Ponies Take Double-Header Opener With Portland

Portland Sea Dogs @ Binghamton Rumble Ponies

August 18, 2017

Game One

Henry Owens @ Ricky Knapp

Teams	1	2	3	4	5	6	7		R	H	E
Portland	0	0	0	0	1	0	0		1	4	0
Binghamton	0	0	0	3	1	0	X		4	5	0

W: Knapp (1-0, 1.29 ERA); L: Owens (3-4, 4.95 ERA)

Boxscore

The Stats:

Pitchers

Ricky Knapp (W, 1-0, 1.29 ERA) – 7 IP, 4 H, 1 R (1 ER), 2 2B, 6 TB, 9 K (7 K/Sw), 7 GB: 7 FB: 2 PU, 87 Pitches (59 Strikes), 13 Swinging, 18 Called, 14.9% SwStr, 31.7% Whiff/Swing, 12.4 Pitches/IP, 25 BF

Batters

2B - Luis Guillorme - 0-2, 1 BB, 9.1% SwStr, 33.3% Whiff/Swing, 3.67 Pitches/PA

RF - L.J. Mazzilli - 1-3, 1 R, 1 2B, 5 Pitches/PA

1B - Matt Oberste - 0-3, 3 Pitches/PA

C - Tomas Nido - 0-2, 1 R, 1 BB, 1 K, 7.1% SwStr, 33.3% Whiff/Swing, 4.67 Pitches/PA

3B - David Thompson - 1-3, 1 R, 3.67 Pitches/PA

DH - Kevin Taylor - 1-1, 1 BB, 1 SAC, 5.9% SwStr, 14.3% Whiff/Swing, 5.67 Pitches/PA

SS - Gustavo Nunez - 1-2, 1 RBI, 1 SF, 8.3% SwStr, 16.7% Whiff/Swing, 4 Pitches/PA

LF - Kevin Kaczmarski - 1-2, 1 R, 1 HR, 2 RBI, 1 BB, 4.67 Pitches/PA

CF - Champ Stuart - 0-3, 1 K, 13.3% SwStr, 28.6% Whiff/Swing, 5 Pitches/PA

Recapish

            The Binghamton Rumble Ponies kicked off a long weekend series with Portland by winning the opener of a double-header 4-1 Friday night. Ricky Knapp was sent down from Vegas to help bolster the Ponies rotation, which is in need of arms, and he dominated Double-A like a Triple-A pitcher should. Kevin Kaczmarski provided the lift offensively for Binghamton, launching his fourth homer of the year to put the Ponies up 3-0 in the 4^th.

            Las Vegas pitching coach Frank Viola identified Knapp as the 51s starter he thought would break out in the 2^nd half this year and, outside of a few bad innings, he mostly has. He had a 2.70 ERA over his last five starts and held the PCL to a .596 OPS during that span, so this seems like an odd time to demote him.

            Knapp started and ended the game with streaks of seven-straight retired. The Sea Dogs connected for four hits in between, and it took a two-out double from Jordan Procyshen to bring home the only Portland run.

Guillorme

            The Ponies had a couple of base runners over the first few innings, but they didn’t break the scoring seal until the 4^th. Tomas Nido worked a leadoff walk, went to second base on a David Thompson single, up to third on a sac bunt, and then scored on a sac fly. All that work for one run and then Kevin Kaczmarski followed with his two-run blast.

Thompson

Sac fly from Nunez

Kacz

            Portland responded with their run in the next half-inning, but Binghamton was quick to get that run back in the bottom of the 5^th. L.J. Mazzilli doubled, went to third on a groundout, and then came around to score on a wild pitch.

            Kevin Taylor added a fifth Ponies hit in the 6^th.

            Looking ahead, the Ponies go for the double-header sweep behind Marcos Molina in the night-cap.

Pitcher Coverage

Ricky Knapp

Table 1 – Knapp pitch stats by inning

	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th	7th	Total
Total	5	15	8	18	17	12	12	87
Strikes	4	9	8	13	10	7	8	59
Swinging*	0	2	2	3	1	2	3	13

*14.9% Swinging strike rate; 31.7% Whiff/Swing rate

2^nd inning, K #1: 2-2 Fastball (Swinging)

3^rd inning, K #2: 0-2 Pitch (Swinging)

3^rd inning, K #3: 0-2 Changeup (Swinging)

4^th inning, K #4: 3-2 89 MPH Fastall (Looking) “Paints the inside corner”

4^th inning, K #5: 1-2 Changeup, down and away (Swinging)

5^th inning, K #6: 3-2 Breaking ball in the dirt (Swinging)

6^th inning, K #7: 0-2 Changeup, down and in (Swinging)

7^th inning, K #8: 3-2 Changeup (Swinging)

7^th inning, K #9: 1-2 Changeup (Swinging)

  

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