One of the Jays top pitching prospects took a big step forward, another took a step back and another is taking another step up the minor league rung as Brett Cecil will make his AA debut this evening. Meantime, the three affiliates in action managed to bat 1.000 in the win column.
Allentown, PA - It was "Southpaw Night" at brand new Coca-Cola Park as David Purcey was on the hill for the Chiefs against J.A. Happ of the IronPigs, the Phillies Triple A club. This game was almost a carbon copy of what happened last night in Beantown, except for two differences - the Jays affiliate actually won and they actually got a hit with a runner in scoring position.
J.A. Happ was able to work in and out of trouble all night long. In the first inning, Wayne Lydon got aboard on an error at short, stole second and made it to third on a fielder's choice but would be stranded after a Hector Luna flyout. Jorge Velandia drew a walk in the second, only to be forced out on a Sergio Santos fielder's choice. However, Happ took care of Santos by picking him off at first. Happ got away with a Pedro Lopez walk and a Wayne Lydon single with an inning-ending double play ball in the third. The IronPigs lefty used another doubleplay ball to erase a lone single in the fourth but after a leadoff walk to Eric Nielsen in the fifth, Happ set down the next nine hitters in a row to finish his night with seven scoreless innings.
As good as Happ was, Purcey was even better. He had his mojo working, punching out the first two batters of the game with called strikeouts. He was perfect through three innings before giving up a leadoff single in the fourth but that was immediately erased by a groundball double play. Purcey yielded another single in the fifth but induced another DP to end that threat. Purcey actually faced the minimum 21 batters through seven innings before issuing his only walk with just one out in the eighth. However, he finished up his night by striking out the side, all swinging, to put a punctuation mark on his outing. Now the question was, could the Chiefs (unlike the parent club!) actually reward their starter by scoring a run? The answer was yes.
Matt Childers, who worked a one-hit eighth in relief of Happ, returned to the mound for the Iron Pigs in the ninth. Wayne Lydon led off with a single, stole second and advanced to third on a Buck Coats groundout to second. Robinzon Diaz was given an intentional pass but a flyball by Hector Luna was apparently not deep enough to score Lydon. However, Jorge Velandia picked up Luna by delivering a single up the middle to cash in Lydon for a 1-0 Syracuse lead. Tracy Thorpe came on in the ninth and the hard-throwing righty did not disappoint as he struck out the first two men he faced before inducing a popup to short to end the ball game.
Boxscore Notes - Not to put too fine a point on this but damn, David Purcey was better than friggin' good! He faced just 25 batters over eight innings (just one over the minimum) and his K-BB mark was 9 to 1. Also, 10 of his 15 outs were on the ground. He's now 3-1 with a 1.64 ERA.........Tracy Thorpe was able to smell was Purcey was cooking by notching his third save of the year with a perfect ninth. He has not allowed an earned run over his last 5 1/3 innings....Wayne Lydon led the "offence" by collecting half of the Chiefs four hits. He stole two bases and scored the winning run......Jorge Velandia was the other Chiefs to get on base twice with a walk and his game winning RBI single in the ninth......Joe Inglett had the other Syracuse single in his return from the big club.
Game Story - New Hampshire Union Leader
Manchester, NH - The Ricky Romero horror story continued in this one as the lefty went up against Phillies southpaw Fabio Castro in what turned out to be less than a pitchers duel.
A walk, a lineout to centre, a wild pitch and another single led to runners at second and third in the top of the first before Lou Marson punched a single to center to score two runs for Reading. Romero ended the inning with a punchout and groundout. Romero danced with danger again in the second by loading up the bases with two walks and a single but he was bailed out by a groundball double play. Romero got two groundouts to start off the third but a single, a wild pitch and a walk set the table for Neil Sellers and he doubled to center to score two more runs. However, the F-Cats defence bailed out Romero again as F-Cats centerfielder Aaron Matthews hit the cutoff man in shortstop Ryan Klosterman and he threw the ball to Anthony Hatch to cut down Sellers trying to stretch his extra-base hit into a triple. Romero's night got worse in the fourth when Gookie Dawkins poked one over the fence to make it 5-0 for Reading. A walk and a strikeout later, Romero was relieved by fellow lefty Daryl Harang, who retired the next two hitters to end the frame.
