EL Pitcher of the Year Corey Oswalt Leads Rumble Ponies To Game One Win In Division Series

Trenton Thunder @ Binghamton Rumble Ponies

Eastern League Division Series

Game One

September 6, 2017

Dillon Tate @ Corey Oswalt

Teams	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9		R	H	E
Trenton	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0		1	6	0
Binghamton	2	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	X		4	7	0

W: Oswalt (1-0, 1.29 ERA); L: Tate (0-1, 12.00 ERA); Save: Bashlor (1)

Boxscore

The Stats:

Pitchers

Corey Oswalt (W, 1-0, 1.29 ERA) – 7 IP, 5 H, 1 R (1 ER), 5 TB, 1 BB, 7 K (4 K/Sw), 12 GB: 2 FB: 5 LD, 105 Pitches (70 Strikes), 12 Swinging, 18 Called, 11.4% SwStr, 23.1% Whiff/Swing, 15 Pitches/IP, 27 BF

Tim Peterson (H, 1, 0.00 ERA) – 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 2 K (2 K/Sw), 1 GB, 11 Pitches (9 Strikes), 3 Swinging, 3 Called, 27.3% SwStr, 50% Whiff/Swing, 11 Pitches/IP, 3 BF

Tyler Bashlor (S, 1, 0.00 ERA) – 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 2B, 2 TB, 1 BB, 3 K (3 K/Sw), 1 LD, 25 Pitches (16 Strikes), 5 Swinging, 5 Called, 20% SwStr, 45.5% Whiff/Swing, 25 Pitches/IP, 5 BF

Table 1 – Oswalt pitch stats by inning

	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th	7th	Total
Total	17	18	13	18	9	11	19	105
Strikes	13	9	8	13	7	7	13	70
Swinging*	3	1	2	1	0	3	2	12

*11.4% Swinging strike rate; 23.1% Whiff/Swing rate

Batters

2B - Luis Guillorme - 1-3, 1 R, 1 BB, 1 K, 12.5% SwStr, 28.6% Whiff/Swing, 4 Pitches/PA

RF - Kevin Kaczmarski - 0-3, 1 R, 1 BB, 2 K, 31.2% SwStr, 71.4% Whiff/Swing, 4 Pitches/PA

DH - Peter Alonso - 1-2, 1 R, 1 2B, 2 RBI, 2 BB, 1 K, 5.9% SwStr, 50% Whiff/Swing, 4.25 Pitches/PA

LF - Kevin Taylor - 1-4, 1 R, 1 K, 1 GIDP, 6.2% SwStr, 14.3% Whiff/Swing, 4 Pitches/PA

1B - Matt Oberste - 1-4, 1 2B, 2 RBI, 2 K, 14.3% SwStr, 28.6% Whiff/Swing, 3.5 Pitches/PA

3B - David Thompson - 0-4, 2 K, 13.3% SwStr, 28.6% Whiff/Swing, 3.75 Pitches/PA

C - Tomas Nido - 1-4, 1 K, 13.3% SwStr, 25% Whiff/Swing, 3.75 Pitches/PA

CF - Patrick Biondi - 1-4, 1 2B, 1 SB, 12.5% SwStr, 20% Whiff/Swing, 2 Pitches/PA

SS - Gustavo Nunez - 1-2, 1 BB, 1 K, 2 SB, 20% SwStr, 50% Whiff/Swing, 5 Pitches/PA

Recapish

            The Binghamton Rumble Ponies playoff push began Wednesday as they opened a best-of-5 series with the first place Trenton Thunder. Ponies ace and EL Pitcher of the Year Corey Oswalt took the ball for Binghamton in the opener and continued his big season with seven dominant innings in a 4-1 win. Oswalt actually stumbled early, as the Thunder jumped ahead 1-0 in the 1^st, but he recovered to throw six scoreless frames after that. Meanwhile, the Ponies patient approach opened the door for several big opportunities against Trenton starter Dillon Tate early. Binghamton boppers Peter Alonso and Matt Oberste cashed in on those opportunities with two-run doubles to account for the Ponies score and the difference in the game.

            “If you don’t get to him early, you won’t get to him.” How many times have you been watching a game with some top-notch pitching going and heard an announcer say that? Well that’s been the case for Corey Oswalt this season. He’s been vulnerable in the 1^st, but very hard to score upon after that, and that’s how this game went down. Trenton had Oswalt on the ropes in each of the first two frames, but they couldn’t provide a knockout punch.

            Oswalt struck out two of the first three batters – Jeff Hendrix and Clint Frazier – but then Garrett Cooper connected on the second single of the frame to put runners on the corners for Dante Bichette. Oswalt got ahead of Bichette, but then he threw a wild pitch that bounced out of play, which allowed the first run of the game to come home. With Cooper now on second base, Bichette hit a slow grounder that appeared to be heading into RF before Luis Guillorme slid by to save a run with an amazin’ play.

