Las Vegas Loses Key Game With El Paso In Extras

El Paso Chihuahuas @ Las Vegas 51s

September 2, 2015

Chris Smith @ Tim Stauffer

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

W: Thayer (2-0, 1.17 ERA); L: Bradford (5-4, 4.40 ERA); Save: Jackson (13, 2.34 ERA)

MiLB.com Boxscore

The Highlights:

Pitchers

Tim Stauffer (2.10 ERA) – 7 IP, 8 H, R, BB, 3 SO, 108 Pitches (69 Strikes), 11 GO: 2 FO

Scott Rice (1.86 ERA) – 1 IP, H, SO, 1 GO

Dario Alvarez (2.45 ERA) – 0.1 IP, H, SO

Vic Black (7.61 ERA) – 1 IP, BB, SO, 2 GO, 1 R – 0 S

Alex Torres (1.59 ERA) – 0.1 IP, 2 H, 1 FO

Chase Bradford (L 5-4, 4.40 ERA) – 1.1 IP, H, R, SO, HR, 3 FO, 2 IR – 0 S

Chris Smith (3.50 ERA) – 6.2 IP, 3 H, R, 2 BB, 7 SO, HR, 99 Pitches (61 Strikes), 8 GO: 3 FO

Michael Dimock (1.06 ERA) – 1.1 IP, 4 SO

Dale Thayer (W, 2-0, 1.17 ERA) – 2 IP, BB, 3 SO, 2 GO

Jay Jackson (S, 13, 2.34 ERA) – 1 IP, 2 GO

Batters

Travis Taijeron – 1-4, R, HR (25), RBI (70), 3 SO

Daniel Muno – 1-3, BB, SB (6), SO, CS

Dan Rohlfing – 1-4, 2 SO

Ramiro Pena – 1-5, R, 2B (23)

Hector Gomez – 4-5, 2B (10), RBI (22)

Rymer Liriano – 2-4, BB, SO

Jason Hagerty – 3-5, R, HR (4), RBI (17), SO

Recap

            The Las Vegas 51s spoiled a great chance to gain some breathing room on the El Paso Chihuahuas Wednesday night, managing only one run on three behind another strong start from Tim Stauffer, and losing in extra’s. Stauffer has been a great veteran presence in the 51s rotation, offering Las Vegas a high number of quality innings pitched with nearly every start. Unfortunately for Stauffer and the 51s, El Paso starter Chris Smith was even better on this night, allowing only 5 base runners in his 6.2 IP, with only a run on the bomb from Travis Taijeron. With the loss, the 51s lead over El Paso dropped to just a half game with one series left for each team after they wrap this series up Thursday night.

Stauffer Stifles Round Rock In Series Opener

Las Vegas 51s @ Round Rock Express

August 27, 2015

Tim Stauffer @ Robert Coello

Teams	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9		R	H	E
Las Vegas	0	0	0	2	0	0	0	0	0		2	6	1
Round Rock	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0		0	4	0

W: Stauffer (4-0, 2.23 ERA); L: Coello (7-5, 3.63 ERA); Save: Church (5, 4.13 ERA)

MiLB.com Boxscore

The Highlights:

Pitchers

Tim Stauffer – 8.1 IP, 4 H, 5 SO, 101 Pitches (71 Strikes), 10 GO: 7 FO

Dario Alvarez (H, 4, 0.93 ERA) – 0.1 IP, 2 GO: 1 FO, 1 IR – 0 S

John Church – 0.1 IP, SO, 1 IR – 0 S

Robert Coello – 7 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 3 BB, 4 SO, HR, 98 Pitches (62 Strikes), 8 GO: 5 FO

Alex Claudio (2.93 ERA) – 0.2 IP, H, 2 GO

Roman Mendez (2.94 ERA) – 0.1 IP, SO, 1 IR – 0 S

Francisco Mendoza (2.76 ERA) – 1 IP, H, SO, 1 GO

Batters

Dilson Herrera – 1-4, SB (10)

Eric Campbell – 1-3, R, 2B (9), BB, 2 SO

Kirk Nieuwenhuis – 1-3, R, HR (8), 2 RBI (29), BB

Johnny Monell – 2-4, SO, CS

Travis Taijeron – 1-3, SO

Recap

            Tim Stauffer continued his great pitching run for Las Vegas Thursday night by finishing just shy of a complete game shutout. After a rough start to the season relieving in the big leagues, Stauffer has turned things around big-time since becoming a starter again for Las Vegas. His stuff isn’t overwhelming anyone, but he’s hitting his spots, and outthinking these young PCL hitters. The only well-struck hit that he allowed all night was a double over Kirk’s head leading off the 7^th inning, and Stauffer would stifle the next 3 batters to escape the jam. Las Vegas jumped ahead in this game thanks to a two run blast from Kirk in the 4^th inning, but otherwise they could get little going against Round Rock starter Robert Coello. Stauffer would allow a leadoff single and surpass 100 pitches with one out in the 9^th, so Wally chose to go to his pen for the final two outs in a 2-0 game during a pennant race. Dario Alvarez induced a lineout to SS, and then John Church came in to strikeout Ed Lucas, which finished the game.

