Santiago Espinal was a one man wrecking crew for New Hampshire, he drove in six runs including a grand slam. New Hampshire won. Lansing also won, Jordan Groshans had three hits while Juan De Paula pitched well. Hagen Danner is still without a single but he has all the other hits. Buffalo and Dunedin endured bullpen implosions. Danny Barnes's blow up nullified a strong offensive performance including a 441 foot home run by Vlad Jr. Dunedin lost in the ninth.
Buffalo 8 Pawtucket 11
The Bisons jumped out to a 7-0 lead and still were ahead 8-4 in the seventh inning. But Conor Fisk gave up a two run home run in the seventh and Danny Barnes let in five runs in the eighth. Barnes had looked good in the early season but slipped badly in this game. The starter was Sean Reid-Foley who had a weird start. He was perfect in the first, third, fourth and fifth innings. But in the second the Sox hit him hard, four doubles and three walks. SRF could consider himself lucky to only give up four runs. Foley used 87 pitches in his five innings.
The Bisons featured two bases clearing triples in the first inning. Richard Urena and Bo Bichette each picked up three RBI in the inning. After the seven run first, the only other run came via a 441 foot home run by Vlad Jr. Urena had three hits, Bichette, Vladdy, Biggio and Reese McGuire had two hits each. Lourdes Gurriel and Anthony Alford were hitless.
New Hampshire 10 Binghamton 4
The Fisher Cats scored ten runs on seven hits. The bottom third of the order, Kacy Clemens, Ryan Hissey and Forrest Wall combined for five of the seven hits and seven runs. The other two hits belonged to Santiago Espinal who drove in six runs. Espinal hit a grand slam in the eighth inning. Espinal had been off to a very slow start, maybe this will get him going. Clemens and Hissey had two hits and a walk each, Wall had one hit and two walks.
Zach Logue got the win but it wasn't a quality start. In 5.1 innings, Logue had ten base runners, eight hits and two walks. Bryan Baker pitched another clean inning to keep his ERA at zero.
Dunedin 3 Charlotte 4
There was a lot of wildness in this game including three errors by Charlotte and five hit batters. Pitchers at this level are often working on something and Justin Dillon might have been doing just that. In the first inning Dillon allowed a single and then hit three batters. Charlotte hit Samad Taylor with two outs in the second inning, looks like retaliation to me, but I wasn't there. But then in the ninth, in a tied game, Emerson Jimenez hit the batter, with a runner on, then walked the next hitter. A sac fly ended the game. Dillon went 4.1 innings with three runs allowed.
Cal Stevenson got back on track with two hits. His triple drove in the second run and his single drove in the third. Chavez Young manufactured the first run. He singled, went to second on a botched pickoff, stole third and scored when the catcher threw it away. In addition to Stevenson, Christian Williams had two hits.
Lansing 8 West Michigan 2
The Lugnuts scored in each of the first four innings to build a 7-1 lead and then cruised home. The hitters registered 14 hits with every starter getting at least one. Jordan Groshans had three hits to raise his average to .375. Nick Podkul and John Aiello each had two hits which were very welcome as both were struggling so far in the short season. One of Aiello's hits was a home run, his first. DJ Neal also had two hits, he has raised his average to .250. Neal does not have an extra base hit this season, Hagen Danner has everything but. Danner doubled in this game to add to his triple and four home runs. Neal can't hit for extra bases, Danner can hit a single. Alejandro Kirk did not play.
Juan De Paula made his third appearance as a Blue Jay and this was the best one. He pitched five innings, his longest outing this year, he had six K's, more than the three he had at the start of the game, and he allowed the fewest runs of any appearance, just the one. De Paula was followed by Josh Hiatt who pitched four innings, five hits, one run, four K's. Hiatt pitched well but De Paula was a little better.
3 Stars
3rd star: Jordan Groshans
2nd star: Richard Urena
1st star: Santiago Espinal
https://www.battersbox.ca/article.php?story=20190417160334198