After a miserable stretch of games for the parent club, the minor leagues provided no relief last night, as only rain prevented an 0-4 record on the day. As it was, the affiliates went 0-3 and our Double and Triple-A teams combined to score one run. The farm system hasn't won a game since Thursday. It was such a poor night that I gave two of the three stars to losing pitchers. If you’re hungry for more losses after the past four games for the Blue Jays, read on. It’s not as painful, but results are all the same.
Syracuse 0 @ Scranton/Wilkes-Barre 3 - Boxscore
Kei Igawa, Scott Patterson and Billy Traber two-hit the SkyChiefs last night. Igawa went 7 inning, striking out three and walking two. The only hits were a Marcos Sandoval double and a Hector Luna single, while Wayne Lydon, Erik Kratz and Chip Cannon drew walks. Strangely, those last three players also accounted for the four Syracuse strikeouts. Sandoval was also picked off second promptly after his double.
Kane Davis got the start for Syracuse and went 5.2 innings, giving up eight hits and three runs. He struck out five and walked two. Davis was working on a shutout into the sixth inning, when everything fell apart. He surrendered three runs and left the bases loaded for Sean Stidfole, who got the third out of the inning and escaped the jam without any more damage. Stidfole pitched another two innings of scoreless relief.
Erie 3 @ New Hampshire 1 - Boxscore
Scott Richmond got the start and pitched well, but was victimized by the long ball. Richmond went 7 innings, gave up six hits and struck out six. He allowed two runs, one in the second and one in the fifth, each on a solo homer. Seth Overbey pitched an inning of relief and gave up a run. Daryl Harang pitched an innings of relief and did not.
New Hampshire had eight hits, but three players accounted for six of the hits. Ryan Patterson, Eric Nielsen and Brian Jeroloman all had two hits in the game. Patterson accounted for New Hampshire’s lone run with a solo homer in the ninth with none out. Anthony Hatch was the next batter and he walked, bringing the tying run to the plate. Nielsen and Kyle Phillips couldn’t do anything, but then pinch-hitter Jaccob Butler was hit by a pitch, to bring the wining run to the plate. Eric changed pitchers and the move worked, as Jeroloman flied out to left-fielder Deik Scram. Hatch and
Travis Snider had the other two hits.
Dunedin 3 @ Jupiter 4 - Boxscore
Texas A&M product Robert Ray got the start for Dunedin, facing off against Christian Martinez of the Jupiter Hammerheads. Ray went 6.2 innings, struck out five and didn’t walk a batter. He gave up four hits, but those four hits translated into four runs, three of them earned. Like Richmond, Ray was pitching a shutout until one bad inning brought him down. After six shutout innings, he got the first two outs in the seventh and had a runner on first. Then evenything fell apart. Ray, who had only allowed one hit to this point in th game, gave up a single and consecutive doubles, which led to three Jupiter runs and tied the ballgame. Ray was replaced by Edward Rodriguez, who induced a much-needed groundball. However, third baseman Jesus Gonzalez booted the grounder, allowing a fourth run to score in the inning. Rodriguez would pitch a scoreless eight inning with two strikouts, but the damage was done.
Dunedin scored all their runs in the sixth, courtesy of a three-run homer by Chris Emanuele, which scored Sean Shoffit and Luis Sanchez. Dunedin actually outhit Jupiter 6-5 on the evening. Shoffit had two hits, while Emanuele, Sanchez Brian Dopirak and Cory Pattona accounted for the other four.
Fort Wayne 6 @ Lansing 5 (Suspended, 9th)
The Lansing Lugnuts were losing 6-5 to the Fort Wayne Wizards when rain suspended the game in the ninth inning. There’s no completed boxscore and, since the game’s not over, I’ll leave it to be covered in the next update.
Three Stars
3rd Star – Robert Ray, 6.2 IP, 4 H, 3 ER, 0 BB, 5 K
2nd Star – Chris Emanuele, 1-4, R, HR, 3 RBI, 4 TB
1st Star – Scott Richmond, 7 IP, 6 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 6 K
https://www.battersbox.ca/article.php?story=20080608065946281