Brandon Magee continues to find Double-A much harder than he found the lower minors, while the New Hampshire offence didn’t help him out by leaving nine runners on base. David Purcey went deep into the game, but didn’t have a particularly strong start. Meanwhile, in the lower minors Brad Mills and Castillo Perez turned in strong efforts, leading to a Lansing victory and Auburn taking the game into extra innings. Nonetheless, the affiliates could only manage one win on the day.
Richmond 7 @ Syracuse 5 - Boxscore
David Purcey got the start for Syracuse and took the loss, to drop to 6-6 on the season. Purcey went 7 innings and gave up seven runs on seven hits, with two walks and five strikeouts. Three of the runs came courtesy of a homer by Canadian Scott Thorman with two out in the second inning. Sean Stidfole and Mike Gosling each threw a scoreless inning of relief.
Syracuse scored all five of their runs off Richmond’s starter, Chuck James. Syracuse only had eight hits on the evening, but also drew eight walks and ended the game ruing several missed opportunities as they left nine on base. The only Syracuse batter not to reach base at least once was Erik Kratz. Wayne Lydon went 2-4 with a triple, an RBI and a walk, while Buck Coats was 2-5 with a run. Curtis Thigpen and Hector Luna were hitless, but each drew a walk, while David Smith was 0-1 with three walks. Kevin Melillo was a home run away from the cycle, as he went 3-4 with a double, a triple, a run scored and 3 RBI. Russ Adams drew a walk and had a sac fly, while Pedro Lopez was 1-3 with a walk.
Portland 7 @ New Hampshire 0 - Boxscore
New Hampshire racked up seven hits without a run as Brandon Magee’s struggles on the mound continued. Scott Campbell went 0-3 in the leadoff spot, but being Scott Campbell, he drew two walks. Aaron Mathews went hitless in the two-hole, but the team’s 3-4-5 hitters, Travis Snider, Jacob Butler and JP Arencibia, combined for a 5-12 line. Unfortunately, as four of the hits were singled and the team couldn’t string together several hits in a row, none of these hits resulted in a run. Ryan Patterson and Anthony Hatch went hitless and Eric Nielsen and Ryan Klosterman added hits towards the bottom of the order.
Brandon Magee had another rough start in Double-A and fell to 0-10. Magee went 5 innings and gave up seven hits and four walks, which resulted in four runs. He only struck out one batter. Jo Matumoto went 2 scoreless innings while Jamie Vermilyea’s struggles continue, as he gave up three runs on two hits and two walks in 2 innings. His ERA now sits at 7.55 on the year, while Magee’s is at 5.92.
Clearwater @ Dunedin - Postponed
Fort Wayne 3 @ Lansing 5 - Boxscore
Despite giving up three runs over the last two innings, Lansing held on for the victory over the Fort Wayne Wizards. Brad Mills got the start and had a fine one, going 6 scoreless innings. He gave up three hits and two walks, while striking out seven. Ross Buckwalter pitched a scoreless inning of relief before turning it over to Cody Crowell, who had a rare bad outing. Crowell, who had only given up five earned runs all season, gave up three yesterday on three hits and three walks.
Matt Liuzza led the Lugnuts offence, going 3-3 with a walk, a double, a home run and 4 RBI. Liuzza’s 3-run homer in the first gave the Lugnuts a lead they would not relinquish the rest of the evening. Eric Eiland got the team’s other RBI with a 2-4 evening with a run scored. Raul Barron, John Tolisano and Justin Jackson all went 1-4 with a run scored and a strikeout. Moises Sierra and Kevin Ahrens both went 1-4. Michael McDade went hitless, while Jonathan Baksh went 3-4 with three singles.
Auburn 1 @ State College 2 (11 innings) - Boxscore
It was a pitcher’s duel in the NY-Penn League as State College scored a run in the top of the fourth, Auburn pushed one across in the top of the fifth and both teams remained off the scoreboard until State College scored in the bottom of the eleventh. Fear not for the fans, who not only saw a tight baseball game, but one that went into extra innings and still finished in under 2 hours and 40 minutes. Castillo Perez started for Auburn and went 5 innings. He allowed one run on four hits with seven strikeouts and one walk. Perez retired six of the eight batters who put the ball into play on groundouts.
The native of the Dominican Republic turned the ball over to Jason Monti, who went two innings and gave up two hits. Daniel O’Brien went two innings and didn’t give up a hit, but State College finally pushed one across with two hits off Frank Gailey, who was working his second inning of relief. Gailey struck out the first two batters of the inning, but then gave up a triple and, after an intentional walk, the next batter singled to give State College the victory. Carlos Vasquez went 1-4 and scored Auburn’s only run. Leance Soto also had a hit, while shortstop Bryan Kervin went 2-4 with an RBI single that drove in Vasquez. Among the names going hitless for Auburn were Christopher Hopkins, Chris Demons, David Cooper, Bryan Van Kirk and Joel Collins.
GCL Blue Jays 5 @ GCL Braves 7 - Boxscore
Jonas Cuotto got the start and went 4 innings, giving up nine hits and five runs. Cuotto allowed one homer and struck out one. He didn’t surrender a walk. Canadian Mike Lynch went next and pitched 3 innings of one-run ball. Lynch gave up five hits, two walks and one run, while striking out one. Dan Miller pitched the eighth and gave up a run on two hits with one strikeout.
The GCL Blue Jays had nine hits, of which nearly half came from one batter in the linuep. Kenneth Wilson leadoff and went 1-5 with a stolen base. Nathaniel Nelson, playing 1B, went 1-3 with a 2-run homer in the eighth inning and the team’s only walk. Nelson is born in 1984 and is six years older than Wilson. Marcus Brisker, like Wilson another 2008 draftee born in 1990, went 1-4 and also stole a base. Balbino Fuenmayor had a single, as did Jonathan Valdez, who was pinch-hitting for a hitless Jonathan Talley. Tyler Pastornicky, Justin McClanahan and Luis Hurtado all went hitless and Kevin Denis-Fortier struck out in his one at-bat of the game. Meanwhile, Wellinton Ramirez went 4-4 with a triple, an RBI and two runs to bump his OPS after three games to 1.167.
Three Stars:
3rd Star – Kevin Melillo, 3-4, R, 2B, 3B, 3 RBI, 6 TB
2nd Star – Brad Mills, 6 IP, 3 H, 0 ER, 2 BB, 7 K
1st Star – Matt Liuzza, 3-3, R, 2B, HR, BB, 4 RBI, 7 TB
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