The Bisons continued their winning ways thanks in part to a Kevin Smith home run. They are 3-0 at home in Buffalo and against the Red Wings in this series. New Hampshire eked out a close win. Vancouver came back from a 9-4 deficit to win. Dunedin lost both ends of a doubleheader and the FCL Jays also lost. The Bisons winning streak has moved them into first place in their division and they are the Jays only hope for the playoffs. New Hampshire, Vancouver and Dunedin all have losing records and the playoffs are almost impossible.
Rochester 3 Buffalo 4
New Hampshire 3 Harrisburg 2
Vancouver 13 Everett 12
St Lucie 4 Dunedin 1 - game 1
St Lucie 4 Dunedin 0 - game 2
FCL Blue Jays 5 FCL Tigers 6
This is what I noted from yesterday's games.
Two home run accounted for all the Bisons runs. Kevin Smith hit a three run shot in the third inning. Forrest Wall broke the 3-3 tie with a solo shot in the fifth.
Bowden Francis pitched well, but had a blip in one inning. In the fourth he conceded three runs as he fought his command. Two walks and a hit batter were flanked by a pair of singles. He finished with six innings, two hits, three walks and five K's.
Luis Quinones had a typical Quinones start. He threw four shutout innings but needed 78 pitches to get there. He had six K's and only two walks but a lot of fullish counts.
Demi Orimoloye hit a long home run, a solo shot. Jordan Groshans doubled and scored a run. Groshans has cooled off a lot after a very good July. He is hitting .237 in August and just over .200 if you go back to July 28th. This is his first full season and he has more at-bats this season already than in his previous two. Could it be fatigue? Or is the league adjusting to him? We don't know right now. LJ Talley was 2-4 with an RBI.
Sem Robberse had a tough start to his High A career. He escaped the first inning without allowing a run despite two doubles and walk by the hitters. Some bad baserunning helped him out. But in the second inning, after getting one out, seven straight hitters reached before he got a double play on his 48th pitch. It was surprising he was left in for that many pitches. He came out for the third and looked to get out of it with a runner on but Orelvis made an error. That was followed by a hit, a walk and a grand slam. Robberse was charged with nine runs, four earned.
Spencer Horwitz hit his fourth home run of the season in the fist inning to give Vancouver a brief 2-0 lead. Luis De Los Santos also hit a two run shot in the third. Horwitz and De Los Santos added doubles in the seven run fifth inning. De Los Santos led the hitters by going 3-4 with four RBI.
In Dunedin's first game Trent Palmer pitched better than his line shows. Through four innings he had allowed one hit and two walks. But in the fifth he walked a batter than, with two outs, he gave up a hit back to him. The next hitter doubled and Palmer was done with one run in. The bullpen let two more runs score so Palmer ended with three runs allowed. Palmer has been steadily improving. His WHIP over the last three months is 1.85; 1.54; 0.93. In every month he has allowed fewer hits than innings pitched, for the season 21 hits in 34 innings, but he has cut his walks from over nine per nine to three per nine. He might get a look at Vancouver before the season is over. As a third round pick in 2020 he probably should be up there already. Zac Britton came off the IL to DH and pick up two hits. Riley Tirotta stayed hot with a 2-2 with a walk. He is hitting .563 in a small sample.
I have never lived in Florida, or been there in the summer, but it does seem to rain a lot. They started the doubleheader early to get ahead of the rain and they played a game and a half. Game two was called after five innings. The Jays had just one hit, a single by Harry Ray. Starter Alejandro Melean was hit around in his four innings.
The FCL Jays scored six runs in the last three innings to win 6-5. The bottom of the order delivered for the Jays. Number eight hitter Glenn Santiago and number nine hitter Angel Del Rosario each were 3-4 and scored two runs. Del Rosario delivered the walk-off single to score Santiago.
Three Stars
Third Star - Luis De Los Santos
Second Star - Glenn Santiago
First Star - Angel Del Rosario
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