Fireflies pitcher continues scoreless inning streak
Merandy Gonzlaez continued his torrid start on the mound, and the Columbia Fireflies snapped out of their funk at the plate Wednesday against Asheville.
Gonzlaez threw 7 2/3 scoreless innings and extended his shutout streak to 28 1/3 innings in the Fireflies’ 5-0 win against the Tourists at Spirit Communications Park.
Gonzalez’s 28 1/3 scoreless innings are 11 1/3 shy of the South Atlantic League record by Savannah’s Ted Carson in 1984.
“He has been outstanding,” Fireflies manager Jose Leger said of Gonzalez, who is the 14th-ranked prospect in the Mets’ organization. “Today, he wasn’t as great compared with his other starts. But it was good to see him dealing with adversity and runners on base.”
Gonzalez didn’t have it easy in keeping his scoreless streak in tact. He got out of a bases-loaded jam with no outs in the second inning and another bases loaded situation in the fifth.
In the third, Asheville’s Robbie Perkins reached on a one-out triple. But first baseman Dash Winningham made a back-hand stop and threw home to get Perkins to end the threat.
Tim Tebow and former Coastal Carolina standout Michael Paez paced the Fireflies offense, which had 10 hits after combining for seven in the two previous games. Tebow went 3-for-4, including his first triple, and scored two runs.
Paez had a strong showing in front of his former college coach, Gary Gilmore, and a few teammates. He had two hits, including a solo homer in the third and made an outstanding defensive play at shortstop to rob Colton Welker of a hit in the sixth.
“Gilly (Gary Gilmore) texted me last night and said he was coming up,” Paez said. “It’s always fun seeing a guy who coached you to get to play professional baseball. It was special.”
Columbia native Gene Cone had a two-run double, and Jose Medina had two hits for the Fireflies.
The Fireflies begin a four-game series in Hickory, beginning Thursday.
Asheville | ab | r | h | rbi | bb | k |
Melendez cf | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
Gomez ss | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Fernandez lf | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
Welker 3b | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Nevin 1b | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
Abreu rf | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
Bosiokovic dh | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
George 2b | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
Perkins c | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
TOTALS | 28 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 3 | 7 |
Columbia | ab | r | h | rbi | bb | k |
Cone lf | 4 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 1 |
Carpio 2b | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
Paez ss | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
Winningham 1b | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
Jabs 3b | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
Tebow dh | 4 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Medina rf | 3 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
Lindsay cf | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
Sanchez c | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
TOTALS | 31 | 5 | 10 | 5 | 1 | 8 |
Asheville | 000 | 000 | 000 | — | 0 |
Columbia | 031 | 001 | 00x | — | 5 |
DP — Asheville 2, Columbia 2. LOB — Asheville 7, Columbia 4. 2B — Bosiokovic, Paez, Cone. 3B — Perkins, Tebow. HR — Paez. SH — Abreu. SF — Sanchez. CS — Medina.
Asheville | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO |
Gold L, 1-2 | 3 | 6 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 3 |
Baker | 3 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 4 |
Dennis | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Luna | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
Columbia | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO |
Gonzalez W, 4-0 | 7 2/3 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 5 |
Blackham | 1 1/3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
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HBP — Perkins (by Gonzalez); Melendez (by Gonzalez). Umpires — HP: Mike Snover. 1B: Emil Jimenez. T — 2:14. A — 3,141.
This story was originally published April 26, 2017 at 5:36 PM with the headline "Fireflies pitcher continues scoreless inning streak."