FO

Matt Koch (H, 1, 5.09 ERA) – 2 IP, 2 SO, 4 FO

Dario Alvarez (H, 4, 3.86 ERA) – 1.2 IP, BB, 2 SO

Paul Sewald – 0.1 IP, SO, 1 IR – 0 S

Batters

Jared King – 1-4, 2 RBI (13), SO, GIDP

T.J. Rivera – 1-4, 2B (4), GIDP

Xorge Carrillo – 2-3, R, CS

Gavin Cecchini – 2-3, R, 2B (4), SO

Eudy Pina – 1-3, 2 SO

Recap

            The Binghamton Mets run of great pitching continued Saturday afternoon, and they got just enough offense to come out on the right side of a close, low-scoring affair. Luis Cessa bounced back from his worst outing of the year, which came against this same Fisher Cats lineup last week, to toss another gem. He came out throwing strikes and heat, and barely broke a sweat over the first four innings. The Cats strung together a few singles in the 5^th to take a 1-0 lead, but the B-Mets would strike right back in the bottom of the frame, with Jared King providing the big two-out single that brought home Xorge Carrillo and Gavin Cecchini. The Binghamton bullpen took over for Cessa in the 6^th, and they’d increase their consecutive scoreless innings streak to 21 over the final four frames, with only one base runner allowed on a walk. Matt Koch looked very good coming out of the bullpen for the first time in 2015, and I think he can thrive in this role moving forward.

            Cessa continues to pad his resume as a serious starting prospect for the Mets, needing only 74 pitches to complete 5 sharp innings Saturday. Per the announcers, his fastball was sitting 93-96 MPH throughout the start, and hitters were consistently late on it. He also mixes in a mid-80’s slider and a low-80’s changeup, showing good control of both. There was one pitch called a 91 MPH slider, but that seems unlikely based on previous reports. He didn’t really seem to be in trouble or laboring during the 5^th, but the B-Mets pitching coach came out to check on him after the second single he allowed, and it would be his last inning. It seems odd that he’d come out with only 74 pitches through 5 IP, but there are often various non-performance related reasons for taking a minor league starter out that we just don’t know about – for example, he might have a 2-start or 3-start pitch limit that he was approaching.

            This series wraps up Sunday at 1:05 PM, with Michael Fulmer making his first start for Binghamton of 2015, and second AA start overall.

Scoring Highlights

            With one out in the 3^rd inning, Gavin Cecchini extended his hit streak to 8 games, and then Eudy Pina extended his to 10 games, before Jared King ended the threat with a GIDP.

            Xorge Carrillo lined a one out single into LF in the bottom of the 5^th, and then went to 3B on a double off the bat of Gavin Cecchini. After Pina Colada struck out, King lined a single into CF to put the B-Mets up 2-1.

            T.J. Rivera picked up his first hit since coming back when he doubled leading off the 6^th, but he’d be stranded at 2B.

 Luis Cessa Strikeouts

96 MPH Heat

85 MPH Slider

Announcer called this a 91 MPH slider

Bonus

83 MPH Changeup from Cessa

Sewald gets the final out

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