Fireflies Offense Held In Check In Opener With Greensboro

Greensboro Grasshoppers @ Columbia Fireflies

July 12, 2017

Dylan Lee @ Harol Gonzalez

Teams	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9		R	H	E
Greensboro	1	0	0	1	1	0	0	0	1		4	7	0
Columbia	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0		1	6	0

W: Lee (4-90, 4.84 ERA); L: Gonzalez (5-7, 4.43 ERA); Save: Smith (3)

Boxscore

The Stats:

Pitchers

Harol Gonzalez (L, 5-7, 4.43 ERA) – 7 IP, 6 H, 3 R (3 ER), 1 2B, 1 HR, 10 TB, 2 BB, 4 K (3 K/Sw), 1 GIDP, 9 GB: 5 FB: 6 LD: 2 PU, 90 Pitches (61 Strikes), 7 Swinging, 17 Called, 7.8% SwStr, 15.9% Whiff/Swing, 12.9 Pitches/IP, 28 BF

Taylor Henry (3.41 ERA) – 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 TB, 4 GB, 10 Pitches (8 Strikes), 2 Called, 10 Pitches/IP, 4 BF

Adam Atkins (1.59 ERA) – 1 IP, 0 H, 1 R (1 ER), 1 BB, 1 K (1 K/Sw), 2 GB, 21 Pitches (12 Strikes), 3 Swinging, 4 Called, 14.3% SwStr, 37.5% Whiff/Swing, 21 Pitches/IP, 4 BF

Table 1 – Harol pitch stats by inning

	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th	7th	Total
Total	22	13	7	16	16	11	5	90
Strikes	16	10	6	8	10	7	4	61
Swinging*	1	4	1	0	1	0	0	7

*7.8% Swinging strike rate; 15.9% Whiff/Swing rate

Batters

SS - Andres Gimenez - 1-4, 1 SAC, 1 SB, 7.7% SwStr, 12.5% Whiff/Swing, 2.6 Pitches/PA

2B - Luis Carpio - 1-2, 1 RBI, 2 BB, 1 HBP, 4.6 Pitches/PA

CF - Desmond Lindsay - 0-5, 3 K, 11.5% SwStr, 25% Whiff/Swing, 5.2 Pitches/PA

DH - Brandon Brosher - 1-5, 3 K, 17.6% SwStr, 33.3% Whiff/Swing, 3.4 Pitches/PA

LF - Jacob Zanon - 1-3, 1 HBP, 1 K, 1 SB, 5% SwStr, 11.1% Whiff/Swing, 5 Pitches/PA

1B - Dash Winningham - 0-4, 1 K, 15.8% SwStr, 33.3% Whiff/Swing, 4.75 Pitches/PA

C - Dan Rizzie - 1-4, 1 K, 1 GIDP, 6.7% SwStr, 14.3% Whiff/Swing, 3.75 Pitches/PA

3B - Colby Woodmansee - 0-2, 1 R, 2 BB, 3 Pitches/PA

RF - Arnaldo Berrios - 1-3, 1 BB, 1 K, 22.2% SwStr, 36.4% Whiff/Swing, 4.5 Pitches/PA

Recapish

            The Columbia Fireflies recent struggles to hit with runners in scoring position continued Wednesday night as they took a 4-1 loss to the Greensboro Grasshoppers. Cola starter Harol Gonzalez turned in a strong seven-inning performance for the fifth time in fifteen starts this year, he just got little run support from his teammates. The Fireflies lost three of four in Charleston this past weekend in large part because they left 35 runners on base and went just 7-37 with runners in scoring position – and two of those hits came as they charged back to salvage a win in the 9^th inning Monday night. As bad as that was, they were even worse Wednesday, leaving twelve runners on base and finishing just 1-12 with runners in scoring position. Desmond Lindsay was the biggest offender, leaving the bases loaded twice just two days after his huge 9^th inning grand slam.

