Scranton 2 Syracuse 1- Game One
Yesterday's rainout forced the Chiefs and the Dunder Mifflin's to work a double shift today. It also increased my workload to five games while letting Thomas off the hook in yesterday's recap.
Evidently neither team was impressed with having to play twice as both offenses took the day off combining for five total runs. Davis Romero started the first game for Syracuse and was impressive in his three innings, by striking out four while allowing just one run on three hits but still picking up the loss for his troubles. Brandon League followed him with a nearly identical line: 3IP, 4H, 1R (unearned), 1BB, 4K. Of note was that 33 of his 47 pitches went for strikes. So that's good news.
Absolutely nobody was noteworthy on offense as Buck Coats led the way with two hits, including a triple. Everyone else was fairly useless as the Chiefs combined for a total of six hits.
Scranton 0 Syracuse 2- Game Two
In the late-afternoon-cap, the two squads combined for six hits. Only two went to Syracuse. And they won. John Parrish was effective in victory for the Chiefs going 5.1 and striking out six. Mike 'Ryan' Gosling picked up the save working 1.2 perfect innings while striking out four.
At the plate, the Chiefs turned a Sergio Santos double and an error off the bat of Russ Adams into two third-inning runs. They then took the rest of the day off. I love pitchers duels, but only when I'm watching them. If, instead, I'm trying to write about them based on someone else writing about them, I get a little bored. So, I'm moving on.
Now here's an old-fashioned slugfest. Trailing 2-0 heading into the bottom of the fifth, the Fisher Cats pushed across single runs in the fifth, sixth, and eighth to make a winner out of reliever Seth Overbey. Overbey kinda vultured this one, picking up the victory after pitching just one inning. Starter Brandon Magee probably deserved better working 7 innings, and allowing just two runs. He didn't strike anyone out, though. Zach Dials picked up his first AA save, by pitching a scoreless ninth.
Speaking of strikeouts, Travis Snider sure knows the shortcuts back to the dugout. He whiffed in all four plate appearances today brining his AA total to 16 in 30 plate appearances. Clearly people aren't messing around when they say the biggest test for a prospect is Double-A. So far, Snider's got, like a 7% on that test. But we'll give him some time yet.
Ryan Patterson knows how to hit AA pitching, though, as the almost 25 year-old went 4-for-4 with two doubles to bump his average to .313. Oddly, Patterson now has 12 doubles in 67 AB but no other extra-base hits. So he's on pace for a rare 100 double, 0 homerun season. I'm confident in saying that's probably never been done before. Anthony Hatch homered for New Hampshire as part of a two-hit day. Everyone else just kinda hung around.
Sarasota 2 Dunedin 3- 13 innings
Through five, this game was 2-2. Then there were a whole bunch of quick innings before Dunedin parlayed an error and two singles into the winning run in the 13th. Interestingly, the game lasted only 3:14 which is pretty impressive for 13 innings. A Red Sox-Yankees game would be in about the 6th at that point.
Five pitchers worked for Dunedin today, starting with Kenny Rodriguez who went five innings allowing two runs (one earned) and strking out three. Someone named Brandon W. Carmadese picked up the win after pitching a scoreless thirteenth.
Offensively, the Jays managed just 7 hits in 13 frames, highlighted by Brad Emaus's homerun. Brian Dopirak also had an RBI double. Catcher JP Arencibia managed an 0-for-5 with 4 K's to make it a banner day for Jays' first-round draft picks.
Just three hits for the Lugnuts today. ("That's it? Three god-damned hits?" "You can't say god-damned on the Internet!" "Ah, nobody's reading anyway")
Nathan Starner was outstanding for Lansing, pitching seven innings of shutout ball while striking out seven LumberKings. Unfortunately, the Lugnut bullpen couldn't hold onto the comfortable 1-0 ninth inning lead as Alan Farina and Ross Buckwalter combined to allow a walk and three singles to drop Lansing to 13-9 on the season.
First-round pick Kevin Ahrens had a double. So did Darin Mastroianni. And Johermyn Chavez singled. And that was it at the plate.
Three Stars:
3rd Star: Lansing & New Hampshire pitching (tie): 2 runs allowed
2nd Star: Dunedin pitching: 2 runs in 13 innings
1st Star: Syracuse pitching: 2 runs in 2 games
