The Game: The Charlotte Stone Crabs defeated the St. Lucie Mets 6-4 on Tuesday night at Charlotte Sports Park. The Stone Crabs started strong by posting five runs to the scoreboard in the first inning. Fernando Perez singled to left to lead off for the Stone Crabs. Perez then stole second and Shawn O’Malley drew a walk to put a second runner on base. Drew Anderson followed with a bunt for a single to load the bases. Henry Wrigley drove home two runs with single to left, scoring Perez and O’Malley. Ryan Royster then plated Anderson with a line drive to right with Wrigley advancing to third on an error. John Matulia singled with a bunt scoring Wrigley. Then Nevin Ashley drove home Royster to give the Stone Crabs a 5-0 lead. Three errors in the top of the second inning by the Stone Crabs aided the Mets in scoring their first run of the game. Francisco Pena reached on an fielding error to lead the inning and then advanced to second on a throwing error, both charged to Matt Hall. Carlos Guzman followed with a single to center advancing Pena to third. Brahiam Maldonado reached base and Pena scored on a fielding error by Shawn O’Malley to give St. Lucie their first run of the night.
The Stone Crabs added another run in the bottom of the sixth inning. Ryan Royster doubled to center to start the inning. John Matulia followed with a single to advance Royster to third. Then Nevin Ashley delivered an RBI single to score Royster and increase the Charlotte lead 6-1.
St. Lucie made things interesting in the seventh by scoring three runs on a home run by Zach Lutz to bring the Mets to within two. But Richard De Los Santos came in and preserved the lead giving the Stone Crabs a 6-4 win.
Ryan Morse started the game for Charlotte, pitching 3 innings and allowing 1 unearned run on 4 hits. Chad Bradford followed pitching 1 inning as a part of his rehab schedule, allowing no hits and striking out 2 in earning the win. Justin Garcia pitched 3 innings and allowed 3 runs on 3 hits while striking out 4 and walking 1. Richard De Los Santos pitched the final two innings and recorded the save allowing no runs on 1 hits with a strike out. Salvador Aguilar was the losing pitcher for St. Lucie.
What Went Right: Ryan Royster; extended his hitting streak to 10 games by going 2 for 4 with a double, RBI and 2 runs scored.
What Went Wrong: Matt Hall: 0 for 3 with a strikeout and committed 2 errors on the field.
A Look Ahead: The Stone Crabs and Mets play game two of the series on Wednesday night at Charlotte Sports Park. It will be David Newmann (6-6) on the mound against Scott Shaw (5-7).
Few questions for you- What happened to Catcher Ian Paxton-stats say he's batting .279- and playing tough defense. He is well above McCormick's .224 BA. Yet, Paxton hasn't played since July 30th. I see that McCormick was an AllStar back in Hudson Valley, but what has he really done since?
ReplyDeleteOne thing to keep in mind with minor league baseball, especially A-Ball and Rookie league ball is that a lot of what goes on with playing time and roster moves is that they are done with the bigger picture in mind. While Paxton is hitting better and playing better defense, it may be possible that those in the player development staff of the organization may have something they are working on with him or are trying to get a better feel for how he would do in a day to day situation.
ReplyDeleteAnother thing to look at is the depth of catchers on the team and in the organization. Charlotte currently has 3 active catchers on roster. While it would make sense that they work some type of rotation between the three but that is not the deal.
My personal opinion is I wish they would use Paxton more, even as a DH if they are trying to use McCormick more behind the plate. He adds a little more offensive support then some of the others we are currently using in the lineup and is a tool that doesn't need to be sitting on the bench.