Good pitching beats good hitting and that was a good thing for the affiliates. The hurlers had only seven runs to work with in a 2-and-1 night on the farm. Meantime, a member of the Auburn Doubledays came away with some hardware during the NY Penn League All-Star festivities.
Pawtucket, RI - After not pitching for nine days, Scott Richmond was a tad rusty in his return to the mound since his demotion. The rust appeared quickly when he surrendered a leadoff home run to Josh Wilson and that was followed by a bunt single and a walk. However, Travis Snider came to the rescue when he nabbed Joe Thurston at third base after he tried to advance on a fly ball to left. The Chiefs got that run back in the second when Hector Luna launched a solo shot to tie the game at 1-1. Richmond settled down and kept the Boston affiliate off the board over the next four innings by scattering a walk, a single and a double.
Lefty Bill Murphy relieved Richmond in the sixth and allowed just a walk in his two innings of work. The Chiefs would take the lead in the seventh on a solo dinger by Danny Sandoval and that was followed by a Pedro Lopez sac fly in the eighth to score a Kevin Melillo double. Jeremy Accardo came out for the eighth and made things interesting by giving up a leadoff single and a walk. However, Accardo cut down the lead runner at third on a bunt attempt, retired the second hitter on a fielder's choice and punched out former Astro Jason Lane to end the threat. A Russ Adams sac fly in the ninth cashed in a Buck Coats double to make it 4-1 Syracuse. That run proved to be huge when George Kottaras belted a solo tater off Jordan De Jong in the ninth. De Jong walked the next hitter to bring the potential tying run to the dish but he got the next three hitters to earn the save.
Boxscore Notes - Scott Richmond gave up a run on four hits and a two walks in five innings but struck out five and got five groundouts. He did uncork a wild pitch among his 83 offerings, 46 of them being strikes. Maybe one day he'll get a "W" above AA ball!........The Chiefs had only five hits, but four of them were for extra bases. They struck out eight times, including Buck Coats' hat trick, and drew no walks despite the presence of Brian Jeroloman. However, he did have a single. His AAA walk meter remains at six.
Binghamton, NY - Southpaw Brad Mills went through the B-Mets lineup like a hot knife threw butter the first time around the order with his only blemish being a hit batsman. The second time around was a different story when a one-out walk in the fourth was followed by a run-scoring double. Another single would drive home another run to give Binghamton a 2-0 lead. However, J.P. Arencibia ended the inning by throwing out a runner trying to steal third. Mills was nicked for another run in the fifth on a double, a walk and a single but he got a double play ball to limit the damage. Orlando Roman did his part to keep the Fisher Cats in it by hurling three shutout frames, scattering three singles and punching out four.
The 'Cats offence didn't show up in this one. They were limited to just two singles over the first two innings as they were set down in order from innings three through seven. They matched their hit total in the eighth but a Ryan Patterson double play ball killed that threat. In the ninth, Chris Gutierrez walked and Scott Campbell got aboard on catcher interference. They both moved up a base on a wild pitch and eventually came in to score on sac flies by Eric Nielsen and J.P. Arencibia. However, they couldn't get the big hit in the inning as they fell a run short.
Boxscore Notes - Brad Mills gave up three runs on five hits and two walks over five innings to take the loss. However, he did punch out five and his ERA is still just 1.40 despite falling to 2-2 on the season. His K/BB mark with the F-Cats is 26-9 in 25 2/3 innings and his OBA is .226.
Dunedin - Scheduled Day Off.
Lansing 1 Fort Wayne 0 (10 Innings)
Lansing, MI - Winning for the Lugnuts was as easy as 1-2-3 as in one run, two hits and three errors. That's all they needed to beat the Wiz. The Padres affiliate was held in check by lefty Marc Rzepczynski, who got a couple of key double play grounders to end threats in the fourth and sixth and had to overcome some shoddy defence, namely by Manny Rodriguez, who committed two clanks. However, his nine strikeouts kept Fort Wayne at bay, listen to what I say! Lefty Joe Wice took over in the seventh and was dominant in his three innings, giving up just a bunt single while striking out five. Lefties night continued when Frank Gailey added two more punchouts to the Lansing total, surviving a single and wild pitch in the tenth.
