The affiliates had a rough cut Tuesday, losing seven out of nine. The only highlights were a split of a doubleheader in Florida and a win north of the border.
Rochester 6 Buffalo 5
Rochester, NY - The Red Wings fouled up Jeff Francis (5-2, 2.14) for six runs on nine hits over four innings. He struck out four to go along with five groundball outs. Bobby Korecky got through the fifth and sixth innings unscathed despite three hits and a walk while whiffing one. Ben Rowen also kept the Twins affiliate at bay with two perfect frames that included one strikeout.
The Bisons tried to rally from a 6-0 hole but fell short. An error and a two-run single by Alex Hassan got the Herd rumbling in the fifth. A Dalton Pompey sacrifice fly and a Jon Berti run-scoring single put the Bisons within one in the eighth. Hassan and Calebl Gindl had two-hit nights. Berti singled and walked but Josh Thole was on base the most with three walks. Andy Burns and Ty Kelly doubled and Jonathan Diaz added a single. Pompey drew a walk but Chris Heisey was 0-for-5.
Reading 6 New Hampshire 5
Reading, PA - Leads of 4-0 and 5-2 were not enough for the Fisher Cats against the Phillies affiliate. Conner Greene coughed up five runs in 4-2/3 innings, giving up a home run among five hits and walking three. He did strike out six and produced five outs on the ground. Chad Girodo pitched a one-hitter over 2-1/3 innings, striking out a couple. Dustin Antolin (3-3) allowed the winning run in the eighth on two hits with one strikeout.
New Hampshire struck for three runs in the first on a Melky Mesa double, a Ryan Schimpf RBI groundout and a K.C. Hobson sac fly. A Jorge Flores home run in the second inning and a run-scoring single from Roemon Fields gave the visitors a 5-2 lead. Fields had two hits and two stolen bases. Flores was hit by a pitch to get aboard twice. Dwight Smith Jr. added a pair of walks while Emilio Guerrero had a double. Schimpf and Derrick Chung worked the count to ball four. Kevin Nolan was 0-for-4. Ian Parmley pinch-ran for Chung but did not score.
Clearwater 9 Dunedin 4
Dunedin, FL - The Jays scored twice in the first and twice in the ninth but the problem was the Phillies affiliate scored nine in between. Alonzo Gonzalez (2-5, 3.91) was gonged for five runs over five innings on nine hits, including a home run, and two walks. The lefty had one strikeout while splitting 12 outs in play evenly on the ground and in the air. Fellow southpaw Matt Dermody also allowed a run on two hits but had two strikeouts over two frames. Chris Smith struck out two in a shutout eighth but Colton Turner was spun around for a three-run homer and two more hits with one walk and one strikeout in the ninth.
L.B. Dantzler doubled in the first run and Matt Dean scored another with an RBI groundout. Dantzler would later drill a two-run homer to plate a Christian Lopes walk. Dantzler and Lopes had two hits and one walk apiece. Anthony Alford singled, walked and stole a base while Dickie Joe Thon had a double. Jason Leblebijian walked twice while Derrick Loveless and Mike Reeves heard ball four once. Dean was 0-for-5 with three strikeouts and Boomer Collins went 0-for-4.
Lake County 7 Lansing 3
Lansing, MI - The Indians affiliate snapped a 3-3 tie with four runs in the ninth inning for the victory. They scored five times off Phil Kish (1-3) over the final two frames, including a three-run homer. Kish was punished for five hits and a walk while striking out one. One of the runs allowed was unearned. Jon Wandling worked his way through seven innings, giving up just two runs (one earned) on four hits, three walks and a hit by pitch. He struck out four and did a good job keeping the ball down by getting the infield to convert 10 of his 13 outs in play.
Lansing rallied from 2-0 down thanks to two-out doubles by Josh Almonte and Michael De La Cruz in the fifth. De La Cruz would bring home Almonte again in the seventh with a single after Almonte got a base hit and stole second. The Lugnuts would fight back again in the eighth on a two-out single by David Harris to score a Richard Urena base knock. De La Cruz had three hits while Almonte, Urena and D.J. Davis had a pair apiece. Chris Carlson and Lane Thomas also made a dent in the hit column. Ryan McBroom and Alex Maldonado both reached base with a walk.
Vancouver 11 Tri-City 6
Juan Kelly homered in his return to Canadian soil Tuesday night.
Vancouver, BC - Vancouver evened up its second-half record at 10-10 with a five-run first inning against the Padres affiliate. Sean Hurley brought in the first run with a bases-loaded walk and Carl Wise followed with a sacrifice fly. Juan Kelly came through with the big blast, belting a three-run homer to left in his first game back in Vancouver after being sent down from Lansing. Ryan Hissey had an RBI single in the second before Andrew Guillotte got a hold of one for a two-run homer to left in the third to make it 8-0 C's. Gunnar Heidt homered for the second straight night, connecting for a two-run shot to left and Hissey would complete the three-run rally in the fifth with another run-scoring base hit. Heidt, Hissey and Ryan Metzler all had two hits with Heidt and Metzler getting a walk. Kelly also got aboard three times by drawing a couple of free passes. Connor Panas singled and walked while Hurley and Justin Atkinson walked twice. Wise was 0-for-4.
Brandon Hinkle earned his fourth victory of the season in relief.
Francisco Rios set down the first seven hitters in a row and nine of out 10 but the Dust Devils burned him for runs in the fourth. He was roughed up for four hits and two walks while striking out a pair. Brandon Hinkle (4-0) picked off a runner to erase a leadoff walk in the fifth but was nicked for a run on two hits and two walks while whiffing two over two innings. Sean Ratcliffe served up a solo homer but struck out one in two innings. Andrew Case loaded the bases with a single and two walks but he got around it with a game-ending strikeout in the ninth, leaving the potential tying run in the on-deck circle.
