Big Cola 6th Backs A Strong Debut From Joe Cavallaro

Augusta Green Jackets @ Columbia Fireflies

April 6, 2018

Garrett Cave @ Joe Cavallaro

Teams	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Augusta	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	8	0
Columbia	1	0	0	0	0	6	0	0	X	7	5	0

W: Cavallaro (1-0, 3.00 ERA); L: Doval (0-1, -.--)

The Stats:

Pitchers

Joe Cavallaro (W, 1-0, 3.00 ERA) – 6 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 8 K: 2 BB, 6 GO, 78 Pitches (55 Strikes, 16 Swinging), 20.5% Swinging strike rate

Joshua Payne (0.00 ERA) – 2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 2 K: 1 BB, HBP, 2 GO: 2 FO, 34 Pitches (20 Strikes, 2 Swinging)

Darwin Ramos (0.00 ERA) – 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 K, 1 GO, 10 Pitches (7 Strikes, 1 Swinging)

Batters

RF – Raphael Gladu – 1-3, 2 R, BB, SB

2B – Blake Tiberi – 0-3, R, BB, 3 K

LF – Matt Winaker – 0-2, R, 2 BB, K

1B – Jeremy Vasquez – 1-3, R, RBI, BB, GIDP

CF – Quinn Brodey – 1-3, R, RBI, HBP, K

3B – Rigoberto Terrazas – 1-3, R, 2B, 2 RBI, BB, K

DH – Jay Jabs – 0-3, BB

C – Scott Manea – 0-3, BB, GIDP

SS – Gio Alfonzo – 1-4, RBI, K

Recapish

The Columbia Fireflies battled back from an early hole Friday night to remain undefeated at 2-0 in the 2018 season. Cola starter Joe Cavallaro ran into some 1^st inning trouble, which led to two runs for Augusta, but he shut the Green Jackets down the rest of the way. Jackets starter Garrett Cave kept the Cola bats in check for the first five innings, but the Augusta pen struggled mightily when they took over in the 6^th. The first Jackets reliever, Camilo Doval, walked all four batters he faced and that opened the door for a six-run Cola rally that turned this game from a nail-biter into a laugher. Firefly relievers Joshua Payne and Darwin Ramos finished things off for Columbia with three straight scoreless innings to seal a 7-2 win.

Joe Cavallaro was the Mets 24^th round pick last season and he started his pro career coming out of the Kingsport pen. The big (6’4) righty works quick and has a quick, sidearm motion that you don’t often see in a starting rotation, but which likely helps with his sinker/slider combo. Cavallaro was so effective out of the Kingsport pen last year that they kept stretching him out and eventually moved him to the rotation. He went a career high seven innings in his final start of 2017, and probably could’ve matched that Friday if his pitch count wasn’t limited – standard at this time of the year. He set a career high with 8 strikeouts in this one.

The Green Jackets got to Cavallaro early, scoring two runs off him in the 1^st for their first lead of the season. Cavallaro allowed the first two he faced to reach on a double and then a walk, and then a sac bunt advanced both runners into scoring position. Cavallaro would strike out Ryan Kirby for the second out of the frame, but then Jacob Gonzalez came through for Augusta with a two-run single. Cavallaro finished the frame with a strikeout of Orlando Garcia.

Vasquez at first

Strikeout #1

Strikeout #2

The Fireflies were quick to get one run back in the bottom half of the frame. Raphael Gladu led off with a single, stole second base, advanced to third on a groundout, and then came home on a wild pitch. Jeremy Vasquez lined a single to center field on the next pitch, but the Fireflies ran out of two-out magic.

Gladu

Gladu scores on a wild pitch

The Cola dugout was bumping after Gladu scored

Vasquez

Cavallaro allowed a pair of singles in the 2^nd inning, but he also struck out two batters – Rob Calabrese and Heliot Ramos – and was aided by a caught stealing. The caught stealing was part of a ‘strike-em-out, throw-em-out’ double play, the first of four for the Fireflies in this game.

Strikeout #3

Strikeout #4

The caught stealing

The Cola starter worked a perfect frame with one strikeout (Logan Baldwin) in the 3^rd, and then benefitted from a double play in both the 4^th and 5^th innings – he also added a strikeout in both frames, Garcia in the 4^th and Calabrese in the 5^th.

