Rare Blowup From Ponies Pen Leads To A Rumble Ponies Loss

Bowie Baysox @ Binghamton Rumble Ponies

June 21, 2017

Tanner Scott @ P.J. Conlon

Teams	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9		R	H	E
Bowie	0	0	0	0	1	2	0	7	3		13	15	1
Binghamton	0	0	1	1	2	2	0	1	0		7	14	0

W: Cleavinger (2-3, 6.51 ERA); L: Burns (0-2, 7.98 ERA)

Boxscore

The Highlights:

Pitchers

P.J. Conlon (3.56 ERA) – 7 IP, 7 H, 3 R (3 ER), 2 2B, 1 HR, 12 TB, 2 BB, 3 K (2 K/Sw), 1 GIDP, 14 GB: 5 FB: 3 LD: 2 PU, 91 Pitches (65 Strikes), 6 Swinging, 22 Called, 6.6% SwStr, 14% Whiff/Swing, 13 Pitches/IP, 29 BF

Cory Burns (BS, 2)(L, 0-2, 7.98 ERA) – 1 IP, 5 H, 7 R (7 ER), 1 2B, 6 TB, 1 BB, 7 GB: 1 LD, 29 Pitches (21 Strikes), 3 Swinging, 5 Called, 10.3% SwStr, 18.8% Whiff/Swing, 29 Pitches/IP, 9 BF

Scarlyn Reyes (7.13 ERA) – 0.1 IP, 3 H, 2 R (2 ER), 1 2B, 4 TB, 2 BB, 1 GB: 1 FB: 2 LD, 24 Pitches (13 Strikes), 2 Swinging, 2 Called, 8.3% SwStr, 18.2% Whiff/Swing, 72 Pitches/IP, 6 BF

Ben Griset (2.91 ERA) – 0.2 IP, 1 R (1 ER), 1 GB: 1 FB, 6 Pitches (4 Strikes), 1 Called, 9 Pitches/IP, 2 BF

Batters

LF - Champ Stuart - 1-5, 2 R, 1 BB, 4 K, 19.4% SwStr, 46.2% Whiff/Swing, 5.17 Pitches/PA

SS - Luis Guillorme - 2-5, 3 R, 1 BB, 2 K, 5.9% SwStr, 14.3% Whiff/Swing, 2.83 Pitches/PA

DH - Kevin Taylor - 2-4, 1 RBI, 1 BB, 10.5% SwStr, 33.3% Whiff/Swing, 3.8 Pitches/PA

1B - Matt Oberste - 3-4, 1 R, 3 RBI, 1 BB, 3 Pitches/PA

C - Tomas Nido - 1-4, 1 RBI, 1 SF, 1.8 Pitches/PA

3B - David Thompson - 2-5, 1 2B, 1 RBI, 1 K, 10% SwStr, 16.7% Whiff/Swing, 4 Pitches/PA

RF - Kevin Kaczmarski - 0-2, 3 BB, 1 K, 1 CS, 3.8% SwStr, 25% Whiff/Swing, 5.2 Pitches/PA

2B - Dale Burdick - 2-5, 1 R, 2 K, 20.8% SwStr, 31.2% Whiff/Swing, 4.8 Pitches/PA

CF - Patrick Biondi - 1-4, 1 BB, 1 K, 1 CS, 8% SwStr, 20% Whiff/Swing, 5 Pitches/PA

Recapish

            Another strong start from P.J. Conlon took a sudden cliff dive for the Rumble Ponies in the 8^th, as Bowie exploded for ten runs over the final two innings to take game two of this series 13-7. The Rumble Ponies had been 30-0 when leading after five innings thanks to the great work of their bullpen, but Cory Burns was brought into a tough situation during the 8^th and the floodgates opened for Bowie. The Binghamton offense connected for fourteen hits Wednesday night – only one of those went for extra bases – and every batter reached base at least twice except Tomas Nido, who finished with a single and sac fly.

            The game featured a matchup of two very different lefties. Binghamton’s lefty relies on excellent control of his upper-80’s heat and secondaries, while Bowie’s lefty features a power arm (upper-90’s heater, mid-to-upper 80’s slider). Conlon came out dealing, allowing just a walk over the first four innings on 45 pitches while the Ponies jumped ahead 2-0.

