Syracuse lost by a run, but they were the only one as the affiliates went 4-1 with a rainout in New Hampshire. Dunedin had a walkoff win, while Manny Rodriguez powered Lansing to a victory and Robinzon Diaz led the GCL Blue Jays to a win. The Doubledays had their best offensive night of the season, with eleven runs in a blowout victory over State College.
Syracuse 1 @ Lehigh Valley 2 – Boxscore
The SkyChiefs couldn’t muster much of an offence against the Lehigh Valley pitchers. J.A. Happ went 7.2 innings and gave up one run before turning it over to the bullpen. The SkyChiefs got five hits off Happ, with Marcos Sandoval, Kevin Mench, Matt Watson, Hector Luna and David Smith all getting a base hit. The lone run was actually scored by Pedro Lopez, who reached base on a walk and was driven in by Mench.
Vancouver’s Scott Richmond gave up nine hits in his first start at Triple-A, but he didn’t walk a batter and struck out five. Richmond only gave up one run over 6 innings. Mike Gosling cruised through the seventh but gave up a pair of hits to lead off the eighth. Brian Wolfe came in and didn’t allow another hit, but one of the inherited runners came around to score to give Lehigh Valley the lead, which their closer Matt Childers would protect in the ninth. Richmond was helped by a pair of outfield assists, as Smith threw out a runner at home and Wayne Lydon nailed another runner at third.
New Britain @ New Hampshire (Postponed)
Jupiter 4 @ Dunedin 5 – Boxscore
It was a comeback win for Dunedin, as the D-Jays scored two runs in the bottom of the ninth to take the game over the Hammerheads 5-4. Brad Mills struggled with his control in his first start for Dunedin, walking three batters and striking out four. He went 5 innnings and gave up four hits and four runs, but only one of the runs was earned due to two Jesus Gonzalez errors and a third by Luis Sanchez. He turned the ball over to Celson Polanco and Cody Crowell. Polanco went 2 innings and gave up one hit, while Crowell beat that with 2 innings without a hit. Crowell got the win, as his second outing for Dunedin went much better than his first.
Five of Dunedin’s nine batters had one hit on the afternoon, with Cory Patton and Bradley Emaus having a rare hitless game. Marcos Cabral was also hitless, while Al Quintana went 3-4. The runs were scored by Brian Dopirak, Gonzalez, Cabral, Quintana and Jonathan Diaz, while Chris Emanuele, Quintana, Sean Shoffit, Sanchez and Matthew Lane each drove in a run.
The comeback began with one out in the ninth when Quintana singled. Shoffit struck out as Quintana stole second, to put the tying run at second with two out. Lane pinch-hit for Sanchez and doubled to run. Diaz came in to run for Lane and Chris Emanuele singled to centre to score Diaz and give the D-Jays a walk-off win, something the parent club hasn’t yet had this year.
Lansing 3 @ Western Michigan 2 – Boxscore
Trystan Magnuson continued to struggle, only lasting one inning against Western Michigan. Magnuson gave up two runs on three hits and two walks in 1 inning and his ERA rose to 6.57 on the year. He was relieved by Edgar Estanga, who went 5 innings of shutout ball, allowing two hits and a walk. “Tiny” Tim Collins continued to fabulous relief, pitching three hitless innings to lower his ERA to 0.25 on the year. It’s unknown if he can keep this up at a higher level, but Collins certainly deserves the chance to prove he can.
The eight scoreless innings of relief by Estanga and Collins were what allowed Lansing to come back and win the game, as the Lugnuts got one back in the second and two back in the fifth. John Tolisano went 1-4 with a run and walk. The last four hitters in the lineup – Kevin Ahrens, Moises Sierra, Jonathan Baksh and Justin Jackson – all went 1-3 with a walk, but none scored a run and only Jackson picked up an RBI. The batting star for the Lugnuts was Manny Rodriguez, who was 2-5 with a double and a homer and was involved in every run, with two runs scored and 2 RBI.
State College 3 @ Auburn 11 – Boxscore
Auburn scored in five of the eight innings where they came to hit, as their offence was nearly entirely provided by the first four batters in the lineup. Leadoff hitter Bartolo Nicolas went 4-5 with a double and four runs scored. Chris Demons was 3-5 with a triple, 2 runs scored and 2 RBI. David Cooper was 4-5 with two doubles, a triple, two runs scored and 2 RBI, while Brian Van Kirk was 3-5 with a double, a homer, two runs scored and five RBI. The other five batters – Bryan Kervin, Carlos Vasquez, Leance Soto, Christopher Hopkins and Joel Collins – went 1-20, with Kervin picking up the lone hit and RBI and Collins scoring a run.
London, England’s Josh Wells got the start and the win to improve to 3-0 on the year. Wells went 5.1 innings and gave up eight hits and five runs, striking out two. He turned it over to Ryan Page who went 2.2 innings of one-hit ball and Matthew Daly finished it off with a scoreless inning and two strikeouts.
GCL Blue Jays 5 @ GCL Indians 3 – Boxscore
Starter Scott Gracey and Jared Potts combined to pitch 5 innings of two-hit shutout ball with six strikeouts. The day was less successful for Cody Dunbar and Corey Bachman, with Dunbar surrendering a pair of runs over two-thirds of an inning and Bachman allowing three hits and a run over 0.2 innings. Dan Miller pitched 2.2 innings to pick up his first save, allowing a hit and a walk.
Kenneth Wilson went 1-4 with a walk and 2 RBI, while Etobicoke’s Kyle Gilligan had a rough game, going 0-4 with 3 strikeouts, but he did pick up a walk and was involved with a double play. Robinzon Diaz went 3-4 with a double, a run and an RBI, Justin McClanahan went 1-4 with a run and Kevin Denis-Fortier was 2-4 with a walk. Balbino Fuenmayor and Henry Rodriguez went 0-3, while Yensy Perez and Markus Brisker each had a hit and a run.
Three Stars:
3rd Star – Edgar Estanga, 5 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 2 K & Tim Collins, 3 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 2 BB, 3 K
2nd Star – Manny Rodriguez, 2-5, 2 R, 2B, HR, 2 RBI, 6 TB
1st Star – David Cooper, 4-5, 2 R, 2 2B, 3B, 2 RBI, 8 TB
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