Strikeout #5

Strikeout #6

4-6-3 double play

Strikeout #7

6-4-3 double play

The hardest contact against Cavallaro came in the 6^th, when Ryan Kirby smacked a two-out double to the RF warning track, but Cavallaro was able to strand him on second base and keep this a 2-1 game. He also recorded his 8^th and final strikeout in the frame, getting Baldwin swinging again.

Strikeout #8

While Cavallaro battled to keep Augusta off the board, the Cola bats kept coming up empty against Garrett Cave. The Green Jackets starter reached his pitch limit after five and the floodgates opened in the 6^th. Reliever Camilo Doval walked all four batters he faced (and uncorked a pair of wild pitches) before yielding to Frank Rubio, who didn’t fare much better. Rubio was able to record three outs, eventually, but not before this game became a laugher. Quinn Brodey greeted Rubin with an RBI single to left for the first hit of the inning, which gave the Fireflies their first lead at 3-2. Rigoberto Terrazas followed with a two-run double to right field for his first hit of the season. Rubio would retire the next batter on a fly out, but then ran into control problems of his own against Scott Manea. After falling behind Manea 2-0, the crowd started chanting something (sounded like “BALL 6! BALL 6!”, which is apparently a common thing to do at college games), and they might’ve gotten in Rubio’s head. That pitch would be fouled off (which caused a groan from the crowd), but the next pitch went behind Manea and led to another Fireflies run. Manea eventually worked a walk and then Giovanny Alfonzo capped the scoring with an RBI single for his first hit as a Mets farmhand.

Brodey

Terrazas

The chant and then the wild pitch

Alfonzo

After the long frame, Cola Manager Pedro Lopez went to his pen and brought in big Joshua Payne (he’s 6’6) for the 7^th. Payne worked around a few base runners over two scoreless frames and struck out two Green Jackets along the way: Malique Ziegler in the 7^th and Kirby in the 8^th.

Nearly a 3-6-1 double play

Strikeout #1

Strikeout #2

Darwin Ramos then took over in the 9^th and worked around a leadoff single to wrap things up. He struck out Jean Angomas for the first out of the inning and then the Fireflies turned their final double play of the game to seal the deal.

Strikeout

Game ending 6-4-3 double play

The Fireflies only managed to get hits in two innings Friday, but that was more than enough to pick up an easy win and push their record to 2-0. They’ll look to stay undefeated Saturday evening behind lefty Jake Simon. Still just 21, Simon spent some time with Columbia early last year before eventually moving into the Brooklyn rotation. His 2017 was very uneven, but he has some good upside, so hopefully he can start a redemptive 2018 on the right foot Saturday.

There was no gameday for Friday’s game (and there were no announcers either!), so I followed along and created an unofficial log for the Cola pitcher’s below.

Pitcher Coverage

Table 1 – Cavallaro pitch stats by inning

	1^st	2^nd	3^rd	4^th	5^th	6^th	Total
Total	23	11	11	11	11	11	78
Strikes	16	9	8	9	5	8	55
Swinging*	4	3	2	3	2	2	16

*20.5% Swinging strike rate

1^st inning

1) Heliot Ramos doubled to LF (D7/G)

i. In play

2) Shane Matheny walked (BB)

i. Called strike, 0-1

ii. Swinging strike, 0-2

iii. Ball, 1-2

iv. Ball, 2-2

v. Ball, 3-2

vi. Ball 4

3) Logan Baldwin executed a successful sac bunt – Ramos to third base, Matheny to second base (SAC)

i. In play

4) Ryan Kirby struck out swinging (K/Sw)

i. Foul, 0-1

ii. Foul, 0-2

iii. Swinging strike 3

5) Jacob Gonzalez flared a two-run single to RF (S9/F)

i. Swinging strike, 0-1

ii. Swinging strike, 0-2

iii. In play

6) Orlando Garcia struck out looking (K/Lo)

i. Ball, 1-0

ii. Called strike, 1-1

iii. Ball, 2-1
*Gonzalez stole second base

iv. Ball, 3-1

v. Called strike, 3-2

vi. Foul, 3-2

vii. Foul, 3-2

viii. Foul, 3-2

ix. Called strike 3

2^nd inning

1) Jean Angomas singled to RF (S9/L)

i. Ball, 1-0

ii. In play

2) Rob Calabrese struck out swinging (K/Sw)

i. Ball, 1-0

ii. Called strike, 1-1

iii. Swinging strike, 1-2

iv. Swinging strike 3

3) Malique Ziegler reached on a bunt single (S5/G)

