New Britain 7 New Hampshire 6
New Britain, CT — The Twins affiliate won this one in a walk-off, rallying from a 6-2 deficit. Joel Carreno (1-1) allowed a leadoff single in the ninth and the runner eventually made it to third on a bunt and a groundout. Carreno brought him home with a wild pitch to begin the Fisher Cats walk of shame to the showers. That spoiled a quality start for Deck McGuire, who went six innings and pitched two-run ball on six hits and two walks. He plunked a batter and threw two wild pitches but struck out five. Of his 102 pitches, 69 were called for strikes. Eight of his 12 outs were flyballs but he kept the ball in the yard. The Fisher Cats bullpen blew it when Tommy Hottovy allowed three runs in one-third of an inning on two hits and a walk. Fernando Hernandez allowed a Hottovy runner to score and a run of his own. He was charged with the blown save by permitting six baserunners (three hits and three walks) over 1 2/3 frames while ringing up one K.
The Fisher Cats overcame a 2-0 deficit with two runs in the fourth. Clint Robinson led off with a home run, followed by a Brad Glenn triple and an Adam Loewen run-scoring single. The Fisher Cats scored four times in the seventh thanks to a Kevin Pillar RBI single, a Ryan Schimpf ground-rule double and a two-run base hit by Robinson, who went 3-for-5. Schimpf, Kenny Wilson and Sean Ochinko each singled and walked. Amadeo Zazueta and John Tolisano had a double apiece as no Fisher Cat came up empty in the hit column. Wilson was 2-for-3 in stolen base attempts.
Dunedin 8 Tampa 6
Tampa, FL — Dunedin opened the scoring with four runs in the third. Fielder's choices by Andy Burns and Kevin Patterson plated the first two runs before Gabe Jacobo doubled home the other two. The offence went back to work with another four-spot in the sixth. Another spine-tingling fielder's choice — this time by Nick Baligod — scored the first run. Aaron Munoz singled home the second run before Peter Mooney brought in the other two markers with a base knock of his own. Munoz had three hits and Baligod had two at the bottom of the Dunedin order. Mooney also got on base twice by adding a walk. Marcus Knecht picked up the other Dunedin hit. Matt Newman and Andy Burns worked the count to ball four once apiece. Patterson and Jon Berti were both 0-for-5. Aaron Sanchez scattered two hits and two walks over three shutout frames but the Yanks crossed the plate four times in the fourth to erase the 4-0 Dunedin advantage. Four singles, a walk and a Jacobo error at first led to three earned runs charged to Sanchez's ledger. That made it six hits and three walks he allowed but he struck out three and eight of his nine outs were on terra firma. Scott Gracey (2-0) provided stellar relief over two perfect frames that included three punchouts and two groundouts. Dustin Antolin kept the relief mojo going by striking out the side swinging in the seventh. He racked up two more K's in the eighth but he also surrendered two runs on two hits. He also hit a batter and uncorked a wild pitch to make the game a nail-biter. Blake McFarland settled things down in the ninth by striking out a batter and retiring the side in order to collect his third save. Dunedin won the strikeout battle 12-11. That's a lot of air conditioning for the catchers and home plate umpire!
Lansing 4 West Michigan COB!
Lansing, MI — Javier Avendano (1-1) bounced back from a horrendous outing seven days ago by permitting just three baserunners (one hit and two walks) over six scoreless innings. He was perfect over the first three innings and retired nine of the last 10 hitters faced. The Venezuelan struck out four and seven of his 11 outs in play were worm-killers. Wil Browning worked around a hit and a walk with two strikeouts in a scoreless seventh. Tucker Donahue yielded just one hit over two shutout frames. A Dalton Pompey RBI groundout in the first inning provided Avendano and the bullpen with the only run they would need against the Tigers affiliate. Christian Lopes singled home a Gustavo Pierre double in the third. An Emilio Guerrero fielder's choice and an error by the Whitecaps shortstop produced two more runs in the fourth. The Lugnuts had all of four hits in this one — half of them being doubles by Pierre. Chris Hawkins had the other base hit. Guerrero drew a walk while Ronald Melendez and Santiago Nessy each took one for the team. Melendez was plunked to start off the first and made the Whitecaps pay by stealing the first of his two bases on the night before scoring the first run. Balbino Fuenmayor was 0-for-4 and Jorge Flores, the DH, went 0-for-3.
Boxscores
*** 3 Stars!!! ***
3. Deck McGuire, New Hampshire — The 2011 first round pick is starting to put a horrible 2012 in the rear view mirror by giving up just three runs over his last 13 innings.
2. Clint Robinson, New Hampshire — He's getting on base more than half the time with a .509 OBP over a dozen games.
1. Javier Avendano, Lansing — His K-BB total is 15-7 over 14.2 innings and Midwest League hitters are batting just .196 against him.