It was a 4-3 night on the farm even though no affiliate could get more than seven hits. Two of the affiliates who won were outhit by their opponents and one had the same number of hits. It was timely hitting that won games for the affiliates. New Hampshire won 3-2, Ryan Goins scored two and drove in a third run. For Bluefield Seth Conner drove in four runs with two of the Jays six hits. Kevin Ahrens hit a three run home run for Dunedin.
Pitching also was key in the wins, Ryan Tepera, Marcus Walden, Taylor Cole and Kevin Comer all pitched well. Cole was the best with six shutout innings. Cole was followed by Marcus Stroman who pitched two perfect innings. For the losing teams Noah Syndergaard was hit around a bit, while Bill Murphy and Jairo Labourt had forgettable days.
A depleted Las Vegas lineup could only get three hits against Barry Enright who pitched a complete game for Salt Lake. Cooper, Sierra, Gomes and Gose are with the Jays, Thames and Snider were traded, and Hechavarria was out of the lineup. Keenan Bailli and Mike McDade were each 0-3 in their AAA debuts.
Bill Murphy started and was tagged for six runs in 5.1 innings.
This was a tight game, obviously, the Fisher Cats needed three shutout innings from the bullpen to win it. Ryan Tepera started and pitched into the sixth inning, he had six K's and seven hits allowed.
Erie outhit New Hampshire 10-7. Ryan Goins was involved in all three runs. In the first inning Goins doubled and Kevin Howard singled him home. In the third Goins singled in John Tolisano who also had singled. In the fifth Goins scored the third run when Brad Glenn doubled. Goins was the only Jay with two hits.
Dunedin led 6-0 in the middle of the second and that was it. The big blow was a three run home run by Kevin Ahrens. The two runs in the second inning came on three singles and a sac fly. The Jays had only one hit after the second inning, an RBI double by Kevin Pillar. Both teams had seven hits, Kenny Wilson had two for the good guys.
Marcus Walden has been on fire since shortly after he was promoted from Lansing. Walden allowed eight earned runs in his first two starts for Dunedin, since then he has allowed nine earned runs in six starts. Walden is a shorter righty who throws hard and whose pitches have good movement. AA will be the big test for Walden but he could end up as a major league reliever.
Lansing had the lead but Dayton chipped away with a run in each inning from the fourth to the seventh. The run in the seventh came on a bases loaded walk in a tied game, Shawn Griffith was the offending pitcher. Noah Syndergaard let up seven hits in 4.2 innings, he had only one 1-2-3 inning and was working in trouble most of the night. He was charged with three runs.
Chris Peters has been on fire since his promotion to Lansing, he had three hits and scored two runs in this game. KC Hobson and Kipp Schutz had two hits each.
Taylor Cole continued to dominate the Northwest League. Cole pitched six shutout innings and lowered his ERA to 0.30. Marcus Stroman pitched two perfect innings with 3 K's.
Vancouver scored twice in the fourth inning to take the lead. Ian Parmley doubled, Matt Newman singled him in and later Art Charles singled in Newman. Vancouver made it 3-0 in the fifth when Carlos Ramirez led off with a triple and scored on a single from Daniel Arcila. Salem-Keizer scored twice in the ninth and starter Eric Brown came on to get the last out and the save. Vancouver had seven hits, no hitter had two.
Seth Conner was the man for Bluefield, he doubled in two runs in the first and singled in two runs in the third. Dwight Smith also had two hits for the Jays who were outhit 9-6.
Kevin Comer fell just short of the win, he pitched 4.2 innings but gave up eight hits so he was pulled before the could finish the fifth.
The Jays were down 5-0 in the middle of the second inning and that was the ball game. Jairo Labourt started but he didn't get out of the second although two errors made three of the runs unearned.
The Jays only run came on a home run by Emilio Guerrero. The Jays had only four hits.
Three Stars
3rd star: Taylor Cole
2nd star: Seth Conner
1st star: Ryan Goins
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