After what was nearly a two hour rain delay the Portland Beavers and New Hampshire Fisher Cats resumed their game, and Portland may have wished the game was postponed, as the Fisher Cats had twenty-three men reach base. While Brett Cecil was likely understandably frustrated, I don’t think Ryan Patterson will object to any rain delays in the future. Meanwhile, Syracuse lost a close, low-scoring game and Lansing and Dunedin combined to score 14 runs and allow 14 runs, so it was only fair (and mathematically possible) that one of them won and one of them lost.
Norfolk 3 @ Syracuse 1 - Boxscore
Syracuse must have thought they had a good chance to win after highly-touted prospect Radhames Liz left the game after the first inning. (I can’t figure out why, but it doesn’t seem to be an injury as he was replaced at the end of an inning and there was no place to the pitcher in the previous inning.) However, former Royal Ryan Bukvich provided some very solid relief as he went five scoreless innings and only allowed three hits and a walk. Rocky Cherry struck out two in his two innings of relief and then Greg Aquino came in for the save, which he picked up in the process of losing the shutout.
Syracuse only got four hits off Tides pitching. Recent addition to the system Danny Sandoval was 2-4 with a homer in the ninth inning off Aquino. Hector Luna and David Smith were the other SkyChiefs to pick up hits on the afternoon as Syracuse did not advance a runner past second base until Sandoval’s homer.
David Purcey got the start for Syracuse and gave the team a quality start in a losing effort. Purcey gave up seven hits in 7.1 innings of work. He struck out six, walked one and allowed three runs. Michael MacDonald, who went 1.2 scoreless frames with a couple of K’s, relieved Purcey. Both Purcey and MacDonald have ERAs under 3 on the year. Eleven of the sixteen outs Purcey got on balls in play were on the ground. Canadian Adam Stern went 0-3 for Norfolk.
Portlnd 5 @ New Hampshire 12 - Boxscore
Strangely, the umpires decided to start this game despite poor weather and then immediately suspended it after one batter. When the game resumed, one hour and 51 minutes later, New Hampshire decided to err on the side of caution and pulled Brett Cecil. Julio Pinto relieved Cecil and surrendered four runs in 4.1 innings. Pinto allowed seven hits and walked three, while striking out three. Seth Overbey relieved him and promptly gave up three hits, which allowed both of Pinto’s runners which he inherited to score. Overbey also allowed the fifth Portland run, on four hits and two walks in 1.2 innings. Daryl Harang and Sean Stidfole pitched the last three innings, with Harang striking out the side in his only inning.
While Portland pounded out twelve hits, New Hampshire had seventeen and had built up a 10-5 lead through five innings. When you add New Hampshire’s six walks, they had 23 baserunners in the game. To start with the bad, Jacob Butler and Eric Nielsen were the only Fisher Cat starters without a hit, which makes the twelve runs even more impressive, as it was done without the benefit of any contribution by the team’s first baseman and designed hitter. Bulter did walk twice and Nielsen drew one base on balls.
The starts of the show were Scott Campbell and Ryan Patterson. Campbell went 2-3 with a double, a homer and two walks in the leadoff spot and now has a .906 OPS through 176 at-bats at New Hanpshire. Ryan Patterson went 4-5 with two homers. Patterson wasn’t the only FisherCat with four hits, as Kyle Phillips had four singles batting directly behind him. Aaron Matthews had a great day at the plate, as well, going 3-4 with a sacrifice fly and 3 RBI. Anthony Hatch went 2-4 with 2 RBI and a sacrifice fly. Travis Snider and Ryan Klosterman both had one hit.
Lakeland 10 @ Dunedin 7 - Boxscore
Adrian Martin took his second loss on the year after surrendering seven earned runs on nine hits over 5.0 innings. Martin didn’t walk a batter and struck out six, but was victimized by the home run. Martin gave up four round trippers on the evening, one each in the first, second, fifth and sixth. All of the runs Lakeland scored off Martin came into score on home runs. This seems to be a one-game anomaly, as before today Martin had allowed two homers in 22.1 innings. Lakeland scored their last three runs off Brian Pettway, who continues to make the transition to pitcher. Pettway gave up two walks and a hit, got a strikeout and allowed a sacrifice fly, turning the ball over to Nathan Starner with runners on second and third and two outs, but Straner allowed both to score on a single, which made the game 10-5 at the time.
Five D-Jays had two-hit afternoons, while hot-hitting JP Arencibia and Brad Emaus each went 1-4 with a double and Cory Patton and Brian Dopirak struggled through hitless afternoons at the plate. Chris Emanuele, Sean Shoffit, Jesus Gonzalez, Joel Collins and Jonathan Diaz each had two hits, but Gonzalez’s double was the only one of the ten hits that wasn’t a single. Dundin can look back on three missed opportunities that may have cost them a victory, as the team loaded the bases with none out in the second and only scored on run on a Diaz sacrifice fly. Then, after already scoring twice in the inning, the D-Jays had runners on second and third with none out, but then Dopirak grounded out and, in a bit of bad luck, Patton lined out and Arencibia was doubled off second. Finally, the team strung together a rally in the ninth inning and, after scoring a run, had the bases loaded with two outs when Adam Calderone came up to pinch-hit for Diaz. Unfortunately, he couldn’t hit a magical walk-off slam and was only able to fly out to left.
Great Lakes 4 @ Lansing 7 - Boxscore
With five errors this wasn’t a particularly well-played game, but Lansing won with four runs in the seventh and eighth inning. Brad Mills got the start for the Lugnuts and was cruising until the sixth inning. He gave up a hit and then came three errors on two plays. Raul Barron muffed a grounder and then threw the ball away at first to allow the runners to end up on second and third. The next batter grounded to second and John Tolisano couldn’t make a play on the ball. Mills would go on to retire the next batter before surrendering several more hits, which made all the runs Great Lakes scored in the inning unearned. Mills would finish the game with 7 innings pitched, no earned runs, no walks and eight strikeouts. Tim Collins and Cody Crowell each pitched a scoreless inning of relief; Collins has a 0.55 ERA through 16.1 innings, Crowell has a 0.99 ERA with 27.1 innings pitched.
Lansing had fifteen hits on the evening and spread the offence around, with only Moises Sierra going hitless. Manny Rodriguez and Tolisano were the only Lugnuts with three hits, both going 3-5 with a double and a run. Justin Jackson, Kevin Ahrens and Yohermyn Chavez all had two base hits, with Jackson picked up his third home run of the year to give Lansing two insurance runs in the eighth inning. Chavez hit a pair of doubles, with the second driving home Sierra with the game’s winning run. Matt Liuzza, Barron and Darin Mastroianni all had one hit, but Liuzza and Mastroianni each drew one of Lansing’s two walks on the evening, as well.
Three Stars
3rd Star – Brad Mills, 7 IP, 6 H, 4 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 8 K
2nd Star – Scott Campbell, 2-3, 3 R, 2B, HR, RBI, 2 BB, 6 TB
1st Star – Ryan Patterson, 4-5, 3 R, 2 HR, 4 RBI, 10 TB
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