Another 4-4 day on the farm with two excellent starting performances as the highlights.
Gwinnett 6 Buffalo 5 (10 Innings)
Lawrenceville, GA - This one got away from the Bisons in the late going after holding leads of 3-0 and 5-4. Jeff Francis did his job, giving up just two runs (one earned) to the Braves over six innings. He scattered six hits and two walks while totaling three strikeouts and nine groundouts. Chad Jenkins coughed up two runs in the seventh on two hits and a walk. Ryan Tepera surrendered another run on three hits and a walk but got one strikeout in the eighth. Colt Hynes walked just one in pitching 1-1/3 scoreless frames that included a pair of K's. Steve Delabar (3-1) was dinged with the loss on a walk, a stolen base and a walk-off single.
Singles by Ezequiel Carrera and Matt Hague in the third put Buffalo on top before George Kottaras went deep for a solo shot in the fourth. Kottaras would deliver a two-run single in the eighth to give the Herd another lead they could not hang on. Hague had three hits while Kottaras, Dalton Pompey and Roemon Fields reached thrice with two hits and a walk apiece. Jonathan Diaz had the other Bisons hit. Ty Kelly walked twice while Jon Berti and Luke Scott heard ball four once.
Bowie 2 New Hampshire 0
Bowie, MD - Michael Lee (0-2, 5.00) was in and out of trouble against the Orioles but managed to scrape together five innings of two-run ball, despite nine hits allowed. He only struck out one but eight of his nine outs in play were on the ground. Cory Burns struck out five of the nine men he faced to post three shutout innings.
Ryan Schipf and Derrick Chung had doubles with Schimpf also drawing a walk. Melky Mesa, Christian Lopes and Matt Newman had the other hits. Dwight Smith Jr. had a walk and and started a 7-6-2 putout to cut down a runner at home in the fourth inning. Shane Opitz, Kevin Nolan and K.C. Hobson were 0-for-the-dirty-dozen.
Dunedin 3 Brevard County 2 (10 Innings)
Dunedin, FL - The walk-off hero was Matt Dean, who singled home pinch-runner J.D. Davis with the winning run after L.B. Dantzler began the 10th with a double. Dunedin's first two runs came on a Derrick Loveless RBI single and a throwing error in right field. Dean had two hits while Anthony Alford and Andy Fermin had the other base raps. Boomer Collins had the only walk. Dickie Joe Thon was 0-for-4 while Mitch Nay and Mike Reeves went 0-for-3.
Alonzo Gonzalez gave up just an unearned run over five innings on three hits and three walks. He struck out two and induced six outs on the grass. Ryan Cook got a blown save after getting burned for a run on three hits but he struck out two over two frames. Brad Allen (1-3) navigated his way around two hits and a walk with two K's over three shutout frames for the win.
Lansing 8 Beloit 5
Lansing, MI - Starlyn Suriel was real, real, real good against the Oakland affiliate. He struck out 12 and only surrendered a solo home run among two hits and a walk over 6-1/3 innings. All three outs in play were on the ground to give him a Game Score of 76. The bullpen was a little shaky in closing this one down. Colton Turner stranded a runner for Suriel but coughed up three runs (two earned) in 1-1/3 innings on three hits and a walk while whiffing one. Carlos Ramirez also stranded a runner but was cuffed for another run on a hit and two walks before getting the last four outs.
The Lugnuts got their bats going against the Oakland affiliate, racking up 12 hits to notch their 65th win of the season. D.J. Davis and Josh Almonte both homered in the second inning to erase a 1-0 deficit. They got another run on a wild pitch in the fifth before exploding for five runs in the sixth. Christian Vazquez and Chris Carlson drove in the first two runs with singles before David Harris capped things off with a three-run rally. Almonte led the way with three hits and a stolen base. Carlson, Harris and Jason Leblebijian all had two hits with Leblebijian getting two doubles. Ryan McBroom and Alex Maldonado walked twice. Austin Davis had a pinch-hit single but Juan Kelly was 0-for-4.
