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Mets Daily Prospect Report, 8/19/18: Cyclones split key doubleheader, Dunn continues to dominate

Catch up on all the Mets prospects in yesterday’s minor league action here!

By Matthew Mackenzie
Justin Dunn
Chris McShane

*All results from games played on Saturday, August 18th, 2018

Triple-A: Las Vegas 51s (61-64)

EL PASO 4, LAS VEGAS 3 (BOX)

A run in the seventh would be the difference for Las Vegas as they dropped a tight contest on Saturday evening, their third consecutive loss against first place El Paso. Bryce Brentz got the scoring going in the top of the first, going deep to left after a single from Zach Borenstein, and giving the 51s a 2-0 lead. In the bottom of the inning, however, the home team followed the visitors’ lead. Luis Urias walked with one out, and highly rated Padres farmhand Francisco Mejia followed with a two-run blast of his own against PJ Conlon.

Conlon, who found himself relegated to the bullpen for a brief time at the beginning of August, put up a quality start on the night, allowing three runs in six innings, but his ERA is still an unsightly 6.87 mark. The 51s would tie the game in the top of the 5th on a solo home run from Jose Lobaton, and at that point Conlon had settled in, conceding only one hit in his final three innings of work.

Unfortunately, however, Eric Hanhold would run into trouble in the seventh. Urias legged out a triple on a deep fly ball to left field, and Ty France came through with a single, giving El Paso the lead. Hanhold is off to a rocky start with Vegas, having allowed eleven runs in just over twelve innings, although those numbers are mostly attributable to his debut against Round Rock, in which the Florida product let in six runs.

The 51s had the tying run at third in each of the last two innings, but came up empty both times.

ROSTER ALERT: 2B Christian Colon’s roster status changed by Las Vegas 51s

ROSTER ALERT: RHP Logan Taylor placed on the temporarily inactive list.

ROSTER ALERT: Las Vegas 51s activated C Jeff Glenn from the 7-Day disabled list.

Double-A: Binghamton Rumble Ponies (59-65)

BINGHAMTON 4, READING 2 (BOX)

Justin Dunn gave up just two hits in seven innings of excellent work, and the Rumble Ponies put up a four-run first inning in a victory over the Fightin’ Phils. Dunn struck out seven Reading batters and worked around four walks in his third straight quality start. The Boston College product has pitched to a solid 3.11 ERA during his time in the Eastern League, and may see some time with the Mets this season as a September call-up.

Patrick Biondi got the first-inning rally started when he reached on an error by the pitcher, and Andres Gimenez followed with a single, setting the stage for Joey Terdoslavich, who drove them both in with a three-run blast. Then, after a double from Will Toffey, Jhoan Urena came through with an RBI hit of his own, and that was all the offense the Rumble Ponies would need. Toffey now has an impressive 156 wRC+ through twenty-five games at Double-A.

Kevin McGowan will start for Binghamton on Sunday afternoon as they go for their fourth straight win.

Advanced-A: St. Lucie Mets (27-40/23-31)

DUNEDIN 4, ST. LUCIE 1 (BOX)

Joe Cavallaro fell apart in his third time through the Dunedin lineup, and the St. Lucie Mets managed just seven hits and one run in a 4-1 loss.

Desmond Lindsay got things started in the second inning, singling with runners on the corners, plating Michael Paez, and giving his team a 1-0 lead. That lead would last until the fifth inning, when Cavallaro started to run into trouble. Joshua Palacios led off the inning with a single, and came all the way around to score on a one-out double. Then in the next inning, the South Florida product really started to run out of steam. Three Blue Jays would score on a walk, three singles, and a fielding error from Paez, who now has twenty-one miscues on the season. That was more than enough offense for the Dunedin pitching staff, who conceded just one hit in the final three innings.

Cavallaro, who dominated the South Atlantic League in the first half, and looked to be settling into a rhythm after a rocky start in the Florida State League, now has a 5.40 ERA in seven starts with St. Lucie. David Wright and Jay Bruce combined to go 0-for-8 with three strikeouts, as they continued their rehab assignments. Wright is still looking for his first hit of the season.

Low-A: Columbia Fireflies (22-30)

COLUMBIA 14, HAGERSTOWN 6 (BOX)

Columbia pulled away with nine unanswered runs in the middle innings, piling up fourteen runs in all in a win over Hagerstown.

