MLU by #2JBrumfield (technical difficulties with the first version)
Game Story - Rochester Democrat & Chronicle
Rochester, NY – This series is a perfect illustration of why it’s been frustrating to be a Chiefs fan over the years. After battling back to the .500 mark, Syracuse was swept out of the Flower/Flour City by the Rochester Red Wings, who won their 3rd straight over the Chiefs at beautiful Frontier Field of Dreams.
Dustin McGowan was outstanding on the mound. He looked damn good in the 1st inning, striking out 2. He had a 1 hitter going at that point. D-Mac was looking unstoppable but he was sent to the showers thanks to the showers from up above as a rain delay of 1 hour and 41 minutes put a halt to the proceedings. To be fair, McGowan did get some help from his batterymate Sal Fasano. The Wings Tommy Watkins singled and stole 2nd but Fasano wound up picking off Watkins to end the frame.
After the rain stopped, Ryan Houston took over on the mound in inning number 2 and he struck out the side swinging. However, Houston was roughed up in the 3rd as he gave up 3 runs on a single, a walk, and two doubles as Rochester grabbed a 3-0 lead.
The Chiefs were able to load up the bases in the 4th after Russ Adams and Sal Fasano singled and John-Ford Griffin drew his 2nd walk of the night. However, Rochester starter Jason Miller got John Hattig to ground out to leave the bases drunk.
Former Red Wing Beau Kemp relieved Ryan Houston in the 5th and was able to get away with a single and walk by snaring a liner at the mound to turn away the Red Wings. The Chiefs finally put a number other than zero on the scoreboard as John-Ford Griffin belted a 2 run homer off Rochester reliever Brian Bass, right over the 402 foot sign at FFOD (Frontier Field of Dreams) to chop the Rochester lead to 3-2. Griffin’s dinger scored Kevin Barker, who reached base on a single.
Unfortunately, that was as close as Syracuse got. Beau Kemp walked the first two men he faced and that led to Chiefs manager Doug Davis to make the call to the pen for former Detroit Tiger Matt Roney. Roney got the first two men he faced but then loaded up the bases with a walk. He induced a hard hit ground ball by Denard Span at 2nd baseman Russ Adams but it ate him up, leading to 2 runs scored and a 5-2 Rochester advantage. It was at that point I was listening to the Syracuse broadcast and play-by-play man Bob McElligott felt it was a play Adams should have made.
Matt Roney would give up another run on a solo shot by Jose Morales in the 8th and the Chiefs didn’t do much offensively over the last 3 innings, other than a Ray Olmedo walk in the 7th and back to back singles by Russ Adams and Kevin Barker in the 8th. Carmen Cali got the last 8 outs to save the win for Brian Bass. Ryan Houston took the loss to drop to 0-and-1.
At the dish, John-Ford Griffin drew 2 walks and homered in his 4 plate appearances to drive his average up to .293. Kevin Barker and Russ Adams each had 2-for-4 nights. Adams also had a clank and continues to struggle with a .218 BA. Sal Fasano and Brad Hassey were each 1-for-4 and Ray Olmedo had a base on balls in his 4 times up to the dish.
On the hill, Dustin McGowan lowered his ERA to 1.69 with his rain shortened one inning start. Ryan Houston gave up 3 runs on 4 hits and a walk but did strike out 3 in his 3 innings of relief. Beau Kemp gave up 2 runs, both unearned, in his 1 inning of work but he didn’t help his cause by walking 3 men and giving up a hit for an ugly WHIP of 4. Matt Roney gave up a gopher ball among his 2 hits and walked a man in his 3 innings, but his ERA is still below 1 at 0.90.
Syracuse is now 7-and-10 on the year, 4 games back of first place Rochester and 7 back in the loss column in the International League’s North Division.
Game Story - New Hampshire Union Leader
Game Notes - New Hampshire Union Leader
Manchester, NH – Here’s a one hitter actually worth bragging about. The Fisher Cat bats and the sinister David Purcey simply overwhelmed the B-Mets last night at Merchantsauto.com Stadium. Purcey set the tone early by fanning his first two batters and mowed down the first 4 men he faced before Brett Harper (son of Brian) took him deep for a solo shot. I hope the Mets took a picture because that was the only hit they’d enjoy against the big lefty.
The Fisher Cats quickly responded with a solo shot of their own in the bottom of the 2nd courtesy of the slumping Chip Cannon. Sergio Santos followed up with a double but he would be stranded. Purcey didn’t let that faze him as he set down the Bingo Mets in order in the 3rd and 4th.
