Lots of baseball today, Syracuse lose both ends of a DH, New Hampshire splits, Dunedin's bats are hot, and Lansing plays 17 innings in one game.
Scranton 4 Syracuse 3 - 7 innings
Scranton 4 Syracuse 2 - 7 innings
Box - Game 1
Box - Game 2
Josh Banks started game one and gave up three runs in the first inning, one earned, on a triple, an error and a home run. Banks pitched into the seventh, giving up one more run. Banks gave up six hits over his 6.1 innings but five of the six were for extra bases. Banks weakness has been his tendency to give up extra-base hits. Rob Cosby doubled home a run in the second inning and the Chiefs went to the bottom of the ninth down 4-1. The Chiefs loaded the bases with no-one out and John Hattig doubled to make the score 4-3 with the tying run on third and the winning run on second. Sergio Santos grounded back to the pitcher, Wayne Lydon was intentionally walked and Ryan Roberts hit into a game ending double play. Syracuse had six hits in the game, John-Ford Griffin had two.
Syracuse got off to a fast start in game 2 when Chad Mottola hit a two run home run in the first inning. Casey Janssen started but was pulled after three innings, presumably to start for the Jays on Thursday in place of AJ Burnett. Janssen gave up a couple of hits and a walk in his three innings. Dustin McGowan followed Janssen and after a smooth fourth inning lost his way in the fifth. Scranton went walk, error, foul bunt, and walk to load the bases. The next hitter, Angel Chavez, doubled to clear the bases and give Scranton a 3-2 lead. McGowan was replaced by Ryan Houston, just called up from New Hampshire, who ended the threat. The Chiefs were unable to score the rest of the way while Scranton added an insurance run in the sixth off Brian Tallet. Kevin Barker went 3-3, the only Chief hitter with more than one hit.
New Hampshire 0 Bowie 3 - 9 innings
New Hampshire 6 Bowie 0 - 7 innings
Box - Game 1
Box - Game 2
Michael MacDonald only pitched one inning on Friday before the rains came and was replaced by Kurt Isenberg to start the second inning today. Isenberg pitched five and a third innings giving up all three runs on six hits. Jordan DeJong pitched the eighth, his first appearance since being activated from the DL. The Fisher Cat hitters only had three hits, two by Maikel Jova, also newly activated. Canadian Adam Loewen pitched 4.1 innings for Bowie and it was a typical appearance. In his 4.1 shutout innings Loewen only gave up two hits, but he walked five and struck out six.
Michael MacDonald started game 2 and was much improved from his last full start. MacDonald went six shutout innings and only gave up three hits and no walks; he also recorded seven K's. The Fisher Cats scored five runs in the second inning on four singles, a walk and two Bowie errors. Adam Lind added his sixth home run in the seventh. Chip Cannon led the team with three hits to raise his average to .281. Eric Kratz and Carlo Cota had two hits each. The Chiefs lineup in game two had only two Fisher Cat hitters with a batting average over .222. They are Cannon and Adam Lind, who is hitting .311.
Fort Myers 2 Dunedin 12
Dunedin scored three runs in each of the fifth, sixth and eighth on their way to a big win. Ron Davenport, recently demoted from AA, went 4-5 for the second straight game. Davenport had two doubles among his four hits, scored three times and drove in two. Eric Nielsen and Dustin Majewski had three hits each.
Eric Fowler started and pitched well, his line was 5 6 2 2 3 8. Justin James added three perfect innings.
Beloit 3 Lansing 4 - 17 innings
Each team could only score an unearned run through regulation; Beloit scored a run off Yesson Berroa in the twelfth. In the bottom of the twelfth Brian Bormaster got a lead-off walk and scored on a Jacob Butler, two out, single. Aaron Tressler gave up a run in the thirteenth which was countered by a two out home run from Anthony Garibaldi. Tressler then pitched the next four inning giving up two more hits. In the bottom of the seventeenth Chris Gutierrez singled and scored when a Joey Metropoulos two-out single was misplayed by the outfielder.
Kristian Bell started and gave up an unearned run on three hits in 6.1 innings. Aaron Tressler got the win with five innings of relief with one run allowed. Despite playing seventeen innings Lansing had twelve hits, Sean Shoffit, Chris Gutierrez, Metropoulos and Luke Hetherington had two each.
Stars
3 Aaron Tressler, five relief innings for the win
2 Ron Davenport, 4-5
1 Michael MacDonald, six shutout innings
Roster moves
Shaun Marcum was called up to the Jays, Ryan Houston was called up from AA to replace him.
James Baldwin was released.
Jordan DeJong was activated from the DL at AA to replace Houston
Ron Davenport was sent down to Dunedin, Maikel Jova was activated to replace him
Adrian Martin went on the DL at Lansing, Joey McLaughlin was called up to take his spot
Emmanuel Sena went on the DL and Luke Hetherington was called up to take his spot
Latest depth chart is here.
Standings
Syracuse are 7-10, in sixth place, 5 games behind Rochester
New Hampshire are 7-9, in fourth place, 3.5 games behind Connecticut
Dunedin are 8-9, in third place, two games behind Clearwater and Fort Myers
Lansing are 12-5, in first place, 1.5 games ahead of two teams
