The minor league season opened up on a chilly note, with two
weather-related postponements. The farm affiliates split the
other two.
Syracuse 2 @ Durham 1
John-Ford Griffin singled and scored the tying run in the top of
the eighth and then doubled in the winner with two outs in the top of
the ninth as the Chiefs rallied for the victory. Dustin McGowan
went 5 innings and allowed an unearned run on 2 hits and 1 walk while
striking out 8, with the run scoring on a Rey Olmedo throwing error, a
stolen base and a run-scoring single. Meanwhile, Bulls starter
Jason Hammel threw 5 perfect innings at the Chiefs. Ismael
Ramirez came on in relief in the sixth and gave up a leadoff triple to
Jorge Cantu, but got out of it on a strikeout, a tapper to the mound
and another groundout, to set the stage for Griffin's heroics.
Adam Lind went 1-4, Russ Adams wore the collar and Curtis Thigpen went
1-3 with the bat and 0-2 trying to catch thieves. John Hattig
one-upped Adams with a golden sombrero. The Chief relief was
outtasite- Matt Roney faced 4 batters and struck out 3 of them for the
win while Ryan Houston faced the minimum in the ninth for the save and
punched out 2.
Dunedin 3 @ Clearwater 9
Ouch. The D-Jays took it on the chin in their season
debut. Orlando Trias started and was hit hard. Brandon
Magee came on in relief and was battered- the idea is to have a decimal
place after the first digit in the ERA, not the third. He's on
pace for...oh, never mind. Freddy Garcia made a rehab start for
the Threshers and blew away the Baby Jays in 3.1 innings.
Eric Nielsen bagged 2 hits, and that was about it.
3 stars!
3- Matt Roney
2- John-ford Griffin
1- Dustin McGowan
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