The Vancouver Canadians made their season debut last night and their home opener was a tight one-run affair. As the Blue Jays returned to having a Canadian affiliate, Las Vegas and New Hampshire continued their seasons with close victories. Meanwhile, Lansing was involved in a slugfest that saw the teams combine for 26 runs and 36 hits.
Reno 4 @ Las Vegas 6 – Boxscore
Mike MacDonald rebounded from one of his worst starts of the year with a great effort at home against Reno. MacDonald went 6 innings and didn’t allow a run. He surrendered five hits and two walks, but struck out five. MacDonald presumably could have gone longer, as he had only thrown 81 pitches when he was pulled. However, MacDonald only threw 46 of them for strikes. Nevertheless, MacDonald was effective at keeping the ball out of the thin Las Vegas air and induced 6 ground outs out of his 7 outs in balls in play. Wil Ledezma came in and it immediately looked like a mistake that MacDonald was lifted with some gas potentially left in the tank. Ledezma retired one batter, but allowed three runs on three hits and a walk. Danny Farquhar went 1.2 hitless innings, allowing one walk. He now has 30 strikeouts over 30.1 innings at Triple-A. Sean Henn allowed a run in the ninth, but struck out two and earned his third save.
Manny Mayorson led off for the 51’s, going 1-for-3 with a run scored and a walk. Travis Snider went 0-for-1 and was quickly replaced by Jason Lane, who went 0-for-2. David Cooper was 1-for-3 with a run scored, a double, 2 RBI and a walk. Cooper is now hitting .392 on the season. Eric Thames went 0-for-4 and also made an error in left field. Adam Loewen, who started in right and moved to centre when Snider left the game, and had the same line as Mayorson and Cooper, going 1-for-3 with a run and a walk. Loewen had an outfield assist, throwing Tony Abreu out at the plate in the second inning. While Kevin Howard and Ryan Budde went hitless over 5 at-bats, but Chris Woodward and Ryan Shealy each added a single and a double. Woodward scored twice and added an RBI, while Shealy didn’t score, but drove in two.
New Hampshire 5 @ Erie 4 – Boxscore
Erie struck for three runs in the first off Robert Ray, who unfortunately is a long way from Arlington. However, Ray settled down and wound up going 6 strong innings. Ray allowed five hits and three walks, but struck out six. In his last four innings, Ray surrendered only one hit (and two walks). Yohan Pino replaced Ray and had a 1-2-3 7th inning. In the next inning, Erie got the leadoff batter on board on a John Tolisano error and then Pino retired the next two hitters. After a single, Evan Crawford was summoned and retired his batter. Bobby Korecky got his third save, although he allowed a solo home run to cut the lead in half.
Adeiny Hechevarria and Anthony Gose combined to go 0-for-10. However, their teammates picked up the slack, as Dan Perales went 2-for-3 with a two-run homer and Ricardo Nanita went 3-for-4 with a triple and 2 RBIs. Moises Sierra also added two hits and a run. Travis d’Arnaud, Mike McDade and Calix Crabbe each added a hit. McDade had a double and scored twice. The Fisher Cats had some fielding woes, as Hechevarria and d’Arnaud also made errors.
Dunedin
No game scheduled.
Lansing 11 @ Dayton 15 – Boxscore
Both teams had 18 hits, as the starting pitchers for each team gave up double-digit hits and 13 runs combined. Casey Lawrence started for Lansing and surrendered nine runs, six earned, over 3 innings. Oscar Dominguez and Kevin Nolan each made errors. Lawrence began the 4th inning, but was lifted after the first batter reached base and the second hit a two-run shot. Dayton Martze came in and fared no better, as he surrendered three runs that inning and another two during the next frame on five hits and three walks. After 5 innings, Dayton (the team, not the pitcher) led 14-7. Shawn Griffith struck out four batters and only allowed a run over 2 frames and Danny Barnes struck out two over his scoreless inning.
Every started on both teams had at least one hit. Lnsing scored seven runs off Dayton’s Daniel Renken over his four innings and touched two of the three relievers for runs. Carlos Perz was the only Lugnut not to reach base multiple times, as he went 1-for-6 with a run scored. Dominguez only had one hit, but it was triple, and he also drew a pair of walks, scoring twice. Matt Nuzzo went 3-for-5, finishing a home run short of the cycle, and drove in two. Jake Marisnick also went 3-for-5 with a double, 2 RBI, a run scored and a walk. Nolan had a double, a home run, 3 RBI and a run scored, while KC Hobson, Lance Durham and Michael Crouse all had two singles. Crouse scored once and Durham added a walk and scored twice. Marcus Knecht had a single, a home run and a walk, with 2 RBI and two runs scored. He and Marisnick both struck out in every at-bat they didn’t reach base.
Yakima 2 @ Vancouver 3 – Boxscore
The Vancouver Canadians celebrated their season opener and the beginning of their affiliation with the Blue Jays with a 3-2 victory over the Yakima Golden Bears. Zack Breault went 4 innings and allowed three hits and two walks. Breault struck out three and got 6 ground outs and didn’t allow a fly ball. Yakima scored two runs off Breault, with one scoring on a Shane Optiz error. Both runs came around in the top of the fourth to tie the game at 2. The next three innings were scoreless, as Venezuelan Alesone Escalona threw two scoreless innings. Brigham Young product Taylor Young came into the game and pitched a scoreless seventh.
Jonathan Jones led off the bottom of the first with a double and advanced to third on a Bryan Kervin bunt. Balbino Fuenmayor reached on an error, but Jones had to stay at third. However, Randy Schwartz popped up and Stephen McQuaid struck out swinging and Vancouver was unable to score in the first. However, in the top of the third Optiz walked and Jones hit another double. Kervin grounded out, advancing Jones to third and Optiz scored. Fuenmayor doubled, scoring Jones.
Cole had a 1-2-3 8th inning and in the bottom of the eighth, Roan Salas doubled to leave off the inning. Nicholas Baligod singled, scoring Salas. After Optiz grounded out, Jones singled and then a wild pitch advanced Baligod to third and Jones to second. However, Kervin flew out and the runners couldn’t advance and then Fuenmayor flew out. Drew Permision came in for the opening day save and allowed a single and hit by pitch, but with a runner in scoring position and two out, Permision induced a ground out and picked up the save.
Three Stars:
3rd Star – Jake Marisnick, 3-for-5, R, 2B, 2 RBI, BB, 4 TB
2nd Star – Matt Nuzzo, 3-for-5, R, 2B, 3B, 2 RBI, 6 TB
1st Star – Michael MacDonald, 6 IP, 5 H, 0 ER, 2 BB, 5 K
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