The New Hampshire offence stranded six runners over the first three innings, including leaving the bases loaded in the third. However, they got the bats going in the fourth. With one out, Ryan Klosterman drew a walk and Brian Jeroloman singled (what, no walk?). When Reading first baseman Juan Tejeda failed to squeeze a foul ball in his mitt, Aaron Matthews made the Phils pay with an RBI single to score Klosterman. After Chris Gutierrez walked to load the bases. Ryan Patterson chased Fabio Castro from the game with a two-run single to score Matthews and Jeroloman. Ronald Hill came out of the bullpen and he gave up a double to Jacob Butler that scored Gutierrez. Travis Snider then tied up the game at 5-5 with an RBI groundout to score Ryan Patterson.
The Fisher Cats opened up another can of wupass in the fifth as Ryan Klosterman belted a homer to left to give New Hampshire a 6-5 lead. Brian Jeroloman followed with another single and he came home on Aaron Matthews' first homer of the season to make the score 8-5.
Daryl Harang used two doubleplay balls to erase singles in the fifth and sixth before setting down the side in order in the seventh. Sean Stidfole kept Reading off the board in the eighth despite two walks and a single thanks in large part to another DP and Zach Dials worked a 1-2-3 ninth, punctuating the save by striking out his final batter to end the game.
Boxscore Notes - Ricky Romero's pitching line is ugly, no matter how you slice it! He yielded 5 runs in 3 1/3 innings on 7 hits and four walks and also fired two pitches to the backstop. He struck out only two as his ERA now stands at 5.61.......Daryl Harang evened his record at 2-2 with 3 2/3 innings of shutout relief by only giving up two hits.........Zach Dials earned his second save of the year in his third appearance with New Hampshire since his callup from Dunedin........New Hampshire's defence shone in this one as they managed to turn four double plays......Former Jays reliever Jason Kershner pitched 2 2/3 scoreless innings for Reading, striking out four.......Aaron Matthews paced the Fisher Cats attack with three of the team's 10 hits, including a homer and 3 RBI in a 3-for-5 day at the dish. He's batting .315 on the season.........Ryan Patterson is swinging a hot stick. Hitting .472 over the last 10 games has pushed his overall average to .324 and his slugging percentage, despite not having a homer yet on the year, is now at .493......At the other end of the spectrum, Travis Snider, despite a walk and an RBI groundout, is batting just a dollar and three cents with the F-Cats....To go along with their 10 hits, the Fisher Cats showed a keen batting eye by drawing 8 walks - including two apiece by Chris Gutierrez, Jacob Butler and Ryan Klosterman. Strangely, Brian Jeroloman did not draw one as the BJWM (Brian Jeroloman Walk Meter) remains at 10. He did have a couple of singles so let's cut him a break!
DUNEDIN - SCHEDULED DAY OFF
Game Story - lansinglugnuts.com
Clinton, IA - The Lugnuts and River Bandits continued their barnstorming tour of Iowa thanks to the flooding of the Mississippi River in Davenport that has rendered Modern Woodmen Park inoperable. Nixing the idea of grabbing scuba gear and playing underwater, The 'Nuts and Bandits travelled from the series opener at Cedar Rapids to play in Clinton, the home of the Texas affiliate LumberKings.
Righthander Randy Boone toed the rubber for the Lugnuts against the River Bandits Brian Broderick. The visitors got to Broderick in the first when Kevin Ahrens doubled with one out and came home on a single from C.J. Ebarb. Ebarb would also drive in the Lugnuts second run of the game when he produced a sacrifice fly to cash home a leadoff triple from Darin Mastroianni in the fourth.