The Lugnuts decided to end this "slugfest" in their half of the tenth. Kevin Ahrens drew a leadoff walk and went to third when Manny Rodriguez, fittingly, reached base on an error when the pitcher threw the ball away when he tried to get Ahrens on a force play. A John Tolisano groundout to the mound pushed M-Rod into scoring position and Raul Barron, who drew instant respect with one of the two Lugnut hits on the night, was intentionally walked. Moises Sierra hit a tapper back to the mound and Ahrens was cut down at home plate but Sierra reached first to keep the inning alive for Justin Jackson. Jackson, who was thrown out at third the previous inning while trying to advance on a Jonathan Baksh single, redeemed himself by drawing his second walk of the night to plate M-Rod with the winning run. That's Manny being Manny for ya!
Boxscore - You know what? Marc Rzepczynski is way better than halfway decent. His WHIP was less than one as he yielded three hits and two walks in six shutout frames while punching out nine and inducing eight groundouts. His K/BB is 112-39 in 113.1 IP and his groundout/flyout ratio is over 3 to 1. His ERA is now down to 2.46.........How about some love for Joe Wice? He too has looked good in Lugnut red, black and white with a 45-7 K/BB mark in 40.2 IP and hitters are just batting .205 against him.
Auburn - Scheduled Day Off - NY Penn League All-Star Game - NL All Stars 4 AL All Stars 3
Troy, NY - The Doubledays were represented by Chris Demons (0-2, K), Adam Amar (0-2) and Michael McDade (0-2). On the pitching side, Castillo Perez issued one walk in a scoreless third inning and Robert Bell gave up a solo homer in the fifth but rebounded with two punchouts.
The best news of the night was the performance of Adam Amar, who won an abbreviated Home Run Derby.
GCL Braves @ GCL Blue Jays - Postponed Due To Rain.
*** 3 Stars!!! ***
3. Scott Richmond, Syracuse - 5IP, 4H, 1R, 1ER, 2BB, 5K, 5GO.
2. Joe Wice, Lansing - 3IP, 1H, 0R, 0ER, 0B, 5K.
1. Marc Rzepczynski, Lansing - 6IP, 3H, 0R, 0ER, 2BB, 9K, 8GO.
Honourable Mentions -
Syracuse - Hector Luna, Danny Sandoval, Pedro Lopez, Russ Adams, Buck Coats, Kevin Melillo, Travis Snider, Bill Murphy, Jeremy Accardo, Jordan De Jong.
New Hampshire - Brad Mills, Orlando Roman, Scott Campbell, J.P. Arencibia, Eric Nielsen, Chris Gutierrez.
Lansing - Frank Gailey, Justin Jackson, Raul Barron, Jonathan Baksh.
Standings/Streaks.........
Syracuse - 62-65, 4th place - IL North (15.5 GB of Scranton/WB), 5-5 Last 10, W2.
New Hampshire - 55-75, 6th place - EL North (24.0 GB of Trenton), 4-6 Last 10, L5.
Dunedin - 40-16, 1st place - FSL West (11.5 GA of Tampa - that's more like it!), 7-3 Last 10, W1.
Lansing - 32-25, 2nd place - MWL East (3.5 GB of South Bend), 6-4 Last 10, W1. (1st half Division Winner).
Auburn - 31-27, 3rd place - NYP Pinckney (4.0 GB of Batavia), 3-7 Last 10, L4.
GCL Blue Jays - 24-27, 5th place - GCL North (6.0 GB of GCL Phillies), 4-6 Last 10, W3.
Today's Games/Probable Starters.......
Game 1 - GCL Blue Jays @ GCL Braves, 11:00 a.m. EDT - TBA vs. TBA.
Game 2 - GCL Braves @ GCL Blue Jays, Time TBA - TBA vs. TBA.
Dunedin @ Tampa, 7:00 p.m. EDT - TBA vs. TBA.
Syracuse @ Pawtucket, 7:05 p.m. EDT - RHP Brian Wolfe, SYR (2-2, 2.39) vs. RHP David Pauley, PAW (13-4, 3.45).
New Hampshire @ Binghamton, 7:05 p.m. EDT - RHP Brandon Magee, NH (6-12, 4.97) vs. RHP Dylan Owen, BIN (0-0, 0.00).
Fort Wayne @ Lansing, 7:05 p.m. - RHP Wynn Pelzer, FW (9-5, 3.00) vs. LHP Brian Letko, LAN (4-3, 3.33).
Auburn - Scheduled Day Off. Next Game Thursday vs. Williamsport, 7:05 p.m. EDT.
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