The affiliates finished 3-1 as David Purcey struggled in his start against Pawtucket, but everyone else finished well. Purcey had control issues and let his walks hurt him, but he also allowed a surprising stolen base. Another first-round pick, Ricky Romero, made his second start of the season and performed well enough to earn a star.

Syracuse 4 @ Pawtucket 8 - Box Score

The SkyChiefs faced a tough opposing starter in Red Sox prospect Jon Lester and lost the game to the Pawtucket Red Sox. Lester went 5 innings, allowing six hits and also striking out six. He gave up two runs, only one of which was earned. Craig Breslow pitched 3 innings of scoreless relief before the SkyChiefs scored two in the top of the ninth off Jermaine Van Buren. The SkyChiefs offence consisted of a smattering of 1-4 lines, with Wayne Lydon and Rob Cosby each managing two hits and Luis Figueroa and Chad Mottola each doubling.

David Purcey struggled and surrendered seven runs in 2.2 innings. He was his own worst enemy at times, walking four batters, three of whom scored. The icing on a bad outing may have come when he allowed a straight steal by Ken Huckaby, which if you remember his 2002 triple, is no easy feat. Purcey also allowed two home runs to Jeff Bailey, who leads the International League with eight. Brian Tallet came on in relief and allowed a run in 2.1 innings. Ben Weber and Ryan Houston shut the door with three shutout innings of relief at the end. Weber was particularly effective, striking out three in his 2 innings.

Portland 3 @ New Hampshire 6 - Box Score

David Pauley narrowly met the standards of a quality start, allowing three runs in 6 innings, but he took the loss to fall to 2-2. However, he left with Portland trailing 3-1 and they made it 3-2 in the top of the 7th, but the Fisher Cats scored two runs in the bottom of the inning and the teams swapped runs in the eighth. Ismael Ramirez started for the Fisher Cats and allowed 1 run in 3 innings, but left the game early for unspecified reasons. Some have speculated that Ty Taubenheim will be getting the call to Toronto because Chacin has to go on the DL and that Ramirez will replace him at Syracuse. Danny Hill came in and pitched three innings of scoreless relief, only allowing two baserunners. The only batter that the Fisher Cats staff had real trouble with was David Murphy, who went 2-4 with 2 runs scored.

The Fisher Cats offence was mainly provided by Miguel Negron, Adam Lind and David Smith. The three combined to go 7-14 with a walk, a double, 2 RBIs and 2 runs. Mikael Jova had 2 RBIs and Brad Hassey scored 2 runs. Hassey and Erik Kratz each hit solo homers for the Fisher Cats. Chip Cannon made his fourth error of the season at first base.

Palm Beach 1 @ Dunedin 6 - Box Score

Dunedin’s pitchers combined for 10 strikeouts last night, as they combined for a six-hitter. Ricky Romero made his second start of the year, going four strong innings. He allowed four hits, a walk and a run, while striking out six. He was relieved by Danny Core, who got the win by pitching 2.1 scoreless innings with 2 strikeouts. Daryl Harang allowed 2 hits in 0.2 innings and then my boy Connor Falkenbach (yes, I will call him that every time I refer to him) pitched 1.1 scoreless innings to finish the game for Dunedin.

Dunedin scored half of their runs on homers, as Ron Davenport hit a solo shot, while John Schneider hit a two-run tater. Davenport finished 2-5 with a run, a RBI and a homer, while Schneider went 2-3 with a run, a double, a homer and 2 RBIs. Aaron Mathews went 2-5 with a double and an RBI, while Dustin Majewski finished 1-2 with a triple, a run and two walks. However, Ryan Klosterman had the most hits of anybody in the game with three. Ryan Patterson, offensive star of the early week, finished 0-2 with a walk and left the game for Christian Snavely after he lined out to end the fourth inning. I’ve been unable to find out anything more about why he may have left the game so early.

3 star selection

3rd star – Ricky Romero, 4.2 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 6 K

2nd star – Danny Hill, 3 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 2 K

1st star – John Schneider, 2-3, R, 2B, HR, 2 RBI, BB, 6 TB