Buffalo, NY — The Bisons 3-0 start to the season has melted down to 3-3, dropping their second straight to the Nationals affiliate in another rainy night at the yard. The Herd actually led in this one by scoring twice in the first inning against Ross Ohlendorf. Jim Negrych singled and Anthony Gose brought him home with a triple. Gose would score on a Moises Sierra single and that extended Sierra's hit streak to six games. Negrych and Sierra had two-hit nights. Mauro Gomez and Josh Thole drew walks. Luis JImenez, Andy LaRoche, Ryan Langerhans and Munenori Kawasaki did squat with the bat.
Justin Germano (1-1) kept the Chiefs in check over the first three innings, giving up just a solo homer to Christian Marrero. However, things went horribly awry as the Chiefs scored a six-spot in the fourth and added one more in the fifth. The big blows were a two-run triple by Marrero and a two-run bomb by Mike Costanzo. All told, seven of the eight runs were earned on 11 hits. Germano's ratios were good as his K-BB total was 5-0 and his groundout-flyout mark was 8-1. Of his 84 pitches, 60 were strikes but Germano was a little too hittable on this rain-soaked evening.
Trenton 5 New Hampshire 1
Manchester, NH — Austin Bibens-Dirkx (1-1) gave his club a chance to win by pitching seven strong innings. His only hiccup was a two-run second inning, one of the runs was unearned after a John Tolisano error at second, one of his three errors on the night. Ryan Schmipf also booted one at third to make it a four-error game. ABD scattered six hits and two walks and struck out three. He totalled 10 of his 14 outs in play on the ground. The Yankees affiliate scored three insurance runs off Trystan Magnuson over his two innings of work. The Vancouver native yielded five hits and two walks and struck out three. His other three outs were on the ground.
The Fisher Cats lone run came in the second inning on a Tolisano RBI single to score a Kevin Nolan base knock. Tolisano and Brad Glenn had two-hit performances with Tolisano also drawing a walk. Kenny WIlson had a knock and a walk and Kevin Pillar had a single. Clint Robinson was 0-for-2 but reached base on a walk and a hit by pitch. Schimpf, Ricardo Nanita and Sean Ochinko were a combined 0-for-12.
Tampa 4 Dunedin 2
Dunedin, FL — Dunedin starter Jesse Hernandez (1-1) set down the first six hitters in a row but that streak came to an abrupt end after surrendering a leadoff homer in the third. The Yankees then scored two more in the fourth by getting a clutch two-out double. Hernandez was one out short of a five-inning outing, giving up three runs on three hits and four walks while whiffing five. His line would have been worse but Ajay Meyer stranded two of his runners by getting the final out of the fifth. Meyer pitched two more innings, scattering a hit, a walk and a hit by pitch while striking out one to keep Tampa off the board. Scott Gracey was nicked for a run in the eighth. He pitched the final two frames and allowed two safeties.
A sacrifice fly by Kevin Patterson scored an Andy Burns triple in the fourth and a Jon Berti groundout plated a Jonathan Jones three-bagger in the eighth. Jones, Burns and Michael Crouse all had two hits apiece with Crouse adding a double. Matt Newman reached twice with a single and a walk. Gabe Jacobo and Newman both walked to put the tying runs on in the ninth but they were left stranded. Peter Mooney was 1-for-4, Aaron Munoz was 0-for-4 and Patterson was 0-for-3.
Bowling Green 8 Lansing 3
Bowling Green, KY — Javier Avendano (0-1) survived a two-out double in the first inning but the Rays affiliate got to him for seven runs over the next three innings. Avendano was annihilated for seven runs on eight hits, including a homer, and issued three walks over 3 2/3 innings. He did strike out five but four of his five outs in play ignored gravity. Avendano's line was worsened when lefty Griffin Murphy permitted two inherited runners to score before retiring the side in the fourth. Murphy and catcher Seth Conner were victimized by a double steal before a single cashed both runners home. Bowling Green stole six bases in six attempts — half of them against Avendano and half against Murphy. He would give up an unearned run (thanks to a Gustavo Pierre error at third) over three innings on two hits and a walk. Murphy had no K's but his groundout-flyout ratio was 7-2 and he picked off a runner at first. Arik Sikula stranded just one of Murphy's two runners in recording the final four outs. He yielded a single and plunked a batter but struck out a pair.
Christian Lopes accounted for the first run of the game with a two-out homer in the first. Pierre and Kellen Sweeney plated home the other runs in the sixth inning with a single and fielder's choice respectively. Lopes had three of the five Lansing hits and Emilio Guerrero's double was the lone extra-base hit. Connor walked twice while Sweeney, Balbino Fuenmayor and Carlos Ramirez had a base on balls each. Ramirez was caught stealing. Chris Hawkins wore the collar in four at-bats.
Boxscores
*** 3 Stars!!! ***
3. Moises Sierra, Buffalo — Sierra has three two-hit games already this season and is batting .409.
2. Christian Lopes, Lansing — His second three-hit game of the season has boosted his average to .429.
1. Austin Bibens-Dirkx, New Hampshire — Two quality starts and an ERA of 0.69.