It appears Rob Cosby is a June groom. The April showers have come and gone, bringing May flowers, which didn’t suit him either. At long last, June has come along and Cosby’s so enamoured with the change of month that he’s willing to outproduce everything he did in the previous two in one night. So, here’s to putting a calendar containing entirely June 1st inside his locker.
Columbus 1 @ Syracuse 6 - Box Score
Michael MacDonald had a fine start last night, pitching the type of game he needs to pitch to succeed. MacDonald got 13 ground-ball outs and 6 fly outs to go along with a strikeout in 7 innings of one-run ball. He scattered eight hits throughout the night and only really got into trouble in the fourth, when he gave up consecutive doubles to start the inning and his only run. However, he escaped the inning without further damage and settled down for the last three frames. MacDonald needs to improve his K/BB ratio, but with a GB/FO rate of 2.20, he’s on the right track to appear on the big league team’s radar.
Chad Mottola hit a two-run homerun in the fifth for Syracuse. It was his fourth of the season and his only hit of the game. Mottola, Kevin Barker and Rey Olmedo each had a third of Syracuse’s RBIs. Barker went 1-1 with 2 runs and 2 walks and a sac fly, while Olmedo went 2-4. Curtis Thigpen went 1-3 with a walk, while familiar faces Ryan Roberts and John Hattig each scored for Syracuse. Russ Adams went 2-4 with a 2B and a run as a DH and is hitting .253/.346/.396 on the season. Syracuse had some timely hitting last night and scored five of their six runs with two outs.
New Hampshire 2 @ New Britain 3 - Box Score
This was the game of the night on the farm yesterday. After seven innings it was 1-1 as Kyle Yates and former Red Sox supplemental first-round draft pick Brad Baker both pitched well. Baker pitched better as each pitcher surrendered four hits, but Baker struck out five and walked one and Yates struck out six, but walked four. New Hampshire scored off Baker on a third-inning Rob Cosby homer. The Rock Cats scored in the bottom of six, when Garrett Guzman doubled home Brian Busher, who had walked, with two out.
In the eighth Tim Lahey replaced Baker and retired Juan Peralta on a fly out. Then Cosby came to bat and hit his second homer of the evening, giving him more on June 1 than he had for all of April and May. Robinzon Diaz and Serigo Santos couldn’t get any offence going and New Hampshire turned the ball over to Tracy Thorpe. After retiring the first batter Thorpe allowed a solo homer to Busher, who had scored the first run for New Britain on the evening. Thorpe got the next two batters and the game headed to the top of the ninth tied.
After Chip Cannon got out, Ryan Patterson singled and Dustin Majewski walked. New Hampshire had a runner in scoring position with one out, but David Smith grounded to the first baseman, who elected to get the sure out at first. With two now in scoring position and two out, Ryan Klosterman came to bat and was called out on strikes. Lahey had escaped his jam, so it was up to Thorpe to send it to extras. Thorpe got a David Winfree fly out and a Rashad Eldridge ground out and needed to retire one more batter to force extras. He hit Kyle Geiger to bring up Brandon Roberts, but this was not a cause for concern as Roberts had a .576 OPS in 128 at-bats this year in double-A. However, a double to right with Geiger off on the crack of the bat managed to score the runner safely and win the game for New Britain.
Clearwater @ Dunedin - Ppd.
Postponed due to rain. Clearwater and Dunedin will play a doubleheader on June 13.
West Michigan 5 @ Lansing 2 - Boxscore
Chase Lirette fell to 5-5 as Lansing lost to West Michigan 5-2. Lansing scored the first two runs of the game, but immediately gave West Michigan three in the top of the second and the Whitecaps never looked back. Lirette was not helped by two unearned runs on three errors. Two were made by Raul Barron and the third was his own on a pickoff throw, which demonstrates that the pitching fielding blunders seem to have infected the entire organization and not just the major league level. Lirette allowed two earned runs over six innings, to go along with the two unearned runs, struck out three and walked one. Benjamin Harrison pitched two hitless innings of relief and Po-Hsuan Keng gave up a lone run in the ninth.
Yuber Rodriguez was the only Lugnut with a multihit game, as he went 2-4 with a double and a run. Six other Lugnuts contributed hits, while Travis Snider suffered through a rare 0-fer. Snider did notch his 36th RBI on a groundout to score Lansing’s first run and also helped with his arm, throwing out West Michigan’s Ryan Strieby at the plate. Matthew Lane also had a double for Lansing’s other extra-base hit on the night, but he mitigated his offensive contribution by also hitting into two double-plays. Brian Pettway added his 28th RBI of the year to score Rodriguez. Lugnut batting coach Charles Poe was ejected in the eighth inning.
3 star selection
3rd star – Michael MacDonald, 7 IP, 8 H, ER, 2 BB, 1 K
2nd star – Kyle Yates, 7 IP, 4 H, ER, 4 BB, 6 K
1st star – Rob Cosby, 3-4, 2 R, 2B, 2 HR, BB, 10 TB
