Buffalo, NY - The Bisons are back below the .500 mark after a lopsided loss to the Twins affiliate. Scott Diamond (8-12, 3.74) was rocked for seven runs, including a two-run home, on 12 hits and a hit by pitch over six innings. He had seven strikeouts and seven groundouts to his credit. Chad Girodo was lit up for two runs, including a long ball, on three hits in the seventh. Aaron Loup overcame two hits by striking out the side in the eighth. Matt Dermody was nicked for a run on two hits in the ninth.
Matt Dominguez made sure the Herd would not be shutout with a leadoff homer in the fourth and he knocked home two more with a single in the seventh, scoring base hits by Casey Kotchman and Andy Burns. Kotchman drove home a Chris Colabello single with another single in the eighth. Dominguez and Kotchman were the three-hit duo and Burns had two. Dalton Pompey singled and walked and Jesus Montero had a base hit. Ezequiel Carrero was 0-for-5, Ryan Goins was 0-for-4 and Erik Kratz was 0-for-3 with a walk.
New Hampshire 4 Binghamton 1
Manchester, NH - A leadoff home run by Christian Lopes in the bottom of the first set the tone in a victory over the Mets. A Richard Urena RBI groundout and a Dwight Smith Jr. base hit in the fifth highlighted a three-run fifth. Lopes, Rowdy Tellez and Ian Parmley all had a couple of hits. Emilio Guerrero and Roemon Fields had the others.Wilmer Font (3-0, 1.96) had the type of performance you like to see with seven innings of three-hit ball, walking one and whiffing nine. He retired 10 in a row at one point for a Game Score of 83. Murphy Smith could not preserve the shutout as he gave up a run in the eighth on three hits and a walk but struck out two over two frames.
Dunedin 4 Clearwater 1
Clearwater, FL - A three-run home run by Dickie Joe Thon in the eighth inning turned out to be the difference in helping the Jays defeat the Phillies affiliate. Anthony Alford had a two-out single to drive in the game's first run in the fifth and added another single in front of Thon's three-run blast. D.J. Davis started the eighth-inning rally with a leadoff walk and scored the game's first run after reaching on an error. Thon had two hits, a walk and a stolen base. Danny Jansen added the other base hit and also swiped a bag. Jorge Flores had a base on balls but Ryan McBroom, Matt Dean, J.D. Davis and Aaron Attaway were 0-for-4.Jon Harris (2-1, 1.96) matched his career-high longest outing with 7-2/3 innings of one-run ball. He matched the five baserunners he allowed (three hits, a walk and hit by pitch) with five strikeouts. Eight of his 15 outs in play were on the ground as he earned a Game Score of 80. Dusty Isaacs had one ball four but struck out four batters swinging for the four-out save to get save number four. Note the four times the number four was used in the previous sentence.
Great Lakes 7 Lansing 1
Lansing, MI - The Dodgers affiliate took the pitchfork to Angel Perdomo for six runs over 4-2/3 innings. Two of the six runs were unearned after an error by Justin Atkinson at first that added to Perdomo's woes in a four-run second. The damage was done on eight hits and three walks. He struck out four and induced a half-dozen outs on the ground. Dan Lietz stranded his lone inherited runner but he also had trouble finding the plate by walking three. He gave up a run and a hit but also struck out four over 2-1/3 innings. Danny Young got away with two hits, a walk and a plunk over two scoreless frames.
Ryan Hissey drove in the only Lansing run with a double in the fourth to plate a John La Prise single. Juan Kelly had a double for the only other Lugnuts hit. Connor Panas walked twice but Lane Thomas struck out three times in a 0-for-4 night at the plate.
Vancouver 6 Hillsboro 4
J.B Woodman's second home run of the season turned out to be the winning run in Hillsboro Monday.
Hillsboro, OR - The C's rattled off runs in the first four innings and that was just enough to beat the Diamondbacks affiliate. RBI groundouts by Jacob Anderson and Rodrigo Orozco plated singles by J.B. Woodman and Bryan Lizardo in the first two frames. Cavan Biggio tripled home a Joshua Palacios base hit in the third before scoring on a Javier Hernandez single. J.B. Woodman went oppo-taco with a home run to left field in the fourth. They didn't score again until the ninth when Biggio brought in a Palacios single with a base hit. Nash Knight had a 4-for-5 night at the plate while Palacios and Biggio had three apiece. Yeltsin Gudino was 0-for-3 with a walk.
Patrick Murphy earned his third win of the season to lower his Northwest League-leading ERA to 2.48.
Patrick Murphy (3-4, 2.48) scattered seven hits and a walk, giving up just one run in 5-2/3 innings. He rung up five batters and had nine of his 11 outs in play handled by his infielders. Gabe Noyalis stranded a runner for Murphy in the sixth but was knocked around for three runs on three hits in the seventh. Grayson Huffman walked one and matched Noyalis in the strikeout column with one. Nick Hartman gave up a two-out hit but struck out one in the ninth for his first professional save.
Elizabethton 7 Bluefield 6 (Game 1 - 9 Innings)
Bluefield, WV - A couple of big home runs and a couple of late runs gave the Twins the victory over the Bluef-Jays. Yennsy Diaz was dinged for a two-run home run, a three-run shot and six hits overall over 3-1/3 innings. He walked three and struck out only one. Hunter Barnett settled things down by stranding two Diaz runners and tossing 1-2/3 innings of one-hit ball. He got help from Nick Sinay, who threw out a runner at the plate from center field to end the fifth. Kelyn Jose also contributed shutout relief for two innings, walking one and striking out one. Andrew Deramo (0-3) gave up the tying and losing runs on three hits and a walk. The last run was unearned on a hit, two wild pitches and a throwing error by catcher Ridge Smith. However, Smith threw out the next runner trying to steal to end the eighth.
