14 runs today, 13 yesterday. Phew. At least the SkyChiefs got through the game without using a reserve infielder on the mound for two innings. Though with all due respect for Jason Arnold, he wasn't as good as Alfaro yesterday. (Aside: How could Jason Alfaro not get the First Star? Two strikeouts!) Arnold gave up a lot of runs on a lot of hits. Francisco Rosario gave up fewer runs on fewer hits.

Spike Lundberg somehow got stuck with the loss, despite pitching the second best of the five pitchers in yesterday's game. If I sound biased, it's because I could only connect to the live video broadcast when Lundberg was pitching. And he went 1-2-3 in that inning...sort of.

John-Ford Griffin hit a single, double and a homer and drove in a pair. Danny Solano, who I had plum forgot about since last year's Fisher Cat team, had 3 RBI on a triple in the second inning.

Akron 2, New Hampshire 1
Boxscore

Chip Cannon's solo shot in the fifth tied it up at 1, and it stayed that way until the top of the 12th, when Brad Mumma gave up a triple to the first batter he saw and a sac fly ball to the second.

Dustin McGowan gave up just one unearned run before being pulled in the sixth, presumably due to pitch count issues. That and he had two runners on base. Anyway, Tracy Thorpe stranded them and polished off the next inning, followed in turn by Jesse Carlson and Steve Andrade. The trio only gave up one hit over 4.2 innings and struck out 9 of 18 batters faced.

Clearwater 6, Dunedin 5
Boxscore

Michael McDonald had what is referred to as a Quality Start, going six-plus and allowing 4 R (3 ER) on five hits and a walk. Unfortunately, all four of those runs scored in the seventh inning, the last two coming when Brian Reed let both inherited runners score. It was part of a 6-run inning for Clearwater and the Big Bang Theory strikes again.

Notable offensive contributors: Carlo Cota and Eric Arnold each had a homerun, Michael Snyder had two hits and Manny Mayorson drove in a pair.

Lansing had the day off

New Jersey 8, Auburn 4
Boxscore

Honestly, there's not much to say here other than Ryan Patterson hit a homerun and had another single, raising his average to .388 on the year. Brian Pettway and Sean Shoffit each drove in at least a run.

Auburn never held the lead, not after the 2-run first. The only notable fact on the non-hitting side of the boxscore was a 5-4-3-2-3-5-4 double play in the top of the ninth. Try and figure that one out, keeping in mind the batter was out at first and the runner on first was called out at second. Go ahead, I dare you.

Danville 3, Pulaski 2
Boxscore

On the fifth loss of the night, the P-Jays looked surprisingly similar to the parent Jays. It was 3-0 until Pulaski scored two in the bottom of the ninth, pushing the tying run to second base, but it was not enough. Both runs were driven in by Graig Badger on a bases-loaded single to CF.

Joe Wice was almost as good as Danville's Jairo Cuevas through the first five innings, but it did not last through six as Wice went homer-groundout-homer to lose the lead. Too bad -- Wice didn't allow a hit in the fourth and he pitched a perfect fifth. In the end, Cuevas had him beat in both Game Score and Cool Name Score terms last night.

And there were no crazy double plays in Pulaski.

Three-Star Selection (on an 0-5 night):
3. Ryan Patterson
2. Michael MacDonald
1. John-Ford Griffin

Today's Games:
Syracuse (Marcum) @ Indianapolis, 8:00.
New Hampshire does not play today.
Dunedin vs. Clearwater, 7:00.
Lansing vs. Peoria, 7:00.
Auburn vs. New Jersey, 7:00.
Pulaski vs. Bluefield, 7:00.