i. In play

4) Ramos struck out swinging and Angomas was caught stealing (K/Sw -> CS)

i. Swinging strike, 0-1

ii. Called strike, 0-2

iii. Foul, 0-2

iv. Swinging strike 3

3^rd inning

1) Matheny hit a groundout to Vasquez (31/G)

i. Called strike, 0-1

ii. Ball, 1-1

iii. Foul, 1-2

iv. Ball, 2-2

v. In play

2) Baldwin struck out swinging (K/Sw)

i. Called strike, 0-1

ii. Foul, 0-2

iii. Swinging strike 3

3) Kirby hit a groundout to second (43/G)

i. Ball, 1-0

ii. Foul tip, 1-1

iii. In play

4^th inning

1) Gonzalez singled to RF (S9/G)

i. Foul tip, 0-1

ii. In play

2) Garcia struck out swinging (K/Sw)

i. Ball, 1-0

ii. Foul, 1-1

iii. Swinging strike, 1-2

iv. Swinging strike 3

3) Angomas hit into a double play (463/G)

i. Foul, 0-1

ii. Ball, 1-1

iii. Called strike, 1-2

iv. Foul, 1-2

v. In play

5^th inning

1) Calabrese struck out swinging (K/Sw)

i. Swinging strike, 0-1

ii. Called strike, 0-2

iii. Ball, 1-2

iv. Foul, 1-2

v. Swinging strike 3

2) Ziegler walked (BB)

i. Ball, 1-0

ii. Ball, 2-0

iii. Ball, 3-0

iv. Ball 4

3) Ramos hit into a double play (643/G)

i. Ball, 1-0

ii. In play

6^th inning

1) Matheny hit a groundout to Vasquez (3u/G)

i. In play

2) Baldwin struck out swinging (K/Sw)

i. Called strike, 0-1

ii. Swinging strike, 0-2

iii. Swinging strike 3

3) Kirby doubled to the RF warning track (D9/F)

i. Ball, 1-0

ii. In play

4) Gonzalez popped out to Vasquez in foul territory (3/P)

i. Ball, 1-0

ii. Foul, 1-1

iii. Foul, 1-2

iv. Ball, 2-2

v. In play

Joshua Payne

7^th inning

1) Garcia walked (BB)

i. Called strike, 0-1

ii. Ball, 1-1

iii. Ball, 2-1

iv. Swinging strike, 2-2

v. Foul, 2-2

vi. Ball, 3-2

vii. Ball 4

2) Angomas hit a groundout to Vasquez that the Fireflies nearly turned into two outs (36/G)

i. Called strike, 0-1

ii. Called strike, 0-2

iii. Ball, 1-2

iv. Ball, 2-2

v. In play

3) Calbrese singled to LF (S7/L)

i. Ball, 1-0

ii. Ball, 2-0

iii. In play

4) Ziegler struck out looking (K/Lo)

i. Called strike, 0-1

ii. Foul, 0-2

iii. Called strike 3

5) Ramos flew out to CF (8/F)

i. Called strike, 0-1

ii. In play

8^th inning

1) Matheny was struck by a pitch in the elbow area (HBP)

i. Foul, 0-1

ii. Ball, 1-1

iii. Called strike, 1-2

iv. HBP

2) Baldwin flew out to LF (7/F)

i. Ball, 1-0

ii. Ball, 2-0

iii. In play

3) Kirby struck out swinging (K/Sw)

i. Called strike, 0-1

ii. Foul, 0-2

iii. Foul, 0-2

iv. Ball in dirt, 1-2
*Matheny to second base on a wild pitch

v. Swinging strike 3

4) Gonzalez hit a groundout to Alfonzo (63/G)

i. Ball, 1-0

ii. In play

Darwin Ramos

9^th inning

1) Garcia singled to CF (S8/L)

i. Ball, 1-0

ii. Ball, 2-0

iii. Called strike, 2-1

iv. In play

2) Angomas struck out swinging (K/Sw)

i. Foul, 0-1

ii. Ball, 1-1

iii. Foul, 1-2

iv. Swinging strike 3

3) Calabrese hit into a double play (643/G)

i. Called strike, 0-1

ii. In play

You're looking at the Horsehead Nebula, which has enough mass to make 30 Sun-like stars. Do you know HOW and WHY those stars may form? A data map from the @SOFIATelescope uncovered these clues: https://t.co/faj7SxNugP pic.twitter.com/6WF4pOxVPa
— NASA (@NASA) April 7, 2018

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