Two blown leads in the upper minors, two shutouts in the lower minors, and two home runs by Guillermo Quiroz.
Pawtucket 8, Syracuse 7
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In the first game of a three-game set, Syracuse and Pawtucket combined for nine home runs and exchanged the lead three times, most notably on Pawtucket's two-run rally against Vinny Chulk in the bottom of the ninth. None of the SkyChiefs' four pitchers distinguished himself on this evening. Starting pitcher Sean Douglass allowed only a single run but got yanked in the third inning, most likely because of his pitch count. Douglass faced thirteen batters, only four of whom put the ball in play (three for outs, one for a double). Four batters struck out, two walked, two were hit by pitches, and one hit a solo homer. Josue Matos pitched marvelously in relief (4.1 IP, 4 H, 0 BB, 5 K) if you ignore the, um, three home runs (all solo shots) that he allowed. Dave Maurer got one man out in the eighth but gave up a two-run homer to Earl Snyder and walked his next batter before being pulled for Chulk, who loaded the bases with two away before getting Carlos Febles to fly out to Alex Rios in right field to preserve a 7-6 lead. In the ninth, however, Chulk allowed three quick singles, tying the game and putting runners on first and third. Snyder's fly ball to Rios brought in the winning run for the PawSox.
Every SkyChief had at least one hit. Russ Adams went 2 for 5 with a double; Rios went 1 for 4 with a walk. Glenn Williams hit his sixth home run of the year, Noah Hall hit his first, and Guillermo Quiroz hit his first and second. Williams' batting line (52 AB, 13 H, 1 3B, 6 HR, 0 BB, 15 K, .250/.250/.635) has a strange beauty to it. Quiroz threw out two runners but allowed a passed ball. His recent hot streak at the plate has given him a very solid batting line of 41 AB, 12 H, 3 2B, 2 HR, 7 BB, 8 K, .293/.388/.512, easily the best on the team.
Erie 7, New Hampshire 4
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Fielding errors (and their sidekick, unearned runs) have fallen into disrepute as measurements of defensive performance, with some reason. However, when a team makes four errors in a game, leading to five unearned runs, you know that things aren't working very well. The Fisher Cats jumped out to an early 2-0 lead, but Erie knotted the game in the fourth on an error by Aaron Hill, a single, a walk, a one-out RBI grounder, and a balk by Todd Ozias. Jordan DeJong came in to pitch the fifth and gave up another pair of runs on a leadoff double, an error by Mike Snyder (allowing the next batter to reach first base), a walk, a groundout (advancing the runners), and a throwing error by Dominic Rich. New Hampshire scored another run in the top of the sixth to pull within one, but Dan Jackson gave up three more runs in the bottom of the inning (one unearned) to put the game out of reach.
Ozias struck out five in four innings while giving up three hits and three walks. DeJong fanned two in a five-out inning, allowing a double and a walk. Jackson was shaky (1 IP, 3 H, 1 BB, 1 K, 1 HR), and Ryan Houston was strong (2 IP, 1 H, 1 BB, 2 K). Rich had a walk and two hits (including a triple), and Maikel Jova singled twice. Danny Solano went 1 for 3 with a walk. Hill singled once in four trips; he's sitting on a .214/.333/.238 batting line. Rich is up to .367/.426/.551.
Dunedin 1, Clearwater 0
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A two-hitter for Dunedin, featuring excellent pitching by Josh Banks (6 IP, 1 H, 2 BB, 5 K), Andy Torres (2 IP, 1 H, 1 BB, 2 K), and Bubbie Buzachero (1 IP, 0 H, 0 BB, 0 K). Banks only allowed four balls to be hit out of the infield. Clearwater starter Elizardo Ramirez matched zeros with Banks and Torres for seven innings, thanks in part to Scott Dragicevich's unsuccessful attempt to score from first on John Schneider's one-out double in the seventh. Mike Schmidt sent Ramirez back out for the eighth and the D-Jays finally broke the scoreless tie. Manny Mayorson led off with a single, moved to second on Jayce Tingler's walk, and scored on Jason Waugh's single. That was it for Ramirez (and, as it happened, for Clearwater.)
Tingler reached base three times in four plate appearances (double, walk, and HBP.) Dragicevich and Vito Chiaravalloti each had a single and a walk. No other D-Jay reached base twice.
Charleston 4, Greensboro 0
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It's fun to report on Tom Mastny's games. In the first inning last night, he fanned three batters and gave up a double. In the second, he fanned two more and gave up a single to Joe Mazzuca (who was eventually gunned down by Robinson Diaz on a steal attempt.) In the third, three more strikeouts plus a walk and a single. In the fourth, a single, a lineout, another strikeout, a walk, and a groundout. Mastny was pulled after four innings, probably because he's on a pitch count and it takes at least three pitches to strike out a hitter. Tallying it all up, Mastny faced seventeen batters; nine of them struck out, two walked, and six put the ball in play. Joaquin Canizal and Davis Romero put up identical 2 IP, 1 H, 0 BB, 3 K lines in relief of Mastny, and Mark Sopko closed out with an uneventful inning of work. Charleston scored in the first inning (the only run they would need) on back-to-back two-out singles by Diaz and Clint Johnston, followed by a passed ball. In the fifth, Christian Snavely walked, stole second, moved to third on a wild pitch, and scored on Eric Arnold's single to right. Johnston would later double Arnold home. The AlleyCats' fourth run came in the eighth when Johnston singled, moved to second on Joey Reiman's infield hit, and scored on two passed balls. It was a rough day for the Greensboro battery: three passed balls, two wild pitches, a hit batsman, and a stolen base allowed.
Ryan Roberts continued his hot hitting for the AlleyCats with a single and a walk. Johnston hit two singles and a double, and Reiman singled twice. As Steve Z pointed out in yesterday's thread, Charleston hasn't allowed a run in 23 innings. (It helps when you're facing the Greensboro "Bats," who are hitting .218/.271.335 through fifteen games.)
Today's Games
Syracuse (David Bush) at Pawtucket (BOS), 1:05 PM
New Hampshire (Derek Lee) at Erie (DET), 6:35 PM
Dunedin (Vince Perkins) at Lakeland (DET), 7:00 PM
Charleston (Davis Romero/Ramon Mora) vs. Asheville (COL), 6:05 PM
Links Of The Day
1. Mike Scandura's Syracuse game story in the Post-Standard
2. Mike Whiteford's Charleston game story in the Charleston Gazette
Three-Star Selection!
Today's choices were pretty easy, although the order, as always, is debatable.
Our Third Star: Josh Banks, Dunedin. One hit allowed in six shutout innings. Banks pitched well enough to earn the first star; he's thrown fifteen consecutive shutout innings in his last three starts.
Our Second Star: Guillermo Quiroz, Syracuse. The SkyChiefs' hitting other hitting prospects (Adams, Gross, Rios) are off to slow starts, but GQ's two-homer game last night puts him right back on his 2003 pace.
Our First Star: Tom Mastny, Charleston. Nine K's in four innings of shutout ball. Mastny and Shaun Marcum are making a good case for an early promotion to Dunedin, perhaps to fill Josh Banks' shoes if he moves up to New Hampshire.
https://www.battersbox.ca/article.php?story=20040424115732999