Some good pitching last night on the farm (2-3 record, though), with one starter striking out 11, another pitching seven shutout innings and one more sort of went the distance. Actually, he didn't pitch a complete game at all. Read on for more.
Pawtucket 4, Syracuse 0
Boxscore
As you might have guessed, the offense didn't do a damned thing against Lenny DiNardo, Manny Delcarmen, Cla Meredith and uh...Curt something.
Chad Gaudin got the start and it was a tough, tough loss. Six innings, eleven K's and only one run on six hits. Win-loss records are entirely meaningless, I tell you. His ERA is now under 2 and a half. Josue Matos gave up a bunch in the seventh and eighth, moving the score from 1-0 to the final indicated above. Shouldn't he get the loss? Eh, I hate giving wins and losses to individual players.
New Hampshire 4, Portland 0
Boxscore
A huge win for the Fisher Cats, as they entered this game tied for first with the Portland Sea Dogs. They are now one game up, if you didn't already know. The series finishes up today with a twi-night doubleheader, and it would be great if the Fishers swept it.
Chip Cannon hit a homerun. We should copy that into every Minor League Update, it would save time. Not only did he go deep, this was his AA debut. In a severe pitcher's park! And he didn't strike out and he had another hit. Rob Cosby also hit a homer and he also had two hits: the homer and a double.
A tremendous starting performance by Casey Janssen, who also made his AA debut yesterday afternoon. Seven shutout innings, striking out eight and only allowing two hits -- no walks! And no extra-base hits! Welcome to Fisher Cats Ballpark, where runs go to die. The relievers did well, except for Vince Perkins. According to Pistol, the Canadian "walked the first two batters and promptly got pulled. Even warming up he was wild, throwing a couple to the backstop." Jesse Carlson and Lee Gronkiewicz each threw to three batters and they both retired the first two, then struck the third one out. Good job, men.
Dunedin did not play yesterday.
Kane County 7, Lansing 3
Boxscore
If you believe the boxscore, A.J. Wideman pitched a complete game. Well, he didn't! The game recap at LansingLugnuts.com says Wideman "departed in the sixth inning." The Lansing State Journal says Wideman "gave up five runs on seven hits with five strikeouts and one walk over 5 2/3 innings."
That's two days in a row the Lansing boxscore has been wrong. Does it require too much effort to note when a pitcher leaves the game and another one takes his place? I mean, there's nothing to tell you that it's happening, aside from the manager walking out to the mound, the pitcher leaving the field, the reliever walking in from the bullpen, the extended break between at bats, the announcement of "Now pitching for the Lugnuts..." and so on.
Eugenio Velez hit his first homer of the season, while Luke Hetherington collected three hits, though they were all singles and none of them scored any runs, nor did he score himself. But that's not his fault, and you can read a profile of Hetherington by Mark Feather for the Lansing State Journal here. The first paragraph: He's only 22 years old, but Lansing outfielder Luke Hetherington carries himself like a veteran. He's also reached base seven times in two games!
Auburn 8, Lowell 4
Boxscore
Josh Sowers started on the same day as Josh Towers. That's just confusing. Sowers gave up three runs over three and a third, then he turned it over to Billy Carnline. Carnline stranded the inherited runner, then pitched until the eighth inning, only giving up one run. They both pitched to 14 batters, for what it's worth.
Anthony Garibaldi knocked in three with his second homer of the season in the second inning, putting the Doubledays up 3-0. A couple of doubles in the fifth by Kyle Bohm and Josh Bell brought home two more to put Auburn on top, and that was all they needed. That didn't stop Jermy Acey from hitting a huge opposite-field two-run homer in the ninth. The lead was 8-4 then, and Yesson Berroa picked up the five-out save.
Acey's name is in fact pronounced "jur-mi" (rhymes with blur-eye), and he made the start in the outfield as Ryan Patterson sat out the game, as Saturday's injury caused him to leave after four innings. He has a bruised back, if you're wondering.
Johnson City 8, Pulaski 2
Boxscore
Wilfreddy Aguirre made his fourth start yesterday, hoping to improve on his 3.2 IP/game, 9/8 BB/K ratio, 6.55 ERA and 2.27 WHIP. He didn't, to say the least. A four-run second and a two-run third, including seven baserunners in two and two-thirds innings and two walks against one strikeout made all four statistics I just quoted even worse. And I picked those (for illustration) before the game started! We should give the guy a break, though -- he's only four months older than me.
No less than six relievers followed Aguirre, and none of them did much of anything of interest. So how about those hitters? Well...not much. The only one who had an extra-base hit or more than one hit was Christopher Looze. The only RBI went to Heliezer Aguilar, a single to right. Looze also scored on a wild pickoff throw, which is why Pulaski had two runs but only one RBI.
Today's Games:
Syracuse does not play (All-Star Break).
New Hampshire (Banks-Ramirez) vs Portland (Pauley-Lester), 5:30 (DH).
Dunedin (Yates) vs Brevard County, 7:05.
Lansing (Keng) vs Kane Country (Ford), 7:05. It's Dog Day in Lansing tonight!
Auburn @ Lowell, 7:00.
Pulaski has the day off.
Standings:
Syracuse: 46-45, third place, 6 games back of Buffalo
New Hampshire: 46-41, tied for first with Portland (45-40)
Dunedin: 12-5, first place, a half-game up on Lakeland
Lansing: 9-9, tied for second with three other teams, two games back of South Bend
Auburn: 10-9, third place, a half-game back of both Jamestown and Mahoning Valley
Pulaski: 9-10, third place, 4.5 games behind Danville
Three-Star Selection:
3. Chip Cannon
2. Chad Gaudin
1. Casey Janssen
Important Note:
For those of you worried about Francisco Rosario (and there are a lot of you), he will be activated from the DL and start for Syracuse on Thursday, the first game after the All-Star Break.
https://www.battersbox.ca/article.php?story=20050710184613811