Vancouver 3 Spokane 1
Vancouver, BC - Carl Wise had three hits and drove in all three runs with two-outs, including a two-run knock in the eighth to snap a 1-1 tie. Francisco Rios struck out nine, giving up just one run over six innings. Andrew Case (1-1) got the last four outs to pick up the win. For more details, please see the C-Cap Recap.
Elizabethton 10 Bluefield 4
Elizabethton, TN - The Twins really handed it to Dalton Rodriguez (2-5, 4.60) over his four innings, scoring five times on seven hits, including two home runs, and two walks. He did get seven outs on the ground but only struck out two. Things were even worse for Daniel Lietz, who walked all four hitters he faced and was eventually charged for four runs without getting an out. Zach Rodgers could not strand any of the three Lietz runners and was rocked for a run of his own on four hits over two innings. Joe Claver plunked a hitter but threw two shutout innings with three K's.
With the score 10-0, Bluefield finally got on the board when Rodrigo Orozco put a ball over the fence for a two-run homer in the sixth that scored Andres Sotillo, who took one for the team. A Gabriel Clark sacrifice fly and a Christian Williams RBI double in the eighth completed the scoring. Williams collected two doubles on the night and D.J. McKnight also had two base knocks. Clark, Yeltsin Gudino and Jacob Anderson also made an entry in the hit column. Mattingly Romanin and Aaron Attaway had the only bases on balls. Nick Sinay was 0-for-2 while Juan Tejada, Dave Pepe and Brett Wellman were 0-for-1.
GCL Phillies 4 GCL Blue Jays 2
Dunedin, FL - Patrick Murphy made his first appearance on the mound in 2015 and it was a good one. The third-round pick from 2013 had two strikeouts, two groundouts and two flyouts over two shutout innings that was blemished only by a walk. Scott Silverstein struck out one in a perfect third inning but Guadalupe Chavez (0-1, 9.00) gave up all four runs on four hits and a walk over three innings but he did strike out four. Gunner Eastman had trouble finding the strike zone with four walks and a hit leading to one run in 1-1/3 innings. Nate Abel stranded the bases loaded by striking out the only two men he faced.
The Jays got their only runs in the sixth when Bryan Lizardo came up with a two-out, two-run single to make it a one-run ball game. Jake Thomas and Levi Scott had the only other hits for the Bluebirds with Thomas walking three times and stealing a base and Scott walking once. Reggie Pruitt and Owen Spiwak also earned free passes while Edward Olivares was hit by a pitch. Nash Knight and Lance Jones were each 0-for-4 while Juandy Mendoza were 0-for-2. Kalik May and Cliff Brantley pinch-ran but did not score. Javier Hernandez entered the game at catcher but did not get an at-bat.
DSL Blue Jays 6 DSL Orioles 2
Boca Chica, DR - The Jays overcame a 2-1 deficit with a five-run seventh inning to win this one going away. Sterling Guzman tied the game with an RBI single before Yorman Rodriguez hit a triple that scored three runs before coming home on an error during the same play. Francisco Rodriguez doubled in a Yorman Rodriguez single for their first run of the game in the fourth. Yorman had three hits and Francisco had two along with a stolen base. Guzman and Kevin Vicuna had two hits with Guzman also swiping a bag. Norberto Obeso singled and walked and Manuel Herazo was hit by a pitch. Antony Fuentes, Christian Peguero and Jesus Navarro were a combined 0-for-12.
Jairo Rosario pitched five innings of two-run ball but was wild by issuing three walks and plunking two batters along with two hits but he struck out four. Jonathan Torres (1-0) was much sharper by pitching a two-hitter over four frames, walking one and whiffing four for the W. All five outs in play were on the diamond.
Saturday's Linescores
*** 3 Stars!!! ***
3. Josh Almonte, Lansing
2. Francisco Rios, Vancouver
1. Starlyn Suriel, Lansing
https://www.battersbox.ca/article.php?story=20150809172821847