How Many Ways Are There to Not Play a Game?

Monday, June 29 2009 @ 01:44 AM EDT

Contributed by: Dave Rutt

The Jays' affiliates had an off-day, a postponement, and a suspension. In the remaining 3 games, they went 2-1.

Sacramento 3 at Las Vegas 6

Brian Burres is pushing for a promotion! 11 days after spinning a masterful shut-out, the 28 year old pitched 7 innings of effective ball, allowing 3 runs on 9 hits and a walk while striking out 8 and getting 9 ground outs to only 4 flyouts. By the time he exited, the 51s had built a 6-3 lead which they never relinquished. Bill Murphy and Bryan Bullington each pitched a scoreless inning to ensure that this game was pitched entirely by guys who have been on the big club at some point this year. And whose first names start with B. Coincidence!

Las Vegas spread the offensive love around, with every starter getting a hit. Of note, J.P. Arencibia went 2-4 with a double and 2 ribbies, and Randy Ruiz had a double in 4 trips.

Portland at New Hampshire (suspended)

Charlotte 9 at Dunedin 8 (11 innings)

It was a wild one in Dunedin. Andrew Liebel got the start and had his first bad outing in a while, giving up 6 runs in just 4 and a third innings. However, only 2 of those runs were earned, and it really was a tough luck day for Liebel: he allowed unearned runs in three separate innings, and Kyle Ginley allowed 1 inherited runner to score, so this wasn't simply one of those situations where one error leads to a whole bunch of unearned runs. Nevertheless, it wasn't Liebel's greatest outing.

Liebel's mediocrity and the D-Jays' horrific defense put them in a 7-0 deficit by the time the 6th inning rolled around, but they finally broke through against Jeremy Hall on 3 consecutive hits by Sean Shoffitt (single), Raul Barron (triple) and Moises Sierra (single). And then, in the 7th, Dunedin exploded for 6 more, highlighted by a 3-run homer by John Tolisano.

Charlotte tied the game up in the 8th, and a scoreless 9th sent the game to extras. In 3 innings, Dunedin was held baserunner-less by the Stone Crabs' bullpen, and Charlotte won the game in the 11th by, you guessed it, scoring what turned out to be an unearned run charged to Tim Collins. Collins was otherwise good, pitching 3 innings, allowing 4 baserunners and striking out 3.

No hitter had a spectacular day, though Shoffit, Barron and Sierra each had 2 hits, and Tolisano had the aforementioned 3 run jack.

Dayton 3 at Lansing 5

Young Henderson Alvarez was the story for Lansing on Sunday afternoon, going 6 innings while only allowing 5 hits, walking nobody and striking out 5. Alvarez allowed 1 run, and had a 7-6 GB-FB ratio. Unfortunately, he didn't get the win, as the bullpen allowed the Dragons to tie it up in the 8th. But Lansing stormed right back with 2 runs of their own in the bottom of the inning, and Matthew Daly nailed it down with a perfect 9th inning for his 14th save.

Chris Emanuele reached base 3 times with a single and 2 walks, and A.J. Jimenez had 3 hits including a double, and drove in 2 runs to lead the Lansing offense.

Jamestown at Auburn - post-poned

GCL Jays - scheduled day off

By the way, ever wonder what attendance is like at minor league games? Well, much more extensive research could be done on this topic, and who knows how representative these attendance figures are, but for what it's worth here were the crowd sizes for each of today's minor league games:
Las Vegas: 2,195
Dunedin: 399
Lansing: 4,918

Elsewhere... Lake Elsinore beat High Desert 33-18. Seriously. There were 58 hits. Also, Lake Elsinore walked 13 times, while High Desert only walked once. Weird.

Three Stars!

3. Brian Burres - 7 IP, 3ER, 9K
2. A.J. Jimenez, 3-4, 2B, 2 RBIs
1. Henderson Alvarez - 6 innings, 5 baserunners, 1 run, 5 Ks

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