Columbia Fireflies @ Greenville Drive
June 14, 2017
Teams
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1
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2
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3
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4
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5
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6
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7
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8
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9
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10
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11
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R
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H
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E
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Columbia
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0
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0
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1
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0
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0
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0
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0
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0
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1
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0
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4
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6
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13
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3
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Greenville
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1
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0
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0
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0
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0
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0
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1
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0
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0
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0
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0
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2
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5
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1
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W: Blackham (3-0,
1.32 ERA); L: Smith (0-1, 6.75 ERA)
The Highlights:
Pitchers
Merandy Gonzalez
(1.55 ERA) – 6.1 IP, 4 H, 2 R (1 ER), 4 TB, 2 BB, 2 HBP, 4 K (3 K/Sw), 1 GIDP,
12 GB: 2 FB: 2 LD: 1 PU, 97 Pitches (65 Strikes), 11 Swinging, 19 Called, 11.3%
SwStr, 23.9% Whiff/Swing, 15.3 Pitches/IP, 27 BF
Adonis Uceta (1.88 ERA) – 2.2 IP, 1 H, 1 TB, 1 BB, 2 K (2
K/Sw), 3 GB: 3 FB: 1 PU, 45 Pitches (33 Strikes), 7 Swinging, 7 Called, 15.6%
SwStr, 26.9% Whiff/Swing, 16.9 Pitches/IP, 10 BF
Matt Blackham (W, 3-0, 1.32 ERA) – 2 IP, 1 BB, 5 K (5 K/Sw),
1 FB, 35 Pitches (22 Strikes), 8 Swinging, 5 Called, 22.9% SwStr, 47.1%
Whiff/Swing, 17.5 Pitches/IP, 7 BF
Batters
CF - Gene Cone - 2-6, 2 R, 1 3B, 2 RBI, 2 K, 12.5% SwStr,
23.1% Whiff/Swing, 4 Pitches/PA
SS - Andres Gimenez - 2-6, 1 SB, 6.9% SwStr, 12.5%
Whiff/Swing, 4.83 Pitches/PA
DH - Michael Paez - 1-5, 1 RBI, 1 SF, 2 K, 23.5% SwStr,
44.4% Whiff/Swing, 2.83 Pitches/PA
1B - Dash Winningham - 1-5, 1 R, 1 HR, 2 RBI, 1 BB, 1 K,
16.1% SwStr, 35.7% Whiff/Swing, 5.17 Pitches/PA
2B - Luis Carpio - 1-5, 1 BB, 4.5% SwStr, 9.1% Whiff/Swing,
3.67 Pitches/PA
C – Ali Sanchez - 1-2, 1 K, 5 Pitches/PA
PH/C – Brandon Brosher - 0-3, 3 K, 18.2% SwStr, 50%
Whiff/Swing, 3.67 Pitches/PA
RF - Jay Jabs - 3-5, 1 R, 1 HR, 1 RBI, 2 K, 13.8% SwStr, 40%
Whiff/Swing, 5.8 Pitches/PA
LF – Tim Tebow - 1-2, 2 BB, 1 HBP, 1 K, 4.8% SwStr, 16.7%
Whiff/Swing, 4.2 Pitches/PA
PR/LF – Jose Medina
3B - Milton Ramos - 1-5, 1 R, 2 K, 23.5% SwStr, 40%
Whiff/Swing, 3.4 Pitches/PA
Recapish
The
Columbia Fireflies and Greenville Drive are playing for a playoff spot this
week and the first two games of their series in Greenville have arguably been
the most exciting Fireflies games of the year, which is what you’d expect from
the top two teams of the SAL. The wildness broke Columbia’s way for a 6-2 win
to even the series Wednesday night, but there’s been a little bit of everything
going on so far: good pitching, good defense, errors, clearly bad umpire calls,
controversial homeruns, overturned calls, a sac fly to the pitcher, three
ejections, and, most importantly, two tightly battled contests. Let’s get into
the action from game two.
The
Fireflies would get to Greenville starter Kyle Hart for seven singles and a
pair of walks over his four innings, but they could only scratch out one run against
him. Michael Paez picked up the first hit of the game with a two out single in
the 1st.
