Rumble Ponies Face Elimination After Being No-Hit In Game Three

Trenton Thunder @ Binghamton Rumble Ponies

Eastern League Division Series

Game Three

September 8, 2017

Marcos Molina @ Justus Sheffield

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

W: Widener (1-0, 0.00 ERA); L: Molina (0-1, 1.50 ERA)

Boxscore

The Stats:

Pitchers

Marcos Molina (L, 0-1, 1.50 ERA) - 6 IP, 4 H, 1 R (1 ER), 1 2B, 5 TB, 2 BB, 4 K (2 K/Sw), 1 HBP, 1 GIDP, 10 GB: 3 FB: 4 LD, 103 Pitches (63 Strikes), 13 Swinging, 16 Called, 12.6% SwStr, 27.7% Whiff/Swing, 17.2 Pitches/IP, 25 BF

Corey Taylor (0.00 ERA) – 1 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 2 TB, 1 K (1 K/Sw), 1 GB: 1 FB: 2 LD, 26 Pitches (15 Strikes), 2 Swinging, 2 Called, 7.7% SwStr, 15.4% Whiff/Swing, 26 Pitches/IP, 5 BF

Tim Peterson (4.50 ERA) – 1 IP, 2 H, 1 R (1 ER), 1 2B, 3 TB, 2 K (1 K/Sw), 1 GB: 1 FB: 1 LD, 20 Pitches (15 Strikes), 3 Swinging, 5 Called, 15% SwStr, 30% Whiff/Swing, 20 Pitches/IP, 5 BF

Table 1 – Molina pitch stats by inning

	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th	Total
Total	18	9	23	18	14	11	103
Strikes	12	11	15	9	8	8	63
Swinging*	3	1	4	0	2	3	13

*12.6% Swinging strike rate; 27.1% Whiff/Swing rate

Batters

2B - Luis Guillorme - 0-2, 1 BB, 1 HBP, 2 K, 15.8% SwStr, 37.5% Whiff/Swing, 4.75 Pitches/PA

RF - L.J. Mazzilli - 0-4, 1 K, 5.9% SwStr, 14.3% Whiff/Swing, 4.25 Pitches/PA

DH - Peter Alonso - 0-4, 1 K, 8.3% SwStr, 20% Whiff/Swing, 3 Pitches/PA

1B - Matt Oberste - 0-4, 1 K, 10% SwStr, 22.2% Whiff/Swing, 5 Pitches/PA

3B - David Thompson - 0-3, 1 K, 11.1% SwStr, 20% Whiff/Swing, 6 Pitches/PA

C - Tomas Nido - 0-3, 1 K, 3.67 Pitches/PA

LF/CF - Kevin Kaczmarski - 0-2, 1 BB, 5.33 Pitches/PA

SS - Gustavo Nunez - 0-3, 1 GIDP, 2 Pitches/PA

CF - Champ Stuart - 0-2, 2 K, 30% SwStr, 50% Whiff/Swing, 5 Pitches/PA

PH - Kevin Taylor - 0-1, 1 K, 20% SwStr, 100% Whiff/Swing, 5 Pitches/PA

Recapish

            The Binghamton Rumble Ponies were no-hit in game three of the Eastern League Division Series Friday night, and now the Trenton Thunder are one win away from taking the series. Thunder starter Justus Sheffield and recently promoted Taylor Widener combined on the no-hitter for Trenton, although for most of the game they were working on a one-hitter.  That’s because initially Tomas Nido was awarded a single on a questionable call in the 2^nd. However, when that was still the only Binghamton hit in the 7^th, the official scorer reviewed the play and overturned it into an error (the correct call given Nido was running).

            Trenton’s southpaw starter Justus Sheffield (21) is a former 1^st round pick of the Cleveland Indians from 2014. The Yankees acquired him in the Andrew Miller deal and he was one of Trenton’s top starters this year before going down with an injury in early July. This was just his fourth appearance since returning to the mound (first two came in the GCL), so he showed a little rust, but his stuff was too good for the Ponies to square up when he could control it. He has mid-90’s heat (Trenton announcers called him up to 97 MPH), a hard slider, and he mixed in a changeup.