New Hampshire would take the lead for good as Sergio Santos took Mets starter Ricardo Morales deep for a 2 run shot to make it 3-1. Aaron Mathews would later triple and he was brought home on a 2 out single by David Smith to up the lead to 4-1.
Meantime, David Purcey cruised along, retiring 12 straight at one point before plunking Enrique Cruz in the 6th. Despite balking Cruz over to 2nd, Purcey induced a couple of ground ball outs to end the frame. Aaron Mathews would belt a solo homer in the bottom of the 6th to give New Hampshire a 5-1 advantage.
In the 7th, Purcey endured some control problems, plunking the first two men he faced for the HBP hat trick but he got the next 3 men on a strikeout, flyout, and popout to end his night on a strong note, giving up only 1 hit (a solo HR) and 3 HBP and rang up 6 K’s in the process. B-Mets reliever Ryan Cullen responded to Purcey’s pair of HBP’s as Erik Kratz took one for the team leading off the7th.
Lee Gronkiewicz took over on the mound, and he was touched up for a run in the 8th as former Jays first rounder Miguel Negron delivered an RBI single but he was thrown out at 2nd by left fielder Aaron Mathews after trying for the extra base knock. Sergio Santos would get that run back in the home half of the 8th with his 2nd homer of the night to make the score 6-2. Ryan Klosterman would be plunked right after Santos’ homer by the B-Mets Ryan Cullen. You don’t think that was intentional, do you? Anyways, Gronkiewicz gave up a pair of 2 out singles in the 9th but struck out his final batter to nail down the F-Cats 2nd straight win. Gronk surrendered 4 hits in his 2 innings of work with 1 K and 0 BB.
At the plate, Sergio Santos has 3 long balls over his last 2 games and his average is up to an even .300 on the season thanks to a 3-for-4 performance. He’s also slugging .725 and his OPS is 1.051. Aaron Matthews is now up to .372 thanks to his triple and homer in 4 at-bats and had an assist in left field. Robinzon Diaz, who manned the hot corner, is hitting .333 thanks to a 2-for-4 night and catcher Erik Kratz is also hitting at a .333 clip after going 1-for-2 along with a plunk. He can compare bruises with Ryan Klosterman, who was also HBP’d.
Chip Cannon, despite his long ball in 4 AB’s, continues to struggle, batting all of .140. He has drawn 7 walks in 43 at bats but has also struck out 23 times. David Smith (1-for-3) and Manny Mayorson (1-for-4) also joined the hit parade. To nit pick, the F Cats hit into 3 double plays and didn’t draw a walk but they were plunked twice and struck out just 3 times.
Pitching wise, David Purcey is now 3-and-0 on the season and his ERA is a sterling 0.89. In 20.1 innings this season, his K/BB ratio is 24-2 and has only surrendered 7 hits. Borat likes! It won’t be long before the 2005 first rounder is on his way to Syracuse.
New Hampshire is now 8-and-5 on the season, trailing Trenton by 3 ½ games for top spot in the Eastern League’s North Division.
Dunedin, FL – It doesn’t matter what level it is, I love it when the Jays beat the Yankees! I especially love it when the Jays hammer the Yankees but I also like the come from behind wins as well and that’s what the D-Jays did in front of a “gathering” of 491 fans at Knology Park. The rehabbing John Thomson got the start and his performance, you could say, was a mixed bag.
Thomson surrendered a leadoff single and stolen base but he held the TB Yankees off the scoreboard in the 1st thanks to a pair of strikeouts. Tampa would get to Thomson by a walk and 3 singles to plate a single run in the 2nd. It could’ve been worse but Dunedin right fielder Eric Nielsen threw out a greedy runner at 2nd. Thomson got out of the inning with another strikeout.
Things got worse for Thomson in the 3rd as super prospect Jose Tabata singled, stole a base, and scored a run to make it 2-0 Yankees. Colin Curtis would then add a 2 run homer in front of another single and it was 4-0 Tampa. On the flip side, Thomson would rack up 2 more K’s to stop the bleeding. In Thomson’s final inning of work, he gave up a leadoff single but nothing more, ending the frame with another strikeout.
Meanwhile, the D-Jays offence was looking mighty inept in the early going. They were set down in order over the first 3 innings before Adam Calderone reached on an error to start the 4th. After he was moved up to second on a sac bunt by Juan Peralta, Calderone was promptly picked off.
