Today's menu: a comeback victory in the bottom of the ninth, a fifteen-inning heartbreaker, and a pair of 6-1 thrashings (for the good guys) in the low minors.
Rochester 5 at Syracuse 6
boxscore
Bruce Chen dug the SkyChiefs into an early hole by allowing a two-run homer to Canadian Justin Morneau in the top of the first, but Glenn Williams answered with a three-run homer in the bottom of the frame, his IL-leading eighth. Chen scuffled his way into the third, allowing two more runs along the way, before being pulled for Talley Haines, who pitched shutout ball through the sixth inning. Shawn Fagan's run-scoring single in the fourth knotted the game at four. Dave Maurer came on to pitch the seventh for Syracuse and quickly got into trouble, loading the bases with none out on a bloop double to right (misplayed by Jorge Sequea and Jeff Guiel), a single, and a walk. However, the Red Wings failed to capitalize, scoring just one run on a double-play grounder by Luis Rodriguez. (Morneau grounded out for the third out.) The SkyChiefs tied it up with some small ball in the bottom of the inning. Alexis Rios stretched a single to left into a double, moved to third on Simon Pond's groundout, and scored on Williams' sacrifice fly. Rochester failed to score against Maurer and Vinnie Chulk in the top of the eighth. In the bottom of the frame, Syracuse loaded the bases with two outs, whereupon Rochester skipper Phil Roof brought Jessie Crain in to face Rios. Rios fouled off five consecutive fastballs before fanning on a curve, the ninth pitch of the at-bat. The scene repeated itself in the following inning when Rochester loaded the bases off Chulk with one away. Chulk fanned Michael Restovich on a fastball that was clocked at 95 mph -- has he added velocity this year? -- and retired the next hitter to preserve the tie. Syracuse won the game in the bottom of the ninth. Simon Pond reached on an error and moved to second on Williams' sacrifice (how often does the top home run hitter in the league lay down a sacrifice bunt?) Pinch-runner Noah Hall scored when Guiel blooped a single to right.
Several SkyChiefs put up nice batting lines. Russ Adams was 0 for 2 with three walks, and Fagan went 1 for 3 with two walks. Rios doubled twice and walked in five trips, scoring two runs. Guiel singled twice, and Sequea doubled twice and singled once. Williams (2 for 3) was the undoubted star of the game. His three-run homer in the first gave the SkyChiefs the lead; his sacrifice fly in the seventh tied the game; his sac bunt in the ninth set up the game-winning run. Haines (3.2 IP, 1 H, 1 K) was Syracuse's best pitcher of the night, although Chulk (2-1) took the win.
Binghamton 4 at New Hampshire 3 (15 innings)
boxscore
Fisher Cats manager Mike Basso didn't have to use himself as a pitcher last night, but he must have been considering it by the end of this game. Derek Lee pitched six shutout innings in his best start of the season and turned a two-run lead over to Jordan DeJong in the seventh. New Hampshire's first run came on John-Ford Griffin's fifth-inning solo homer to right-centre (his first of the year), and the second came when Wayne Lydon's two-base error on Danny Solano's sixth-inning single allowed Justin Singleton to score. David Wright tried to score from first on Prentice Redman's double in the bottom of the sixth but was gunned down at the plate on a perfectly executed relay by Maikel Jova and Dominic Rich. DeJong gave up a leadoff homer to Justin Huber in the seventh and put two more runners on base before being pulled for Kevin Frederick, who allowed a two-run triple to Lydon, putting the Mets on top. Binghamton shortstop and suspected double-agent Chris Basak gift-wrapped the tying run in the bottom of the ninth with a pair of throwing errors, the first of which put Dominic Rich on second base and the second of which allowed him to score. Five scoreless innings followed. New Hampshire ran out of pitchers in the fourteenth, so catcher Erik Kratz was pressed into service. He walked two batters in his first inning, but both were thrown out stealing. In the fifteenth, he wasn't as lucky, as Wright hit a solo home run to right centre. The Fisher Cats failed to score in the bottom of the inning, and the game ended 4-3.
