It must have been an exciting day in Las Vegas, with several lead changes, extra-inning scoring by both teams, and a walk-off victory for the 51s. Rain plagued two of the other affiliates, and Dunedin played the only 9 inning game on the night.
Colorado Springs 5 at Las Vegas 6 (11 innings)
They needed 11 innings to finish it in Las Vegas, meaning there was no way I was writing this minor league update last night. You know, that may be the worst part about the Jays' AAA affiliate moving out west. Anyway, Wade Miller got the start and was decent over 5 innings, surrendering 2 runs - the first on a ground out to Randy Ruiz (it could have simply been a roller that he had no chance on, but this makes two Monday MLUs in a row that Ruiz has had his defense called into question), and the second on a HR hit by sometimes major leaguer Matt Murton. Miller left in a tie game, but in the 6th the 51s moved ahead on a pair of doubles by Ruiz (which makes the 2nd Monday MLU in a row that Ruiz has redeemed himself with his offense) and J.P. Arencibia.
But the lead was not Las Vegas' to keep, as the Sky Sox tied it up in the 8th off of Bryan Bullington, who was otherwise quite effective, pitching 3 innings with 4 Ks. After a scoreless 9th, both teams plated one in the 10th. T.J. Beam took over for Jeremy Accardo and gave up an unearned run caused by two errors, one by Scott Campbell and one by Beam himself. Fortunately, the 51s plated two in the bottom of the inning on a Russ Adams RBI double and a walk-off single by the man of the hour (or the man of my 2 MLUs to date), Randy Ruiz.
There were a number of solid individual offensive performances from the 51s: Adams was 3-6 with 2 doubles, Jason Lane went 2-5 with a triple, Arencibia was 3-5 with a two-bagger, and Buck Coats hit a solo homer.
New Hampshire 0 at Connecticut 0 (suspended through 5 innings)
Not much offense to speak of in this one. Fabio Castro was Fabcastic through 5 innings, surrendering 1 hit, no walks, and striking out ten Defenders. Connecticut's Brooks McNiven was just as effective, allowing 3 hits and 1 walk with no K's. Brad Emaus had 2 of New Hampshire's hits and Adam Calderone had the third.
It was a battle of teams-who-have-the-same-name-as-their-major-league-affiliate-and-whose-city-starts-with-D as the D-Jays squared off against the D-Cubs. Robert Ray got the start and only lasted 3 2/3 innings, surrendering 7 hits but only 3 runs, 2 earned, which isn't that bad. Unfortunately, the D-Jays couldn't come back, as they only scored 2 runs on the day - in the 6th, Darin Mastroianni tripled and scored on a Justin Jackson ground out, and then in the 7th Moises Sierra blasted a solo homer. The D-Cubs scored 2 more runs off Alan Farina, and 1 off Trystan Magnuson to make this a 6-2 final.
Eric Thames went 1-3 with a BB, and Sierra added a single to go along with his homer.
West Michigan at Lansing - postponed
Three Stars!
3. Moises Sierra, 2-4 with a HR
2. The Las Vegas 1-5 hitters - Russ Adams, Buck Coats, Randy Ruiz, Jason Lane, J.P. Arencibia each had good days at the plate.
1. Fabio Castro for a brilliant albeit suspended pitching performance.