6-5 righty Yesson Berroa relieved John Thomson in the 5th inning to make his first appearance of the season. The Dominican got two quick outs before giving up a walk and a single to give the TB Yankees runners at the corners. From the game log, it appears Berroa nearly sent one to the backstop but catcher Brian Jeroloman got to the rawhide and flipped it to Berroa in time to get the runner trying to score from third. Still 4-cob Tampa.
Did this inspire the Dunedin offence? Well, Josh Kreuzer finally got their first hit of the game with a leadoff single off Tampa starter Elvys Quezado and Eric Nielsen followed up with a single one out later. They moved up to 2nd and 3rd but could not advance any further.
Berroa played with fire again in the 6th inning. A walk, a wild pitch, and stolen base had a Yankee runner 90 feet from scoring but Berroa made sure he wouldn’t touch the plate as he struck out the side swinging.
The D-Jays finally broke the goose egg in the next half inning as Brian Jeroloman’s leadoff walk was cashed in on an RBI groundout by Jacob Butler. Jeroloman was advanced by a Juan Peralta single and a Jose Tabata throwing error. It was 4-1 Tampa after 6.
Southpaw Daryl Harang was the 3rd pitcher of the night for the D-Jays and he was bailed out by his defence big time. Tampa started things off with a couple of singles but Tim Battle was thrown out at 3rd by right fielder Eric Nielson after a Jose Tabata single. Tabata was eventually caught stealing on the back end of a strike ‘em out, throw ‘em out double play to end the inning.
Wilkins Arias took over for Tampa starter Elvys Quezada and that move was given the thumbs up by the Dunedin bats. Cory Patton and Eric Nielsen singled and they eventually came home on an RBI double by Anthony Hatch and an Al Quintana single. Hatch, though, was thrown out in a rundown after his double. Adam Calderone also drew a walk but the Jays couldn’t push home any more runs. It was now 4-3 Tampa.
Ted Serro relieved Daryl Harang for the 8th. He gave up a walk, which was erased on a fielder’s choice but he had to work around a stolen base before getting out of the inning.
Anthony Claggett, part of the Gary Sheffield deal, toed the rubber for Tampa in the bottom of the inning. Jacob Butler drew a leadoff walk and would get to 3rd on a Josh Kreuzer double. Cory Patton would single home Butler to tie the game at 4-4 and advance Kreuzer to 3rd. That would be key as Eric Nielsen rapped into a double play but Kreuzer was able to come home with the go ahead run to make it 5-4 Dunedin.
It was up to Connor Falkenbach to seal the deal for the D-Jays in the 9th and he did just that with 2 swinging punchouts and a ground out to preserve Dunedin’s one run victory and collect his 4th save. Ted Serro got the victory to improve to 2-and-1.
With the lumber, the 4-5-6 hitters were each 2-for-4 with a run scored (Josh Kreuzer, Cory Patton, and Eric Nielsen). Kreuzer added a double and Nielsen did his best Jesse Barfield impersonation with 2 assists in right field and though he doesn’t get an RBI, his GIDP brought in the winning run. Nielsen is also batting .310 on the season.
Each D-Jay managed to get on base at least once. Anthony Hatch had a run scoring double in 4 at-bats and Al Quintana had a run scoring single in 3 official AB’s. Adam Calderone only drew a walk in 4 plate appearances but still has a BA of .341. Juan Peralta was 1-for-3 with a sac bunt. Jacob Butler had a walk, a run scored, and an RBI groundout in his 4 trips to the plate while Brian Jeroloman walked and scored a run in 3 plate appearances.
On the bump, John Thomson sandwiched his 4 runs allowed (all earned) with shut-out frames. He gave up 8 hits and a walk in 4 innings but did strike out 6. Also, 4 of the 5 outs in play were on the ground.
Also, Yesson Berroa gave up a hit and 2 walks but had 3 K’s in 2 innings. Daryl Harang, Ted Serro, and Connor Falkenbach supplied the rest of the shutout relief with an inning each. Harang gave up 2 hits with a K, Serro had a walk and a K, and Falkenbach had 2 K’s to lower his ERA to 1.23.
The D-Jays victory was just their 5th in 16 games. They’re 7 ½ games back of Sarasota in the Florida State League’s West Division.
