Ponies Come Out Of The Gates Strong And Cruise To A Victory

New Hampshire Fisher Cats @ Binghamton Rumble Ponies

April 23, 2018

Francisco Rios @ Joseph Shaw

Teams	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9		R	H	E
Fisher Cats	0	0	0	3	0	2	0	0	0		5	11	1
Binghamton	6	0	0	0	1	1	0	0	X		8	11	1

W: Hanhold (2-0, 2.61 ERA); L: Rios (0-2, 8.53 ERA); Save: Bashlor (3)

Boxscore

The Stats:

Pitchers

Joseph Shaw (5.87 ERA) – 3.2 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 4 K: 4 BB, 2 HR, 75 Pitches (40 Strikes), 6 GO

Austin McGeorge (2.16 ERA) – 1.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 3 K, 24 Pitches (18 Strikes), 1 GO, 2 IR – 0 S

Gerson Bautista (3.00 ERA) – 1 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 1 K, 28 Pitches (17 Strikes), 1 FO

Eric Hanhold (W, 2-0, 2.61 ERA) – 2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 4 K, 28 Pitches (20 Strikes), 2 GO

Tyler Bashlor (S, 3, 0.00 ERA) – 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 2 K: 2 BB, HBP, 34 Pitches (19 Strikes)

Batters

CF – John Mora 0-4, BB, K

2B – Jeff McNeil – 3-4, 2B, 3B, RBI, BB

1B – Peter Alonso – 1-2, R, 2B, 3 BB

C – Patrick Mazeika – 2-5, R, HR, 3 RBI, K

DH – Matt Oberste – 1-4, R, HR, 2 RBI, SF, K

RF – Kevin Taylor – 1-4

3B – Jhoan Urena – 1-4, R, 2B

LF – Tim Tebow – 1-4, 2B, RBI, 2 K

SS – Levi Michael – 1-4, R, HR, RBI

Recapish

            The Binghamton Rumble Ponies rode a big 1^st inning to an 8-5 victory over the Fisher Cats Monday night, as they took the opener of a three-game set with New Hampshire. Binghamton smacked five extra base hits in the 1^st for six runs, knocking Cats starter Francisco Rios out of the game with just one out recorded. Ponies starter Joe Shaw was in line to benefit from the big 1^st inning outburst, but Shaw couldn’t find the strike zone when he came out for the 4^th, which forced the Binghamton bullpen into extra duty. Fortunately for Binghamton, the Ponies pen is one of the top pens in the minors, and four Rumbletown relievers were able to hold onto the lead for a Bingo win. As an aside, it was not a good night of coverage from the MiLB.tv crew.

            Shaw started his outing strong, striking out Vladimir Guerrero Jr. during a perfect 1^st.

K #1

            Then the Ponies opened a can of whoopass on Francisco Rios in the bottom of the 1^st. Rios was coming off a strong 5-inning effort against this Ponies lineup last week, so the 1^st inning blowup was unexpected. Jeff McNeil had the first big hit, tripling home John Mora after he led off the frame with a walk. McNeil and Peter Alonso (who also walked) came home on a blast off the bat of Patrick Mazeika, and then Matt Oberste followed with a solo blast to make this a 5-0 game. After Rios recorded his only out of the game, Jhoan Urena and Tim Tebow hit back-to-back doubles to make it 6-0.

McNeil

Mazeika

Oberste

Urena

Tebow

            Shaw started the 2^nd inning with a second straight strikeout and ended up working around a pair of base runners in the frame.

K #2

            Jeff McNeil made it a 2-2 start to his night when he led off the 2^nd with a single, but he never even made it to second base in the frame.

            Shaw tallied another pair of strikeouts during a scoreless 3^rd, including a second strikeout of Vladito. Bo Bichette’s only hit of the game came in this frame.

K #3

Bichette

K #4

            Kevin Taylor led off the Ponies 3^rd with a single, but he also never even made it to second base.

            Then Shaw came out for the 4^th but forgot to bring his command with him. He allowed back-to-back solo blasts to Cavan Biggio and Max Pentecost to start the frame, and then the Cats loaded the bases on a pair of walks and a single. The Ponies defense came through with a huge double play behind Shaw in the frame, but he still needed help from the Ponies pen to end it. Austin McGeorge took over and induced a pop out from Bichette to strand runners at the corners.

            The Ponies loaded the bases in the bottom of the 4^th but couldn’t answer back with any runs. McNeil and Alonso drew walks, which forced another New Hampshire pitching change, and then Patrick Mazeika loaded the bases with a single through the middle.

            McGeorge allowed a leadoff single to Vladito in the 5^th, but he didn’t let that bother him, as he struck out the next three batters to keep this a 6-3 game.

Vlad

K #1

K #2

K #3

            Levi Michael added a third Ponies homer when he went deep in the bottom of the 5^th – his second homer in the last three games.

            Gerson Bautista made his return from the Majors in the 6^th but struggled a little. He allowed a pair of singles and then a two-run double to Vladito before striking out Biggio to end the frame.

Vlad's double

Bautista's K

            Jeff McNeil made it a 3-hit game when he led off the 6^th with a double. McNeil went to third on a groundout and then came home on a Matt Oberste sac fly to make this an 8-6 game. The final Bingo hit came when Peter Alonso doubled for the 6^th time already this year during the 8^th.

McNeil

Alonso

            The Ponies gave the ball to Eric Hanhold to start the 7^th and the hard-throwing righty earned the win with two scoreless frames. Hanhold struck out two in the 7^th and then two more during a perfect 8^th, which puts him at 13 K: 3 BB over his first 10.1 IP in Double-A.

K #1

K #2

K #3

K #4

            Tyler Bashlor then took over in the 9^th and worked a scoreless frame to earn his third save of the year. It wasn’t a perfect inning, as he had to strand the bases loaded, but he struck out two, including Connor Panas with the bases loaded to end it. Since being promoted to Binghamton last July, Bashlor has gone 22.1 IP without allowing a run, and he’s at 33 K: 7 BB with just 9 hits allowed during that span.

K #1

CS for Mazeika

K #2

            Looking ahead, the Ponies will try to make it two straight wins against the Fisher Cats Tuesday. In a rematch from last week, Andrew Church (0-2, 4.70 ERA) is scheduled to make the start for Binghamton opposite Jordan Romano (2-0, 1.42 ERA), with first pitch scheduled for 6:35 PM.

Pitcher Coverage

Table 1 – Shaw pitch stats by inning

	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	Total
Total	15	17	18	25	75
Strikes	9	10	12	9	40
Swinging*	1	1	2	2	6

*8% Swinging strike rate

Mercury is the planet closest to the Sun...and yet large areas of its poles appear to be covered with ice. https://t.co/Uo8O25fBgL pic.twitter.com/AUQctgiav2

— Corey S. Powell (@coreyspowell) April 24, 2018