Syracuse 1, Ottawa 5
Brandon League continued to struggle, lasting 4.1 innings and yielding 3 runs (2 earned) on 6 hits, a walk, no strikeouts and a wild pitch. It wasn’t a terrible evening for League but it just not the type of outing we would have expected from him 7 months ago. Spike Lundberg would also probably prefer to forget last night as he gave up another two runs in the sixth during his 2.2 innings of relief. Mike Nannini pitched a fairly meaningless but solid ninth inning. Aaron Hill drove in the only run for the Skychiefs with a double in the first inning while John-Ford Griffin was held hitless but drew a walk.
The biggest Skychiefs news came from JP on the FAN 590 as we learned that Guillermo Quiroz suffered another collapsed lung. He underwent surgery to hopefully prevent this from happening again and we hope that his recovery goes as smoothly as possible. Take your time and get well, Q! We need you in a Blue Jays uniform gunning down runners with that arm of yours next year.
New Hampshire 6, Norwich 2
Shaun Marcum just keeps rolling. This time he threw 6 innings, giving up 2 runs and defeating another college-closer turned starter, David Aardsma. Marcum did, however, walk a batter. That lowers his K/BB ratio to 26/4, roughly half as good as his Toronto colleague, Josh Towers. Clearly, Marcum still needs to work on his control a little. In all seriousness though, Josue Matos and Lee Gronkiewicz pitched 3 sparkling innings of relief to polish of a solid win for the Fisher Cats.
Kevin Barker anchored the offense with a double, a triple and 3 runs driven in along the way. Ron Acuna and Miguel Negron had three hit nights while Raul Tablado went O-fer in 5 trips to the plate.
Dunedin 2, Sarasota 5 - Rain shortened
Davis Romero must have pissed off the DIPS fairy, as he threw 5 innings with 8 K’s, no BB’s, and no HR’s but gave up 11 hits! Only 1 of the 4 runs scored was earned as errors from Romero, Clint Johnston, and Ryan Roberts didn’t help the D-Jays cause.
Robinzon Diaz singled to drive in Johnston for the Jays first run in the sixth and John Schneider (the catcher, not the actor who played Bo Duke) drew a bases loaded walk later in the inning to bring home the second run.
Quad Cities 1, Lansing 5
Casey Janssen is yet another pitcher with outstanding control trying to climb his way up the ladder. 7 innings, 3 hits, 0 runs and 5 strikeouts to a solitary walk. Ho-hum, win number 3 for Janssen who ran his K:BB to 34:4. Adrian Martin gave up a run in the eighth inning while closer Danny Hill pitched a perfect ninth.
Chip Cannon provided all the offense needed in the first inning with a 2 run homerun. This came shortly after Eric Neilsen’s RBI single to score Yuber Rodriguez. The Lugnuts added two more runs for insurance, including a solo shot from Ryan Klosterman
Three Stars!
Third Star: Shaun Marcum
Second Star: Kevin Barker
First Star: Casey Janssen