New Hampshire put up an ugly 5 for 52 batting line on the day, with three walks. Aaron Hill, with a single and two walks, was the only Fisher Cats to reach base more than once, and Griffin's home run was the only extra-base hit. Umbria wore the golden sombrero, and Rich went 0 for 7, dropping his average to .280. New Hampshire got solid relief pitching from John Ogiltree, Ryan Houston, Adam Peterson, and Kratz, who took the loss.
St. Lucie 1 at Dunedin 6
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Dunedin put up three-spots in the second and fourth innings and never looked back, and Ismael Ramirez didn't concede a run until the seventh. This was an efficient day for the offense if not an impressive one; it's not often that you see a team score six runs on four hits and two walks, but Dunedin managed the feat. One-through-four hitters Jayce Tingler, Carlo Cota, Ron Davenport, and Jason Waugh went 0 for 15 on the night, but Dunedin got strong contributions from Miguel Negron (1 for 4 with a solo home run, his third), Scott Dragicevich (1 for 2 with a double, a walk, and two runs scored), and ninth-place hitter Brad Hassey (2 for 3 with a triple, a run scored, and three RBIs). Ramirez's only run allowed came on a solo home run by Bobby Malek in the seventh. He struck out four and walked one while allowing three hits, running his record to 3-2. Tracey Thorpe and Robert Nunley closed out the game for Dunedin. Vito Chiaravalloti had the night off.
Charleston 6 at Delmarva 1
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As Mike Green has pointed out in previous minor league threads, we should be careful about getting too excited about high strikeout totals in Charleston. Ramon Mora and Felix Romero, neither of whom is generally placed among the Jays' top pitching prospects, combined to fan thirteen Delmarva Shorebirds yesterday en route to a 6-1 victory. The AlleyCats have now fanned 201 batters in 183 innings on the season. Oh, and you know what else Charleston is good at? They're good at drawing walks, with a total of 91 on the season against 672 at-bats, led by Clint Johnston (13 BB, 71 AB), Ryan Roberts (15 BB, 67 AB), David Smith (11 BB, 62 AB), and Christian Snavely (12 BB, 48 AB). Ten of those ninety-one walks came last night, together with eight singles and a Clint Johnston solo home run. Every AlleyCat starter except Ryan Roberts (0 for 5, ouch), Robinson Diaz, and Brian Patrick reached base at least twice as Charleston scored six runs against a series of hapless Delmarva pitchers. Mora threw six scoreless frames for the good guys and Romero carried the shutout into the bottom of the ninth before Juan Peralta's error allowed an unearned run to score.
Links of the Day
Matt Michael has an excellent SkyChiefs game writeup in the Syracuse Post-Standard
Kevin Gray has a superb Fisher Cats game writeup in the Union-Leader. The quality of the newspaper coverage of some of the Jays' affiliates is really exceptional.
Kevin Gray also has a piece on McGowan's imminent promotion, speculating that Josh Banks will be his replacement. I would certainy hope so. Banks has been more dominant in Dunedin than David Bush was last year, and Bush didn't exactly scuffle when promoted to New Haven.
Today's Games
Rochester (MIN) at Syracuse (Jason Arnold), 2:00 PM
Binghamton (NYM) at New Hampshire (Cam Reimers), 1:05 PM
St. Lucie (NYM) at Dunedin (Kurt Isenberg), 7:00 PM
Charleston (Danny Core) at Delmarva (BAL), 3:05 PM
Three-Star Selection!
Our Third Star: Ismael Ramirez, Dunedin. Pitched seven strong innings for his third win of the season.
Our Second Star: Ramon Mora, Charleston. Pitched six shutout innings for his second win of the season.
Our First Star: Glenn Williams, Syracuse. Hit his International League-leading eighth home run of the year, a three-run job, and threw in some small ball to help Syracuse post a comeback victory.
