Max Stassi blasts walkoff homer in the 12th
FRESNO, Calif. - The Fresno Grizzlies (60-47) arrived into the Chukchansi Park parking lot at 4:00 a.m. this morning after spending the last 12 days on the road and were able to outlast the Albuquerque Isotopes (48-60) by a score of 9-7 in 12 innings on Saturday night. Matt Duffy helped Fresno overcome a 7-6 deficit in the bottom of the 12th when he crushed the first offering from Tim Smalling, who started the game at third base, over the left field wall for a solo homer (14). After Nolan Fontana reached on an error, Smalling tossed a 72 mph fastball up in the zone that was belted by Max Stassi into the first row of bleachers in left for a game-ending two-run homer (11).
The flurry of runs late stole a little attention away from a masterful performance by Fresno starter Mark Appel. The Astros' No. 2 prospect matched a career high by striking out 10 over seven innings, allowing one run on three hits -- all by Wilin Rosario -- as Triple-A Fresno rallied twice to force extra innings and walk off with the wild win.
"Honestly, I thought my bullpen before the game was pretty bad," Appel said. "You throw so many games that you throw your pitches in the bullpen, and if it's good or bad, you really can't let that affect you. You've got to go out and you've got to make your pitches. The bullpen before the game doesn't really matter. I just went out and was like, 'You know what? I'm warm. I'm going to try to pound the zone and see what happens.'"
What happened was the right-hander's best outing of his five-week Triple-A stint. Appel mastered every Albuquerque hitter who wasn't Rosario, forcing the other eight Isotopes to go hitless in 21 at-bats with 10 strikeouts.
"I thought my stuff was working well," he said. "My command was good. The staff stuck with me the entire game, so I really just tried to pound the zone, got some swings and misses, some soft hit groundballs, a couple of balls that guys made great plays on."
Appel's arsenal generated double-digit strikeouts for only the second time in his three-year career and first since he fanned 10 for Double-A Corpus Christi on Aug. 26, 2014.
"My goal isn't to strike everybody out, that's not my job. My job is to go deep into a game and give our team a chance to win. If you get a bunch of strikeouts doing that then that's great. Usually, when you have a lot of strikeouts, you have a higher pitch count. Today was kind of the opposite," he said.
The 2013 first overall pick faced the minimum in four of his seven innings and struck out at least one batter in six frames.
"I think my slider was a pitch that was working for me early, just getting some swings and misses," he said. "I think the last game or two, I've been getting more foul balls or ground balls in play -- which isn't a bad thing -- but the swings and misses, being able to put a guy away with two strikes instead of them battling it off, keeping the at-bat going, it helps the pitch count and being able to throw some K's up on the board. That makes it a little bit more fun."
Rosario was the only thorn in Appel's side. Optioned to Triple-A by the Rockies this week, the slugger doubled to right field leading off the second, mashed a two-out homer to left in the fourth and singled to center in the seventh.
"He tried to attack me early in the count," MLB.com's No. 51 overall prospect said. "It was just his night. He had a great approach, was seeing the ball really well. You take one look at his stat line and you can tell he had a good night."
After Appel fanned Rockies No. 12 prospect Tom Murphy to finish the seventh, he departed in line for a win that seemed secure when Fresno tacked on a run to build a four-run cushion in the bottom of the frame.
Rosario struck again though, belting a go-ahead grand slam in the eighth off reliever Kevin Chapman. The Grizzlies rallied for a run on Tyler White's sacrifice fly in the ninth and had one more charge left.
After No. 11 Rockies prospect Trevor Story doubled in No. 20 prospect Cristhian Adames with the go-ahead run in the top of the 12th, the Grizzlies roared back. Matt Duffy greeted infielder-turned-reliever Tim Smalling with a game-tying homer and, three batters later, Max Stassi cranked a two-run walk-off blast.
"As a pitcher, you feel attached to your outing, whatever that is; as a teammate, you definitely want to be in the game," Appel said of the roller-coaster ride through extra innings. "Our offense just kept grinding out at-bats and we got to a position where we were able to put some big swings and hit those two home runs in the 12th.
"A walk-off is always fun."
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