MILB NOTES: Dominant relief outing gets Wall back on track
After back-to-back disappointing outings, Cory Wall got back on track Tuesday against the team with the third-best record in the South Atlantic League.
The right-hander from North Pocono stymied High-A Brooklyn after a tough start in relief at AdventHealth Stadium, working 2⅔ shutout innings in Rome’s 6-2 loss to the Cyclones.
He entered the game with the bases loaded, one out and his Emperors trailing 3-0, and New York Mets pitching/designated hitter prospect Nolan McLean grounded his second pitch past third and into left, clearing the bases and doubling Brooklyn’s lead. But from there, Wall settled in. He got Christopher Suero to foul out, then struck out Jefrey De Los Santos to escape the fifth with no further damage.
Wall ended his outing by retiring the last seven batters he faced, and none of them put the ball in play in fair territory. Of his six strikeouts, three came against players listed among the Mets’ top 30 prospects by MLB Pipeline, including his three-pitch domination of No. 4 prospect Ryan Clifford in the sixth inning.
In each of his two previous outings, the Atlanta Braves’ eighth-round pick in the 2023 amateur draft out of Fordham allowed three earned runs, but he saw his ERA fall to 4.50 after this outing.
Another struggle
The last outing for Lackawanna College pitcher Kyle Scott didn’t go quite as well.
The right-hander entered in the fourth inning of last Friday’s game against Kannapolis with a 1-0 lead and looking to build off three no-hit innings from lefty Jackson Humphries (the Guardians’ No. 13). But Scott didn’t get out of the fourth, and his defense didn’t help him much either.
A one-out error put runners on the corners for Drake Logan, who launched a double that brought a run home. Scott then hit a batter, walked another and allowed two line drive singles that chased him from the game with two out. Ryan Galanie brought all three of them home with a hit, and the help of another error, against reliever Wardquelin Vasquez.
Scott wound up allowing seven runs on four hits in ⅔ of an inning, although just one of those runs was earned.
