This one was close until the 6th when Las Vegas struck for 2 and Round Rock promptly responded with a 4 spot to put them ahead for good. Making his second rehab start for Las Vegas, Jesse Litsch has been finding AAA a tougher go round than A ball. In six innings he gave up 4 hits and walked none, but still managed to give up 5 runs, 3 of which were earned. His groundball rate was also good, with 8 of 12 outs in play coming on the ground. Zach Jackson also got lit up in relief, allowing hits and a walk in two innings; somehow he was able to escape allowing only 2 runs. Las Vegas actually outhit Rolling Rock 12-10 in the loss, and were paced by J.P. Arencibia's 4 for 4 night and Chris Lubanksi's 3 hit effort. Both players homered, and J.P. had 3 doubles giving him 10 total bases. He's now hitting .259/.313/.469. Pretty much no other 51 did anything though, as evidenced by the fact that those players combined for 3 runs and 4 RBI, pretty much the team's entire total. Brett Wallace and Brian Dopirak both singled.
New Hampshire 8 at New Britain 7
This was a wild one folks. There was scoring in every inning but the third and both teams scored in 6 different innings as the game went 2-1, 2-2, 3-3, 4-5, 5-6, 7-6, 8-6 and finally 8-7 for the good guys, and all of this on only 20 hits. Eric Thames was the star for the Fisher Cats, going 3 for 5 and finishing a double short of the cycle, scoring two and cashing two. David Cooper homered, Jonathan Jaspe had two base knocks and Adam Calderone walked twice and scored, as did Manny Mayorson, who also stole a base. Pitchingwise things weren't as pretty, as Randy Boone gave up 5 in 5, the first time he's allowed more than 2 runs in a month. He gave up 7 hits and 3 walks against 5 punchouts. Vince Bongiovanni picked up his 5th win in 13 games after allowing a run, though on the season he's walked more than he's whiffed and is allowing over two baserunners an inning. Trystan Magnuson and Tim Collins pitched scoreless innings and Danny Farquhar picked up his 11th save despite allowing a run.
Another high scoring low hitting affair, this time in Dunedin, as Charlotte and the D-Jays combined for 14 runs on 16 hits, 9 for Dunedin. John Tolisano and Welinton Martinez were the only starters without a hit and Tyler Pastornicky had 3, with everyone else getting one. Adeiny Hechavarria tripled and is now hitting .283/.295/.433 in 60 at bats, and Michael McDade added his 10th home run on the year, a two run shot, and now sports an .842 OPS. Travis d'Arnaud and Brian Van Kirk both doubled, with Van Kirk's plating two. The shaky pitching continued down the system, and Andrew Liebel was the victim this time. He also gave up 5 runs, on six hits with a 3/3 K/BB. Shawn Griffin also gave up a run, but Alan Farina and Matthew Daly shut the door with two perfect innings, the later leading to Daly's 14th save on the year.
West Michican went ahead 4-2 in the 5th and that was that, despite getting outhit 8-5 by the Lugnuts. Innoportune errors, wild pitches and walks will do that to you. Ryan Shopshire started for Lansing and it did not go well. At one point he threw 8 straight balls and then a wild pitch, on his way to 3 free passes, five hits and 4 runs in 4.1 innings. He also struck out 3. Nestor Molina and Dustin Antolin followed up with 4.2 hitless innings but by that point it was too late, as the Lugnuts could muster little off the West Lansing pitchers. Their only two runs scored on a fourth inning Balbino Fuenmayor home run. Fuenmayor also walked, and Mark Sobolewski added two hits, but that was about it. Lugnut manager Sal Fasano also got tossed for reasons I cannot immediately ascertain.
3 Stars!
Third Star: Chris Lubanski 3/4 2B, HR, 2 R, 2 RBI
Second Star: Eric Thames 3/5 2B, 3B, HR, 2 R, 2 RBI
First Star: J.P. Arencibia 4/4, 3 2B, HR, 1 R, 2 RBI
