It wasn’t a very memorable night on the farm as the affiliates went 1-3 and were outscored 26-20 over the four games. Despite scoring twenty runs there weren’t too many noteworthy performances by the offence and several starters struggled, including one who didn’t make it out of the third inning. In between two strikeouts Travis Snider showed he might be slowly breaking out of his slump. Also, somewhat sad news out of Lehigh Valley as a former Blue Jay finds himself out of work.
Pawtucket 5 @ Syracuse 8 - Boxscore
On the same day that Jesse Litsch became Toronto’s first 4-game winner of the year, John Parrish duplicated the feat for the Syracuse SkyChiefs. Parrish didn’t have his best start of the year, going 6.1 innings but allowing four runs on seven hits, but it was good enough for the victory. Parrish, who struck a pair and walked a pair, had only given up two runs through six innings, but allowed two hits to the first three batters he faced in the seventh. He left the game for Bubba Nelson, who allowed an inherited runner to score Jo Matumoto entered the game later the inning and gave up two hits, which allowed an inherited runner from Nelson to score. That was all the offence Pawtucket would get on the afternoon and after Matumoto got two outs in the eighth he turned things over to Jordan de Jong, who pitched 1.1 scoreless innings for his third save of the year. Canadian George Kottaras was 2-4 for Pawtucket.
Left-fielder and leadoff hitter Joe Inglett went 4-5 for Syracuse with a triple and two runs scored and is currently sporting a 1.067 OPS on the season. That bests Lind’s numbers with Syracuse and I wonder if he’s looking for his own freedom campaign. Joge Velandia went 2-4 in the two hole with a solo homer and scored a pair of runs, while Russ Adams hit a 3-run homer from the cleanup spot. The 5 through 8 hitters had an 0-12 afternoon against David Pauley, Edgar Martinez, Jon Switer and Bryan Corey. However, Buck Coats added a pair of hits from the third spot in the lineup and Sergio Santos looks to begin a rebound from a horrible April with his 3-4 line that raised his OPS to .422.
In other news from the minors, Philadelphia cut Chris Woodward from their Triple-A affiliate, Lehigh Valley. Here’s hoping this doesn’t mark the end of Woodward’s career in professional baseball, but unfortunately that seems a reasonable possibility.
New Hampshire 4 @ New Britain 6 - Boxscore
This was a matchup between two pitchers who had been struggled in Double-A as Brandon Magee faced off against New Britain’s Jay Rainville. Rainville pitched relatively well, going 5 innings and allowing two runs on five hits, a walk and five strikeouts. The outing improved his record to 2-3 and lowered his ERA to 9.00. Magee didn’t fare so well, as he went 4.2 innings and surrendered five runs on eight hits and two walks. New Britain had a 5-2 lead after 5 innings and would score another run in the sixth off Mike Gallo, who pitched 2.1 innings in relief of Magee. New Hampshire scored two in the top of eighth to make it a 6-4 game, but never got any closer than that.
New Hampshire had seven hits on the evening and every player in the starting lineup but Anthony Hatch and Brian Jeroloman had one. New Hampshire scored their first two runs on a pair of solo homers by Ryan Klosterman and Travis Snider. Snider went 1-3 on the afternoon with two strikeouts and a hit-by-pitch. In the eighth inning they scored a pair of runs on a double by Jacob Butler that cashed Aaron Mathews and Ryan Patterson.
That was about it for New Hampshire’s offence, as they did get the tying run on first base in the eight when Snider reached first on a hit-by-pitch following Butler’s double, but Josh Kreuzer grounded into a double play. The tying run came to the plate in the ninth inning after Klosterman walked, but in a strange decision on his or the coaching staff’s part Klosterman, whose run was not important, was caught stealing. It probably didn’t matter as Jeroloman grounded out, but I wonder what caused them to send Klosterman, unless they thought that New Britain was conceding the base and they actually weren’t.
Dunedin 6 @ Vero Beach 10 - Boxscore
If you’re going to lose a game by allowing ten runs Dunedin went about it the right way on Saturday by only using three pitchers. Kenny Rodriguez started and gave up nine runs in 2.2 innings. Rodriguez wasn’t helped much by his defense, which committed two errors in Vero Beach’s six-run second inning. Dunedin would commit another three errors on the afternoon. Brandon Camardese replaced Rodriguez in the third inning and escaped the inning without further damage beyond the three runs Rodriguez allowed. He gave up a solo homer in the fourth and otherwise got through 3.1 innings unscathed. Cclson Polanco relieved Camardese and pitched two scoreless innings.
The D-Jays scored three runs off Tampa Bay pitching prospect Jeremy Hellickson in six innings, although one was unearned. Hellickson might get more attention if he was in a system that isn’t as deep as Tampa’s and he showed flashes of what makes him relatively highly regarded against Dunedin with five strikeouts and no walks. Four relievers combined to pitch the last three innings and gave up three runs. Four Jays – Chris Emannuele, JP Arencibia, Brad Emaus and Luis Sanchez – had two hit performances. Sanchez drove in half of Dunedin’s runs in the game. Al Quintana hit the only homer for Dunedin in an attempt to atone for his two errors at catcher, which give him six on the season. Quintana was also the only Jay to score two runs. Arencibia, Emaus and David Smith all hit doubles, while hot-hitting Brian Dopirak had a rare poor day at the plate, going 0-5 and leaving a pair of runners in scoring position with two out.
Wisconsin 5 @ Lansing 2 - Boxscore
The Lansing Lugnuts lost despite outhitting the Wisconsin Rattlers 6-4 in the game. Brad Mills started for Lansing and uncharacteristically had control problems, as he walked five batters in 5 innings. Mills allowed three hits and five runs, while striking out seven. In fact, three of the five runners who scored for Wisconsin originally reached base because Mills walked them (technically two did, but a third reached base on a fielder’s choice and the original runner reached base via a walk) and a fourth reached base on a hit-by-pitch. Alan Farina pitched one scoreless inning of relief before Cody Crowell pitched the last three innings and surrendered only one hit while striking out four.
The outcome of this game was never in question after Wisconsin scored their runs in the fourth and fifth inning, as Lansing waited until the bottom of the ninth to score their two runs. Raul Barron doubled to lead off the inning and then Michael McDade singled with one out. After a walk to Moises Sierrra, Justin Jackson singled home Barron and then Kevin Ahrens cashed in McDade with an RBI groundout. The Lugnuts actually had the tying run at the plate in Ahrens and then Darin Mastroianni, but Mastroianni struck out to end the game. Lansing had only six hits in the game and three of them came before the ninth inning. Along with Barron, McDade and Jackson, Mastroianni, Moises Sierra and John Tolisano also had hits. Matthew Liuzza had two of Lansing’s six walks, with Jackson, Tolisano, McDade and Sierra accounting for the other four. Moises Sierra had a poor game on the bases, being picked off and caught stealing.
Three Stars
3rd Star – Cody Crowell, 3 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 4 K
2nd Star – Jorge Velandia, 2-4, 2 R, HR, 2 RBI, 5 TB
1st Star – Joe Inglett, 4-5, 2 R, 3B, RBI, 6 TB
https://www.battersbox.ca/article.php?story=20080504071448695