Big Bats, Bunches of Runs and a New Hampshire Rally

Saturday, July 14 2007 @ 12:17 PM EDT

Contributed by: Thomas

As Mike Green stated in yesterday’s minor league thread, “It was a good night on the farm.  Brandon League did his thing (4 batters, 1K, 3 ground outs) again. The Fisher Cats had a cool late rally with Robinson Diaz playing hero, and the A ball squads scored runs in bunches.” It’s as good a summary and introduction as I can give on a 5-1 night for the farm.

Pawtucket 4 @ Syracuse 8 - Boxscore

Pawtucket and Syracuse only scored in five half-innings in this game. Syracuse jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the first and gave 2 of them back in the top of the second. After 2 in the fifth and 3 in the sixth it was 8-2 Syracuse and Pawtucket never really threatened again, even with their 2-spot in the top of the ninth. Mike MacDonald improved to 3-6 with a solid start. He went 6 strong and gave up seven hits and a walk. MacDonald struck out four and got 9 groundouts to 4 fly outs. He kept the ball down, as he needs to in order to be effective. Mike Venafro let 2 of the first 3 batters in the seventh reach base. Brandon League came in and retired the next 4 on a strikeout and 3 groundouts. Ryan Houston struck out his only batter of the game and Yusaku Iriki continued to struggle in Triple-A with a rocky ninth. Canadian George Kottaras was 3-4 with 3 RBI while much heralded Jacoby Ellsbury had an 0-5 night.

The bats had a good night against Jon Lester, scoring 5 runs before he was pulled. Wayne Lydon, Chad Mottola and John-Ford Griffin each had a pair of base hits. Mottola scored twice and knocked in two runs. Lydon scored twice, while Griffin had 2 RBIs and a double. All of them walked. Meanwhile, Adam Lind and Russ Adams each went 0-4 on the night and Lind struck out three times. Mike Vento played DH and went 1-4 with a HR and 3 RBI, while Ryan Roberts went 1-2 with 2 walks in a game that was a lesson on bunching hits.

New Hampshire 6 @ Trenton 5 (10) - Boxscore

What a game. Last MLU I mentioned Ramirez’s struggles in Double-A and this week’s start fared no better. Trenton scored 3 in the first and Ramirez would struggle through 6 innings of ten-hit ball. They added two runs over the next 7 innings as Jo Matumoto gave up a run in the bottom of the eighth to make it 5-0. That was the score when Tim Lavigne came to pitch the top of the ninth.

The first batter, Chip Cannon, crushed his fourteenth homer of the year. Ryan Patterson grounded out and Dustin Majewski struck out around a David Smith walk. With 2 out, a 5-1 score and the tying run in the hole Trenton wasn’t particularly worried. However, Manny Mayorson was hit by a pitch and then Robinzon Diaz unexpectedly hit his third homer of the year. Then, up came Sergio Santos and a single and error later he was stranding on second base. Rob Cosby walked and then Mathews hit a single that allowed the team to tie the game in an improbable comeback. Cannon came up later in the inning and struck out for the third out.

After a four-batter inning by Matt Roney the game was headed to extras. Michael Gardner replaced Lavigne and fared little better. He hit the first batter he faced, Patterson, and gave up a double to the second, Smith, and suddenly New Hampshire had the lead. The rest of the inning was 1-2-3 and Trenton singled to lead off the tenth. Nevertheless, Tracy Thorpe wasn’t rattled and retired 3 batters on groundouts to win the game.

Vero Beach 6 @ Dunedin 5 - Boxscore

This was the farm’s only loss of the evening as Aaron Sisk and Jackson Brennan powered Vero Beach to a come-from-behind win over the Dunedin Jays. Orlando Trias had a decent start and gave up 2 over five innings with 4 strikeouts. He left with a 5-2 lead and turned the ball over to Patrick McGuigan. McGuigan got 2 strikeouts over 2 innings, but also gave up a solo homer to Sisk in the seventh that made the score 5-3. Adrian Martin came in for the eighth and sandwiched a single between two strikeouts. However, he gave up a walk to the next batter to bring up Sisk again and he was punished for that. A three-run homer later and it was 6-5 Vero Beach. Martin’s allowed runs in both of his appearances for Dunedin, but he had more than 40 solid innings for Lansing earlier in the year.

