Round Rock 2 @ Las Vegas 8 – Boxscore

Four pitchers threw for the 51s yesterday and all had previously spent time on the parent club’s roster this year. David Purcey started and went 6 innings, surrendering one earned run and one unearned run. If you’re hesitant about Purcey’s start, you have a right to be. His peripherals reveal that he allowed four hits and five walks for a 1.5 WHIP on the afternoon and nearly a walk an inning. Dirk Hayhurst, Brian Wolfe and Jeremy Accardo each threw a scoreless innig of relief.

Every Las Vegas batter reached base, beginning with leadoff man Buck Coats who had a single and 2 RBI. Howie Clark added a pair of hits, as did JP Arencibia who had a double and a run scored. Brian Dopirak had a single, Aaron Mathews had a walk and a run and Kevin Howard had a pair of walks and two runs. Jason Lane had a double, a walk, a run and 2 RBI and Anibal Sanchez had a pair of hits and a run. Finally, pushing for that improbable September promotion, Kyle Phillips tallied a single, a home run, two runs and 3 RBI.

Connecticut 4 @ New Hampshire 2 – Boxscore

The bats ran into the force that is Madison Bumgarner and there wasn’t much they could do. Actually, that’s not entirely true as they got both of their runs off Bumgarner in his 5 innings and touched him for four hits and three walks. Todd Donovan and Manny Mayorson each had two hits that included one double. Darin Mastroianni had a pair of doubles, a walk and a stolen base. Brad Emaus added a single and the runs were scored by Al Quintana and Jonathan Diaz, neither of whom had a hit.

Relatively new acquisition Sean Smith gave up one run over 4 innings. He turned the lead over to Tim Collins, who surrendered it after allowing two runs. One of the runs was unearned on Quintanta’s 16th error of the season. Collins’s ERA now sits at a ghastly, for him, 3.86. Leon Boyd came into the game with the bases loaded and surrendered both of Collins’s runs, which is tough as Collins retired both of Smith’s runners. Boyd went on to pitch 2.2 innings and allowed an unearned run on his own error. Nathan Starner pitched a scoreless ninth.

Clearwater 1 @ Dunedin 0 – Boxscore

This was the completion of the game suspended on August 7 and despite outhitting Clearwater 6-4 Dunedin could not find its way onto the scoresheet and lost 1-0. Vincent Bongiovanni started and a solo homer was the only hit he gave up over three innings. The game resumed in the fourth (I’m assuming) and Robert Bell pitched 5 scoreless innings. Scott Downs threw a rehab inning in the ninth and allowed a hit, a walk and struck out a batter.

Six different D-Jays each had one hit and the team drew three walks but could never get the key hit to cash in a run and tie the game. Brad McElroy and John Tolisano each had a hit and McElroy added a walk. Moises Sierra, Sean Shoffit and Luis Sanchez, all of whom went hitless, each added a walk. Manny Rodriguez, Jonathan Jaspe and Jesus Gonzalez had singles and Kevin Ahrens notched a triple. The only Dunedin hitter not to reach base was Adam Loewen who went 0-for-4 with four strikeouts.

Dunedin 2 @ Clearwater 4 (7 innings) – Boxscore

In the second game McElroy added a second walk and notched an RBI. Tyler Pastornicky and Sierra each had a hit and Sierra had the team’s other RBI. Rodriguez, Matthew Liuzza, Tolisano and Shoffit were all held hitless. Loewen and Raul Barron scored the runs, with the former going 1-for-3 with a pair of srikeouts and the latter picking up two hits.

Ryan Page started and gave up all the runs over 4.2 innings. One was unearned on a wild pickoff throw, but Page allowed nine hits and a walk in less than 5 innings. Alan Farina came in and didn’t allow either of the inherited runners to score. He didn’t surrender a run bu allowed three baserunners over 1.1 innings.