            This series continues Friday night at 8:05 PM, with Seth Lugo (2-0, 3.06 ERA) scheduled to pitch opposite Francisco Mendoza (1-0, 2.76 ERA).

Scoring Highlights

The Mets Internal Bullpen Options, Las Vegas 51s Righties

Reviewing the bullpen options for the Mets from the AA and AAA level – a look at the Las Vegas 51s pen today, and I’ll try to have the B-Mets post up by tomorrow.

            After many questions surrounding the pen coming into 2015, the Mets have had one of the top bullpens in the major leagues this year – Fangraphs has the Mets relievers at a 3.14 ERA after their series in Baltimore, which is 6^th in the majors – but they’ve been stumbling lately – they have a 4.34 ERA over the last 30 days, which is 20^th in the majors. Jenrry Mejia’s second suspension was an unexpected blow, and while Bobby Parnell’s struggles were a little more predictable – he struggled a lot in A+/AA before coming up, and he didn’t have his normal upper-90’s velocity – the Mets still ran him out there for 23 appearances (19.1 IP).

Fortunately, Logan Verrett has returned in place of Parnell, which is not something I would have imagined typing back in March (when Verrett wasn’t even on the Mets), but he was great during his first stint with the Mets this year, and he’s been strong in Las Vegas since. The Mets are getting further good news for the pitching staff down in AA, where Erik Goeddel has looked great during his 2 appearances (GIF’s from 8/16 here, details from 8/19 here), topping out at 94 MPH with his heater on Wednesday night. Also, down in Port St. Lucie Rafael Montero and Steven Matz are in various states of rehab, and at least Matz is expected to return this year.

            While Verrett and Goeddel should help boost the pen in the short term, the Mets will look to add reinforcements once the rosters expand in September, and may wish to look internally for a lefty option in the mean time if Eric O’Flaherty proves unreliable. I reviewed the seasons and stuff of the right-handed internal bullpen options from the Las Vegas 51s below, and I also give my opinion as to whether they would be a good fit for the Mets in September.

Dilson Goes Deep And Nimmo Scores The Winning Run In Salt Lake

Las Vegas 51 @ Salt Lake Bees

August 6, 2015

Tim Stauffer @ Tyler DeLoach

Teams	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9		R	H	E
Las Vegas	1	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	1		3	7	1
Salt Lake	0	1	0	0	0	1	0	0	0		2	7	0

W: Alvarez (2-0, 0.00 ERA); L: Wright (0-1, 3.38 ERA); Save: Black (2, 7.41 ERA)

MiLB.com Boxscore

The Highlights:

Pitchers

Tim Stauffer (3.65 ERA) – 7 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 3 SO, HR, 2 HBP, 91 Pitches (60 Strikes), 13 GO: 4 FO

Dario Alvarez – 1 IP, SO, 1 GO

Zach Thornton (H, 9, 3.51 ERA) – 0.1 IP, H, 1 GO

Chase Huchingson (H, 7, 2.05 ERA) – 0.1 IP, SO, 1 IR – 0 S

Vic Black – 0.1 IP, 1 GO, 1 IR – 0 S

Batters

Dilson Herrera – 1-4, R, HR (6), RBI (33), BB, SO, CS

Johnny Monell – 1-3, RBI (44), BB, SB (3), SO

Zach Lutz – 1-3, 2 SO

Brandon Nimmo – R, BB

Travis Taijeron – 1-4, 2 SO

Wilfredo Tovar – 3-4, RBI (39), CS

Recap

            The Las Vegas 51s won a tight affair with Salt Lake Thursday night, extending their division lead to 20 games over the last place Bees, and making it 4 straight for Las Vegas. 51s starter Tim Stauffer, who was making his second start with Las Vegas, was in control of the Bees lineup throughout, with the hardest hit balls coming off of him in the 6^th inning. Dilson Herrera gave the 51s a 2-1 lead in the top of that 6^th inning with a solo blast to LF, but the first pitch from Stauffer in the bottom of the frame was deposited over the wall, which brought these two teams back to square one. Brandon Nimmo was brought off the bench to pinch run in the 7^th inning, and while Las Vegas couldn’t bring him home in that frame, they would drive him in for the winning run in the top of the 9^th inning. After 7 strong from Stauffer, Dario Alvarez looked sharp in the 8^th inning, and he’d end up with his second PCL win after throwing a scoreless frame. With a 3-2 lead in the bottom of the 9^th, Wally Backman decided he needed 3 relievers to face 4 batters, and while it worked out, I can’t help but wonder why it was necessary.

            These two teams matchup again Friday night at 9:05 PM, with Matthew Bowman (7-11, 5.24 ERA) scheduled to pitch for Las Vegas.

Scoring Highlights