51s Win In Extras To Split Series In El Paso

Las Vegas 51s @ El Paso Chihuahuas

April 16, 2018

Drew Gagnon @ Walker Lockett

Teams	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11		R	H	E
Las Vegas	0	1	0	0	0	2	1	0	1	0	4		9	13	2
El Paso	0	0	1	0	0	2	1	0	1	0	1		6	10	0

W: Smith (1-0, 0.00 ERA); L: Brewer (0-1, 6.75 ERA)

Boxscore

Unique little area of the park

The Stats:

Pitchers

Drew Gagnon (3.38 ERA) – 5.2 IP, 7 H, 3 R (2 ER), 10 K:0 BB, 1 HR, 92 Pitches (62 Strikes), 6 GO: 1 FO

Corey Taylor (5.40 ERA) – 1.1 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 2 K: 2 BB, 1 HR, 30 Pitches (16 Strikes), 1 GO: 1 FO, 1 IR – 0 S

Jacob Rhame (0.00 ERA) – 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 K, 15 Pitches (9 Strikes), 1 FO

Kyle Regnault (H, 2, 11.81 ERA) – 0.2 IP, 0 H, 1 R, 2 K: 1 BB, 16 Pitches (8 Strikes)

Drew Smith (BS, 1)(W, 1-0, 0.00 ERA) – 1.1 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 K, 25 Pitches (18 Strikes), 1 GO, 1 IR – 1 S

Jamie Callahan (6.00 ERA) – 1 IP, 0 H, 1 R (0 ER), 9 Pitches (6 Strikes), 2 GO: 1 FO

Batters

CF – Patrick Biondi – 2-6, R, SB, K, CS, PO

2B – Gavin Cecchini – 0-4, BB, K

1B – Dominic Smith – 1-3, R, 2 BB

RF – Zach Borenstein – 0-4, 2 R, BB, K

3B – David Thompson – 2-3, R, 2 2B, 2 RBI, K

PH – Ty Kelly – 0-1, GIDP

PH – Matthew den Dekker - SAC

C – Johnny Monell – 2-5, 2 R, RBI

LF/3B – Phillip Evans – 4-5, 2 R, 2B, 2 RBI

SS – Luis Guillorme – 2-4, 2B, 2 RBI, SAC, K

SP – Drew Gagnon – 0-2, K

LF – Bryce Brentz – 0-2, RBI, SF, K

Recapish

            The Las Vegas 51s won their first extra inning contest of 2018 9-6 Monday afternoon in El Paso, forcing a split in their four game series with the Chihuahuas. The 51s kept jumping ahead in this one only to see the Chihuahuas battle right back to tie it, which made for an exciting extra inning game. Both teams were playing in their first extra inning affair of 2018, which meant both teams were experiencing the new pace of play rules for extra inning games for the first time (the new rule puts a runner on second to start every extra inning). The rule had no impact for either side in the 10^th inning, but both sides took advantage of that automatic base runner for a run in the 11^th. The 51s were able to rally beyond just that base runner in the 11^th, jumping ahead 9-5 thanks to some big hits from Phillip Evans and Luis Guillorme, and then Jamie Callahan sealed the deal with a 1-2-3 bottom of the frame.

            Patrick Biondi started the game with a single but was caught stealing in the frame, so nothing came of it.

            David Thompson started the 51s 2^nd with a double and came around to score on a Phil Evans single two batters later, which made this a 1-0 game.

Thompson

Evans

            While his teammates were out building him an early lead, Drew Gagnon was dealing on the mound. He retired the first six El Paso batters of the game and struck out Raffy Lopez in the 2^nd. Gagnon struck out three in the 3^rd but an E5 allowed the game-tying run to come home with two outs. He stayed in a strikeout groove for the remainder of his start, striking out two in the 4^th, two in the 5^th, and the first two before trouble struck in the 6^th to finish with 10. It was the third time Gagnon reached ten strikeouts in a start and he finished one shy of matching his career high.

K #1

K #2

K #3

K #4

K #5

Monell fielding the bunt

K #6

K #7

K #8

K #9

K #10

            Before Gagnon ran into 6^th inning troubles, the 51s built him up a 3-1 lead in the top of the 6^th. Biondi again led the frame off with a single, but this time he was safe at second on his stolen base attempt. After walking Dom Smith, El Paso starter Walker Lockett nearly escaped the jam unscored upon, but then David Thompson stepped up and connected on his second double of the game to knock in two runs.