Lansing 15 @ Fort Wayne 7 – Boxscore

It was 8-0 after half an inning and Fort Wayne fans already knew they were going home unhappy. It was a good day to be a Lugnut at the plate as every starter had at least one hit except for Johermyn Chavez and his 0-for-5. Mark Sobolewski had four hits and 4 RBI, including a double and a home run. Leadoff hitter Chris Emanuele went 3-for-5 with 3 RBI and Michael McDade also had three hits. Ryan Goins, Antonio Jimenez and Justin McClanahan all had two hits, with McClanahan adding two runs and 2 RBI. Kenny Wilson scored two runs on a hit and a walk.

Chad Beck went 6 innings and gave up three runs, one unearned on a Ryan Goins error. Beck gave up five hits and four walks, while striking out five. Jonas Cuotto picked up a 3 inning save, although he allowed four runs on five hits and a pair of walks. It wasn’t the prettiest save of the year, but it was Cuotto’s best for Lansing, as it was his first.

Auburn 6 @ Lowell 8 – Boxscore

A trio of two-run innings weren’t enough for the Doubledays to topple the Spinners, as Lowell scored 8 and won 8-6. Scott Gracey fell to 1-7, as he allowed five runs over 4.2 innings. Gracey allowed nine hits and a pair of walks as he couldn’t get out of the fifth inning. David Miller inherited a pair of runners and prevented both from scoring and went on to pitch a scoreless sixth. Zach Outman, Zach Anderson and Willy Mendez each pitched 0.2 innings and combined to allow three runs. Anderson stranded two of Outman’s runners, but Mendez couldn’t return the favour to Anderson and allowed Zach’s runner to score.

Ryan Schmipf stepped up on Wendesday, but Thursday wasn’t nearly as nice to him as he went 0-4 with an error. Four Doubledays – Kevin Nolan, Wellinton Ramirez, Marcus Brisker and Karim Turkamani – each had two hits. Nolan and Ramirez each scored once, Brisker scored twice and had a pair of RBI and Turkamani had a pair of doubles and an RBI. Bradley Glenn and Luke Hopkins split the game in left and each made a contribution, as Glenn went 1-for-2 with a pair of RBI and Hopkins was 1-for-1 with a run and a walk.

GCL Phillies 11 @ GCL Blue Jays 5 (11 innings) – Boxscore

Houston’s Sam Strickland continued to struggle with his control in the Gulf Coast League as he walked four batters and struck out one. Strickland gave up five hits and four runs, three earned, over 3.1 innings. Leandro Mella struck out two over 1.2 innings in relief of Strickland. Lance Loftin struck out four over 2 innings and turned a 5-4 lead over to Evan Teague for a two inning save.

The offence was basically a four-man show, as Carlos Perez, Eric Thames, Nick Zaleski and Jack Murphy tried to lead the GCL Blue Jays to a win. Perez went 3-for-5 with a double and two runs. Thames went 1-for-3 with a walk and two runs while Murphy had two hits, a double, a walk and 2 RBI. Zaleski had quite the night at the plate with two doubles, 3 RBI, a walk and a run.

Teague surrendered the lead in the eighth inning, although he went on to pitch a scoreless ninth. A one-out error by Gustavo Pierre put a runner on second and a wild pitch advanced him to third before he scored on a single off Teague. Shawn Griffith replaced Teague for the tenth and struck out the side.

However, he wasn’t given a chance to come out for the eleventh, as Tyler Ybarra came into the game and let five of the first six batters reach base, three on walks. A fielding error by Pierre led to two runs and then another walk loaded the bases again. Aaron Loup came in and got out of the inning, although he allowed a two run single that scored two more of Ybarra’s runners.

Three Stars:
3rd Star – Chris Emanuele, 3-5, 2 R, 2B, 3 RBI, 4 TB and Kyle Phillips, 2-4, 2 R, HR, 3 RBI, 5 TB
2nd Star – Michael McDade, 3-5, 2 R, 2B, 3B, 2 BB, 6 TB
1st Star – Mark Sobolewski, 4-6, 2 R, 2B, HR, 4 RBI, 8 TB