K #1 @ 93 MPH

K #2 @ 93 MPH

Guillorme

            I mentioned in the series preview that the Ponies patient approach could end up being a problem for Trenton starter Dillon Tate, and then Tate went out and walked four batters in just 3+ innings of work. Tate walked the first two batters of the bottom of the 1^st, which brought up the Ponies newest slugger, Peter Alonso. Alonso waited for a pitch he could hit and then stroked a double towards right center field to give Rumbletown a 2-1 lead.

Alonso

            Trenton’s only other serious threat against Oswalt came during the 2^nd inning. Ryan McBroom singled and then Zack Zehner coaxed a walk to put two runners on with just one out. A groundout advanced both runners into scoring position for leadoff hitter Jeff Hendrix, so Trenton had a chance for a big inning. However, just like in the 1^st inning, Oswalt got the better of Hendrix for a strikeout to end the frame.

K #3

            Patrick Biondi earned his start in game one with a big August, and he made Pedro Lopez look good when he stroked a double into the left field corner in the 2^nd. Biondi would steal third in the frame, but the Ponies couldn’t get him in for an insurance run.

Biondi

Biondi's stolen base

            After issuing the walk to Zehner, Oswalt put together a stretch where he retired 17 of 19 batters before hitting the showers. He allowed a leadoff single to Zehner in the 5^th, and Zehner was able to reach third, but Trenton still couldn’t come through with a big hit. Zehner also reached on a two out single against Oswalt in the 7^th, but CO was able to strand ZZ at second to end his night. In total, the MLB rehabbers Frazier and Cooper went just 1-6 with four strikeouts against Oswalt.

K #4

Thompson

K #5 @ 92 MPH

Thompson

Guillorme

K #6

K #7

            The Ponies gave Oswalt and the pen some insurance runs in the 3^rd. Alonso worked a leadoff walk and advanced to second on a Kevin Taylor single. Matt Oberste followed with a double to left center field and, as you can see in the GIF below, both Alonso and Taylor came around to score within a few steps of each other.

Taylor

Oswalt

            Gustavo Nunez and Luis Guillorme singled for Binghamton as the Ponies loaded the bases in the 4^th, but a double play grounder ended the threat prematurely. The only Ponies hit after that was a 5^th inning single from Tomas Nido. Trenton reliever Jose Mesa did an excellent job over five scoreless innings of relief, allowing just three base runners and stranding an inherited runner.

Guillorme

Nido

            Tim Peterson got the first chance to relieve Oswalt in the 8^th, and he didn’t miss a beat. Just a few hours after it was announced that Peterson would be pitching in the Arizona Fall League this offseason, Peterson went out and struck out two during a perfect 8^th, including EL Postseason All-Star Thairo Estrada.

K #1 @ 89 MPH

K #2

            After a dominant run down the stretch with Binghamton, Rumbletown Manager Luis Rojas gave Tyler Bashlor the first postseason save opportunity in the 9^th. Unfortunately, Bashor immediately ran into trouble, as he walked Cooper before allowing a double to Bichette. Although he was suddenly working with two runners in scoring position, Bashlor knew to keep his focus on the man at the plate, because the best Trenton could do was tie it at that point.

Bashlor got to two strikes on Nick Solak and eventually finished him off with 95 MPH heat for the first out. He got to two strikes on Ryan McBroom and quickly finished him off with 97 MPH heat for the second out. That left it to Zack Zehner, who had a perfect day at the plate going (2-2 with a walk). Didn’t matter, Bashlor had entered a video-game-like beast mode, and you don’t make contact against beast mode Bashlor. Zehner went down swinging on three pitches for Bashlor’s third straight strikeout. Starting with the 95 MPH heat to finish off Solak, Bashlor’s final seven pitches were all strikes, and the four swings against him during that time came up empty.

K #1 @ 95 MPH

K #2 @ 97 MPH

K #3

            Looking ahead, this EL Division Series continues with game two scheduled for Thursday night at 6:35 PM. Binghamton will send Ricky Knapp (1-0, 2.00 ERA) to the hill as they try to gain a 2-0 series edge and the Thunder will answer with Brody Koerner (6-3, 4.08 ERA) as they try to salvage a win before the series shifts to Trenton.

  

The Sun emitted more solar flares this morning--one mid-level (M7.3) and one significant (X1.3). Updates here: https://t.co/UMs3kDbLx2 pic.twitter.com/nrmhlRGUsm

— NASA Sun & Space (@NASASun) September 7, 2017