Fireflies Blink First In Extra Inning Affair With Asheville

Asheville Tourists @ Columbia Fireflies

August 29, 2017

Erick Julio @ Martin Anderson

Teams	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13		R	H	E
Asheville	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	1		3	7	0
Columbia	0	0	0	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0		2	10	0

W: Pena (2-1, 2.78 ERA); L: Pobereyko (2-2, 3.34 ERA); Save: Humphreys (11)

Boxscore

The Stats:

Pitchers

Martin Anderson (5.76 ERA) – 6.2 IP, 4 H, 2 R (2 ER), 1 3B, 1 HR, 9 TB, 2 BB, 5 K (3 K/Sw), 2 HBP, 3 GB: 9 FB: 3 LD: 3 PU, 98 Pitches (63 Strikes), 11 Swinging, 10 Called, 11.2% SwStr, 20.8% Whiff/Swing, 14.7 Pitches/IP, 27 BF

Ryder Ryan (2.61 ERA) – 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 2 K (2 K/Sw), 1 GB: 1 PU, 17 Pitches (10 Strikes), 3 Swinging, 3 Called, 17.6% SwStr, 42.9% Whiff/Swing, 12.8 Pitches/IP, 4 BF

Matt Blackham (1.46 ERA) – 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 K (1 K/Sw), 2 FB, 15 Pitches (10 Strikes), 3 Swinging, 1 Called, 20% SwStr, 33.3% Whiff/Swing, 15 Pitches/IP, 3 BF

Joseph Zanghi (2.23 ERA) – 2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 2B, 2 TB, 1 K (1 K/Sw), 1 GB: 4 FB: 1 PU, 19 Pitches (13 Strikes), 3 Swinging, 2 Called, 15.8% SwStr, 27.3% Whiff/Swing, 9.5 Pitches/IP, 7 BF

Matt Pobereyko (L, 2-2, 3.34 ERA) – 2 IP, 2 H, 1 R (1 ER), 2 TB, 4 K (3 K/Sw), 2 GB: 1 LD: 1 PU, 33 Pitches (24 Strikes), 6 Swinging, 3 Called, 18.2% SwStr, 28.6% Whiff/Swing, 16.5 Pitches/IP, 8 BF

Table 1 – Anderson pitch stats by inning

	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th	7th	Total
Total	9	7	14	12	16	16	24	98
Strikes	7	5	10	8	9	11	13	63
Swinging*	0	0	4	0	3	1	3	11

*11.2% Swinging strike rate; 20.8% Whiff/Swing rate

Blackham

Batters

SS - Andres Gimenez - 0-1, 4 Pitches/PA

3B - Brandon Brosher - 2-3, 1 2B, 2 HBP, 5% SwStr, 14.3% Whiff/Swing, 4 Pitches/PA

DH - J.J.  Franco - 0-4, 1 RBI, 2 BB, 1 K, 8.7% SwStr, 28.6% Whiff/Swing, 3.83 Pitches/PA

LF - Quinn Brodey - 0-5, 1 BB, 4 K, 1 GIDP, 17.4% SwStr, 40% Whiff/Swing, 3.83 Pitches/PA

1B - Dash Winningham - 3-6, 1 2B, 1 K, 4.2% SwStr, 11.1% Whiff/Swing, 4 Pitches/PA

2B/SS - Luis Carpio - 0-5, 1 BB, 1 K, 1 CS, 8.7% SwStr, 22.2% Whiff/Swing, 3.83 Pitches/PA

CF - Gene Cone - 1-5, 1 BB, 2 K, 14.8% SwStr, 30.8% Whiff/Swing, 4.5 Pitches/PA

C - Dan Rizzie - 3-6, 1 K, 1 GIDP, 5% SwStr, 12.5% Whiff/Swing, 3.33 Pitches/PA

3B/2B - Jay Jabs - 0-5, 1 R, 1 BB, 2 K, 13.8% SwStr, 33.3% Whiff/Swing, 4.83 Pitches/PA

RF - Arnaldo Berrios - 1-5, 1 R, 2 K, 12.5% SwStr, 37.5% Whiff/Swing, 4.8 Pitches/PA

Recapish

            The Columbia Fireflies wasted numerous opportunities Tuesday night as they dropped the opener of a three-game series with Asheville in extras. This is the Fireflies final home series of the year and they did not get things started on the right foot. The team went a combined 0-10 with runners in scoring position as they left twelve runners on base. Cola starter Marty Anderson and the Fireflies pen did a good job of limiting the number of Tourists on the bases throughout the night, but those Tourists eventually broke through in the 13^th to take a 3-2 win.

