Erie SeaWolves' starting pitchers continue to thrive and other things to know
The Erie SeaWolves have just five series left in the first half of the season, and the main thing keeping them in the Eastern League playoff race is dominant starting pitching.
After completing a 4-2 homestand against the New Hampshire Fisher Cats, Erie is 21-18 and sits two games back of first-place Akron and one game back of Richmond with 30 games left in the first half of the season. The Eastern League is sticking with a playoff format of the first-half winner against the second-half winner in the division playoffs in September.
The SeaWolves' starting pitchers have a combined record of 9-6 and an ERA of 2.61. The nine wins rank fourth in the Eastern League, while the six losses are tied for the fewest in the league among starters. The ERA is the best in the league ahead of second-place Portland at 2.99.
“It's a good problem to have right now that we haven't been able to get our bullpen guys a lot of work,” said SeaWolves manager Gabe Alvarez. “There have been some guys with a few off days, and it has been tough to get everyone in when we've had such good starting pitching.”
The SeaWolves' starting pitchers lead the league by allowing just 13 home runs, and they have 213 strikeouts compared to just 62 walks.
The main rotation has included Garrett Hill (2-0, 2.25 ERA), Reese Olson (2-2, 3.60), Adam Wolf (3-1, 2.12) and Austin Bergner (1-1, 2.45) as all four have made seven starts. Markus Solbach is 0-2 with a 3.50 ERA in five starts. Hill was recently promoted to Toledo, but Wilmer Flores, the No. 15 prospect for the Detroit Tigers, was promoted to Erie.
Flores made his Double-A debut on Thursday and struck out seven in five dominant innings.
“I felt a little nervous at first because it was my first Double-A start, but I just focused on what I did in High-A,” Flores said. “I think the key was my slider. I was able to throw it for a strike and it helped me go back in counts. When I got through the first inning, I was more relaxed and felt like myself again.”
Olson has been one of the most consistent arms for Erie as he recently pitched back-to-back starts with 10 or more strikeouts. He struck out 11 in 4⅔ innings against New Hampshire.
“The past two starts everything has been working. I had all four pitches working and I was in the zone a little more than my first few starts,” Olson said. “When I'm comfortable on the mound, I'm not thinking about anything. I just work quickly and throw.”
Olson's most recent start included an "immaculate inning" as he threw nine strikes for three strikeouts.
In the past eight games, Erie starting pitchers have gone 3-0 and allowed six earned runs in 36⅓ innings for an ERA of 1.49. They've allowed just 22 hits in those 36⅓ innings to go with 58 strikeouts to 12 walks.
Odds and ends
As always, there were interesting things to happen at the ballpark over the past week.
In addition to Olson's immaculate inning, the SeaWolves' pitching staff struck out 20 batters on Friday in an 8-7 win. Since 2005, Erie has had just two 20-strikeout games and both were 16-inning games. The last one was July 4, 2014 when the 'Wolves struck out 20 in a 9-6 win at Binghamton, and the other was May 19, 2011 when Erie did it against Trenton, which was a 9-6 loss.
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In the same game, Kerry Carpenter, who has been hot at the plate for the SeaWolves, had two doubles and two home runs. He scored four runs in the win and is the first Erie hitter to score four runs in a game since Sergio Alcantara scored five times in a 16-5 win over Trenton on April 7, 2019. Carpenter is second in the Eastern League with 11 home runs and fourth with 26 RBIs.
On Sunday, home plate umpire Jaeyoung Kim was drilled by the second pitch of the game and had to leave with an arm injury. There were just two umpires for the next five innings before Kim returned to the field with a big wrap on his hand and lower arm area to become the third base umpire. Just a few batters into his return, a broken bat flew at him and he had to get out of the way at the last second.
Emergency position player pitching
The SeaWolves were in a tough spot Sunday as they ran out of bullpen arms in the final game of the series. After four innings by starting pitcher Adam Wolf, Erie used six relief pitchers, including Zac ,Houston, Joe Navilhon, Yaya Chentouf, Shea Spitzbarth, Brendan White and Gerson Moreno. Each reliever went one inning but the SeaWolves and Fisher Cats were still tied after 10 innings.
The SeaWolves turned to catcher Jon Rosoff, who pitched earlier in the series. New Hampshire had a placed runner on second base to start the inning via the tiebreaker rule and Rosoff started by getting LJ Talley to pop out to the catcher. After intentionally walking pinch-hitter Spencer Horowitz, Rosoff walked Ryan Gold on a 3-2 pitch to load the bases.
Rosoff then worked another full count to Zac Cook and struck him out, sending the crowd and SeaWolves bench into a frenzy as he was one out from a scoreless inning. Rosoff worked another full count to Tanner Morris, but the 3-2 pitch was driven to right field for a two-run single. Rafael Lantigua followed with a two-run double to give New Hampshire a 7-3 lead before Orelvis Martinez, the No. 2 prospect for the Blue Jays, popped out to end the inning.
Pitching side gig:When position players pitch for Erie SeaWolves, the results can be ugly or effective
Rosoff became the second SeaWolves position player to ever record a pitching decision when he took the Sunday in the 7-3 setback against the Fisher Cats.
In 2003, Erie middle infielder Ed Romprey was forced into action during a 14-inning game at Jerry Uht Park against Binghamton in late July. In a similar situation, Erie ran out of arms and Romprey volunteered to take the mound. Romprey was tagged with the loss in the 9-8 loss to the Mets to become the first position player to earn a pitching decision in SeaWolves history.
What's next
The SeaWolves make their one and only trip to Bowie this week. The two teams play at 6:35 p.m. on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday with a 7:05 p.m. on Friday and a 1:05 p.m. game on Sunday. The 'Wolves return home on May 31 for an 11:05 a.m. game against Harrisburg.
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Bowie has six top-30 prospects for the Baltimore Orioles, according to MLB.com. Infielder Gunnar Henderson is the No. 3 prospect for the Orioles. He was the second-round pick by Baltimore in 2019 out of high school, while shortstop Jordan Westburg is the No. 6 prospect and was a first-round pick in 2020 by the Orioles from Mississippi State.
Shortstop Joseph Ortiz (No. 15) was a fourth-round pick by Baltimore from New Mexico State, while outfielder Hudson Haskin (16) was a second-round pick by the Orioles in 2020 out of Tulane. Pitcher Drew Rom (17) was a fourth-round pick by Baltimore in the 2018 draft out of high school, and middle infielder Adam Hall rounds out the six prospects at No. 28. He was a second-round pick by the Orioles in 2017 out of school in Canada.
Contact Tom Reisenweber at treisenweber@timesnews.com. Follow him on Twitter @ETNreisenweber.
This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: Erie starting pitchers thrive and other things to know about SeaWolves
