All eyes were on the pitchers on Friday. JA Happ was not sharp, Danny Salazar and the Clippers relievers were. The Bisons were no hit for eight and two thirds until Anthony Gose singled.
Kyle Drabek pitched four solid innings for New Hampshire as did Deck McGuire pitching in relief. The Fisher Cats won.
Aaron Sanchez pitched five shutout innings but the bullpen was not good, Dunedin had only two hits and lost easily.
Taylor Cole has had an up and down season but he was outstanding on Friday and Lansing cruised.
Alberto Tirado struggled but battled through as Bluefield won. Jesus Tinoco was outstanding as the GCL Jays split a doubleheader. Vancouver blew a big lead before winning in extras.
Among the players the Jays faced on Friday were the uni-named Jose Jose, Socrates Brito who was philosophical about the Lugnuts win, and Confesor Lara, against whom the GCL Jays didn't have a prayer.
Buffalo 0 Columbus 8
Danny Salazar gave the big league Blue Jays trouble and it would be expected that he would do the same to the Bisons. He no hit them through five innings. The Jays din't get a hit until Anthony Gose singled with two ots in the ninth inning. In addition to Salazar the Clippers used former major leaguers Vinnie Pestano and Clay Rapada.
JA Happ was not sharp, he needed 95 pitches to get through 4.2 innings. He had six hits off him and three walks and he was charged with 3 of the runs. Joel Carreno also gave up 3 runs. Gose's hit was the only one.
New Hampshire 5 Richmond 2
Kyle Drabek pitched four innings. He just allowed one hit but it was a solo home run. He had 3 K's. Deck McGuire relieved Drabek and he also pitched four innings and gave up a run. McGuire gave up 3 hits, but he beat Drabek in K's with 5.
The Fisher Cats trailed until the sixth when Brad Glenn and Kevin Nolan had back to back jacks. Adam Loewen doubled and scored the fifth run. Loewen and Lance Zawadski each had two hits at the top of the order. AJ Jimenez was 1-4 with an RBI. Andy Burns had the night off.
Palm Beach 5 Dunedin 1
Aaron Sanchez did not make it out of the first inning last time out. On this day he pitched five shutout innings, 3 hits, 3 walks and 5 K's. Kramer Champlin wasn't that good, he was hit around for 5 runs in 2.2 innings.
The Jays had only two hits. KC Hobson had one of the hits in the ninth to drive in the only run. Shane Opitz had the other one.
Lansing 5 South Bend 1
Taylor Cole pitched well, the first hitter he faced singled and scored but that was the only run he allowed through six plus innings. Griffin Murphy pitched three shutout innings in relief.
The Lugnuts loaded the bases in the second, Kevin Patterson walked and Carlos Ramirez and Santiago Nessy singled. Jordan Leyland singled in two runs and a third scored on a ground out. Leyland and Dwight Smith each hit a solo home run in the fifth. Ramirez and Leyland had two hits each.
Hillsboro 8 Vancouver 9 - 10 innings
Vancouver scored four runs in the first and built a 6-0 lead after three innings. The Canadians led 8-3 heading to the ninth with closer Chuck Ghysels coming into the game. Ghysels walked the first hitter, wasn't helped by an error but he allowed a run and loaded the bases, tying run at the plate with two out. The next hitter doubled and cleared the bases, the lead is down to 8-7. The next hitter grounded to short but Christian Vazquez booted the ball, tied game.
Joe Spano loaded the bases in the top of the tenth but he escaped. In the bottom of the tenth David Harris led off with a single, was sacrificed to second before Vazquez found some redemption with a game winning single. Harris led the hitters with 4 hits. Jeremy Gabryszwski started and pitched 6 innings allowing three runs on 4 hits.
Bluefield 11 Elizabethton 3
Alberto Tirado gave up 2 runs in 4 innings but he gave up 7 hits and 3 walks, ten baserunners, two scored in 4 innings. Adaric Kelly and Alvido Jimenez finished up.
The Jays had 12 hits. Matt Dean was 3-4 with a walk. Mitch Nay was 2-3 with 3 walks. Dean is hitting 310, Nay 309. Nay is 9 months younger than Dean and has an edge in OPS. Plus Dean has 37 K's to Nay's 22.
GCL Tigers 4 GCL Blue Jays 5 - game 1
Chad Beck got the injury rehab start and he wasn't good, he faced five hitters and left the game trailing 1-0 with the bases loaded. An error by John Tolisano then let two more runners score. Beck was followed by Jesus Tinoco who pitched 5.2 innings of one hit ball with 5 K's. He did give up a run in his last inning when a walk was followed by the only hit he allowed all game.
The Jays faced the unusually named Confesor Lara. Confesor held the Jays to one run over six innings. The only run came in the first inning on a sac fly by Rowdy Tellez...more from him in a moment. The Jays trailed 4-1 headed to the bottom of the seventh, and facing a new pitcher. With two outs Franklin Barreto doubled in two runs. Tom Collins singled barreto home to tie the game and Tellez singled Collins home for the win. Barreto and Collins had two hits each, Tellez had two RBI. Sean Ratcliffe recorded his first professional win.
GCL Blue Jays 0 GCL Tigers 3 - game 2
The Jays had only one hit, a single by Daniel Devonshire in the third inning. Oscar Cabrera started for the Jays and he walked the lead off hitter. Two singles, another walk and a wild pitch later the Jays were down 2-0. Francisco Diaz pitched three decent innings to bring his ERA down to 6.4.
3 Stars
#3 - Jesus Tinoco
#2 - Taylor Cole
#1 - David Harris
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