            Marty Anderson has had some shaky starts since joining the Fireflies, but this was not one of them. He allowed a solo blast in the 1^st but then put up five straight scoreless frames and cruised into the 7^th with a 2-1 lead.

Rizzie

Jabs

K #1

CS for Rizzie

Gimenez took a foot to the face on the play and left

K #2

K #3

Cone

Berrios

Cone

K #4

            Dash Winningham connected on the first Cola hit in the 1^st, but the Fireflies wouldn’t break through on the scoreboard until the 5^th. The only other early hit for Columbia came when Brandon Brosher singled through the left side in the 3^rd.

Dash

Brosher

            Jay Jabs got the 5^th inning rally started with a walk. He advanced to second on an Arnaldo Berrios single – the only hit in the frame – up to third on a Brosher HBP, and then scored when J.J. Franco worked a bases loaded walk. The Tourists made a pitching change at this point and Austin Moore induced groundouts from the first two Cola batters he saw for the three outs he needed. However, while Brodey won’t get an RBI for the play, his double play grounder did bring home the go-ahead run for Columbia. Also shown below is Dan Rizzie’s single from the 6^th.

Berrios

Rizzie

            The score remained 2-1 until the 7^th, which was a battle for Anderson. Anderson had worked very efficiently through the first six innings, so his pitch count was at just 74 entering the frame. He allowed a single in the frame, but then struck out the next batter for the second out of the inning. Unfortunately for Columbia, Brian Severn came through with an RBI triple for the Tourists to tie things up, and then Anderson lost control to load up the bases.

K #5

            Ryder Ryan took over for Anderson in the 7^th and struck out Manuel Melendez to end the threat. Ryan stuck around for the 8^th and worked a perfect frame, striking out Willie Abreu along the way.

K #1

K #2

            Brandon Brosher doubled but couldn’t advance in the 7^th, but that was far from the most frustrating inning for Columbia.

            Dash Winningham led off the 8^th with a double and the Fireflies went 3-5 overall in the frame, yet they came away with zero runs. That’s because Luis Carpio hit into the unlikely 3-5-6-3 double play, which caught Dash trying to advance to third base on a groundout, and then Carpio taking too big of a turn around first base. Gene Cone and Rizzie provided the other Cola hits in the 8^th.

Dash

Cone

Rizzie

            Matt Blackham struck out one during a scoreless 9^th for Columbia.

K

            Joseph Zanghi took over in the 10^th and also struck out one in his outing, although he stuck around for two scoreless frames.

K

            Dash added another hit when he singled in the 10^th.

            Rizzie led off the 11^th with a single to left field, but it led to nothing.

            Jose Leger went to Matt Pobereyko for the 12^th and the big righty came in and struck out the side. Leger tried to get two scoreless out of Pobereyko too, but the 13^th proved lucky for Asheville on this night. They scratched out a run on two singles, one of which squeaked through the middle with two outs to bring home the go-ahead run.

K #1

K #2

K #3

K #4

            Although they had used six pitcher at this point, the Asheville Tourists still had their closer available for the bottom of the 13^th, and he worked a perfect frame for the save. Looking ahead, the Fireflies wrap up 2017 with two more home games before traveling to Rome for a four-game set with the Braves. Also, Columbia lost another player to injury during the game, as Andres Gimenez had to come out after being involved in a collision near second base. The injury is not serious, but Gimenez will not be returning to the field this season.

            

When @CassiniSaturn plunges into Saturn's atmosphere tomorrow, astronomers will observe the planet from Earth: https://t.co/3maLH3bAP8 pic.twitter.com/m4xiLRE5ZW

— NASA (@NASA) September 15, 2017