Four of the five affiliates in action won yesterday, with Syracuse losing a 2-1 affair in Buffalo. It was a day of great pitching and good hitting with two of the victories coming behind shutouts and Ricky Romero and Randy Boone also throwing quality starts. While Syracuse struggled at the plate the same didn’t hold true for New Hampshire or Lansing, which combined for 19 runs. Dunedin only scored six, but they had 21 baserunners. Picking between all those batters was difficult, so the third star (the first two were obvious) went to a pitcher.
Syracuse 1 @ Buffalo 2 – Boxscore
Former first-round pick Ricky Romero faced off against new Indian Anthony Reyes. Reyes, who started game 1 of the World Series in 2006, went 8 innings. He gave up five hits and one run. Reyes struck out four and didn’t walk a batter. Rich Rundles and Buzzie Buzachero pitched the ninth, with the former Blue Jays farmhand picking up his second save of the year. The one run came on a Kevin Melillo homer in the second inning. Melillo also had two hits and was the only SkyChief with a multihit game. Marcos Sandoval, Russ Adams, Robinzon Diaz and Brian Jeroloman had the other hits.
Ricky Romero had a quality start, but wasn’t as impressive as Reyes. He went six strong and gave up one run on four hits. Romero struggled with his control a bit, walking three and striking out three batters. Jonah Bayliss went 1.2 innings and was relieved by Mike Gosling with two down in the bottom of the eighth. Gosling promptly gave up a homer to former first-round pick Michael Aubrey, which gave Buffalo a 2-1 lead and an eventual victory.
Connecticut 0 @ New Hampshire 8 – Boxscore
Brandon Magee’s recent resurgence continues with a complete-game shutout of the Connecticut Defenders. Magee went nine innings and gave up four hits and two walks. He struck out four and never seemed to be in any serious trouble. Magee got 12 outs with ground balls and 11 with fly balls.
After being held off the scoreboard for the first three innings, the Fisher Cats exploded for seven runs between the fourth and fifth innings and took a 7-0 lead. New Hampshire would hold that lead for the rest of the game, supplementing it with a run in the eighth. New Hampshire scored three runs in the fourth, with back-to-back RBI singles by Jacob Butler, Jonathan Diaz and Ryan Klosterman. In the fifth Travis Snider led off with a single and then JP Arencibia struck out. The Fisher Cats then decided consecutive singles wasn’t impressive enough and went back-to-back-to-back. Andrew Pickney hit a 2-run homer and was followed by David Smith and Kyle Phillips, which all but put the game out of reach.
Every Fisher Cat but Ryan Patterson had a hit. The highlights at the plate were Pickney and Smith going 2-4, Phillips going 1-2 with a pair of walks and Klosterman doing one better with a 2-3 night with a pair of walks.
Dunedin 6 @ Clearwater 2 – Boxscore
Randy Boone and Celson Polanco combined to pitch a fine game for Dunedin. Boone went 7 innings and gave up two runs, both in the sixth, on seven hits. He walked two and struck out three. Boone got 12 outs on the ground and five with fly balls. Celson Polanco went 2 innings and gave up a hit and a walk, but picked up his fourth save of the year.
Brian Dopirak was the star at the plate and continues to swing one of the hottest bats in the system. Dopirak hit a two-run homer with two out in the first to give Dunedin the lead. His next at-bat came in the third with two out and Dopirak hit another homer to give Dunedin a 3-0 lead. Cory Patton chipped in with a two-run single in the fourth and gave Dunedin a 5-0 lead. They’d score another run in the ninth, but the damage could have been far greater, as Dunedin had 11 hits and ten walks on the afternoon.
Shannon Stewart went 0-2 with a walk, before being replaced by Chris Emanuele who drew walks in both his at-bats. Brad Emaus went 1-4 with a walk and Patton went 1-5 collecting his hit at the most opportune moment. Dopirak went 3-5 with a double to go along with his pair of homers. Anthony Hatch followed him with a 2-3 afternoon that included a pair of walks. Jesus Gonzalez was 3-4 with a double and a walk and Matt Liuzza was 0-2 with three walks. Sean Shoffitt and Jonathan Sanchez went a combined 1-9 in the last two spots in the lineup.
Lansing 11 @ Beloit 8 – Boxscore
As Beloit found out, when it rains it pours, as Lansing exploded for eight runs in the second. The teams traded runs until it was 11-4 after seven, but Beloit scored three in the bottom of the ninth inning to give the Lugnuts a bit of a scare. Surprisingly, for an 11-run performance, the Lugnuts only hit one home run, had only five extra-base hits and nobody had more than two hits.
Justin Jackson led off and went 1-4 with a double, a walk and 2 RBI. Raul Barron was 0-5 with a run in the two-hole and David Cooper followed him with a 1-4 with a run and a walk. Manny Rodriguez went 2-4 with a double, two runs and 2 RBI. Jonathan Jaspe also continues to swing a hot bat with a 2-4 game, which included a walk and an RBI. John Tolisano and Yohermyn Chavez both went 2-5, with Tolisano hitting Lansing’s only homer and Chavez adding a double. Tolisano scored twice and had 2 RBI, while Chavez added a pair of RBI and had one run. Moises Sierra went 1-3 with a walk and two runs and Darin Mastroianni added a double and an RBI.
Brian Letko got the start for Lansing. He went 5 innings and gave up four hits with four strikeouts and two walks. Letko allowed three runs, two earned, but turned the lead over to the bullpen. Joe Wice surrendered a run over 2 innings and turned the ball over to Michael Barbara. Barbara struggled, surrendering four runs on six hits over 1.1 innings and creating some excitement in a game that looked out of reach. With a runner on base, Tim Collins came into the game to secure the victory and his eleventh save of the year.
Jamestown 0 @ Auburn 3 – Boxscore
Three Auburn pitchers combined to pitch a shutout against the first-place Jamestown Jammers. Castillo Perez got the start and went 5 solid innings. He struck out three and allowed four hits and a pair of walks. He turned the ball over to Matthew Moody, who also struck out three and walked two. Moody went 3 innings and only surrendered one hit before turning the ball over to Robert Bell. Bell picked up his seventh save and completed the shutout with a scoreless inning.
Auburn got on the scoreboard in the third. Joel Collins led off with a single and advanced to second on a Carlos Vazquez sac bunt. Chris Demons singled to centre field, but Jamestown’s Kevin Mattison threw out Collins at the plate. Bartolo Nicolas doubled, but since Demons didn’t advance to second on the Mattison throw the Doubledays only had runners on second and third. It didn’t matter however, as Michael McDade singled to centre and drove home both runners.
Auburn got their third run in the sixth when Adam Amar singled home Nicolas. The Doubledays would go on to load the bases with one out, but Robert Sobolewski popped out and Bryan Kervin grounded out and the team didn’t score again. McDade went 3-4 with a pair of RBI to lead the Auburn offence. Nicolas, Amar and Collins all went 2-4, with Nicolas scoring two of Auburn’s three runs. Demons and Kervin added the other hits for Auburn.
GCL Blue Jays: Scheduled off-day.
Three Stars:
3rd Star – Castillo Perez, 5 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 3 K
2nd Star – Brian Dopirak, 3-5, 3 R, 2B, 2 HR, 3 RBI, 10 TB
1st Star – Brandon Magee, 9 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 4 K
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