In the 2-hole Carlo Cota went 1-5 and in the seventh spot in the lineup Brian Jeroloman went 0-1. Jeroloman managed to only have one official at-bat because he walked and hit two sacrifice flies in his other three plate appearances. He was the only Dunedin player with 2 RBIs. Dunedin’s offence was led by Cory Patton, who went 2-3 with a double and a walk and scored 2 runs. Eric Nielsen and Chris Gutierrez both had two hits, while Jacob Butler had a hit, a walk and a run.

Wisconsin 6 @ Lansing 8 - Boxscore

Graham Godfrey got the start and went 6 innings. He gave up 5 runs, 3 earned, and struck out 4. The solid relief was provided by Chris Reddout, who went 2 scoreless frames. Godfrey settled down after allowing 3 runs in the top of the first. He allowed 2 more in the top of the sixth, but those were aided by an error by Godfrey and a second by Jonathan Jaspe. By this time Lansing was in the midst of taking the lead. The Lugnuts scored 2 in the fifth, 3 in the sixth and 2 more in the seventh to set the team up for a victory.

Jonathan Baksh and Yuber Rodrigez each had a three-hit night. Rodriguez had a double and scored 3 times. Baksh hit a double and a homerun, scored twice and had 3 RBIs. His homer came with two out in the seventh and turned a 6-5 lead into an 8-5 lead, which would prove to be important when Lansing allowed a run in the top of the ninth. Josh Bell hit an RBI double in the 3-run sixth and Sean Shoffit went 2-5 on the night.

Auburn 11 @ Staten Island 3 - Boxscore

Luis Perez started for Auburn and struggled with his control. He pitched 4.2 scoreless innings, but walked four. On the bright side, he only allowed 3 hits and struck out 7. Cody Crowell gave up a run over 2.1 innings of relief and John Tritz gave up two unearned on a Kelly Sweppenhiser error.

The offensive attack was spread out amongst the team as four Doubledays had 2 hits. Carlos Vazquez, JP Arencibia, Manuel Rodriguez and Shawn Scobee each had two base hits. Arencibia had 2 doubles and 2 RBIs, while Vazquez scored 2 runs and added an RBI of his own. Luis Sanchez went 1-2 but also contributed with 2 walks and scored 2 runs and had an RBI. Sweppenhiser went 1-4, but his hit was a two-run homer in Auburn’s 3-run second inning. The game would remain 3-0 through 6, before Auburn exploded for 8 runs off the Staten Island bullpen.

GCL Blue Jays 12 @ GCL Yankees 3 - Boxscore

The game wasn’t really this lobsided, as the Blue Jays scored 7 in the top of the ninth. It sat 2-2 after 4 and by the middle of the eighth it was 5-2 Blue Jays and even a late run by the Yankees wasn’t a serious threat. For the Blue Jays, Joel Carreno went 5.1 innings and gave up two runs, both unearned. Ryan Bird gave up a run and because he pitched two innings he managed to qualify for the cheap save.

The Blue Jays had 11 hits on the evening, to go alongside their 10 walks. The 2-3-4 batters, Eric Eiland, John Tolisano and Balbino Fuenmayor, each walked twice. The only Blue Jay to get more than two hits was Moises Sierra, who hit the monstrous homer in BP and went 3-6 with three runs and one RBI. Kevin Denis-Fortier went 2-3 with a walk. Kevin Ahrens didn’t play and Justin Jackson went 2-6 in the leadoff spot with 2 runs scored.

3 star selection

3rd star – Moises Sierra, 3-6, 3 R, HR, RBI, 6 TB

2nd star – Robinzon Diaz, 3-6, R, HR, 3 RBI, 6 TB

1st star – Jonathan Baksh, 3-4, 2 R, 2B, HR, 3 RBI, 7 TB

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