Great pitching performances and late inning fireworks lead to a 3-1 night for the farm affiliates.
Syracuse 1@ Buffalo 2
For once "Game Over" Gronkiewicz had a negative connotation, as
Gronk surrendered a double, a sacrifice bunt and a sacrifice fly in the
bottom of the ninth. Josh Banks started and threw 5 serviceable
innings allowing an earned run and 8 baserunners with 3
punchouts. Brandon League threw 2.1 shutout innings of
relief. The Chiefs' offence consisted of 6 singles, with Kevin
Barker's 2 out RBI single in the third the highlight. Chad
Mottola had 2 of the Syracuse hits. Syracuse grounded into 3 twin
killings.
Connecticut 0 @ New Hampshire 5
Mike MacDonald threw a 4 hit shutout for his second outstanding
outing in a row. He walked one and struck out 6, while inducing
15 Conn ground outs. Chip Cannon hit his 3rd homer of the season,
drove in 2 and reached base 3 times in 4 trips. Adam Lind and
David Smith each had 2 hits for the Fisher Cats, while Carlo Cota drove
in a run with a double.
Dunedin 3 @ Tampa 1
Robert Ray, Danny Core and Milton Tavarez threw a combined 4 hitter
in the D'Jay victory over hot Tampa prospect Phillip Hughes. Ray
went 6 innings, allowed the Tampa run and 6 baserunners, while striking
out 5. Core and Tavarez were perfect the rest of the way and
punched 5 Baby Yankee tickets. The D'Jay defence was shaken
up. Catcher Robinson Diaz moved to third base, newcomer Chris
Gutierrez, who had played short and third earlier in his pro career,
moved to second base in Dunedin, while outfielder Ron Davenport moved
to first base. It all seemed to work, as they turned 3 double
plays. Eric Nielsen singled and walked and scored twice, while Robinson
Diaz singled and doubled to lead the offence.
Cedar Rapids 7 @ Lansing 9
Jacob Butler's 3 run homer with two outs in the bottom of the 8th
inning capped a 4 run Lugnut rally, and erased a 7-5 deficit.
Josh Bell had led off the inning with a homer. After a pop-up,
Yuber Rodriguez walked and Jesus Gonzalez singled. Sean Shoffit
then struck out looking to set the stage for Butler's blast.
Earlier, Shoffit had reached base 3 times, while Joey Metropoulos had 3
hits and a sacrifice fly in 5 plate trips. Kristian Bell started and
was touched for 5 runs in 4.2 innings, but did strike out 5. Sean
Stidfole made his second Midwest League appearance and threw 3 innings,
striking out 5 but allowing 2 Kernel runs in the top of the 8th to
break a tie. Brian Pettway threw out a runner at the plate to end
the top of the 8th and set the stage for the heroics in the bottom of
the frame. Yesson Berroa benefited from Pettway's throw in the
eighth and showed his gratitude by throwing a perfect ninth inning with
2 Ks. Like Dunedin, the Lugnuts faced a top prospect and came out on
top. In this case, the victim was Nick Adenhart.
3 star selection
3rd star- Chip Cannon
2nd star- Jacob Butler
1st star- Mike MacDonald
Watch for capsule summaries of the top prospects of Boston and Tampa coming later today.
https://www.battersbox.ca/article.php?story=20060428212919484