Lansing provided the only victory of the night, as ex-Jay Chris Michalak earned his second victory of the year by shutting down the Syracuse bats.

Syracuse 6 @ Louisville 10 - Box Score

Two Triple-A veterans beat the SkyChiefs yesterday, as ex-Jay Chris Michalak got his second win of the season behind 7 innings of 3-run ball, while Ben Kozlowski surrendered three in the 8th to make it seem like a much more exciting game than it was. Michalak allowed two homers, one to Kevin Barker and one to Chad Mottola with a runner on. Ryan Roberts and Rob Cosby each had empty 2-4 lines. John-Ford Griffin hit an RBI double in the 3-run 8th, while Jason Phillips came through with a 2 RBI single. However, that was the sole hit in the game for each of these players and neither cam close to matching Chad Mottola’s 3-4 with 2 RBI and 2 runs or Kevin Barkers 2-2 with 2 BB, 3 runs and an RBI.

The pitching was not terrible for Syracuse, as Dustin McGowan, Brian Tallet and Lee Gronkiewicz combined for 4 innings of scoreless relief. Ben Weber allowed 2 runs in his 2.1 innings. Through deduction you’ve likely concluded that David Purcey allowed the remaining eight runs in 1.2 innings. The interesting thing is that only two of the runs are earned. The Bats scored 9 runs in the 2nd inning, which featured a throwing error by Roberts and fielding errors by John Hattig and Luis Figueroa. The killer blow was an Andy Abad’s second hit of the 2nd, a grand slam. Despite the fact that each team had 11 hits, the score was not close as fielding misadventures really let down the SkyChiefs today.

New Hampshire 4 @ Bowie 5 - Box Score

Kyle Yates took his third loss of the year in yesterday’s Double-A game against Bowie. Five strikeouts weren’t enough to overcome a walk and a 9 hits in 4 innings and Yates allowed 4 runs. Danny Hill struck out four in 2.1 innings of relief, but he allowed four hits and the fifth run. The Fisher Cats only had seven hits, which they distributed equally amongst the second through seventh hitters in the order, as Curtis Thigpen was a hog and took two for himself. Thigpen went 2-4, but he hit a solo homer in the fourth and a triple in the sixth. After Thigpen scored on a wild pitch, the Fisher Cats would score 2 in the ninth on a Lind solo homer and a Brad Hassey single that scored Maikel Jova. However, with Hassey, the tying run, on first, Carlo Cota struck out against Marino Salas, who saved his fifth of the year for the Bowie BaySox.

Sarasota 7 @ Dunedin 3  - Box Score

Every Sarasota starter but one got a hit as the team pounded out 14 hits, but no home runs, and handed Dunedin a 7-3 loss. The only bright spot on the mound was Daniel Core’s 2.1 scoreless innings of one-hit relief. Brad Mumma surrendered two runs in an inning as Brian Wolfe was handed his third loss of the season, following a 5-inning, 5-run start. Dunedin didn’t reach .500 and fell to 6-8, as their offence struggled aside from Robinson Diaz, who went 3-4 and was thrown out at home plate, and Josh Kreuzer was 2-4 with Dunedin’s only homer.

Lansing 5 @ Clinton 4 - Box Score

Brian Pettway led off the top of the ninth inning with his second solo home run of the game to give Lansing a 5-4 victory. Pettway hit a homer in the sixth inning and finished 2-2 with a walk, 2 RBIs and 2 runs. Jacob Butler, serving as DH, hit a two-run homer in Lansing’s 3-run 3rd inning, which scored Sean Shoffit, who went 3-4. Anthony Garibaldi, who is struggling at the plate, scored the other run following a walk, as he advanced around the bases to score on Shoffit’s hit. Billy Carnline continued his dominance for Lansing, with a 4-inning start, where he surrendered 3 hits and an unearned run and struck out 6 batters. Aaron Tressler surrendered a run in his three innings, while Paul Phillips blew his first save of the year by allowed two runs in the bottom of the eighth, but he hung around to pick up the victory.

3 star selection

3rd star – Kevin Barker, 2-2, 3 R, HR, 1 RBI, 2 BB, 5 TB

2nd star – Billy Carnline, 4 IP, 3 H, 1 UER, 0 BB, 6 K

1st star – Brian Pettway, 2-2, 2 R, 2 HR, 2 RBI, BB, 8 TB