Despite a rare losing day (1-3) for the Jays' minor league system, four Canadians (Pond, Logan, Perkins, and Galloway) had an opportunity to shine. Add to the mix Montrealer Max St Pierre, an opponent, and there was a nice Canadian thread weaving itself through yesterday's action.
Pawtucket 4, Syracuse 2
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The SkyChiefs were a few outs shy of being shut out by Byung-Hyun Kim and the PawSox yesterday afternoon. Although they rallied for two runs in the ninth, the Chiefs' charge came a little too late. David Bush, coming off a complete game (seven inning) shutout in his last start, took a small step backwards in his fifth AAA outing. His respectable pitching line (5.1 IP, 6 H, 4 ER, 3 BB, 3 SO; BK, E) was marred by a rough fourth inning, in which he allowed a leadoff double to Kevin Youkilis, and walks to Andy Dominique and Adam Hyzdu, before giving up a two-out bases-clearing double to Kelly Shoppach. In the sixth, Hyzdu and Shoppach had back-to-back singles off Bush with one out, causing Marty Pevey to call for lefty Mark Lukasiewicz out of the pen. Luke subsequently allowed Bush's fourth run to score on a sac fly, before ending the frame with a strike out.
As they have done so many times already, the Chiefs bats came alive late in the ballgame. Connecting on only three hits off of the rehabbing Kim (4 IP, 2 H, 1 BB, 2 SO) and Pawtucket's relievers, through eight innings, Syracuse put together a string of four hits in the final frame. Simon Pond led off with a double, and Glenn Williams singled and moved to second on a defensively indifferent catcher, but Jeff Guiel (0-3, BB, SB) struck out looking. Noah Hall and Gabe Gross brought a pair of runs home with back-to-back singles, but with a Guillermo Quiroz whiff, and a Jorge Sequea groundout with the tying runner on, the Chiefs couldn't eke out another come-from-behind victory. Simon Pond (2-4, R, 2B), the only Syracuse hitter with two hits, saw his average jump to .325. And despite giving up the inherited run in the sixth, Lukasiewicz pitched an effective 2 2/3 innings (1 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 3 SO). With their second consecutive loss to Pawtucket, Syracuse went to a game under .500, at 8-9. They'll try to prevent a sweep today in Game 3.
Erie 4, New Hampshire 0
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The Fisher Cats lost their third in a row, as Preston Larrison and his successors stymied New Hampshire in the first game of a three-game series in Erie, Pennsylvania. The fourth-year pro outduelled Cat southpaw Derek Lee, who surrendered the only runs that mattered, in the bottom of the second. After retiring the first two batters, Lee (0-3) walked number-eight hitter Rayner Bautista, gave up a single to Montreal native Maxim St. Pierre, and sent another free pass to David Espinosa, before Don Kelly singled up the middle, scoring two. Lee was lucky to give up only two runs in his five innings of work, as he allowed plenty of baserunners (5 H, 5 BB, 1 SO) on the night. Brandon League came in to pitch the sixth and worked himself into a first-and-third-none-out jam, but reared back to strand the runners. With da Box founder Kent Williams helping out with da play-by-play (the Coach enjoyed a six-inning stint in the booth), League struck out St. Pierre in an epic 10-pitch matchup. It ended when Max swung at a fastball clocked unofficially by Mr. Williams at 97 1/2 mph. League followed that up by striking out Espinosa, and inducing a groundball to retire the side. The longsleeved Hawaiian walked his first batter in the seventh, but once again reared back and struck the next two guys out, the second K delivered with Paul Chiaffredo as part of the ever so popular strike-him-out-throw-him-out double play. League (2 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 4 SO) gave way to Adam Peterson, who made his first appearance in a non-save situation. The closer prospect, hoping to get to The Show as early as September, was soon welcomed by a two-run home run by Olympic hopeful St. Pierre.
While Peterson saw his ERA jump to 3.86 on the season, League saw his drop under 1, as his strikeout total continues inching up to his innings pitched. The only other bright spots for New Hampshire were the play of Brampton native (and also Olympic hopeful) Matt Logan (2-3, BB), as well as left fielder Justin Singleton's perfect peg to Chiaffredo to nail a runner at the plate, to end the fifth. Dominic Rich had his season-long hit streak end at twelve, but Dom impressed nonetheless, making a dazzling play at second. Of course the brightest spot for Bauxites might have been Kent's flawless work in the broadcast booth, causing some here to wonder how long it'll take before he gets called up to Syracuse!