Game Story/Audio Links - www.lansinglugnuts.com
Lansing, MI – Mississauga native A.J. Wideman was on the hill for the hometown Lugnuts. After erasing a 2 out walk by a pickoff in the 1st , Wideman given a 2 run cushion to work with as Travis Snider doubled home a Sean Shoffit walk and a Chris Emanuele single to make it 2-0 Lugnuts after one inning. Wideman gave up another walk in the 2nd but nothing more and saw his offence add another run thanks to Jonathan Jaspe’s 1st homer of the year to make it 3-0 Lansing.
Wideman would give that run back as he surrendered a solo jack to Allan de San Miguel to cut the Lansing lead to 3-1.
It would stay that way until the 5th when the Snappers got to Wideman for a pair of runs on a single, walk, sac bunt, and another single. He escaped further damage with an inning ending double play but the game was tied at 3-3. Lansing had opportunities to build on their lead but they wasted a Jonathan Diaz walk and a Sean Shoffit single in the 2nd and a Jonathan Jaspe base knock and a Sean Shoffit walk in the 4th. The Lugnuts knocked on the door again in the 5th as Travis Snider singled and stole 2nd but that was as far as he would get.
Wideman settled down in the 6th by retiring the side in order and his offence would reward him with the lead. Matthew Liuzza’s leadoff walk was driven in by a Jonathan Diaz single to give Lansing a 4-3 advantage. Diaz got as far as 3rd and Sean Shoffit was at 2nd after a walk and a steal but Travis Snider grounded out to end the frame.
The game was turned over to the bullpen as Edward Rodriguez relieved Wideman in the top of the 7th. He was greeted by a leadoff single but bounced back with 3 consecutive outs, the last 2 on strikeouts to end the inning. He would mow down the Snappers again with a perfect inning in the 8th to maintain Lansing’s one run lead.
The Lugnuts would tack on an insurance run as Jonathan Diaz’s single was brought home by Toronto native Chris Emanuele’s single to make it 5-3 Lansing. Paul Phillips was called upon to save it for the Lugnuts and he didn’t disappoint, striking out 2 in a shut-out 9th to preserve the victory for A.J. Wideman and notch his 3rd save of the campaign.
Wideman is now 3-and-0 on the season with an ERA of 2.76 thanks to 6 innings of 3 run ball by allowing 4 hits and 3 walks while striking out 2. With his 2 innings of 1 hit relief along with 2 K’s, Edward Rodriguez now has 4 holds and a save on the season along with a tidy ERA of 1.00.
Offensively, the Lugnuts got 2 hit performances from 5 players in an 11 hit attack. Leadoff man Sean Shoffit reached base all 5 times thanks to 2 singles and 3 walks. He also added a stolen base and scored a run. He has an OBP of .422. Chris Emanuele and Travis Snider were each 2-for-5 with Emanuele driving in one and scoring one while Snider brought home two. Snider also stole a base and is hitting .333 on the season along with a .630 SLG.
Other standout performances at the dish…Jonathan Jaspe was 2-for-4 with a home run, Jonathan Diaz was 2-for-3 with a walk and a run. Scott Campbell had the other Lansing hit with a double in 4 official AB’s. Matt Liuzza was the other Lugnut to get on base with a walk in 4 PA’s.
On the negative side, Brian Pettway was 0-for-5 with 2 K’s and Josh Bell was 0-for-4 and whiffed 3 times for the hat trick. The Lugnut offence struck out 9 times and left 11 men on base.
On the season, the Lugnuts improved to 12-and-2, good for a share of top spot in the Midwest League’s Eastern Division with Dayton. The Lugnuts are 9-and-1 over their past 10.
3 Stars........
3. Sean Shoffit, Lansing – 2/2, 3 BB, SB, run (5 times up, 5 times on!)
2. Sergio Santos, New Hampshire – 3/4, 2 HR, 2B, 3RBI,10 TB
1. David Purcey, New Hampshire – 7IP, 1H, 1HR, 3HBP, 6K, 0BB
Honourable Mentions…….
Syracuse – John-Ford Griffin, Kevin Barker, Matt Roney, Dustin McGowan.
New Hampshire – Aaron Matthews, Robinzon Diaz, Erik Kratz, Chip Cannon.
Dunedin – Eric Nielsen, Yesson Berroa, Connor Falkenbach, Josh Kreuzer, Cory Patton.
Lansing – Travis Snider, Johnathan Jaspe, Jonathan Diaz, Chris Emmanuele, A.J. Wideman, Edward Rodriguez, Paul Phillips.
