Charleston continue their winning ways; Syracuse and Dunedin lose again; New Hampshire are all wet but I am including a brief scouting report from my trip.
Syracuse 4 Pawtucket 10
Pawtucket completed a sweep of the Chiefs yesterday and extended Syracuse's losing streak to four games. Bruce Chen took the loss allowing four runs in five innings, including a two run home run by Brian Daubach. Syracuse kept the game close for five innings. In the top of the third Syracuse took the lead on singles by Gabe Gross, Jorge Sequea and Russ Adams. Trailing 3-1 in the fifth Gross hit his first round tripper of the year. Adams followed with a double and scored on a single by Alexis Rios to tie the game. After Chen gave up another run in the fifth Talley Haines came on the start the sixth and was bombed. The sixth went as follows - K, HR, Double, Double, Double, out, Double. Game over. Now I am no mind reader but Mike Nakamura was called up to the Show earlier in the day. Could Haines have been distracted by not getting the call himself? We will probably never know. The Chiefs scored a consolation run without a hit in the eight when Adams walked with the bases loaded.
Adams was 2-4 with a walk on the day to raise his average to .258. Rios was 3-5 and is now hitting .280. Gross had three hits with a double and a home run and is hitting .279.
New Hampshire - rain out
Some quick hits from Saturday's game, there will be more details in stories later this week. Aaron Hill was one for four on the night. Facing a good pitcher he had a nice line drive single his first time up, then a ground out to third, fly ball to centre and pop up to second. Those close to the team believe he will soon break out offensively. Defensively he looked good. Hill made a nice play on a ball in the hole with runners on first and second to get a force at third. He has a habit of throwing off his back foot but his arm looked strong enough. There will be an interview with Hill posted later this week.
Tyrell Godwin was hitless on the night but did reach on an error and stole a base. In Saturday's game he tended to hit fastballs the other way to left field, and almost hit one high off the wall but it was foul by six inches.
Brandon League is the real deal. His fastball was consistently 95-97 and his slider was 87-89. The only hit he allowed was on a checked swing where the bat smashed into twenty pieces and the ball squeezed inside the first base bag. Pitching coach Rick Adair gave us a scouting report, again to be available later this week. League only has to learn better control to make it. His "stuff" is major league quality. His pitches are consistently down in the zone making him a groundball pitcher.
The Fisher Cats added Eric Kratz to the roster from Dunedin yesterday. Kratz replaces Rob Cosby who tore up his knee over a week ago. The team now has three catchers.
Dunedin 2 Lakeland 6
Ismael Ramirez started for the Jays and allowed runs in each of the first four innings. Ramirez was yanked in the fourth having allowed eight hits and two walks in his 3.1 innings. Santo Valdez followed and pitched 3.1 shutout innings. Chad Pleiness finished up and conceded a run. The Jays scored a run in the sixth on an error, and added another unearned run in the ninth. Vito Chiavarolloti and Scott Dragicevich had two hits each for the Jays.
Asheville 0 Charleston 2
This game was scoreless until the seventh inning. Joey Reiman, Chris Snavely and Juan Peralta singled to load the bases with no-one out. The Alley Cats could only score one on a sac fly by Eric Arnold. In the eighth hit a home run to make it 2-0.
Cat pitchers limited Asheville to four hits and did not allow a runner past second base. Danny Core got the start for Charleston and surrendered three hits over six innings. The Romero twins (not really) finished up. Felix Romero pitched two innings with one hit and four K's. Davis Romero had two strikeouts in a scoreless ninth. Ryan Roberts got the day off. Reiman was the only hitter with two hits in the game for the Cats.
News Stories
Syracuse.com has the story on the Pawtucket sweep
The Pawtucket take on the game is very complimentary to Rios for his offense and defense
The Daily Mail has the Charleston game story
Us Immigration rules might impact the ability of Canadian and Latin players to play minor league ball. The Miami Herald has the story. Thanks to Steve Z and John N for the link.
Our Three-Star Selection
The 3rd Star: Danny Core, six shutout innings
The 2nd Star: Russ Adams, 2-4 with a walk. Adams drove in the first and fourth runs, and scored the third run
The 1st Star: Gabe Gross, 3-4 with a home ruin and a double
At the end of each week I will summarize the standings for each of the minor league teams.
Syracuse were 3-4 on the week and their record now is 8-10. Syracuse are fifth in their division, three games behind Rochester
New Hampshire have dropped to 7-6 and are fourth, one and a half games behind Binghamton. The Cats were 2-3 for the week.
Dunedin are in second place by two and a half games with a 10-8 record. Dunedin were 1-6 for the week.
Charleston are in first place by three and a half games with an 14-2 record.
Combined the Jays minor league teams are 39-26, a .600 winning percentage.
https://www.battersbox.ca/article.php?story=20040426103827999