Two wins, rain, and an off-day allowed the affiliates to sweep Sunday.
Let me tell you something about the Iron Pigs: They're as awful as the name suggests. 2-16 awful. 0-10 on the road, awful. Among regulars, the highest slugging percentage on the team belongs to Brennan King who's blasting the International League to the tune of .328. Slugging. Seriously.
So perhaps the Chiefs shouldn't be feeling too great about a 2-1 victory. It's almost like a moral defeat. In any event, Syracuse starter Kane Davis spotted the Pigs one in the first but then gently closed the door on the Pigs "offense" for seven more frames. So, armed with the knowledge that Lehigh Valley wasn't likely to burn up the basepaths, the Syracuse bats took the night off save for a two-run third. Jorge Velandia started things with a double and scored on a throwing error following Pedro Lopez's bunt single. Lopez then moved to third on another throwing error (Ladies and gentlemen, your Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs!), and scored on a Buck Coats sac fly.
Tracy Thorpe closed things out in the ninth, though quite dicily. With one out, Thorpe allowed a walk and a single before striking out the aforementioned slugger King. Thorpe then plunked Mike Cervenak to load the bases before realizing these were the Iron Pigs, and inducing a pop up to catcher Robinzon Diaz to end the game.
Speaking of Diaz: If beating Lehigh Valley wasn't enough for him this fine Sunday, he received news following the game that he'd be joining the big club in Toronto on Monday. Perhaps sensing the call-up, Diaz had an eventful day going 2-for-2 with a walk and a double, but blowing both by getting picked off and caught stealing.
Nobody else did much worth mentioning, though old friend and likely depressed Iron Pig Chris Woodward managed an 0-for-3 dropping his average to .167.
Kane Davis's final line was 8 IP, 5H, 1ER, 1BB, 4K, to move to 2-1 with a 2.78 ERA, though he'll likely have an asterisk placed next to this one.
New Hampshire @ Harrisburg- Postponed.
Rain, I'll presume.
Now here's a game to talk about. Dunedin, perhaps buoyed by the presence of the broken-fingered Scott Rolen, stunned the Sarasota Reds with a 4-run ninth, to complete the mini-sweep for Toronto affiliates.
Rolen, hitting third, took an 0-for-3 including a flyout, lineout, and popout, before leaving for a pinch-hitter in the top of the seventh. He's scheduled to play two more games with Dunedin before the Jays' brass decides where his next stop will be.
The D-Jays took a 4-1 lead into the bottom of the sixth thanks to a Jesus Gonzalez homerun, a two-run double by Matthew Lane, and a bases loaded walk to Luis Sanchez. The wheels came off in the bottom half of the sixth, though, as the Reds parlayed four singles, a walk, and a wild pitch on a third strike into four runs off starter Robert Ray and reliever Edward Rodriguez.
The score stayed 5-4 for the Reds until the ninth where, with one out, Bradley Emaus walked. Travis Snider, having to that point been given the day off, was then called upon to pinch hit. Sufficiently rested, Travis slammed his fourth homer of the year to left field giving the D-Jays a 6-5 lead. A walk and an out later, J.P. Arencibia, without the benefit of eight innings of rest, joined Snider in the HR club with his fourth of the year. Zachary Dials then struck out the side in the ninth for his sixth save of the year and helped make a winner out of Celson Polanco.
Lansing had a scheduled day off. On a Sunday? Seems odd, but we'll take their word for it.
Three Stars!
3rd Star- Scott Rolen: 0-for-3 but he's back!
2nd Star- Jesus Gonzalez: 2-for-3, HR, RBI
1st Star- Travis Snider: 1-for-1, Game Winning 2-run HR
https://www.battersbox.ca/article.php?story=20080420230920706