51s collect one hit, beat Fresno 2-1
The 51s had just one hit on Wednesday night.
They were shut down by Fresno starter Cy Sneed, unable to muster any offense against him.
And yet, they left Cashman Field with a win, coming out on top with a 2-1 victory over the Grizzlies (10-4).
Sneed threw six hitless innings, striking out seven. Though he did surrender four walks — including three in the sixth inning — it wasn’t until after he departed that the 51s got their first hit of the game.
“Mostly it was just that fastball split combination. It’s just a tough pitch to tail off his fastball and he threw it enough where he could speed up,” 51s outfielder Bryce Brentz said. “He’s turning that 92, 94 (miles per hour) into a little bit more like 97 because it’s coming off that split. He pitched very well. You’ve got to tip your cap to him.”
Sneed ran into problems in the sixth inning with walks but was able to work through it.
Brentz came through with the 51s’ (5-9) only hit of the game in the seventh, a two-run blast off of Reymin Guduan.
“I was kind of getting ready more for the inside fastball. That’s what they had kind of been coming at me with, especially him (Guduan),” Brentz said. “He goes in on righties a lot anyways and he threw another slider. I saw that a little bit more up and was able to put a good swing on it and luckily that’s all we needed.”
It was Brentz’s first home run of the season and came after Zach Borenstein had walked before him to give the 51s the lead.
The 51s countered Sneed with solid pitching of their own Wednesday, starting with four scoreless innings from starter Chris Flexen.
Flexen departed in the fifth inning after walking two batters.
“Flexen just got a lot of deep counts. He was pitching away from contact it looked like a little bit,” manager Tony DeFrancesco said. “He was trying to go inside, he was missing in. He walked, I think, five guys today, which is a lot for him.”
Reliever Tim Peterson bailed him out, getting a double play before a diving play from third baseman David Thompson saved a run and ended the frame.
Peterson surrendered a home run — his first run allowed this season — to Tyler White in the sixth inning but after that, the 51s got two scoreless innings from Corey Taylor and one from Jacob Rhame to nail down the win.
“I thought our pitching came through. Our relief pitching was outstanding,” DeFrancesco said. “That’s a very good hitting team over there but Peterson, Taylor and Rhame were outstanding.”
And so even though the 51s finished with just one hit, it was enough.
“(I’ve) been on a couple bad ends of a no-hitter but this was probably the first time that I’ve experienced where a team still had that life, still knowing that something could happen,” Brentz said. “To sit there and have the attitude we had in the dugout, we still felt like we know ‘Hey somebody gets one in the air, we’ve got a chance.’ I happened to be in the right spot and thankfully we came through and got a win.”
Contact Betsy Helfand at bhelfand@reviewjournal.com. Follow @BetsyHelfand on Twitter.