Brad Mills was in an early hole in this game. In the first inning he gave up two singles and a double steal to put runners at second and third with two out. JP Arencibia tried a pick-off and threw the ball away allowing an unearned run. In the second a two run home run made it 3-0. Las Vegas started to come back in the third inning, Arencibia doubled in Buck Coats to make it 3-1. In the sixth Arencibia walked and singles by Brett Harper and Jason Lane loaded the bases with no-one out. Kyle Phillips hit a sac fly to make the score 3-2 but Aaron Mathews hit into a double play to end the threat.
Mills pitched ino the eighth inning and left with one on and one out. TJ Beam came on and gave up a two run home run to Brandon Boggs and Vegas were down 5-2 heading to the bottom of the ninth. Lane singled to lead off the ninth, Phillips walked and Mathews singled to load the bases. Kevin Howard singled in two runs, Randy Ruiz made the first out, Buck Coats singled to re-load the bases and Howie Clark doubled in two runs to win the game.
Mills pitched 7.1 innings giving up three earned runs on eight hits and one walk. Mills had two K's and threw 110 pitches, 74 strikes. Coats had 4 hits, Clark, Lane and Mathews had two each.
Brandon Magee started for the Cats and gave up one run in the first before blowing up real good in the second. Four walks, a couple of wild pitches, and two singles led to four more runs and Magee was yanked with one out in the second and the Cats trailed 5-1. New Hampshire had scored a run in the first on a sac fly and got two more back in the second inning, Sean Shoffit tripled in Brian Jeroloman and Al Quintana. But Shoffit was stranded at third as the next two hitters made outs.
The Fisher Cats scored another run in the fifth but also blew a chance to tie the game. Todd Donovan, Adam Calderone and Brad Emaus each singled to start the inning and one run scored to make it a 5-4 game. But with the tying run on second and no-one out Dopirak and Cooper made outs and Jeroloman singled but Calderone was thrown out at home on the play. In the sixth the Fisher Cats parlayed a couple of lead-off walks into the tying run. But in the seventh Bubbie Buzachero put two runners on with two outs but then he got a ground ball to Brian Dopirak who threw it away to allow the unearned run to score and that was the margin. In the bottom of the ninth Cody Haerther led off with a pinch hit double and moved to third on a sacrifice. Adam Calderone then grounded back to the pitcher who cut down the runner from third trying to score.
Cooper and Shoffit had two hits each for the Fisher Cats.
Kenny Rodriguez was not at his best in this start and he wasn't helped by another Justin Jackson error. Rodriguez gave up five hits and three walks in five innings leading to three runs but one was unearned due to the error. Dunedin had to face first round pick Mark Rogers for two innings, Canadian John Axford for one inning then first round pick Jeremy Jeffress. The Jays got to Jeffress for three runs in the fifth, Jesus Gonzalez did the damage with a three run home run. Zach Dials made his first appearance in a few weeks and pitched a perfect sixth inning with two K's. Trystan Magnuson and Bobby Bell each pitched a shutout inning and Tim Collins pitched the ninth. But Collins gave up a solo home run and that was enough for him to take the loss.
Lansing jumped out to a quick lead with two solo home runs in the first inning from Kenny Wilson and Brian Van Kirk. Chad Beck who had been with Dunedin made the start but gave up a three runs in two plus innings before Ryan Koch replaced him and he immediately gave up three runs to put the Lugnuts down 6-2 after three. Lansing got another back in the fourth when Balbino Fuenmayor doubled in a run but Cedar Rapids got two more in the bottom of the inning. Van Kirk doubled in a run in the fifth but Koch gave up five more in the bottom of the fifth. Koch was charged with ten runs in two innings. Cedar Rapids added a couple more runs in the eighth for an emphatic win.
Van Kirk and Sobolewski had two hits each.
Three Stars
3rd star - Jason Lane
2nd star - Brad Mills
1st star - Howie Clark
Standings
Las Vegas - 17-25, 3rd place, 8 GB
New Hampshire - 22-21, 2nd place, 2.5 GB
Dunedin - 15-24, last place, 12 GB
Lansing - 14-26, last place, 13.5 GB