Rochester 5 at Syracuse 6
boxscore
Bruce Chen dug the SkyChiefs into an early hole by allowing a two-run homer to Canadian Justin Morneau in the top of the first, but Glenn Williams answered with a three-run homer in the bottom of the frame, his IL-leading eighth. Chen scuffled his way into the third, allowing two more runs along the way, before being pulled for Talley Haines, who pitched shutout ball through the sixth inning. Shawn Fagan's run-scoring single in the fourth knotted the game at four. Dave Maurer came on to pitch the seventh for Syracuse and quickly got into trouble, loading the bases with none out on a bloop double to right (misplayed by Jorge Sequea and Jeff Guiel), a single, and a walk. However, the Red Wings failed to capitalize, scoring just one run on a double-play grounder by Luis Rodriguez. (Morneau grounded out for the third out.) The SkyChiefs tied it up with some small ball in the bottom of the inning. Alexis Rios stretched a single to left into a double, moved to third on Simon Pond's groundout, and scored on Williams' sacrifice fly. Rochester failed to score against Maurer and Vinnie Chulk in the top of the eighth. In the bottom of the frame, Syracuse loaded the bases with two outs, whereupon Rochester skipper Phil Roof brought Jessie Crain in to face Rios. Rios fouled off five consecutive fastballs before fanning on a curve, the ninth pitch of the at-bat. The scene repeated itself in the following inning when Rochester loaded the bases off Chulk with one away. Chulk fanned Michael Restovich on a fastball that was clocked at 95 mph -- has he added velocity this year? -- and retired the next hitter to preserve the tie. Syracuse won the game in the bottom of the ninth. Simon Pond reached on an error and moved to second on Williams' sacrifice (how often does the top home run hitter in the league lay down a sacrifice bunt?) Pinch-runner Noah Hall scored when Guiel blooped a single to right.
Several SkyChiefs put up nice batting lines. Russ Adams was 0 for 2 with three walks, and Fagan went 1 for 3 with two walks. Rios doubled twice and walked in five trips, scoring two runs. Guiel singled twice, and Sequea doubled twice and singled once. Williams (2 for 3) was the undoubted star of the game. His three-run homer in the first gave the SkyChiefs the lead; his sacrifice fly in the seventh tied the game; his sac bunt in the ninth set up the game-winning run. Haines (3.2 IP, 1 H, 1 K) was Syracuse's best pitcher of the night, although Chulk (2-1) took the win.
Binghamton 4 at New Hampshire 3 (15 innings)
boxscore
Fisher Cats manager Mike Basso didn't have to use himself as a pitcher last night, but he must have been considering it by the end of this game. Derek Lee pitched six shutout innings in his best start of the season and turned a two-run lead over to Jordan DeJong in the seventh. New Hampshire's first run came on John-Ford Griffin's fifth-inning solo homer to right-centre (his first of the year), and the second came when Wayne Lydon's two-base error on Danny Solano's sixth-inning single allowed Justin Singleton to score. David Wright tried to score from first on Prentice Redman's double in the bottom of the sixth but was gunned down at the plate on a perfectly executed relay by Maikel Jova and Dominic Rich. DeJong gave up a leadoff homer to Justin Huber in the seventh and put two more runners on base before being pulled for Kevin Frederick, who allowed a two-run triple to Lydon, putting the Mets on top. Binghamton shortstop and suspected double-agent Chris Basak gift-wrapped the tying run in the bottom of the ninth with a pair of throwing errors, the first of which put Dominic Rich on second base and the second of which allowed him to score. Five scoreless innings followed. New Hampshire ran out of pitchers in the fourteenth, so catcher Erik Kratz was pressed into service. He walked two batters in his first inning, but both were thrown out stealing. In the fifteenth, he wasn't as lucky, as Wright hit a solo home run to right centre. The Fisher Cats failed to score in the bottom of the inning, and the game ended 4-3.
