Admit it. You read it and laughed a little bit inside. 1-3 for the affiliates last night, as Dunedin won 2-0. Ottawa and Burlington ended up on the right side of the ledger, which is kind of amusing.
Syracuse 4 @ Ottawa 6
Things were looking up when Jason Phillips homered in the top of the sixth, turning a 2-1 deficit into a 4-2 lead. Josh Banks had allowed a few home runs himself, yes, but just those two and he was fine until the sixth. Ah, the sixth. From what I can gather from Gameday, Banks didn't go to a three-ball count until his third HR allowed. The next two batters drew full counts and that was enough; he was pulled and the last batter he faced (single) scored when Ben Weber came in to play the RNOGY role.
Wayne Lydon always seems to do something, even if it's not a good night all around. Last night it was two singles and a caught stealing. Ryan Roberts drove in the other run in the first inning after Luis Figueroa doubled.
New Hampshire 2 @ Portland 5
Davis Romero retired the first seven batters he faced. The next five reached: walk-single-double-single-double, and it was
time for New Hampshire to come back. Well, they wanted to score in the very next inning, but they must have watched the Angels and Jays on Thursday night, because they left the bases loaded. With nobody out.
At least David Smith hit a homerun off Chris Smith. That was the highlight of the game for me.
Jupiter 0 @ Dunedin 2
Well, that's one way to take the demotion. Seven innings, two hits, no runs, no walks and nine strikeouts for Kyle Yates. Hey, he struck out Jeremy Hermida twice. Five of his seven innings were 1-2-3 and only one batter reached second. I'd call that a pretty good night. His Dunedin ERA is 0.64 with back-to-back seven inning starts, which is a lot nicer to look at than his 7.13 ERA with New Hampshire, averaging less than 5 IP per start.
Both of the D-Jays' runs came in the first inning: Ryan Patterson singled, Robinzon Diaz singled, Eric Nielsen singled after a wild pitch and both runners scored. Patterson is hovering near the, uh, Patterson Line with an average of .342 -- two more hits last night including that first-inning one.
Lansing 2 @ Burlington 3
Lansing made five errors last night, three of which I will describe anon. Whoever Kiel Thibault is, he reached on an error, got to second on another error, went to third on another error and came home on a single. I have a new favourite player. Predictably, none of those runs were earned against Billy Carnline, who went six strong innings.
Jacob Butler hit a solo shot to lead off the fourth and Cory Patton doubled and scored in the seventh as the Lugnuts tried to chip away at the lead. Unfortunately, Matthew Kniginyzky harnessed the Consonant Power of his
last name and held the 'Nuts to just two runs over seven innings.
Brian Pettway went 0-for-4 with the golden sombrero. He's showing some power this year, at least, after becoming the fourth outfielder last year in Auburn.
Three Star Selection:
3. Billy Carnline
2. Jason Phillips
1. Kyle Yates
https://www.battersbox.ca/article.php?story=20060520000509957