Two games of note last night, as last season's AA Pitcher of the Year continued to struggle at AAA, while last year's best A-Ball pitcher made a crackling debut at AA. That's a lot of A's. Must be the Ricciardi-Beane connection.
Syracuse 9 Indianapolis 3
Vinny Chulk started but continued to struggle at Triple-A, going only 2 2/3 IP and allowing 2 runs on 4 hits and 3 walks, whiffing 2. His season totals: 36 IP, 43 H, 15 BB, 28 K, 6 HRs allowed, only 16.5% KBF. On the hitting side, Tony Zuniga responded to the promotion of Simon Pond with a 3-hit, 4-RBI performance. But most interesting of all was the continued hot bat of centerfielder Rich Thompson, himself a recent graduate of New Haven. Thompson had two hits, scored twice and stole his third base. After posting a .313/.373/.352 line in 49 AA games (swiping 15 of 18 bases), Thompson has started .406/.457/.438 with 3 steals (just one double, though) at Syracuse. Shiny trade bait....
New Haven 4, Binghampton 1
Batters of the Eastern League, meet Dustin McGowan. In his first start since making the big jump from Dunedin, McGowan dominated, firing 6 innings of 1-hit shutout ball, walking just 1 and K'ing 7. According to BB poster Kevin Pataky in the "Promotions Part 2" thread, McGowan threw just 84 pitches and was consistently in the mid-90s, hitting 98 at one point. Perhaps just as intriguingly, new arrival Juan Pena struck out two in a hitless ninth to record his second save. Shortstop Jorge Sequea had 3 hits and a run scored, and is batting .349/.398/.472 in 106 AB (with a 9/19 BB/K ratio). Another hits for Alexis Rios gives him 10 in his last four games and a season line of .361/.427/.530.
Rain in Dunedin
Lexington 6 Charleston 0
I've looked closely, and concluded that there's almost nothing of interest to report from the lone game in the Sally last night.
https://www.battersbox.ca/article.php?story=20030617085916999