The Toronto farm goes 2 – 1 as the New Hampshire Fisher Cats supply the fireworks to honour Queen Victoria and the Dunedin Blue Jays supply their fans with a double dose of comeback thrills.
Syracuse: Scheduled off day.
The Defenders didn’t exactly live up to their moniker against the allegedly anemic Fisher Cat offence. There’s only one way to efficiently sum up how New Hampshire scored more runs in one night than they were scoring in entire weeks in April, and it’s a thing of beauty:
|
Player |
AB |
R |
H |
2B |
3B |
HR |
RBI |
BB |
K |
|
Manny Mayorson SS |
7 |
2 |
4 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
|
Adam Lind LF |
7 |
4 |
5 |
2 |
0 |
1 |
3 |
0 |
2 |
|
Curtis Thigpen C |
6 |
2 |
2 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
3 |
1 |
0 |
|
Chip Cannon 1B |
7 |
4 |
3 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
3 |
|
David Smith CF |
5 |
3 |
2 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
2 |
1 |
|
Mikael Jova RF |
6 |
5 |
3 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
3 |
0 |
0 |
|
Vito Chiaravalloti DH |
4 |
2 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
2 |
1 |
1 |
|
Eric Arnold 3B |
6 |
1 |
4 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
7 |
0 |
2 |
|
Brad Hassey 2B |
6 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
Connecticut also committed 4 errors, which made 3 of the New Hampshire runs count as unearned. Manny Mayorson and Eric Arnold were each charged with a throwing error for the Fisher Cats.
Mike MacDonald found himself with a 14 run lead by the bottom of the 3rd, and decided to it was a time for practice rather than perfection. He tossed it over the plate for 6 innings, charged with 6 runs on 9 hits while striking out 5 and walking 1. Jordan De Jong followed with 2 innings, 2 runs, and Jimmy Bullard 1 inning, 1 run.
With the Jays down to their last out in the bottom of the ninth trailing 3 – 1, Robinzon Diaz singled and Ron Davenport smacked a homer to send the game to extras. 6 innings later, the Hammerheads finally broke through the Dunedin pen for a run, aided and abetted by a Juan Peralta throwing error. Eric Nielsen opened the bottom of the 15th striking out, but Dustin Majewski walked and came home on a Ryan Klosterman double. A walk to Chris Gutierrez set up Peralta to atone for his error in a big way, delivering the game winning single.
Earlier, Ryan Patterson had hit a solo homer as part of a 3-hit night for the Fishers first run. Davenport also recorded a 3-hit night, while Peralta had another single to go alongside the finisher and Majewski had a single, a double, and another walk to go with his key free pass.
The pitching was supplied by Ricky Romero, who started and went 7 innings of 2-run ball on 5 hits and a walk, punching out 4. Justin James followed with 3 innings and 1 run. Connor Falkenbach was the next man out, striking out 4 Hammerheads over 3 shutout innings. Daryl Harang finished with 2 innings, charged with 1 unearned run on 1 hit.
The Lugnuts had a less memorable night than their more advanced affiliates, shut out by the Fort Wayne Wizards. Kristian Bell deserved better for his 6 innings, allowing just 2 runs on 6 hits, 4-2 K-BB. Jordan Timm tossed a scoreless frame before Adrian Martin was tagged for three Wizard runs (2 earned) on 4 hits and 2 walks over the final 2 innings. The ‘Nuts offence consisted of 5 hits and 2 walks. Anthony Hatch accounted for 2 of the base knocks and Brian Pettway the rest, one of his a double.
Three Star Selection!
With far too many candidates, I’m going to simplify the selection process by picking one player from each team.
The Third Star: Brian Pettway, Lansing. 3-for-3 with a double on a very lean night for the Lugnuts.
The Second Star: Ron Davenport, Dunedin. 3 hits including a bottom-of-the-ninth-game-tying homer.
The First Star: Adam Lind, New Hampshire. 5 hits for 10 total bases.
