There was a shutout in Double-A, but that wasn’t the best pitching performance of the night. There were only three contests last night, as Las Vegas had the night off, and the affiliates won two of them. Dunedin lost a one-run game as the heart of their lineup struggled at the plate. And Brian Dopirak, among others, continues to hit.
New Britain 0 @ New Hampshire 5 – Boxscore
Marc Rzepczynski only went 5 innings against New Britain, perhaps because of pitch count considerations. He struck out eight and walked three while allowing four hits. After facing 23 batters he turned the ball over to David Shinskie, who faced the minimum of nine over 3 innings. Shinskie struck out three and only allowed one hit, which was erased on a double play. Nathan Starner pitched a scoreless ninth to finish off the contest and all three pitchers have ERAs between 3.38 and 3.86.
Every Fisher Cat but one had at least one hit and they all reached base, as Brian Jeroloman was 0-2 with a pair of walks. Luis Sanchez set the table at the top of the lineup with a 2 for 5 game that included a double and a pair of runs scored. Brad Emaus and Nick Gorneault each added a double and Emaus also drove in run. Brian Dopirak had the best night at the plate with a double, a home run, a pair of RBIs and a run. Adam Calderone hit a solo homer in the third, which was New Hampshire’s only multi-run inning, before Dopirak doubled home Sanchez. Al Quintana had a two-hit game and David Cooper and Cody Haerther each added a hit.
Dunedin 3 @ Clearwater 4 – Boxscore
Darin Mastroianni continues to set the table like an ideal leadoff hitter with a 2 for 4 game that also included a run and an RBI. Mastroianni is now hitting .338 with a .438 on base percentage. While he was caught stealing, Mastroianni also stole a base and is now 15 for 18 on the bases this season. He’s also stolen 15 bases in only 18 games and is showing the kind of force he can be on the basepaths if he manages to hit for average.
Unfortunately, the next three hitters in the lineup weren’t able to replicate Mastroianni’s success and John Tolisano, Eric Thames and Jesus Gonzalez went 0 for 9, although Thames added a sac fly. Manny Rodriguez went 2 for 4 in the five hole and Chris Emanuele followed him with one single in four at-bats. The other two runs came from the bottom of the lineup, as Adam Loewen went 2 for 4 with a run. While Justin Jackson had another strikeout, he compensated with a hit, a walk and a run. CJ Ebarb made his season debut and was 1 for 4 with an RBI double.
Ryan Page’s rough start to the year continues as, while he pitched better than his last couple of outings, he fell to 0-4 on the season. Page went 6 innings, didn’t walk a batter and struck out five. However, he also surrendered a pair of home runs in the fourth and that, along with a second inning sacrifice fly, proved to be the difference. Trystan Manguson pitched 2 innings of scoreless relief and struck out a pair.
Lansing 2 @ Kane County 1 – Boxscore
Runs in the first and third stood up as Kane County’s mini-rally in the seventh fell short and the Lugnuts won a hard-fought game by one run. Charles Huggins had a very good start, pitching 6 strong innings of one-hit ball. He struck out seven and only walked one batter. Over his last 17 innings Huggins has now allowed nine hits and one run, walked one and struck out 21.
In the top of the first the Lugnuts gave Huggins the first of two very important runs. Tyler Pastornicky walked to begin the game and promptly stole second. Bryan Kervin singled to centre to cash Pastornicky, but he was thrown out on the old 8-6-3-4 relay. That would prove to be costly as Brain Van Kirk followed Kervin by reaching on an error, but he would copy Kervin with some adventures on the basepaths and was doubled off first on a fly ball by Yohermyn Chavez.
The top of the third was much like the first in that it involved some sloppy Lugnuts baseruning, but Lasning was able to push across a run in the end. Markus Brisker led off the inning with a walk, but was picked off first on an attempted stolen base. Pastornciky walked and, if you can believe it, was promptly picked off on an identical 1-3-6 play. Kervin singled and then Van Kirk doubled and Lansing, which should have had an additional couple of runs by this point, only had runners on second and third. However, Lansing would get a precious second run in the end with an infield single to short. As those two recaps show, Kervin was the only Lugnut with two hits, although six Lansing hitters worked walks during the contest.
Hunter Moody relieved Huggins and allowed a run on one of Pastornicky’s two errors in the game. Yorman Mayora relieved Moody and pitched nearly as well as Huggins. He threw 2 innings of one-hit ball and struck out five to pick up a well-earned save.
Three Stars:
3rd Star – Marc Rzepczynski, 5 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 8 K
2nd Star – Brian Dopirak, 2-4, R, 2B, HR 2 RBI, 6 TB
1st Star – Charles Huggins, 6 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 7 K
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