The minor league season is grinding towards the end. The Bluefield Jays finished their regular season on Wednesday, they start their playoff run on Friday. Max Pentecost hit his tenth home run, his teammate Santiago Espinal hit his first, just in time before the season ends. New Hampshire lost despite the power. Buffalo lost. Ryan Noda carried Lansing to a win. Vancouver and Bluefield also won. Vancouver are closing in on a playoff spot. Assuming they make it the Jays would have four teams in the playoffs, New Hampshire, Lansing, Vancouver and Bluefield. Dunedin were rained out.
Buffalo
Buffalo lost 4-1 even though they out-hit Rochester 9-5. The Bisons starter, Shawn Morimando, had one problem, a hitter named Zander Wiel. Wiel is hitting well under .200 but he took Morimando deep twice for three runs. Morimando went six innings and gave up all four runs.
Seven of the nine Bison hitters recorded a hit. Vlad Jr. was one of the two hitless hitters. Jonathan Davis had the only multi-hit game, going 3-4. I don't think its enough to get a call-up though.
New Hampshire
The Fisher Cats belted out 15 hits, scored nine runs but lost 10-9. Max Pentecost had two hits and three RBI. His home run was his tenth of the season. Its a strong finish to the season for Max, after a so-so four months. Santiago Espinal had three hits, including his first home run. Bo Bichette was 2-3 with two walks, reaching base four times. He is finishing strong too. Andrew Guillotte and Forrest Wall also had two hits each.
Jordan Romano had one of his bad starts to finish his season on a down note. He gave up eight runs on ten hits. Romano has had a very odd season. Here are his WHIP's by month: 0.98; 0.73; 1.48; 0.81; 1.85. I don't know why the difference is there, hopefully he is experimenting.
Dunedin
Dunedin were rained out, they will play a double header tomorrow, Thursday.
Lansing
Lansing won 2-1 and it was the Ryan Noda show. In the first inning he tripled in a run. Then, next time up, he hit his 19th home run. After the home run he tried to bunt his way on but was thrown out and finally he struck out to make it a 2-4 day with seven bases. He had two RBI and Lansing won 2-1. They were out-hit 9-5. Turner Larkins went four shutout innings, three hits, three K's. Donnie Sellers also went four innings, he gave up the only run on six hits.
Vancouver
The C's won 10-3 and are two games ahead of Spokane for the playoff spot. Their last three games are against Spokane so avoiding a sweep would put Vancouver in the playoffs. Everett led Vancouver 3-1 in the sixth before four errors led to five unearned runs for the C's. Trailing 3-1 in that sixth, Griffin Conine launched a two run home run to tie the game. He drove in another run later. Yorman Rodriguez also had three RBI on three hits. Chris Bec scored the first run and drove in two.
The C's used six pitchers who combined to walk ten batters. The only non-walker pitcher was starter Nick Allgeyer who pitched two innings.
Bluefield
Bluefield got ready for the playoffs with a 9-3 win. Hagen Danner had two hits including a three run home run. Andres Guerra also homered. Jose Theran hit two triples. Cal Stevenson had his usual tally, a hit and a walk.
Felipe Castaneda had a nice start, five innings, two hits, one run.
Three Stars
Third Star - Hagen Danner
Second Star - Max Pentecost
First Star - Ryan Noda
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