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| Paez |
Merandy
Gonzalez entered the night with a 1.6 BB/9 rate, having issued more than one
walk just three times, and never more than two in a start this year. In two of
those two-walk games, Merandy had hit two batters (he had hit four batters
total this year), so tonight was his third two-walk, two-HBP game of the
season. He was able to work around both walks and the second HBP, but that
first HBP came back to burn him.
The
first HBP put Lorenzo Cedrola on base with nobody out in the 1st.
Cedrola stole second, went to third on a groundout, and then scored on a two
out infield single off the bat of Ryan Scott.
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| Swinging strike |
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| Swinging strike |
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| Gimenez at short |
Luis
Carpio led off the Cola 2nd with a hit to LF, but he was thrown out
trying to hustle for a double. Jay Jabs would single two batters later ahead of
a Tim Tebow walk, but the Fireflies couldn’t get a run in. Milton Ramos made
good contact on a grounder headed for LF, but Mitchell Gunsolus made a nice
stop and made the throw to second just in time to get Tebow. Had Tebow slid, he
might’ve been safe, and he could be seen having a word with Jose Leger about it
near the third base bag as the Drive broadcast went to break.
 |
| Carpio |
Andres
Gimenez was kept busy over the first two innings and made a nice spin play in
the 2nd. Merandy finished the frame with a strikeout of Nick
Lovullo.
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| Gimenez getting fancy at short |
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| K #1 |
Gene
Cone got the Fireflies 3rd going with a single and then went to
third on a single yanked into RF off the bat of Andres Gimenez. Unfortunately,
Gimenez was thrown out trying to extend his hit into a double as well, which
put a damper on the inning. Still, the Fireflies had Michael Paez and Dash
Winningham due up with a runner at third, so there was a good chance they’d tie
this game up. They did tie it, but it took a sac fly to the pitcher to get the
run home, #YCPB (see below).
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| Cone |
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| Gimenez |
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| Paez, nice catch from Hart |
The
Drive went down in order during the 3rd, and Merandy struck out
Chris Madera to end the frame.
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| Swinging strike |
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| Gimenez at short |
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| K #2 |
Columbia
loaded the bases with just one out in the 4th, but then Milton Ramos
and Cone went down swinging back-to-back to end the frame. Ali Sanchez and Jay Jabs singled in the frame.
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| Ali |
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| Jabs |
The
first two Greenville batters of the 4th reached on a single and
walk, but Merandy faced just three batters in the frame.
After
Hart barely escaped with just one run allowed over the previous three innings
and with his pitch count at 81, the Drive manager went to his pen for the 5th.
Andres Gimenez started the frame with his second hit of the game, but Columbia
did nothing else in the inning.
Merandy
worked around a pair of base runners in the 5th, striking out
Lorenzo Cedrola for a big second out along the way. Ali Sanchez took a foul
ball to his foot in the frame and would leave this game, but he would finish
the frame behind the plate.
Tim
Tebow’s second hit of the game came with two outs in the top of the 6th.
Working
with a new catcher (Brandon Brosher), Merandy struck out Scott during a
scoreless bottom of the 6th.
In
the 7th, Greenville took advantage of an E4 on the first play of the
frame to jump ahead. Isaias Lucena reached on a throwing error, so the Drive
immediately looked to sac bunt him over. What they didn’t count on was
Merandy’s cat-like reflexes, which allowed him to quickly field the ball and
throw a strike to second base for the first out of the inning. However, Merandy
walked the next batter to put a runner on second anyway, and that was it for
his night.
Adonis
Uceta came out of the pen having allowed just one inherited runner to score all
season long (on a sac fly), but that total doubled on Wednesday night. He
induced a pop out from the first batter he saw out of the pen, but then
uncorked a wild pitch during Santiago Espinal’s AB, which allowed both runners
to advanced 90 feet. Uceta did get the best of Espinal, inducing a weak grounder
towards third, but the ball was so weakly hit that Espinal was able to easily
beat it out for an infield hit. Uceta would strikeout Madera to end the 7th,
but the Drive had taken a 2-1 lead.
Uceta
stayed in for the next two frames, striking out Carlos Tovar during a perfect 8th
and working around a walk in the 9th. He couldn’t maintain the tie,
but he gave the Fireflies pen depth and was throwing fire. Per Lou
Bezjak, Uceta was hitting ~95-96 multiple times throughout the outing (the
scoreboard reported 97-98, but Bezjak confirmed that those readings are 1-2 MPH
high). Bezjak does a great job covering the Fireflies for The State, if you’re ever looking for more
from within the clubhouse about the Mets A-ball affiliate.
 |
| K #2 |
The
strong relief work from Uceta kept things close enough that any homer could tie
it, and that’s just what happened in the 9th. Jay Jabs, who had a
huge 9th inning Monday night, led off the frame with a solo blast,
although the umps nearly blew another 9th inning call for Columbia.