Bristol 6 Bluefield 2
Bristol, WV - This one got away from the Jays in the fifth inning when the Bucs scored five times to break a 1-1 deadlock. Luis Sanchez (1-2, 4.40) threw a one-hiter over 4-1/3 innings. The problem was five walks which led to four runs (two earned). He retired nine of the first 10 men he faced before three walks, two wild pitches and a stolen base gave the Pirates a 1-0 lead in the fourth. Errors by Sanchez on a bunt attempt and by Deiferson Barreto at third led to the unearned markers in the fifth. Zak Wasilewski was zinged for both inherited runners scoring as well as an unearned run on one hit and two walks but he struck out two batters to end the fifth. Joe Claver worked a clean sixth but Matt Smoral surrendered a run on a hit and two walks but struck out a pair over 1-2/3 innings. Zach Rodgers came in and got the inning-ending strikeout of the only batter he faced in the eighth.
Bluefield scored runs in the fifth and sixth with Freddy Rodriguez walking and scoring on a two-base error and Juan Tejada lifiing a sacrifice fly to bring in an Aaron Attaway single. Rodrigo Orozco singled, walked and stole a base in the leadoff spot while Rodriguez walked twice. Barreto had the other hit and Gabriel Clark reached on a walk. Yeltsin Gudino had a 0-for-4 night while Jacob Anderson and Andres Sotillo were 0-for-3.
GCL Blue Jays 4 GCL Tigers 1 (Game 1 - 7 Innings)
Dunedin, FL - The Jays were able to string together two-run innings in their last two at-bats to erase a 1-0 deficit and upend the Tigers. Lance Jones came through with a two-out triple in the sixth to cash in a Juandy Mendoza single and a Reggie Pruitt double. Jones' hit was especially big because it happened after Owen Spiwak was thrown out at the plate on the Pruitt extra-base hit. Mendoza also had a big two-out hit as his single brought in a couple of walks by Levi Scott and Nash Knight. Mendoza was 3-for-3 while Spiwak had a single and a walk. Pruitt and Jones both took one for the team to get on base a couple of times. Jake Thomas also had a hit and Edward Olivares was hit by a pitch. Jesus Severino was hitless in three at-bats.
Justin Maese (4-0, 1.17) mowed down the first nine hitters in a row before a double and two singles led to a run in the fourth. The third round pick scattered six hits and a walk over six innings while striking out four and racking up 10 outs on the grass for a Game Score of 59. Griffin Glaude struck out two in a perfect ninth for his sixth save.
GCL Tigers 2 GCL Blue Jays 0 (Game 2 - 7 Innings)
Lakeland, FL - Two first-inning runs against Hansel Rodriguez (1-2, 4.93) was all the Tigers would need to split the twinbill. The Tigers strung together the two runs on two singles, a double and a groundout before Rodriguez settled in. He set down six in a row and it would have been seven had a runner not reached on a strikeout/wild pitch. Rodriguez would retire eight more in a row before a base hit in the fifth but that runner was thrown out by Javier Hernandez trying to steal second. Rodriguez went the distance in a six-inning complete game loss, permitting just four hits and striking out six. He also induced eight groundball outs.
The only two Jays hits came off the bat of Cliff Brantley. Lance Jones drew a pinch-walk and Roberto Lucido also got a free pass along with a stolen base. Kalik May, Jake Thomas, Nash Knight and Bryan Lizardo all went hitless in their three AB's. Hernandez, Miguel Almonte and Andrew Florides were 0-for-2.
DSL Padres 8 DSL Padres 3
Boca Chica, DR - The pitching and defence did not come together in this one. Wilfri Aleton (4-3, 2.83) gave up a run an inning over four frames on five hits and two walks. He also balked a couple of times, uncorked a wild pitch and struck out just one. Alvaro Galindo gave up an unearned tally over three innings on two hits and had a K-BB total of 3-3. Luis Mendoza also had an unearned run on his ledger as he was mauled for three runs on three hits and a walk over two frames but struck out three. The Jays made three errors, two by Enmanuel Moreta at first base and one at short by Kevin Vicuna. Andres Guerra also had a passed ball.
The Jays grabbed a short-lived 2-1 lead on a two-run single by Norberto Obeso in the third inning. That scored a Sam Buelens single and a Ronald Concepion walk. Buelens stole second before pulling off a double steal with Concepion. Back-to-back triples by Antonio Concepion and Enmanuel Moreta accounted for the other run in the eighth. Ronald Concepion did not have a hit but was the on-base leader with three walks. Antony Fuentes had a hit and a walk and Moreta was on base twice after getting plunked. Vicuna was 0-for-5 while Guerra and Sterling Guzman went 0-for-4.
*** 3 Stars!!! ***
3. Justin Maese, GCL Blue Jays
2. Gunnar Heidt, Vancouver
1. Juan Kelly, Vancouver
Tuesday's Linescores
Wednesday's Schedule / Probable Starters
DSL Blue Jays @ DSL Orioles1, 10:30 am ET - TBA
GCL Yankees @ GCL Blue Jays, 11:00 am ET - TBA
Buffalo @ Rochester, 1:35 pm ET - Phillippe Aumont (3-5, 2.78)
Tri-City @ Vancouver, 4:05 pm ET - Jon Harris (0-3, 4.83)
Clearwater @ Dunedin, 6:30 pm ET - Jeremy Gabryszwski (8-6, 3.49)
New Hampshire @ Reading, 7:05 pm ET - Casey Lawrence (11-11, 4.41)
Lake County @ Lansing, 7:05 pm ET - Sean Reid-Foley (3-3, 3.48)
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