Top Mets Prospects Keep Standing Out Against New Britain

Binghamton Mets @ New Britain Rock Cats

July 22, 2015

Michael Fulmer @ Ryan Carpenter

Teams	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9		R	H	E
Binghamton	0	2	2	0	0	5	0	0	0		9	12	3
New Britain	0	0	0	0	0	3	1	1	0		5	13	2

W: Fulmer (5-2, 2.03 ERA); L: Carpenter (5-11, 4.03 ERA)

MiLB.com Boxscore

The Highlights:

Pitchers

Michael Fulmer – 5 IP, 6 H, BB, 9 SO, 82 Pitches (58 Strikes), 3 GO: 2 FO

Beck Wheeler (4.74 ERA) – 1 IP, 3 H, 3 R, BB, SO, 1 GO: 1 FO

Akeel Morris (7.56 ERA) – 1 IP, 2 H, R, 2 SO, HR, 1 GO

Adam Kolarek (4.89 ERA) – 1 IP, 2 H, R, BB, HR, 2 GO

Josh Smoker (1.50 ERA) – 1 IP, SO, 1 GO: 1 FO

Batters

Gavin Cecchini – 4-5, R, 3B (3)

Michael Conforto – 2-4, RBI (26), BB

Brock Peterson – 1-5, SO

Josh Rodriguez – 2-4, 3 R, HR (15), 2 RBI (59), BB

Joe Benson – 1-4, R, HBP

Xorge Carrillo – 1-4, 2 R, HR (6), 2 RBI (28), HBP, GIDP

Jared King – 1-1, R, HR (3), 4 RBI (32)

Recap

            The B-Mets would jump out to a huge 9-0 lead behind Michael Fulmer and a Jared King grand slam in their rubber match Wednesday afternoon, and the Binghamton bullpen did enough to hold on, although they made things interesting. Fulmer has really been breaking out for the B-Mets over the past 6 weeks, and this is the third time during that stretch that he’s had the Rock Cats number. He’s up to 16 scoreless innings total against New Britain (21 K: 1 BB, 14 H) this year, and the Cats batters still can’t help but flail at his slider as it bails out of the zone. The B-Mets bullpen struggled for the first time in a long time, as the New Britain batters finally broke out some from the 6^th through 8^th innings. Then the B-Mets turned to Josh Smoker for the 9^th, and he’d put a halt to any late game momentum the Cats had built with a dominant inning – just see the slo-mo below.

            As good as Fulmer, his strikeout total and pitch count might’ve been lower had his defense been better behind him. There were 3 errors – two from Carrillo and one from Cecchini – and Fulmer also allowed 6 singles, so he was working in trouble throughout the start, but he never flinched or changed his approach. He got ahead early with his fastball, and then tried to get hitters to bite at a nasty, late-breaking slider. The Cats put runners on the corners with one out against Fulmer in the 3^rd, but he responded with a strikeout – the 6^th straight out via the K – and then induced a soft fly out to Conforto. They’d put runners on the corners with 0 outs in the 4^th inning, but Fulmer induced a soft line out to Mazzilli for the first out, and then struck out the next two batters.

            The B-Mets mentioned that they wanted to get their bullpen some work, so it’s possible that Fulmer was going to leave after 5 innings anyway, but the pinch-hitting opportunity that they removed for turned out to be critical in this game. Jared King would come up with the bases loaded and launch a grand slam to right center field for 4 critical runs. Akeel Moris and Adam Kolarek both allowed solo blasts, which happens, and if ever there was a game for them both to allow a homerun, this game was it. And again, Josh Smoker keeps looking better every time out, and has the stuff to be an impact lefty out of the Mets pen.

            The B-Mets head to Trenton for a 4-game series that starts Thursday night at 7:00 PM, with John Gant (4-4, 4.17 ERA) scheduled to pitch for Binghamton.

Scoring Highlights

            Michael Conforto and Brock Peterson hit back-to-back singles with two outs in the 1^st, but Brandon Nimmo couldn’t get them home.

            Xorge Carrillo got the B-Mets on the board with a two run homerun in the 2^nd inning.

            Josh Rodriguez added a two run homerun of his own in the 3^rd inning.

            J Rod and Joe Benson led off the 6^th with singles, and then a HBP loaded the bases for Michael Fulmer’s spot, so they sent Jared King up to pinch-hit, and he launched a grand slam to right center field. Gavin Cecchini followed with a triple down the RF line, and Conforto would knock him in two batters later.

            Cecchini’s other 3 hits.

Bonus Defense

            Gavin Cecchini committed another throwing error in this game.

Pitcher Coverage

Michael Fulmer

Table 1 – Pitch stats by inning

	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	Total
Total	10	15	18	21	18	82
Strikes	9	11	12	13	13	56
Swinging*	1	5	4	5	0	15

*18.3% Swinging strike rate

He finished the 1^st inning with a strikeout of Jordan Patterson, which started a streak of 6 straight outs via the strikeout.

He struck out 3 around a 1B/E2 in the 2^nd inning:

Dean Espy swinging.

Jayson Lagnfels swinging.

Phillip Pohl swinging.

            He added two more strikeouts in the 3^rd inning:

Ryan Carpenter swinging.

Noel Cuevas swinging.

            With runners on 2B and 3B in the 4^th, he induced a soft lineout to Mazzilli before striking out the final two batters in the frame:

Pohl swinging again.

Joew Wong swinging.

            His final strikeout was of Juan Ciriaco, and it was the only time he caught someone looking.

Josh Smoker

            Smoker worked a quick 1-2-3 9^th, and looked nasty.

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