Biondi

Thompson

            It looked like Gagnon would be able to protect the 3-1 lead after he quickly retired the first two in the bottom half of the 6^th, but then he allowed three straight extra base hits and had to exit the game. Allen Craig provided the big hit when he smoked a two-run homer to right field that tied this game at 3. Corey Taylor took over for Gagnon and ended the frame with another 51s strikeout.

K #1

            Phil Evans started the 7^th with a double, went to third on a Luis Guillorme drag bunt single, and then came home on a double play grounder to put Las Vegas back ahead 4-3.

Evans

Guillorme

            That lead lasted all of one batter into the bottom of the 7^th, as Brett Nicholas took Taylor deep to tie it leading off the frame. Taylor struck out another batter and worked around two walks to keep this game tied at 4-4 after 7.

K #2

            Gavin Cecchini worked a walk to start the 51s 8^th and then went to third on a Dom Smith single, but Ty Kelly cut any potential rally short by grounding into a double play. Kelly came up in David Thompson’s spot in the lineup because Thompson had been double-switched out during the 6^th inning. Given he already had two doubles in the game and has been hot lately, this game might’ve gone differently had he been the batter to come up in that spot.

            Jacob Rhame took over for Las Vegas in the bottom of the 8^th and worked a 1-2-3 inning with one strikeout.

            After officially signing with the Mets and joining the 51s roster earlier in the day, Johnny Monell picked up his first hit of 2018 leading off the 9^th. Monell went to second on a Phil Evans single, up to third on a Guillorme sac bunt, and then came home on a sac fly to put Las Vegas up 5-4.

Monell

Evans

            The 51s turned to Kyle Regnault in the 9^th with a chance to wrap things up. Regnault walked the first batter of the frame, and although he struck out the two batters after that, Manager Tony DeFrancesco chose to go to Drew Smith for the final out. Unfortunately, Smith would allow a game-tying RBI single before ending the frame, which sent this game to extras.

K #1

K #2

Nice pickoff from Monell

            Las Vegas had one of the weirdest half-innings I’ve seen in the top of the 10^th inning, because they sent just two batters to the plate for three outs. I’m not sure if it happened in rookie ball last year (they introduced the extra inning rule at the GCL and DSL level last year), but I believe that’s the first time it happened this year, and it’s just a weird occurrence for a baseball game. Because the inning starts with a runner on base, it’s possible for a team to send just two batters to the plate if that automatic runner is tagged out on the bases. In this case, Patrick Biondi was picked off of second base with Dom Smith at the plate, which was the last thing Biondi wanted to have happen.

            Fortunately for the 51s, Drew Smith was able to work around the Chihuahuas automatic runner in the bottom of the 10^th and send this game to the 11^th. Smith erased the automatic runner on a fielder’s choice rundown and then struck out Allen Craig later in the frame.

Guerra laid down a perfect bunt

            Zach Borenstein worked a walk leading off the top of the 11^th, which put two runners on for pinch-hitter Matthew den Dekker. MdD advanced both runners into scoring position with a sac bunt, and then both runners came home on back-to-back singles from Monell and Evans. Guillorme then provided some big insurance runs with a two-run double to left to make this a 9-5 game.

Monell

Evans

Guillorme

            Jamie Callahan wrapped things up with a 1-2-3 bottom of the 11^th. He did allow the automatic runner to come home, but that run is considered unearned under the new rules, which seems fair to me.

            I would hate for this rule to reach the majors, but I think it’s a great rule to have in the minors. Minor league teams and fans don’t need games stretching on forever, and you don’t want players forced to overexert themselves playing into the 15^th inning or beyond. Especially at the Triple-A level, where these guys are one phone call away from the majors and need to be ready to go if their major league team call on them.

            Imagine if the 51s pen was emptied and exhausted in this game under the old extra inning rules, and then the Mets had to burn through their whole pen later on in their game. The Mets might want to send a reliever down and call up a fresh arm from Triple-A, only to find no fresh arms ready to go because they were unnecessarily overextended for a 51s game. It’s not a perfect example since the Mets have options at Double-A and actually called up Gerson Bautista from the Rumble Ponies on Tuesday, but you can still get an idea of how this extra inning rule is actually a benefit to the big league club.

            Looking ahead, the 51s head home Tuesday to start a series with Fresno. A.J. Griffin (0-1, 34.71 ERA) is scheduled to make his second start of the season in the opener, with first pitch scheduled for 10:05 PM.

Pitcher Coverage

Table 1 – Gagnon pitch stats by inning

	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th	Total
Total	12	16	17	17	14	16	92
Strikes	8	10	13	12	8	11	62
Swinging*	1	3	7	4	4	4	23

*25% Swinging strike rate

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