Allentown, PA — The Herd charged out to a 4-0 lead in the top of the third. Jim Negrych singled home the first run. FREE JIM NEGRYCH! Anthony Gose scored another run with a groundout and that was followed by RBI singles from Luis Jimenez and Andy LaRoche. Buffalo tacked on two more runs in the sixth courtesy of run-scoring singles from Eugenio Velez and Negrych. The other two runs in the ninth came courtesy of a balk and an error. The balk resulted in the ejections of Iron Pigs manager Dave Brundage and catcher Steven Lerud. Negrych had three hits while Velez and Josh Thole had two hits apiece. Mauro Gomez had one hit, two walks and a stolen base. Ryan Goins had a base hit while Gose and Ryan Langerhans offset 0-for-4 nights with a walk apiece.
Justin Germano (3-1) gave up a dozen hits but matched that with 12 groundball outs to limit the Phillies affiliate down to just a couple of runs over seven innings. He struck out three and walked no one. Mickey Storey completed two perfect innings to wrap things up, racking up a whopping 5 K's.
Daytona 7 Dunedin 4
Dunedin, FL — Lefty Efrain Nieves (2-2) and the Dunedin defence could not refrain from allowing the Cubs affiliate to score early and often, as they scored five runs in the first two innings. Nieves was charged with one more run in the fourth but half of the six runs allowed were unearned because of two Pierce Rankin errors at third. The six runs came on five hits and two walks but Nieves struck out four and collected six groundball outs. Ajay Meyer worked around a couple of hits to pitch two shutout frames with three strikeouts. Lefty Evan Crawford was touched up for a run on two hits in his one inning of work while striking out a batter. Dustin Antolin was able to overcome a hit and a walk by striking out one over one shutout inning. Scott Gracey worked a perfect frame with one punchout.
The Dunedin offence woke up in the fourth inning when Andy Burns doubled home a Marcus Knecht double. Burns came in to count on a Gabe Jacobo sacrifice fly. Dunedin drew a little closer with Knecht belting a two-run homer that plated a Jon Berti single. Knecht, Burns and Berti were the only ones to break the goose egg in the hit column and all three were able to get on base via the walk. Burns also swiped a base. Nick Baligod was 0-for-2 with a walk. K.C. Hobson was 0-for-4 while Jacobo, Rankin, Kevin Patterson and Aaron Munoz were hitless in three official at-bats.
Lansing 8 Dayton 5
Lansing, MI — Javier Avendano (2-1) endured a rocky beginning against the Reds affiliate as he was torched for two runs in the first and three more in the third. He managed to get through five frames with the damage done by five hits and two walks. One of the runs was unearned after a missed catch by his battery mate Seth Conner, who did redeem himself by picking off a runner at third to end the fifth inning and preserve a one-run lead. Avendano struck out two and managed just four groundball outs. Arik Sikula struck out half of the six batters he faced over two perfect innings and earned a hold. Tucker Donahue also got a hold for a shutout frame that saw him walk one and strikeout one. Chuck Ghysels also struck out a batter and walked one to pick up his second save.
Gustavo Pierre lifted a sac fly to score Lansing's first run in the first inning. Jorge Flores drew a bases-loaded walk to tie the game in the second and Pierre lifted a big fly for a grand slam to catapult Lansing to a 6-2 lead. The Lugnuts offence was not heard from again until the eighth inning when Christian Lopes delivered a two-out, two-run single to tack on some insurance runs. Lopes was on base four times with three hits and a walk. Dalton Pompey doubled, walked twice and stole three bases while Jorge Flores singled, walked three times and stole three bases at the top two spots in the order. Emilio Guerrero singled and walked and Carlos Ramirez had a base hit. Conner and Ronnie Melendez were both 0-for-3 with a walk. Kellen Sweeney was 0-for-4 with a hat trick in the K column.
*** 3 Stars!!! ***
3. Dalton Pompey, Lansing - Hitting .345 over the last 10 games.
2. Jorge Flores, Lansing - Batting just .207 but has an OBP of .343 and six RBI.
1. Gustavo Pierre, Lansing - Slugging .593 and has a five-game hitting streak.
Honourable Mentions — Jim Negrych (FREE JIM NEGRYCH!), Mauro Gomez, Mickey Storey, Marcus Knecht, Arik Sikula.