El Paso Chihuahuas (12-5) 13, Las Vegas 51s (5-12) 4  Box Score

  • RHP Drew Gagnon (0-1, 4.60 ERA): 5 IP, 7 H, 4 ER, 2BB, 6 K
  • RHP Kevin McGowan (0-1, 5.40 ERA): 0.2 IP, 3 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 2 K
  • LHP Matt Purke (0-0, 8.64 ERA): 1.1 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 2 K
  • RHP Drew Smith (1-0, 9.00 ERA): 1.1 IP, 3 H, 6 ER, 3 BB, 3 K
  • RHP Jamie Callahan (0-1, 9.72): 0.2 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 2 K

The Vegas pitching staff got lit up yesterday as everyone outside of Matt Purke surrendered at least one run. Drew Smith, in particular, struggled for the 51s as the righty allowed six runs, including a home run, while struggling heavily with his command with three walks on his stat line as well.

Another prospect acquired at the trade deadline last year, Jamie Callahan, did not fare well either as he allowed a run and two hits. Nonetheless, the staff combined for 15 strikeouts yesterday.

The team’s offense also left a lot to be desired as, despite scoring four runs, were only able to salvage seven hits against El Paso. Borenstein accounted for two of those while driving in two runs. Former-first round pick, Gavin Cecchini, also contributed a hit and walked as well. Meanwhile, Colton Plaia was the only other player on the team to get two hits.

Binghamton Rumble Ponies (6-7) 4, Erie Seawolves (5-10) 2 Box Score

The knuckleballer, Mickey Jannis, made his Double-A season debut for the Rumble Ponies. Jannis has had more than 120 innings in each of the last two seasons at Double-A. He might be needed in Triple-A soon with Corey Oswalt’s promotion.

Keep an eye on Austin McGeorge, the Mets have many relief prospects but McGeorge could be someone who makes an impact. He has a deceptive delivery similar to Paul Sewald. Could move up to Las Vegas sometime this season. Hanhold came over in the Neil Walker trade. His fastball has reportedly hit 99 MPH and it has some movement on it. Hanhold at 6’5″ is definitely big enough to have elite velocity.

McNeil is slashing .231/.333/.692 this season. His .692 slugging would lead the Eastern League if he qualified. I’d expect it to go down though but I also expect to see an increase in OBP. Should move to Vegas quickly if he is healthy.

Jupiter Hammerheads (13-3) 3, St. Lucie Mets (7-8) 2 Box Score

The good on Taylor’s line was that he did not walk anyone. The bad is that he has given up six runs in 10 innings this season. The seven strikeouts from Taylor was a good sign. Ryder Ryan has faced 35 batters this season and struck out 14 of them. Ryan has been great and should have destroyed the narrative that he was just a 30th round draft pick. Ryan has been a good pitcher before. He had a 1.67 ERA in the first half of 2017 before tiring in the second half. He is new to this whole pitching thing. Ryan has thrown 20.2 scoreless innings dating back to 2017. Joseph Zanghi also looks like a legit relief prospect. The hard thrower has not walked a batter among the 22 that he has faced. This is continuing from the two very good years that he had in 2016 and 2017.

Desmond Lindsay made his return to the lineup. He had missed the previous four but returned as the DH today. Gimenez has slashed .259/.313/.414 to begin 2018 but he is 3.5 years younger than the average number of players in the league. Given that he is still adjusting, I would bet that he figures it out sooner rather than later.

Hickory Crawdads (6-9) 4, Columbia Fireflies (10-6) 1 Box Score

His win-loss record might now show it (it doesn’t show much anyway) but Simon has been rebounding from a poor 2017. Simon struggled all of last season and he was not great last night but he has been significantly better in 2018 than he was in 2017. Let’s hope he keeps it up. Ford is an interesting guy because he can get strikeouts but he is not a particularly big or overpowering guy. He’s a high-80s pitcher, which means he needs great control going forward.

Blake Tiberi 2B: 1-3, BB

Quinn Brodey CF: 0-3, BB, K

Scott Manea DH: 1-1, Run, HR, RBI, 2 BB

Safe to say Blake Tiberi can really hit. He might be a little too advanced for this league so his real test might come at St. Lucie. He should be up there soon if he keeps this up. All told the Columbia offense did not do much despite their early season prowess.