Jason Alexander was pretty, pretty, pretty good tossing six scoreless innings on Monday afternoon
The WooSox were just five outs away from throwing a no-hitter on Monday night; instead, they settled for a one-hit shutout over the Syracuse Mets at NBT Bank Stadium.
WooSox starter Jason Alexander was excellent in his second start of the year. He retired 19 of 21 hitters, tossing six scoreless and hitless frames.
Alexander walked the Mets’ Mark Vientos twice while striking out seven, earning his first win of the year.
The righty forced 11 swings and misses during his outing while tossing 71 pitches, 48 of them for strikes. Alexander pounded the zone, offering his slider, sinker, changeup, and cutter.
He threw his slider 26 times and his sinker 24 times, with 36 of his pitches landing in the strike zone. Opposing batters offered at Alexander’s pitch mix 31 times, 10 balls went into play, and he induced seven grounders.
In addition to the grounders, the Mets made soft contact off Alexander’s offerings; eight of the 10 balls that went into play were not hit hard, per Baseball Savant.
Alexander is known for his ability to force grounders while not being a big strikeout guy. He has some similarities to Cooper Criswell in that regard.
The WooSox no-hitter went deep into the game, ending in the eighth inning after Jorge Benitez gave up the only hit for the Mets to infielder Luke Ritter.
Benitez threw two scoreless frames, walking one and striking out two batters. Flame-thrower Luis Guerrero pitched a clean ninth inning, striking out one. The WooSox struck out 10 Mets on Monday.
The Red Sox signed Alexander in late February after he spent the last two years in the Brewers organization. The 30-year-old made 18 appearances (11 starts), posting a 2-3 win/loss record with a 5.40 ERA (71 2/3 innings) last season.
Last season, he was shut down in the spring due to a shoulder strain and began the season on the 60-day injured list. Once he was activated off the IL, he was optioned to Triple-A and eventually outrighted off the 40-man roster.
He tossed 55 1/3 innings at Triple-A last year with a 5.86 ERA, 13.8% strikeout rate, 7.5% walk rate, and 46.1% ground ball rate, per FanGraphs. He was not added back to the roster at season’s end and was able to elect free agency. The California native pitched across three levels of the Brewers system, overall posting a 6.14 ERA.
