Syracuse, NY — Mauro Gomez put the Herd on the board with a leadoff home run to start the top half of the second inning. That was just one of two hits Syracuse starter Daniel Rosenbaum would allow over six innings. The Buffalo offence would not be heard from again until the eighth inning when Eugenio Velez went deep to start off the eighth. That started a five-run uprising to snap a 1-1 tie as Jim Negrych doubled home two runs before he came home on Gomez's second homer of the game. Gomez was a perfect 4-for-4 on the night that also included a double. Velez had a two-night hit while Negrych, Mike McCoy and Ryan Goins rounded out the nine-hit attack. Moises Sierra, Andy LaRoche, Josh Thole and DH Mike Nickeas produced 16 U-turns to the dugout. Thole threw out a runner trying to steal second and the Bisons turned two double plays. Anthony Gose had the night off.
Claudio Vargas (1-0) benefited from the offensive eruption in the eighth as he provided seven solid innings of work against the Nationals affililate. Viva Las Vargas only came up snake eyes against Chris Marrero, who took him deep for a solo shot in the fourth inning. He scattered six hits and two walks and seven of his 12 outs were on the ground. Bobby Korecky finished off the Chiefs with two shutout innings, giving up just one hit while striking out one.
New Britain 5 New Hampshire 3
New Britain, CT — Fisher Cats starter Marcus Walden (0-2) held the Twins affiliate off the scoreboard for five innings, retiring nine out of 10 hitters at one point. However, things went horribly askew for Walden in the sixth as the Rock Cats strung together five singles and a double to cross home plate five times. Another runner reached base on a John Tolisano error at second during the five-run outburst. One of the five Walden runs was unearned on 11 hits and a walk over five-plus frames. He only struck out one but did collect eight groundball outs. Joel Carreno cleaned up the mess by striking out the side. He stranded two Walden runners and one of his own after issuing an intentional walk. Clint Everts walked one and struck out one over his scoreless innings and Chad Beck matched Carreno's pitching line with 3 K's and one walk over his one inning of work.
A Clint Robinson double produced the first run of the ball game for the Fisher Cats in the fourth inning. They did not score again until the ninth when Sean Ochinko connected for a two-run homer to score a Robinson single. A two-out single by Amadeo Zazueta brought the tying run to the plate but it was all for naught. Robinson, Ochinko and Zazueta had the two-hit games for the F-Cats and Kenny Wilson reached twice with a double and a walk but was picked off at first. Ryan Schimpf was 1-for-4 while Adam Loewen and John Tolisano drew one walk each in their four trips to the dish. That was more than Kevin Pillar and Brad Glenn managed in their eight combined at-bats. New Hampshire batters struck out 11 times and were just 2-for-9 with runners in scoring position, leaving seven men on base.
Dunedin 3 Tampa 1
Tampa, FL — The D-Jays spun the wheel for two first-inning runs against the Yankees. Brett Lawrie left a going-away present in the form of an RBI triple to score Andy Burns — who reached on an error — for the game's first run before coming home to score on a Gabe Jacobo single. A Nick Baligod's fielder's choice plated a Matt Newman double in the sixth. Newman was the only Dunedin player with two hits while Lawrie got on base twice by adding a walk. Jon Berti delivered a pinch-hit single in Lawrie's place in the ninth inning and took over at second base. Burns had a hit and a walk and Kevin Patterson was 1-for-5. Pierce Rankin and Derrick Chung both managed to hear ball four once. Jonathan Jones was hitless in five at-bats.
Scott Copeland (1-0) surrendered a run in the first inning but put up eight consecutive zeroes after that in a complete-game effort. He yielded six hits but matched that with six strikeouts and only walked one. He rung up an impressive 13 outs on the ground. Dunedin converted two double plays and Chung was 1-for-3 in throwing out basestealers, nabbing Yankees prospect Mason Williams at second.
Lansing — Scheduled day off.
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*** 3 Stars!!! ***
3. Claudio Vargas, Buffalo — Shook off the rust of nine days between outings to lower his ERA to 1.64.
2. Scott Copeland, Dunedin — Did even better against Tampa the second time around and is 3-for-3 in quality starts in 2013.
1. Mauro Gomez, Buffalo — His batting average shot up 205 points to .455 thanks to a perfect night at the plate.