Finally, the moment we've all been dreaming of: Vernon Wells and Travis Snider together in the same lineup. Probably not where you'd expect it to happen but it's still a nice glimpse at the future. So how'd they do? A combined 0-for-8 with 3 K's (all Snider's). Oh.
Wayne Lydon and Hector Luna were the offensive stars of this game as each drove in a pair. Luna's came on a two-run shot in the ninth, providing some nice insurance for the bullpen. Brian Jeroloman picked up his first AAA RBI with a fifth-inning single.
Now, as for the pitching. Who knew that the way to make Ricky Romero good was to simply promote him to the highest level of the minors? The still-only-23-year-old southpaw turned in his best start in a long time going seven innings, and allowing two runs on five hits. He walked three and struck out.....wait for it......ten! As for the other outs, nine came on the ground versus only one in the air. Hallelujah! Not to get ahead of myself, but that '2005 Draft Class' wing of the Hall of Fame had better save some space.
Anyway, the victory moved Romero to 1-1 in AAA and lowered his ERA to 2.12. Rick Bauer picked up his 18th save in relief while his brother Jack was saving the world yet again.
The Fisher Cats fell again to the....wait, what? They won? Now I've seen everything. Brandon Magee improved his record to 6-11 which is pretty impressive because he was 0-10 just a little while ago. He's still walking as many as he strikes out but he's finding a way to keep teams from scoring at will, so, that's good. Magee went 7.1 innings, allowing two runs on 8 hits while walking one and striking out four.
Brian Dopirak showed he isn't homesick, at least not yet. In his first game away from his hometown Dunedin, Dopirak went 3-for-4 with a double and two RBI. He was also featured on Baseball America's Prospect Hot Sheet as the 'Blast from the Past' which seems funny since he's still only 24. Imagine if they did hot sheets for gymnastic prospects? Blasts from the Pasts would be, like, eleven.
J.P. Arencibia and David Smith provided the rest of the offense with nearly identical lines. Both players went 1-for-4 with an RBI double and a run scored. Then they both wore the same shirt out to the bar after the game.
The recently demoted Michael MacDonald picked up his first AA save with 1.2 perfect innings in which he punched out three.
Save for Brad Emaus, the Dunedin offense was fairly useless on Friday. Emaus had three hits, including a double, walked and scored twice. David Cooper had a hit and a walk, as well. Feel free to look up how the rest of the guys did on your own.
Randy Boone took the loss after an unimpressive five innings in which he allowed four runs on eight hits and four walks against only two strikeouts.
Man, Justin Jackson was all over the boxscore. Jackson went 1-for-2, with a double, three walks, two runs scored, a stolen base (his fifteenth), and an error (his 20th). While Jackson was beetling around the bases, Jonathan Jaspe was busy driving everyone home. Jaspe was 2-for-4 with his sixth homer and three RBI. Also of note, Eric Eiland picked up his 21st stolen base on the year in just 67 games. Guess how many times he's been caught? Yup, none. Now, perhaps it's time to work on that .316 slugging percentage.
Marc Rzepczynski was as good as his name is confusing on Friday in picking up his seventh victory. The lefty went seven strong allowing a run on two hits. He walked two and struck out six as he lowered his ERA to 2.64. Frank Gailey finished things out with four strikeouts over two innings.
Twenty year-old Jon Del Campo is on a nice little tear. Over his past ten games, the third baseman is hitting a robust .385 with 6 RBI. Two of those came last night as the Doubledays picked up four runs in the second en route to a 5-1 victory. Del Campo and Joel Collins hit back-to-back triples in that decisive inning and Adam Amar had a pair of hits to help raise his OPS to .987.
Castillo Perez was impressive in picking up his fourth victory. The almost-21-year-old went six shutout frames and struck out five. Matthew 'Mad Eye' Moody pitched the final three innings and allowed a run on two hits.
The two teams combined for 29 hits in this one. Balbino Fuenmayor led the way for the Jays with three, including a double and a triple. After posting a .485 OPS in the GCL as a 17 year-old last year, The Great Balbino is up to .808 this season with a line of 298/365/443.
While everyone save for Markus Brisker had at least one hit, the pitchers all allowed a bunch as well. Ryan Page got the start and pitched well, throwing four shutout frames and allowing just four hits. But Yorman Mayora and Willi Mendez didn't fare as well combining for five runs on nine hits over their three innings.
Three Stars:
3rd Star (TIE!): Balbino Fuenmayor- 3-for-4, 2B, 3B & Marc Rzepczynski- 7 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 6 K
2nd Star: Justin Jackson- 1-for-2, 2B, 3 BB, 2 R, SB
1st Star: Ricky Romero- 7 IP, 5 H, 2 ER, 3 BB, 10 K.
(Isn't it awesome when the three [or four] stars are all legitimate prospects?)