Meantime, Randy Boone just motored right along in this one. He punched out three batters in the first two frames and retired 10 of 11 batters to begin the game. Boone gave up a single to Peter Kozma in the fourth but he erased the Cardinals first round pick in the 2007 draft on a steal attempt of second by firing a peg to shortstop Raul Barron for the out. The only inning where Boone ran into any sort of trouble was in the sixth when he gave up a two-out walk and a single but he got his third groundball out of the inning to keep Quad Cities off the board.
The Lugnuts strung together three singles to produce a run in the top of the 7th when John Tolisano's infield single to short brought home Wesley Stone, who made it to third on a Moises Sierra base knock. Edgar Estanga took over on the mound for Lansing in the 7th and he retired the side in order with two strikeouts and a ground out. Estanga survived a walk and a single in the eighth with another punchout to end the threat but in the ninth, he was nicked for a single run after giving up a double and a single. However, Estanga stranded the tying runs by getting a couple of groundouts to end the game and earn the three inning save.
Boxscore Notes - The 2-through-7 spots in the lineup had two hits apiece to lead the Lugnuts 14-hit attack. The two-hit men were Kevin Ahrens, Darin Mastroianni, C.J. Ebarb, Raul Barron, Adam Calderone and Wesley Stone. Only Michael McDade went hitless on the afternoon......Doing their impersonation of the parent club, the Lugnuts hit into three double plays and left seven men on base..........Randy Boone faced just three batters over the minimum and 10 of his 13 outs in play were on the ground over his six innings of work. He's now 3-0 with a 2.11 ERA and batters are hitting just .208 against him......Despite allowing one run on four hits and a walk over three innings, Edgar Estanga's ERA is only 49 cents, including the PST and GST.
*** 3 Stars!!! ***
3. Randy Boone, Lansing - 6IP, 4H, 0R, 0ER, 1BB, 4K = W
2. Aaron Matthews, New Hampshire - 3/5, HR, 3 RBI, 2R
1. David Purcey, Syracuse - 8IP, 2H, 0R, 0ER, 1BB, 9K, 10 GO, = W
Honourable Mentions...........
Syracuse - Wayne Lydon, Jorge Velandia, Tracy Thorpe.
New Hampshire - Daryl Harang, Zach Dials, Ryan Klosterman, Ryan Patterson, Brian Jeroloman, Jacob Butler.
Lansing - Edgar Estanga, Kevin Ahrens, Darin Mastroianni, C.J. Ebarb, Raul Barron, Adam Calderone, Wesley Stone.
Standings..............
Syracuse - 16-10,1.5 GB of Scranton/Wilkes-Barre - IL North, W2, 7-3 in Last 10.
New Hampshire, 8-15, 8.5 GB of Portland - EL North, W3, 5-5 in Last 10.
Dunedin, 14-11, 1.0 GA of Tampa - FSL West (Tied w/ Fort Myers & Sarasota), L1, 5-5 in Last 10.
Lansing, 14-10, 0.5 GA of Dayton - MWL East (Tied w/ West Michigan), W1, 6-4 in Last 10.
Today's Schedule/Probable Starters..............
Syracuse @ Lehigh Valley, 10:35 a.m. EDT - LHP Bill Murphy, SYR (2-1, 2.70) vs. RHP Ron Chiavacci, LV (1-2, 3.95).
Reading @ New Hampshire, 6:35 p.m. EDT - RHP Carlos Carrasco, REA (1-2, 3.91) vs. LHP Brett Cecil, NH (0-0, 0.00).
Dunedin @ Lakeland, 7:00 p.m. EDT - TBA, DUN vs. RHP Rick Porcello, LAK (1-4, 2.13).
Lansing vs. Quad Cities @ University of Iowa, 8:00 p.m. EDT - RHP Trystan Magnuson, LAN (0-2, 2.61) vs. RHP Mark Diapoules, QC (1-0, 0.00).