            Harol Gonzalez has been better than his overall numbers this season, but he’s still a work in progress. His fastball has been clocked as high as 94 MPH in his career, but it’s been inconsistent from start-to-start this year, and sat 86-88 last night (per Scott Klose, who was at the game). That’s the shaky part. The good part is that his changeup has been as advertised, and his curve has a chance to be a plus pitch moving forward too. The Cola broadcast shared the following PITCHF/x stats on Harol’s curve, courtesy of Fireflies video coordinator Dan Fox: the pitch has an average spin rate of ~2,800 RPM and average vertical drop of 13.6” (check out some examples of the curve in the highlights below).

            The Grasshoppers jumped ahead 1-0 against Harol in the 1^st. Gonzalez issued a leadoff walk to Brian Miller, and then Corey Bird doubled him to third before a sac fly brought him in. Harol G finished the frame with a strikeout of Colby Lusignan and pop out induced.

Bird

K #1

            Luis Carpio connected for the Fireflies first hit in the bottom of the 1^st, Jacob Zanon singled and stole second base in the 2^nd, and Andres Gimenez singled and eventually stole third base in the 3^rd, but the Fireflies did not get their lone run early Wednesday night.

Carpio

Zanon

Gimenez

            That Greensboro sac fly started a streak of ten straight set down by Harol G, which lasted him into the 4^th. Gonzalez struck out Jarrett Rindfleisch and Bird during the streak, but ran into two out trouble during the inning it ended. Harol issued a two out walk with a runner on second base and Rindfleisch followed with an RBI single into CF.

K #2

K #3

Gimenez at SS

K #4

            Aaron Knapp greeted Harol G with a solo blast in the 5^th. It’s the ninth homer Gonzalez has allowed this season and the fifth against him in his last five starts. The first four homers against him came during a seven-inning span in mid-May, so this is more of a recent trend, and hopefully a passing one at that. Gonzalez finished his night with a streak of eight straight set down, and he needed just sixteen pitches combined for the 6^th and 7^th innings.

Knapp

463

Lindsay in CF

Gimenez at SS

Woodmansee at third

            Arnaldo Berrios singled as the Fireflies loaded up the bases with two outs in the 5^th, but Lindsay couldn’t come through. Brandon Brosher led off the 6^th with a single and the Fireflies had two on with nobody out in the frame, but the inning was cut short by a double play two batters later.

Berrios

Brosher

            Columbia finally scratched out a run in the 7^th, although they still needed a lot of help from Greensboro to get it. The Grasshoppers reliever Michael Mertz walked two batters and then hit Carpio with the bases loaded to force in a run. Andres Gimenez had the only hit in the frame, and it was his second bunt single of the game. Aside from the HBP, Columbia went 0-4 with the bases loaded in this game: three strikeouts and one pop out.

Gimenez

Carpio

Rizzie added a single in the 8th

            After seven strong from his starter, Manager Jose Leger went to Taylor Henry for the 8^th and the lefty put up a quick scoreless frame. Adam Atkins took over for the 9^th and looked good, but his stuff was dancing a little too much, which allowed Greensboro to score a run without a hit. Atkins walked a batter, uncorked a wild pitch, and then threw a pitch that catcher Dan Rizzie couldn’t handle for a passed ball, and that all added up to the Grasshoppers fourth run.

Atkins

Gimenez at SS

K

            The Fireflies went down quietly in the 9^th to drop to 7-12 in the second half. Looking ahead, the Fireflies will give the ball to Thomas McIlraith as they try to even the series with Greensboro Thursday night at 7:05 PM.

Some Todd Pratt love from the broadcast:

The former Mets catcher + current Greensboro manager put on the gear to warmup his reliever

  

An @almaobs view on the kinematics of a young star! Check out our press release at https://t.co/ATbSAHnxVH @maxplanckpress @AandA_journal pic.twitter.com/R3mmmbNPlb

— Felipe Alves (@felipedeoalves) July 13, 2017