Luc Rennie got the start for the Fireflies, and ever since an eye-popping beginning to his Sally League tenure back in July, the former Orioles farmhand and independent league pitcher has struggled to find a rhythm. This Saturday was no exception— Rennie gave up ten hits against just four strikeouts, but he settled in later in the game, facing just two over the minimum in his final four innings.

Three Colaflies went deep in the fourteen-run outburst, including Zach Rheams, who belted a grand slam in the sixth. Every Columbia hitter reached base at least once in the win.

Short Season: Brooklyn Cyclones (33-26)

GAME ONE

BROOKLYN 9, HUDSON VALLEY 2 (BOX)

After Upstate New York was hit hard by rain on Friday evening, forcing Friday’s game to be suspended, the Cyclones and Renegades picked up where they left off at Dutchess Stadium on Saturday. The game resumed in the bottom of the third with Brooklyn leading 2-0 on the strength of a home run from Ross Adolph, and after Hudson Valley picked up a quick run on an RBI groundout, it was all Cyclones the rest of the way.

In the fourth, two runs would score for Brooklyn on an RBI single from Wagner Lagrange and a run-scoring groundout from Brian Sharp, and the Cyclones would pile on, adding five more in the next inning. The extended rally began with six consecutive singles, ended with a wild pitch and a sacrifice fly: at that point it was 9-1, and the game was out of reach for the Renegades.

After the game resumed, five Cyclones pitchers combined for seven innings of dominant work in relief of Brian Campusano, allowing just four hits, an unearned run, and striking out six.

GAME TWO

HUDSON VALLEY 4, BROOKLYN 3/ 8 (BOX)

Christian James’ impressive season continued in the second game of the doubleheader, and Ross Adolph hit his second and third home runs in the last two days, but the Cyclones let a late lead slip away, and in so doing, relinquished a golden opportunity to tie the Renegades for the McNamara Division lead.

Adolph got the offense going on the third pitch of the game when he lofted a fly ball out beyond the fence in right field, giving Brooklyn a 1-0 lead. Carlos Cortes would make it 2-0 with an RBI double in the third, and in the fifth, Adolph would add his second solo shot of the game. Cyclones starter Christian James would make that lead stand up for most of the night, conceding just two hits in six innings of work. The twenty-year old Tampa native now has a 1.99 ERA in nearly sixty New York-Penn League innings, and he will be a player to watch as he leads the Columbia rotation next year, along with Jaison Vilera and Jose Butto.

The score was 3-1 when the Cyclones went to the bullpen and things began to unravel. Ryley Gilliam came in for a save opportunity to start the inning, and he had no command of the strike zone whatsoever. Gilliam walked four of the five batters he faced, throwing eight straight pitches out of the zone at one point, and ultimately being charged with two earned runs despite not allowing a single ball in play. The Clemson product left after his disappointing effort to find the plate, and one sacrifice fly later, the game was tied.

In the bottom of the eighth, the Renegades loaded up the bases after Yeudy Colon intentionally walked Chris Betts and hit Adrian Rondon with a pitch. Colon walked the next batter, Tyler Frank scored the winning run, and in the matter of two innings, the Cyclones had blown a three run lead (and lost) without allowing a single hit.

Kyle Wilson will get the start on Sunday in the rubber game of this crucially important three-game series.

Rookie-Advanced: Kingsport Mets (28-28)

PULASKI 5, KINGSPORT 1 (BOX)

Just a week after being lifted in the first inning due to severe command issues, Matt Cleveland had trouble finding the plate again last night, walking five batters and being hit fairly hard. After a promising start to his 2018 season, the Windsor, Connecticut native has fallen apart; he has walked nineteen batters in his last thirteen innings of work.

Nonetheless, Cleveland’s work on the mound would not have made much difference no matter what the right-hander did, as the K-Mets managed just one hit in the game, a triple from Jarred Kelenic, who came in to score on a sacrifice fly from Shervyen Newton.

Rookie: GCL Mets (23-28)

GCL MARLINS 6, GCL METS 3 (BOX)

The GCL Mets were doomed by a four-run fourth inning as their late-season slide continued in a 6-3 loss to the GCL Marlins. Cesar Loaiza, much like his more advanced counterparts Gilliam and Cleveland, could not find the strike zone in his brief relief outing, walking three and allowing three earned runs.

Junior Santos pitched two scoreless innings in relief to finish the game for the Mets; the hard-throwing seventeen year old now has four shutout innings under his belt since arriving stateside from the Dominican Republic.

Stars of the Night

RHP Justin Dunn and RF Ross Adolph

Goats of the Night

RHP Ryley Gilliam and RHP Eric Hanhold

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