Falling behind early and losing late was the trend on Sunday. All of the afternoon games went against the affiliates, Auburn lost at night, then Pulaski was up 4-1 going into the ninth. Would they help the organization avoid the sweep?
Syracuse 1 @ Charlotte 4
Josh Banks gave up a couple of homers (6 groundouts, 12 flyouts) and the Chiefs got only three hits in the game. John-Ford Griffin was handed whatever piece of headwear goes along with four strikeouts and Jason Frasor doesn't belong in AAA. But you knew that already.
Portland 5 @ New Hampshire 3
A bunch of single-run innings kept the F-Cats in this one. Chip Cannon homered in the second; back-to-back doubles brought home another in the third; Dustin Majewski hit only his second home run in the fourth. They made it interesting in the bottom of the ninth, as David Smith homered, then two singles and a walk loaded the bases with one out. Another double play ball ensued, however, so at the same instant that Italy-France went to extra time, there would be no extra innings in New Hampshire.
Kyle Yates somehow got charged with an earned run when one batter tried for second on a single and the throw from third base (the runner went first to third) was knocked out of the glove and into left field. No matter, though, since Rodney Ormond gave up the winning runs anyway in the top of the ninth. It's odd that he was left in the game that long, entering in the seventh and having an average of only 1.4 innings per appearance this year.
Clearwater 9 @ Dunedin 4
Too little, too late for Dunedin as they scored three in the bottom of the eighth to make this one closer than it looked. The positive: Eric Nielsen had four hits and Robinzon Diaz had two. The negative: Justin James retired the first two batters he faced, but the next seven...oh boy.
Lansing 0 @ Wisconsin 3
This is getting old. A three-hitter through seven from Wisconsin's Paul Fagan made this a one-sided game. Josh Sowers pitched unlike Josh Towers and more like Jeremy Sowers with two scoreless innings.
The save went to Austin Bibens-Dirkx, who deserves more attention because of his awesome last name.
Lowell 8 @ Auburn 6
Luke Hopkins had a good night: walk, two-run double and a run, another double/run combo, and another walk. Unfortunately, Lowell had plans of their own and steamrolled over Hector Delgadillo and Gabriel Alfaro in the sixth inning, scoring six and sending ten men to the plate.
Ronald Lowe and Dennis Bigley brought some semblance of pitching to the game, combining for 3.1 scoreless innings with six punchouts and only three hits. Luis Fernandez deserves some attention, too -- any night when a shortstop named Fernandez starts three DPs is a good night in my books.
Princeton 1 @ Pulaski 4
Here's a change for you: good starting pitching. Francisco Mateo gave up one run in the first (and even that one was helped along by an error), got some help from his defense with two double plays in the second and third, then went to town. Final line: 6 IP, 4 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 5 K.
Travis Snider went deep for the third time this year (and struck out three times), but Jonathan Jaspe doubled, singled and had a homer himself. Jaspe is hitting .323 on the young season after hitting .299/.346/.431 in Pulaski at age 20 last year. Chris Emanuele raised his OBP from its previous .463 by reaching base three out of four times with two walks and a double.
Three Star Selection
3. Francisco Mateo
2. Luke Hopkins
1. Jonathan Jaspe
Standings
Syracuse: 40-50, dead last in the division, 11 games behind Rochester.
New Hampshire: 38-50, fifth place, 14.5 games behind Portland.
Dunedin: 10-8 in the second half, tied for first with Tampa (there are two more teams within one game).
Lansing: 7-11 in the second half, eight games back of West Michigan in fifth place.
Auburn: 8-11, fifth place, three games behind Batavia.
Pulaski: 15-2 (!), obviously in first place, five games ahead of Danville.