As you can see, the wall in CF is weird.
The green wall is in play, and anything hit above the green wall is a homer.
This ball hits above the green wall, but because it was so borderline and the
ball bounced right back into play, no homer was called and Jabs initially ended
up at third base with a triple.
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| Jabs |
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| Above the green part is a homer |
After some persuasion from Jose
Leger, the ump’s decided to overturn the call, which set Drive Manager Darren
Fenster off to the point of ejection. The umps didn’t initially signal to
everyone that they were overturning the call, they just started explaining the
situation to Fenster. Of course, it became apparent to anyone watching the
discussion that they were going to
overturn the call, because Fenster eventually threw his hat on the ground and
kicked it, which led to his ejection. I think they got the call right, but I’m
not sure what basis they would have for overturning it, so I’d be pretty pissed
too.
The
Fireflies loaded the bases in the 10th with the aid of an E6 and two
walks, but then the umps decided it had been too long since they made a bad
call. Brandon Brosher got the first chance and he was hit with a pitch on his
hand, but for some reason the home plate ump decided it was a foul ball.
Brosher ended up taking a called third strike in the AB, and then Jabs went
down swinging to end the threat, so Columbia was unable to take the lead.
 |
| Gimenez reaching on an error |
 |
| Brosher takes a HBP |
Matt
Blackham came in for the 10th and he was nasty. He did walk the
first batter he faced out of the pen, but then struck out five of the next six
while earning the win.
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| K #1 |
 |
| K #2 |
While
the 10th may have been very tense for Blackham, the bottom of the 11th
was a little easier, as his teammates had handed him a four-run lead to work
with. Tim Tebow started the game-winning rally by taking a HBP. Jose Medina,
whom the Fireflies activated to take Desmond Lindsay’s roster spot earlier in
the day Wednesday, would replace Tebow on the bases.
As an aside, Lindsay has been moved
to the 7-day DL (likely to do with his head first slide into home plate Monday
night), but he has been a first base coach during this series, and there are no
casts or other apparent hindrances.
Milton
Ramos followed the HBP with a bunt single, and then a wild pitch put two
runners in scoring position for Gene Cone. Cone came through with a two run
triple to give the Fireflies their first lead of the game. Dash Winningham
would double the size of that lead three batters later when he hit his eleventh
homer of the season just fair down the RF line. This homerun call would also be
controversial, as the Drive insisted the ball went foul, and eventually
pitching coach Walter Miranda joined his Manager in the clubhouse with an
ejection.
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| Ramos |
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| Cone |
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| Dash |
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| Looks like the ball disappears behind the pole |
Blackham
struck out the side in the 11th to seal the deal and bring the
Fireflies back to within one-half game of the division lead.
If
instant replay were available, the Fireflies might already be up two games to
none in this series, but they still have a chance to take over the division
lead with a win Thursday night. This will be Columbia’s best chance to take
over the division, and they’ll give the ball to one of their hottest pitchers
for the 7:05 PM start. Harol Gonzalez (3-4, 4.34 ERA for the season) has been
pretty lights out over his last five starts, posting a 1.97 ERA and 24 K: 9 BB
over 32 IP with just 31 hits allowed. He threw a season high 106 pitches over
7.2 IP in his last start, holding Charleston to just one run in the Fireflies
win.
Pitcher Coverage
Table 1 – Merandy pitch stats by inning
1st
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2nd
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3rd
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4th
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5th
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6th
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7th
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Total
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Total
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15
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19
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13
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12
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15
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11
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12
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97
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Strikes
|
12
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12
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9
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8
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9
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9
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6
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65
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Swinging*
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2
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1
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4
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1
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2
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0
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1
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11
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*11.3% Swinging strike rate; 23.9% Whiff/Swing rate
Chaotically magnetized cloud is no place to build a star, or is it? https://t.co/C81B9ywLcc pic.twitter.com/N3eoFw9HcV— Science (@scienmag) June 14, 2017
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