Robert Gsellman’s finest Triple-A outing leads 51s over Omaha

When Robert Gsellman was called up to Las Vegas in early June, he came with a lot of promise. He was the Mets’ No. 12 prospect and top pitching prospect on the 51s. It took some adjusting to Triple-A, but the 51s knew it would click soon.

On Thursday night at Werner Park in Omaha, three days after his 22nd birthday, it did. He turned in his finest outing as a 51, helping Las Vegas avoid a sweep and salvage a victory over the Storm Chasers, 4-2.

“He was in command all night,” acting manager Jack Voigt said. “He was never in any trouble. He breezed right through.”

Gsellman pitched seven brilliant innings, including not allowing a base runner through the first four innings. Two solo home runs were the only blemishes on his record.

Of his seven innings pitched, five of them were perfect frames. He had four strikeouts and had nine groundball outs as opposed to just four flyballs. Not only was it his first quality start at Triple-A, it was the first time he pitched into the fifth inning.

“He’s definitely got the stuff, no question,” Voigt said.

The offense scored in only one inning Thursday, but it made that inning count. With nobody on and two outs in the fifth, Gavin Cecchini drilled his fifth home run of the season to get Las Vegas on the board. What followed was typical 51s baseball: Ty Kelly singled, Dilson Herrera walked, and Brandon Nimmo sent an opposite-field rocket over the left-field wall to make it 4-0.

Gsellman allowed a leadoff home run to Hunter Dozier in the Omaha fifth, ending his bid at a perfect game. He also allowed a home run to Orlando Calixte in the sixth, then turned in a perfect seventh before allowing the bullpen to work.

Josh Smoker pitched a scoreless eighth while striking out two, and Paul Sewald recorded his 10th save of the season with a perfect ninth, also punching out a pair.

“All three of them were in command all night, there was no trouble whatsoever,” Voigt said. “It sets us up nice for the Reno series coming in that are pretty big offensively to have a nice fresh bullpen.”

Justin Emerson can be reached at jemerson@reviewjournal.com. Follow on Twitter: @J15Emerson