It's my great pleasure to introduce a regular pinch-hitter in this space, someone already familiar to regular BB readers: John Neary. John has been doing minor-league updates at Batter's Box off and on the last little while, as well as providing excellent insight on threads related to prospects and draftees; he'll be providing minor-league updates more regularly from this point onwards. Take it away, John!
In the Minors
Syracuse at Buffalo, postponed
Syracuse was beating Buffalo 3-0 after three innings when the rain began in earnest. The pitching (Evan Thomas) and defence (Simon Pond?) may have been counterfeits, but the three-run homer (Josh Phelps) was the real deal.
New Haven 6 at Altoona 1
New Haven and Altoona took a scoreless game into the seventh inning. With one run already in and the bases loaded, Russ Adams broke the game open with a three-run double, and Shawn Fagan followed with a two-run homer. David Bush got the win with a 6 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K outing. Before his promotion to New Haven last month, Bush had allowed 18 walks in 112 professional innings; in his first 32.2 innings in AA ball, he allowed 14. I don't know whether he started nibbling or just had a bit of a wild spell, but in any case it's nice to see that "0 BB" in his pitching line. Adams finished 1 for 5 with the double, John-Ford Griffin was 1 for 3 with a walk, Guillermo Quiroz was 1 for 4 with a double, and Alexis Rios didn't reach base in four appearances.
Dunedin at Clearwater, postponed
Greensboro 0 at Charleston 1 (10 innings)
Not to be outdone, Charleston and Greensboro took a scoreless game into the bottom of the tenth inning, when Zeph Zinsman (.216) hit an unlikely double and came around to score on a similarly unlikely single by Eric Rico (.205). Ismael Ramirez gave up 3 hits and 4 walks (with 4 strikeouts) in five scoreless innings. Felix Romero and eventual winner Ramon Mora pitched effectively in relief.
Auburn 7-6 at Mahoning Valley 3-2
Back on June 28, Auburn beat Mahoning Valley 9-6 to run their record to an absurd 11-1, but the Scrappers won the next four games of that five-game set. Auburn settled some of those old scores yesterday by sweeping a twin-bill. Kurt Isenberg, Shaun Marcum, Justin James, Danny Core, and Bubbie Buzachero combined for a 14 IP, 13 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 1 BB, 14 K, 1 HR line in the two games. Aaron Hill went 3 for 8 (all singles), and Vito Chiaravolloti went 4 for 7 with two home runs and a walk. Ladies and gentlemen, your New York-Penn League home run leader plays for the Auburn Doubledays, and his name is Vito Chiaravolloti. In fact, if Vito had one more hit, he'd be leading his league in all three Triple Crown categories, but as things stand Hill edges him in batting average, .369 to .365
Burlington 6 at Pulaski 1
And yet, somehow, life goes on.
https://www.battersbox.ca/article.php?story=20030723035203999