Lakeland 3, Dunedin 2
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Making his first start of the season last night, Vince Perkins was equal parts unhittable and erratic against the Tigers' High-A affiliate. The lengthy pitching line (5 IP, 5 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 5 SO, HBP, WP) doesn't even include Vince's own two fielding errors. Lakeland opened the scoring in the third, after a leadoff walk came into score on a Jody Roughton two-out single. The third out might have already been recorded, had Perkins' earlier strikeout not arrived via wild pitch. Dunedin tied the game at one in the top of the fourth. With the bases juiced and with nobody out, Jason Waugh grounded into a double-play, scoring Carlo Cota. Perkins would surrender the lead again in the fifth, giving up two runs, although one of the runs was unearned due to Perkins' own error. In the ninth, the D-Jays got to within a run, as Scott Dragicevich doubled home Ron Davenport. That was all she wrote though, as Dundein lost the first game of a two-game set in Lakeland.
Jamie Vermilyea (2 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 0 SO) and Tommi Ozuna had kept Dunedin in the game with shutout relief. Cota (2-4, R) and Dragicevich (2-4, 2 2B) were the only Jays with multi-hit games. Miguel Negron (1-3, BB) walked for the 7th time in 60 AB, a great accomplishment for the vastly improved center fielder.
Charleston-WV 10, Asheville 4
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Extending their franchise best start, Charleston won their ninth in a row last night. Relentless hitting, coupled with just enough pitching, led to victory number thirteen (against only two losses). Ryan Roberts was the offensive hero once again, reaching base on all but one occasion. He got things started in the first with a solo home run. The Tourists (an affiliate of the Rockies) tied it up in the top of the second on an unearned run, ending the Alley Cat pitchers' scoreless streak at 24 innings. Roberts reclaimed the lead with his second dinger of the game, a three-run shot in the third inning, scoring Eric Arnold and Juan Peralta. Charleston scored another in the fourth, when Mike Galloway tripled and scored on a sac fly by Joey Reiman. Starter Ramon Mora allowed two runs to score in the top of the fifth, the first earned runs Cat pitchers' had allowed through 27 innings. The game remained close, at 5-3, until the bottom of the seventh, when Charleston put a five-spot on the board. Reiman led off by walking, Chris Snavely singled, followed by Arnold, who loaded the bases with a single of his own. After an Ashville pitching change, Peralta singled in a run, Roberts had an RBI walk, Robby Diaz singled in a run, and Clint Johnston brought in another with a flyout. One out later, Galloway singled, scoring the Cats' fifth run of the inning. Asheville would score a meaningless run off Brad Esarey in the eighth, closing the books.
Ramon Mora (5 IP, 5 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 4 SO) pitched a decent game to pick up the win, and Marcos Sandoval (1.2 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 3 SO) was sharp in relief, but the story of the game yesterday was clearly the Alley Cat bats. Led by Ryan Roberts (2-3, 3 R, 2 HR, 5 RBI, BB), the Cats' production was well distributed; Galloway was 3-4 (3B, R, RBI, .357 AVG); Peralta (2-5), Diaz (2-4, .300), Snavely (2-3, BB), and Arnold (2-4) chimed in with two hits apiece.
Links Of The Day:
1. Charleston's game story from the Sunday Gazette-Mail
2. The Union Leader has the Fisher Cat game story
3. Mike Scandura, Post-Standard, writes the game story from Pawtucket
4. How convenient! Just as Matt Michael is providing an extensive feature on Justin Miller (tattoos and all), he gets the promotion to Toronto, and might never pitch at P&C again.
Today's Games:
Syracuse (Bruce Chen) at Pawtucket (BOS), 1:05 pm
New Hampshire (Cam Reimers) at Erie (DET), 1:05 pm
Dunedin (Ismael Ramirez) at Lakeland (DET), 1:00 pm
Asheville (COL) at Charleston (Danny Core), 2:05 pm
Three-Star Selection!
Our Third Star: Brandon League, New Hampshire (2 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 4 SO)
Our Second Star: Mike Galloway, Charleston (3-4, 3B; the Ontarian RF is enjoying a breakout season; a true Canuck, Galloway stayed in the game despite banging into the right field wall in the third tracking down a fly ball, and colliding with Roberts in foul territory in the fourth)
Our First Star: Ryan Roberts, Charleston (Kent's breakout candidate before the season; he's making the Coach, as well as JP and Co. -- who drafted Roberts in the 18th round last year -- look awfully smart!)
Sunday's Three-Star Standings:
1. Ryan Roberts (13 Pts)
2. Josh Banks (11)
3. David Bush (10)
4. David Smith (9)
T5. Mike Galloway (8)
T5. Ismael Ramirez (8)
T7. Chris Baker (6)
T7. Tom Mastny (6)
T7. Shaun Marcum (6)
T7. Danny Core (6)
T7. Dominic Rich (6)
https://www.battersbox.ca/article.php?story=20040425011947999