New Hampshire put up an ugly 5 for 52 batting line on the day, with three walks. Aaron Hill, with a single and two walks, was the only Fisher Cats to reach base more than once, and Griffin's home run was the only extra-base hit. Umbria wore the golden sombrero, and Rich went 0 for 7, dropping his average to .280. New Hampshire got solid relief pitching from John Ogiltree, Ryan Houston, Adam Peterson, and Kratz, who took the loss.
St. Lucie 1 at Dunedin 6
boxscore
Dunedin put up three-spots in the second and fourth innings and never looked back, and Ismael Ramirez didn't concede a run until the seventh. This was an efficient day for the offense if not an impressive one; it's not often that you see a team score six runs on four hits and two walks, but Dunedin managed the feat. One-through-four hitters Jayce Tingler, Carlo Cota, Ron Davenport, and Jason Waugh went 0 for 15 on the night, but Dunedin got strong contributions from Miguel Negron (1 for 4 with a solo home run, his third), Scott Dragicevich (1 for 2 with a double, a walk, and two runs scored), and ninth-place hitter Brad Hassey (2 for 3 with a triple, a run scored, and three RBIs). Ramirez's only run allowed came on a solo home run by Bobby Malek in the seventh. He struck out four and walked one while allowing three hits, running his record to 3-2. Tracey Thorpe and Robert Nunley closed out the game for Dunedin. Vito Chiaravalloti had the night off.
Charleston 6 at Delmarva 1
boxscore
As Mike Green has pointed out in previous minor league threads, we should be careful about getting too excited about high strikeout totals in Charleston. Ramon Mora and Felix Romero, neither of whom is generally placed among the Jays' top pitching prospects, combined to fan thirteen Delmarva Shorebirds yesterday en route to a 6-1 victory. The AlleyCats have now fanned 201 batters in 183 innings on the season. Oh, and you know what else Charleston is good at? They're good at drawing walks, with a total of 91 on the season against 672 at-bats, led by Clint Johnston (13 BB, 71 AB), Ryan Roberts (15 BB, 67 AB), David Smith (11 BB, 62 AB), and Christian Snavely (12 BB, 48 AB). Ten of those ninety-one walks came last night, together with eight singles and a Clint Johnston solo home run. Every AlleyCat starter except Ryan Roberts (0 for 5, ouch), Robinson Diaz, and Brian Patrick reached base at least twice as Charleston scored six runs against a series of hapless Delmarva pitchers. Mora threw six scoreless frames for the good guys and Romero carried the shutout into the bottom of the ninth before Juan Peralta's error allowed an unearned run to score.
Links of the Day
Matt Michael has an excellent SkyChiefs game writeup in the Syracuse Post-Standard
Kevin Gray has a superb Fisher Cats game writeup in the Union-Leader. The quality of the newspaper coverage of some of the Jays' affiliates is really exceptional.
Kevin Gray also has a piece on McGowan's imminent promotion, speculating that Josh Banks will be his replacement. I would certainy hope so. Banks has been more dominant in Dunedin than David Bush was last year, and Bush didn't exactly scuffle when promoted to New Haven.
Today's Games
Rochester (MIN) at Syracuse (Jason Arnold), 2:00 PM
Binghamton (NYM) at New Hampshire (Cam Reimers), 1:05 PM
St. Lucie (NYM) at Dunedin (Kurt Isenberg), 7:00 PM
Charleston (Danny Core) at Delmarva (BAL), 3:05 PM
Three-Star Selection!
Our Third Star: Ismael Ramirez, Dunedin. Pitched seven strong innings for his third win of the season.
Our Second Star: Ramon Mora, Charleston. Pitched six shutout innings for his second win of the season.
Our First Star: Glenn Williams, Syracuse. Hit his International League-leading eighth home run of the year, a three-run job, and threw in some small ball to help Syracuse post a comeback victory.
