A thriller in Syracuse, Romero and Cannon star for New Hampshire, Dunedin hits but loses, an almost-familiar face is at the center of things in West Michigan and the Doubledays show they can pitch.

Scranton Wilkes-Barre 5 @ Syracuse 6 (15) - Box Score

Syracuse starter Casey Janssen struggled over 3.2 innings, giving up six hits and three walks. He only gave up two runs though, as Jason Scobie came in to clean up the mess and got out of the inning. Scobie went 2.1 and gave up one run and Ben Howard gave up another run over his two innings. That left the score at 4-4, after a 3-run homer by Curtis Thigpen in the first and a solo homer by Justin Singleton in the seventh.

Jordan de Jong and Francisco Rosario pitched six hitless innings, combining for ten strikeouts. Jamie Vermilyea came in for the 15th inning and former Blue Jay Pedro Swann hit a homerun to leadoff the inning and the game looked lost. Turnabout is fair play and Sergio Santos did the same to tie the game back up. Mike Mahoney singled, Wayne Lydon failed to get the sacrifice down and Lydon ended up on first with one out. He stole second and Luis Figueroa singled him home with the winning run.

Probable September call-up Adam Lind didn’t play. I don’t think that’s a sign of anything though, as he seems likely to be among the second batch of promotions, so he can continue to play everyday in Triple-A over the weekend. No SkyChief had more than one hit.

Connecticut 3 @ New Hampshire 7- Box Score

Ricky Romero ended the season on an optimistic note. Over 7.2 innings Romero struck out five and gave up three runs to pick up his second win of the season. Rodney Ormond entered in the eighth and inherited a couple of Romero’s runners, but induced Brian Horowitz to ground out.

The offensive star of the game was Chip Cannon, who hit a 3-run homer in the first, walked in the third, hit a solo homer in the fifth and was intentionally walked in the seventh. Dustin Majewski and Tony Miller each had a couple of hits and Ryan Patterson had a double and a sacrifice fly.

Clearwater 8 @ Dunedin 7 - Box Score

Eric Fowler gave up six hits, a walk and three runs over five innings. Fowler struck out eight in his start. Jeremy King gave up four runs in his 1.2 innings and Danny Core gave up a run in his inning and a third to take the loss. Connor Falkenbach made an appearance and dropped his ERA under 2.

Several D-Jays had fine offensive nights. Ron Davenport went 1-4, but his one hit was a grand slam in Dunedin’s six run fifth inning. The other two runs scored on a two-run shot from Christian Snavely, who went 2-4 with a double, as well. Aaron Matthews went 3-5 with a 2B and an RBI. Josh Kreuzer went 1-2 with 2 BBs.

Lansing 3 @ West Michigan 4 - Box Score

The Lugnuts went into the ninth inning with a 3-1 lead. Chi-Hung Cheng had a very good start with one run over five innings, striking out four. He had a 7:2 ground ball to fly ball ratio on the game. His ERA now sits at 2.70. Po-Hsuan Keng’s ERA now sits at 2.36 as he pitched two scoreless innings of relief. Timm ended the Taiwanese parade as he pitched the eighth and preserved the lead. Paul Phillips came in to the game to get the save and it was a disaster. Four hits, one walk and one out later West Michigan had a walkoff win. Phillips had a runner on first with one out after the first two batters and then he walked the next hitter. Three singles later and the game was over. And the Whitecap who hit the walkoff single? Cameron Maybin.

Jamestown 0 @ Auburn 1 - Box Score

Brian Bull somehow managed to avoid giving up any runs over his five innings, despite allowing six hits and three free passes. He then turned the ball over to the bullpen and Zachary Dials, Ronald Lowe and Shane Benson pitched four innings of shutout ball. Lowe picked up the win and Benson made his first relief appearance of the year to pick up the save. Benson is an Australian, born in Sydney on December 15, 1986.

Auburn scored in the bottom of the seventh on a Scott Campbell walk and a Matthew Liuzza double. It was a good thing that Campbell was sent home on the hit and not held at third, as the next three batters all struck out. Liuzza picked up the only two hits of the game for the Doubledays as the Jammers pitchers were very impressive, particularly starter Kyle Winters who threw six innings of one-hit ball.

3 star selection

3rd star –  David Hicks, 2-3, 2 R, 2B, 2 BB, 3 TB and Jordan deJong 3 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 6 K

2nd star – Christian Snavely, 2-4, 2 R, 2B, HR, 2 RBI, 8 TB

1st star – Chip Cannon, 2-2, 2 R, 2 HR, 2 BB, 4 RBI, 8 TB