Thompson at third

            Binghamton’s first hits came in the 2^nd, when Tomas Nido and David Thompson lined back-to-back singles into the outfield, but the next two batters went down swinging.

Nido

Thompson

            Tanner Scott made it four straight strikeouts with two straight to start the 3^rd, but then the Ponies rattled off three straight two-out hits for a run. Luis Guillorme, Kevin Taylor, and Matt Oberste provided the offense, and it was the first of three RBI hits for Oberste in this game.

Guillorme

Taylor

Oberste

            The Ponies added another run with two outs in the 4^th. Dale Burdick kept the inning alive with a two out single through the left side, and then he came around to score on a throwing error from the Bowie third baseman. Patrick Biondi was credited with a single on the play and ended up at second, but he would be thrown out trying to steal third to end the frame.

Burdick

Biondi

            Adam Brett Walker cut the Ponies lead in half with a solo blast during the Bowie 5^th. It was the fifth straight start during which Conlon has allowed a homerun, and he’s now allowed eight homerun’s over his last 45.1 IP.

Thompson at third

            Binghamton got that run back plus one more in their half of the 5^th. The first four batters of the frame reached – Champ Stuart single, Guillorme single, Taylor walk, and another Oberste RBI single – but they only managed one additional run from the situation, and they left the bases loaded.

Champ

Guillorme

Oberste

            Bowie answered right back with two more in the 6^th. The three hits in the frame came on hard grounders just out of the reach of diving Binghamton infielder’s, which prompted the radio announcers to suggest that Conlon was just a few inches away from another quick inning. Conlon was called for a balk during the frame and then Adrian Marin followed with the biggest hit of the inning, doubling home the base runner to make it a 4-2 game. He’d eventually score to make it 4-3.

            But again, Binghamton went out and got those runs back. Champ and Guillorme worked walks in the bottom of the 6^th, and the Taylor and Oberste followed with RBI singles to make this a 6-3 game.

Taylor

Oberste

            Even though Bowie was starting to hit him harder, there was likely no consideration given to removing Conlon before the 7^th, as his pitch count was just 71. Bowie went 1-3 with a walk against Conlon in the 7^th, but Conlon needed just ten pitches to navigate the frame thanks to a 4-6-3 double play turned behind him.

            Burdick made it a 2-hit night when he singled in the 7^th, but the Ponies left two in scoring position during the frame.

            Conlon was sent out again for the 8^th, but he was quickly removed after the first two reached to put runners on the corners with nobody out. Cory Burns took over and retired the first batter on a fielder’s choice, but everything went downhill after that. The next five batters reached on a walk, three singles and a two run double (Austin Wynns’ thirteenth), which gave the Baysox a 10-6 lead. With the floodgates wide open, Bowie’s offense added three more runs against Scarlyn Reyes in the 9^th, putting this game out of reach.

Close play went Bowie's way even though the ball beat the runner to the plate

Guillorme at shortstop

Burdick at second

            Although it was not nearly enough to start a comeback bid, the Rumble Ponies did scratch out a run in the 8^th when David Thompson connected for his 15^th double of the season to knock in Oberste (walk).

            These two teams wrap up their series with a rubber match Thursday evening at 6:35 PM, no starter had been announced for Binghamton by the time this was posted.

Pitcher Coverage

Table 1 – Conlon pitch stats by inning

	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th	7th	8th	Total
Total	12	6	12	15	8	18	10	10	91
Strikes	10	5	7	13	6	12	6	6	65
Swinging*	1	0	0	2	0	2	0	1	6

*6.6% Swinging strike rate; 14% Whiff/Swing rate

The Rumble Ponies radio shared the following during the broadcast.

Pitch breakdown: Upper 80’s fastball, changeup is primary secondary offering followed by his curveball, and his slider has been ‘rarely used’ this year.

Conlon’s first strikeout came on a 2-2 changeup against Cedric Mullins (swinging).

His second strikeout came on a 0-2 fastball on the inside black against Adam Brett Walker (looking).

His final strikeout came on a 1-2 two-seamer that ran just off the plate against Mullins (swinging).

  

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