            The three Binghamton base runners to reach without the aid of an error came while Sheffield was on the mound. His first pitch hit Luis Guillorme, then Kevin Kaczmarski worked a walk in the 2^nd and Guillorme worked a walk in the 3^rd. Sheffield finished with three strikeouts and six groundouts induced, and he left with a 1-0 lead after four.

Frazier in RF

Initially ruled a hit, this play was later changed to an error

K #1

K #2

K #3

            The Thunder gave him that lead with a 1^st inning run against Marcos Molina. They’ve scored in the 1^st inning of all three games, which is a trend Rumbletown Manager Luis Rojas cannot be happy with. Trenton announcer’s said the report on Marcos Molina this year has him sitting 89-94 MPH with his fastball, 78-83 MPH with his breaking ball (which is a slider that he sometimes manipulates into a slurve), and mixing in a changeup.

            Jeff Hendrix reached on a leadoff single against Molina in the 1^st and then Clint Frazier knocked him in two batters later. Molina responded with a strikeout of Garrett Cooper, but then another single loaded the bases for Trenton with just one out. Fortunately for Binghamton, Molina induced a double play grounder to escape the jam and mostly avoided troublesome situations after that.

K #1

            Molina worked a perfect 2^nd inning and then struck out Clint Frazier for the second out in the 3^rd. It would’ve been the final out of the 3^rd if not for an E6 earlier in the frame, and the Thunder nearly made Binghamton pay for the mistake as Garrett Cooper followed Frazier with a double to left field. But with two in scoring position and two outs, Molina came through with his biggest strikeout of the night to escape the jam.

Thompson at third

Champ in CF

K #2

K #3

            After the 3^rd, Molina retired nine of eleven batters before leaving, working around a leadoff walk issued in both the 4^th and 5^th innings. Molina added another strikeout of Garrett Cooper during this final stretch.

Thompson at third

Champ in CF

K #4

Mazzilli in RF

            When this game started, the Ponies knew Sheffield would be a tough battle, but they also knew he would be out after 60 pitches or 5 innings (whichever came first). Because of this and how much the Trenton pen had worked over the first two days, I expected Binghamton to have the advantage down the stretch of this game, and thought that advantage might have a carryover effect into game four (and, if necessary, game five). However, Trenton chose to bring in freshly promoted Taylor Widener to make his Double-A debut in the outing. It was a risk no-doubt, but Widener had pitched well in High-A this year, and the Ponies lineup likely had little information on him. Peter Alonso did face him shortly before his promotion (on 8/13), and Widener tossed five hitless innings in that game too (although he did issue a walk that day).

            Widener was low 90’s (topping around 95 MPH) with a breaking ball that was doing work. Kevin Kaczmarski was the first to face him and he reached on an E4, but then Widener retired 15 straight. He finished with seven strikeouts in a dominating performance worthy of a no-hitter.

K #1

K #2

K #3

K #4

Arguably the series MVP so far (if Trenton wins), Thairo Estrada

K #5

K #6

K #7

            After Molina was done, Rojas brought in Corey Taylor to pitch on a second straight night, which is something he had only done twice during the regular season. Taylor worked around a pair of singles for a scoreless 7^th, striking out Clint Frazier to end Trenton’s scoring threat.

            Tim Peterson was called on to work the 8^th and things didn’t go as well for him. Peterson struck out Zack Zehner and Ryan McBroom in the frame, but Nick Solak connected on an RBI double between the strikeouts, which doubled the Trenton lead.

K #1

K #2

            Looking ahead, the Rumble Ponies face two win-or-go-home games this weekend with Mickey Jannis and Casey Delgado scheduled to make the starts. Outside of McBroom, Trenton has no players with experience against Jannis, and Delgado tossed four scoreless against the Thunder a month ago, so it could just come down to whether the Ponies offense shows up. Since people always like historical comparisons, it should be noted that the Binghamton Mets faced postseason elimination in 2014 before rattling off five straight wins for the EL Title.

  

The Sun was lively this week, releasing several solar flares. Here's what @NASA's @NASASun satellites saw: https://t.co/l0ClnDD6mu pic.twitter.com/ESY9iKM0mO

— NASA Goddard Images (@NASAGoddardPix) September 9, 2017