Almonte Excels In Season Debut

West Virginia Power @ Columbia Fireflies

June 11, 2016

Dario Agrazal @ Gaby Almonte

Teams	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9		R	H	E
West Virginia	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	1	0		2	12	1
Columbia	1	2	0	3	0	2	0	0	X		8	11	1

W: Almonte (1-0, 0.00 ERA); L: Agrazal (3-5, 4.58 ERA)

Boxscore

The Highlights:

Pitchers

Gaby Almonte (W, 1-0, 0.00 ERA) – 6 IP, 8 H, 1 R (0 ER), 1 2B, 9 TB, 2 K (1 K/Sw), 1 GIDP, 11 GB: 6 FB: 3 LD: 2 PU, 79 Pitches (52 Strikes), 2 Swinging, 18 Called, 2.5% SwStr, 5.9% Whiff/Swing, 13.2 Pitches/IP, 25 BF

Witt Haggard (6.23 ERA) – 1 IP, 2 H, 2 TB, 1 GIDP, 1 GB: 3 LD, 23 Pitches (15 Strikes), 2 Called, 23 Pitches/IP, 4 BF

Tyler Bashlor (1.88 ERA) – 2 IP, 2 H, 1 R (0 ER), 1 2B, 3 TB, 1 BB, 3 K (3 K/Sw), 1 GB: 2 FB: 1 LD: 1 PU, 44 Pitches (25 Strikes), 6 Swinging, 6 Called, 13.6% SwStr, 31.6% Whiff/Swing, 22 Pitches/IP, 10 BF

Batters

2B - Vinny Siena - 1-2, 1 R, 1 3B, 2 BB, 1 HBP, 1 SB, 3.4 Pitches/PA

CF - Kevin Kaczmarski - 0-2, 2 RBI, 2 BB, 1 SF, 6.7% SwStr, 20% Whiff/Swing, 3 Pitches/PA

3B - David Thompson - 2-5, 1 GIDP, 1 CS, 12.5% SwStr, 22.2% Whiff/Swing, 3.2 Pitches/PA

1B - Luis Ortega - 1-3, 1 RBI, 1 SF, 1 K, 14.3% SwStr, 20% Whiff/Swing, 3.5 Pitches/PA

DH - Patrick Mazeika - 1-4, 1 R, 1 2B, 1 K, 5.3% SwStr, 11.1% Whiff/Swing, 4.75 Pitches/PA

SS - Milton Ramos - 1-4, 1 RBI, 1 K, 21.4% SwStr, 42.9% Whiff/Swing, 3.5 Pitches/PA

LF - Joe Tuschak - 2-4, 2 R, 1 2B, 1 K, 6.7% SwStr, 10% Whiff/Swing, 3.75 Pitches/PA

RF - Jeff Diehl - 2-3, 3 R, 1 2B, 1 HR, 3 RBI, 1 BB, 1 K, 14.3% SwStr, 50% Whiff/Swing, 3.5 Pitches/PA

C - Tyler Moore - 1-3, 1 R, 1 RBI, 1 BB, 8.3% SwStr, 20% Whiff/Swing, 3 Pitches/PA

Recapish

            The Columbia Fireflies continued their dominance over the West Virginia Power with an 8-2 win behind Gaby Almonte Saturday night. Almonte was very effective in his 2016 debut, and he got plenty of run support from his teammates. The Fireflies finished one batter shy of a hit party, and the one guy who went hitless (Kevin Kaczmarski), reached base twice and knocked in a pair of runs anyway.

            Almonte’s fastball topped around 90 MPH, and he mixed in a low 80’s changeup and a breaking ball. The announcers were calling it a curveball, but it looked more like a slider because there wasn’t much drop to it. Almonte has a delivery similar to Gabriel Ynoa, and a similar pitch-to-contact approach, but he’s 9 months older and three levels lower his fellow DR native – they missed each other by one season in the DSL.

            The Fireflies gave Almonte a big lead early, building it up to 6-0 after 4 innings. Vinny Siena tripled for the second straight game and Jeffrey Diehl tattooed a pair of balls for 3 RBI’s on the night.

            Almonte pitched a clean 3^rd inning but had to work around baserunner in every other frame. He didn’t pick up his first strikeout until the 4^th, but it came at a big time, as it allowed him to strand two runners on base. He then struck out the first batter of the 5^th – his former teammate with the Brooklyn Cyclones Alfredo Reyes – before the Power broke through with an unearned run. Logan Ratledge singled into LF, stole 2B, went to 3B when catcher Tyler Moore’s throw went into CF, and then scored on Mitchell Tolman’s hit.

            Witt Haggard and Tyler Bashlor worked the final 3 innings, allowing just another unearned run on a passed ball in the 8^th. Bashlor was working out of the windup when possible in this one, something he’s started doing occasionally over the past few weeks.

            I break down the scoring details with highlights below so enjoy! This series wraps up Sunday afternoon at 2:05 PM, with Kevin Canelon (4-3, 2.83 ERA) scheduled to pitch for the Fireflies.

MiLB.tv Scoring Highlights

            Vinny Siena led off the game with a triple for the second straight game and was knocked in by Kevin Kaczmarski during the 1^st inning for the third straight game. David Thompson added his first hit of the game in the 1^st.

            Joe Tuschak doubled to keep the 2^nd inning alive and then came home to score on Jeffrey Diehl’s fifth blast of the season.

            Patrick Mazeika led off the 4^th inning with a double lined into RF. Milton Ramos knocked him in one batter later to give the Fireflies a 4-0 lead, although he’d be thrown out at 2B on the play. Tushcak got things rolling again with a single into RF before coming around on Diehl’s fourth double of the season. Tyler Moore brought Diehl home to cap the scoring for the frame.

            Thompson and Luis Ortega singled leading off the 5^th inning, but neither would come around to score in the frame. Mazeika nearly hit his first homer of the year, but just yanked it foul.

            The Fireflies scored a run without doing a thing in the 6^th inning, as Billy Roth walked the only 4 batters he faced for a run. Ortega added a sac fly in the frame.

MiLB.tv Defensive Highlights

            Milton Ramos made a diving stop and got the ball to 2B just in time for the out to end the 2^nd inning, which saved a run.

            The Fireflies turned a pair of double plays in this one.

Pitcher Coverage

Gaby Almonte

Table 1 – Almonte pitch stats by inning

	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th	Total
Total	15	14	7	16	16	11	79
Strikes	11	9	4	10	10	8	52
Swinging*	0	0	0	1	0	1	2

*2.5% Swinging strike rate; 5.9% Whiff/Swing rate

            With runners on 1B and 2B and two outs in the 4^th inning, Gaby Almonte got Christian Kelley swinging to end the threat.

            Almonte then struck out former Cyclones teammate Alfredo Reyes leading off the 5^th inning.

Bonus

Tyler Bashlor

            Bachlor started his outing with a strikeout of Ke’Bryan Hayes in the 8^th inning.

He then picked up a huge strikeout of Logan Hill for out #2 with a runner on 3B later in the frame.

Bashlor stayed out for the 9^th and started that frame with a strikeout of Kelley.

  

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— NASA JPL (@NASAJPL) June 11, 2016