Mets Daily Prospect Report, 7/22/16: Pitching So Good I Call It the Armory

*All results from games played on Thursday, July 21, 2016

Triple-A - Las Vegas 51s (50-47)___________________________________

LAS VEGAS 4, OMAHA 2 (Box)

The 51s defeated the Storm Chasers last night 4-2. Robert Gsellman threw seven strong innings, while Gavin Cecchini and Brandon Nimmo's fifth inning home runs were all the offense needed for Las Vegas.

• 2B Dilson Herrera: 0-3, R, 2 BB
• RF Brandon Nimmo: 2-5, R, HR (6), 3 RBI
• 1B Eric Campbell: 2-3, BB
• DH Johnny Monell: 0-4, 2 K
• 3B T.J. Rivera: 2-4
• CF Roger Bernadina: 1-3, BB
• C Kevin Plawecki: 0-4
• SS Gavin Cecchini: 1-4, R, HR (5), RBI
• LF Ty Kelly: 3-4, R
• RHP Robert Gsellman: 7.0 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 4 K, W (1)
• LHP Josh Smoker: 1.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 2 K, H (11)
• RHP Paul Sewald: 1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 2 K, S (10)

Double-A - Binghamton Mets (45-51)_______________________________

Chase Ingram got his first win since June 9th, throwing 6.2 stellar innings and helping the Colaflies down the Suns 6-1 in a game that was never in doubt after the 4th inning. Despite adding 10 more strikeouts to their season total of 822. the Columbia offense erupted for nine hits and five walks while taking advantage of the Suns' wildness.

AA man of many hats Chris McShane attended this game in Brooklyn last night, and here are his thoughts and observations:

This game nearly slipped away from the Cyclones and ended on a classic Low-A play. With the bases loaded and two outs, Aberdeen pinch hitter Seamus Curran hit a ground ball to second, which Michael Paez botched. That scored a run and allowed Curran to reach first base, but the runner who started the play on second tried to score, too, and Paez threw him out at home plate by several feet to end the game.

Before the ninth, Brooklyn hadn't allowed a run, thanks in large part to Harol Gonzalez, who made pitching look easy. He sat 87-90 miles per hour with his fastball, threw a lot of cutters, and got in plenty of work on his curveball. He struck out nine, walked just one—the last batter he faced—and gave up only five hits, all of which were singles. His cutter looked sharp and generated swings-and-misses.

The curve, which sat in the mid-70s, is clearly a work in progress. When it worked, it looked pretty, but when it didn't, it was either bounced in front of the plate or left adrift high and arm-side. The regular fastball didn't stand out at its velocity, but Gonzalez made pitching look really easy in this start. It'll be interesting to see what he does when the Mets promote him up the minor league ladder. Here's video of some of Gonzalez's pitches:

Cyclones reliever Joseph Zanghi—who was drafted by the Reds in the 24th round in 2015 but didn't sign with them and instead signed with the Mets nearly a year later—took over for Gonzalez. He threw a lot of fastballs and sat 93-94 and touched 95. He struck out the only batter he faced in the eighth, hit the leadoff man in the ninth, and struck out the next two Aberdeen hitters. All three strikeouts were of the swinging variety. But he walked the next batter he faced and then gave up a double, at least officially speaking, on a shallow fly ball that Jacob Zanon tried to catch but instead deflected. That allowed Aberdeen's first run to score and ended Zanghi's night, and Austin McGeorge took over to induce that wacky game-ending ground ball.

At the plate, Brooklyn was held without a hit through four innings, but 2016 2nd-round pick Pete Alonso singled to break up the no-no to start the bottom of the fifth. With Ali Sanchez up next, the Cyclones used the hit-and-run, and Sanchez went the other way with a ground ball that would have been right at the second baseman if not for that play. It was about as textbook an execution of a hit-and-run as you'll get. Blake Tiberi singled to plate Alonso, and Zanon singled to load the bases. But Jay Jabs and Arnaldo Berrios struck out and Gene Cone popped out to the catcher to turn a potential big inning into just a one-run affair.

Brooklyn tacked on two runs in the sixth, though, as Paez hit a home run to left field that seemed to just keep carrying and stayed fair as it traveled over the fence. That was the first of his professional career. Alonso just missed hitting one of his own, as he hit a ball a very, very long way, but passed the fence in foul territory, before ultimately drawing a walk. And later in that inning, Tiberi drove in his second run of the night on a sac fly to the warning track in left-center field.

• LF Gene Cone: 0-4, K
• 2B Michael Paez: 1-3, R, HR (1), RBI, BB, K, E (1)
• SS Colby Woodmansee: 1-4, R
• 1B Peter Alonso: 1-3, R, BB, K
• C Ali Sanchez: 1-3
• 3B Blake Tiberi: 1-2, 2 RBI
• CF Jacob Zanon: 1-3, K
• DH Jay Jabs: 0-3, 2 K
• RF Arnaldo Berrios: 0-3, 2 K
• RHP Harol Gonzalez: 7.2 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 9 K. W (2)
• RHP Joseph Zanghi: 1.0 IP, 1 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 3 K, H (1)
• RHP Austin McGeorge: 0.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 0 K, S (1)

Out of habit, when I write the Kingsport recap and see a scoreline such as this, I assume there were a lot of errors and various Appalachian League shenanigans occurring. So I implore you to imagine my surprise when I saw there wasn't a single error in this game and only one unearned run. In addition to allowing 19 hits, K-Mets pitching allowed 10 walks as well, enabling the Twins to go 9-for-18(!) with runners in scoring position on the night. There is an obligation to write something positive here, so Juan Miguel Medina had four hits and Gregorix Estevez threw one-third of a scoreless inning of relief.