The affiliates won two out of three Thursday as Buffalo stormed back for a come-from-behind victory while Lansing stayed ahead from inning one on. Both the Bisons and Lugnuts share identical 14-7 records. New Hampshire had the night off.
Buffalo 5 Norfolk 3
Buffalo, NY — The Bisons were able to manage a split of their four-game set against the Orioles affiliate. Brad Glenn worked the count to ball four with the bases loaded to get Buffalo on the board in the first inning. Singles by Matt Hague and Chris Colabello sandwiched an Andy Wilkins double to put three runs on the board in the fifth to wipe out a 3-1 deficit. A Colabello double and an error provided an insurance marker in the seventh. Wilkins, Ezequiel Carrera and Caleb Gindl joined Colabello in the two-hit club. Glenn had two walks. Andy Burns, Munenori Kawasaki and A.J. Jimenez also put a notch in the hit column.
A rusty Todd Redmond (as opposed to a Rusty Todd Redmond, actually his middle name is Richard) had not pitched for two weeks since being designed for assignment by the parent club. Actually, he faced the minimum over his first three innings with a lineout double play erasing a single in the second. Redmond only got one more out as the Tides rolled over him for three runs on an additional four hits and a walk while whiffing just one batter. A wild pitch and passed ball by Jimenez also figured into the equation. Rob Rasmussen (1-0) allowed a Redmond runner to score on a wild pitch but did strand two others to get out of the fourth. The lefty soaked up 3-2/3 innings and allowed just a hit and a walk while striking out two and inducing four groundouts. Gregory Infante retired the side in the eighth and Bo Schultz overcame a single to get his fifth save.
Clearwater 8 Dunedin 1
Dunedin, FL — The sharks smelled blood in the water. It was more like the Clearwater Thrashers, amirite? The Phillies affiliate went in for the kill on Murphy Smith (0-1) to the tune of five runs on 11 hits and a walk in 4-2/3 innings. Smith struck out a pair but also uncorked a pair of wild pitches. Tiago Da Silva was also caught in the teeth of the Clearwater offence for three more runs in 1-1/3 innings and three hits and a walk but struck out four. Alonzo Gonzalez, Chad Girodo and Wil Browning did their best Roy Scheider impersonations by fighting off the Threshers with a scoreless inning apiece but Dunedin needed a bigger boat.
The D-Jays' lone run came on back-to-back triples by Mike Reeves and Roemon Fields. Fields also walked and stole his 9th base of the season. Mitch Nay was the on-base leader with a hit and two walks. David Harris, Matt Dean and L.B. Dantzler had the other base raps. Dawel Lugo was hit by a pitch.
Lansing 6 Lake County 1
Lansing, MI — When you score early and often, chances are pretty good you are going to win. Thanks, Captain Obvious! The Lugnuts scored four runs in the first three innings with Rowdy Tellez accounting for two of the runs with a sacrifice fly and a big fly. D.J. Davis manufactured a run in the second inning with a bunt single and a stolen base before scampering home on throwing errors by the Captains catcher and center fielder. Richard Urena and Ryan McBroom chipped in with RBI singles. Tellez was 3-for-4, finishing a triple short of the cycle, while Urena and Chris Carlson had two-hit efforts. Davis added a walk to get aboard twice. Tim Locastro singled, walked and...wait for it...was hit by a pitch while stealing two bases. Another Captain Obvious observation, this is not the first time Locastro has been plunked. It's actually the 44th time Mr. Rawlings has personally visited Locastro in 129 career games, which works out to once in every 3.4 contests. In other news, Justin Atkinson decided to hit a pitch with a single while Anthony Alford and Dan Jansen decided to avoid the ball altogether by watching four of them miss the strike zone during one of their plate appearances.
Chase De Jong (2-1) kept the Indians affiliate in check by holding them to an unearned run on three hits over 5-1/3 innings. He struck out three and walked nobody for a Game Score of 64. Colton Turner stranded a runner and had one strikeout with one hit and one walk in 1-1/3 innings. Carlos Ramirez allowed two base raps but struck out the side in the eighth. Phil Kish pitched a one-hit ninth.
*** 3 Stars!!! ***
3. Rob Rasmussen, Buffalo
2. Chase De Jong, Lansing
1. Rowdy Tellez, Lansing
Thursday's Linescores
Friday's Schedule & Probable Starters
Louisville @ Buffalo, 6:05 pm ET — TBA.
Clearwater @ Dunedin, 6:30 pm ET — Jeremy Gabryszwski (0-0, 10.80)
New Hampshire @ Binghamton, 7:05 pm ET — TBA.
Bowling Green @ Lansing, 7:05 pm — Starlyn Suriel (1-1, 2.08)
Extra Innings
Sportsnet's Shi Davidi checks in with the Jays farm report.
https://www.battersbox.ca/article.php?story=20150501145315130