Bluefield began to chip away at a 3-0 deficit on a Vladimir Guerrero Jr. sacrifice fly after Sinay was hit by a pitch and advanced to third on a Kalik May base hit in the first. The Jays were down 5-1 before Smith and Jesus Severino cut into the lead with RBI singles along with a May sac fly in the fourth. They tied it in the fifth on yet another run-scoring fly ball by Bradley Jones to bring in a Javier Monzon triple. Monzon gave the Jays their only lead in the seventh when he singled and stole second before going the rest of the way on a passed ball and an error by the Twins catcher. Monzon, Jones and Severino shared the hit lead with two apiece. Smith and Sinay also drew a walk to get on base twice and May got aboard again by taking one for the team.
Elizabethton 4 Bluefield 1 (Game 2 - 7 Innings)
Bluefield, WV - The Twins pulled off the doubleheader sweep by getting to Osman Gutierrez (3-3, 3.33) in the third inning. He set down six of the first seven hitters he faced but he was gutted for three third-inning runs, all unearned, after his own throwing error allowed the leadoff man to reach base. He pitched into the seventh but could not retire any of the two hitters he faced. Stuart Holmes could only strand one of the two runners Gutierrez left behind as he uncorked a run-scoring wild pitch. Gutierrez gave up five hits and two walks but struck out seven with nine outs on the diamond. Holmes struck out one in a shutout inning.
Vladimir Guerrero Jr. had a deep enough fly ball to score a Nick Sinay leadoff walk in the sixth for Bluefield's only run. Guerrero also singled for a 1-for-2 night at the dish. Reggie Pruitt, Levi Scott, Matt Morgan and Juandy Mendoza all had base raps. Javier Monzon was hit by a pitch in the sixth inning and was ejected along with the Twins shortstop in the seventh.
GCL Phillies 7 GCL Blue Jays 5 (Game 1 - 9 Innings)
Dunedin, FL - Lane Thomas got the Jays in flight with a leadoff double in the first and he came home on a Jon Berti single to tie the game at 1-1. Berti would steal second and third but he would be stranded there. Francisco Rodriguez cashed home the second run with a single to plate a David Jacob base knock in the fourth. Back-to-back doubles by Chavez Young and Norberto Obeso produced the third G-Jays run before Obeso stole third and scampered home on an throwing error by the catcher in the eighth. Yorman Rodriguez led off the ninth with a home run and Manuel Herazo singled with two outs to bring up Young as the potential tying run but Young grounded out to end the game. Herazo had the lone two-hit game for the Blue Jays.
Josh Winckowski pitched the first inning and was victimized for an unearned run (Kevin Vicuna error at second) on two hits but the 2016 15th-round pick struck out a pair. Alvardo Galindo (1-1) was gonged for four runs on three hits and three walks while whiffing two over two-plus innings. Yonardo Herdenez tossed the final six frames and gave up a two-run homer and three other hits but his K-BB total was 6-0.
GCL Phillies 4 GCL Blue Jays 0 (Game 2 - 7 Innings)
Dunedin, FL - The Phillies completed the doubleheader sweep by scoring three times in the first and once in the second off Maximo Castillo (1-2, 5.28). The 17-year old Venezuelan did go five innings but coughed up seven hits, including a solo homer, and two walks. He only struck out one but had eight outs on the ground. Orlando Pascual overwhelmed the Phillies by striking out five over two perfect frames.
Norberto Obeso and Alfredo Bohorquez had the only Blue Jay hits. Mitch Nay made his 2016 debut but struck out twice in his only two at-bats.
DSL Diamondbacks 5 DSL Blue Jays 4
Boca Chica, DR - The Diamondbacks got to the Blue Jays early and late in this one. Anderson Nunez walked the first hitter of the game and allowed a two-run homer two batters later but he put up five zeros after that by scattering two other hits and a walk. Nunez struck out four and had nine groundball outs. He sat down the last 11 hitters he faced for a Game Score of 58. Danilo Manzeuta (0-2) gave up a run in the seventh before getting dinged for a two-run homer in the eighth. That was among six hits on Manzueta's pitching line which also included a strikeout over three innings. Four of his seven outs in play were on the ground.
The Jays did not score until the seventh when an Antonio Concepion two-run single and an error produced three runs to score a Jose Theran double, a Yhordegny Kelly walk and Luis De Los Santos single. Theran started the eighth with a single and would get around the bases on a couple of errors. Andres Guerra worked a two-out walk in the ninth but Yeison Estevez struck out to end the game.
Monday's Linescores
*** 3 Stars!!! ***
3. Dickie Joe Thon, Dunedin
2. Jon Harris, Dunedin
1. Wilmer Font, New Hampshire
Tuesday's Schedule/Probable Starters
T.J. Zeuch looks to cap off Vancouver's series in Hillsboro with his first professional win.
DSL Blue Jays @ DSL Diamondbacks, 10:30 am ET - TBA
Vancouver @ Hillsboro, 4:05 pm ET - T.J. Zeuch (0-1, 3.50)
Binghamton @ New Hampshire, 6:05 pm ET (DH) - TBA/Taylor Cole (3-4, 3.97)
Daytona @ Dunedin, 6:30 pm ET - Conor Fisk (7-3, 3.33)
Bluefield @ Princeton, 7:00 pm ET - TBA
GCL Blue Jays @ GCL Phillies, 7:00 pm ET - TBA
Rochester @ Buffalo, 7:05 pm ET - Chris Leroux (7-9, 4.52)
Great Lakes @ Lansing, 7:05 pm ET - Ryan Borucki (8-3, 2.45)
Extra Innings
