The impressive bats on the top part of farm made us proud Saturday. Las Vegas and New Hampshire were strong at the plate and on the mound. Dunedin suffers 3rd loss in as many outings.
16 hits and 4 hit pitching. A manager’s dream. 11,176 Fresno home fans saw the 51s put on a raking lesson at the expense of their Grizzlies. Luis Perez (1-0) got the win with five innings of great work, yielding 4 runs and 4 hits, while impressively strike out 6. Winston Abreu, Sean Henn, and Mike Hinkley combined for a cool 4 hits and 4 Ks in 4 innings of work. Darin Mastrioanni (1 for 6, RBI) suffered a fielding error, as did Chris Woodward (2 for 4, HR, 2RBIs).
Rakers in Chief with 3 batted in each for the 51s were David Cooper (4 for 5, 2B, 3 RBIs) and Manny Mayorson (3 for 4, 2B, 3RBIs). Others producing RBIs on the evening were Woodward with 2 RBIs, Mastrioanni with an RBI, and Eric Thames (2 for 5, 2B, RBI) added one as well. Cooper’s 4 hits led the multi-hit parade with Mayorson (3 hits), while Thames and Brett Lawrie (2 for 5, 3B) scratched up two each for their efforts. Mastrioanni, DH Ryan Shealy (1 fo4) and Jason Lane (1 for 5) each added a single. So everybody hit except Ryan Budde (0 for 3, 2BB) and he was on base twice with 2 BBs.
Except for Anthony Gose (0 for 4), 8 of 9 in the line-up get their share of 12 hits. Two hits off your starter, one more off the bullpen. No errors in the field. You win. Funny how that works. B.J. LaMura (1-0) got the win and was brilliant in Saturday’s start, striking out 8 and giving up only 2 hits in 6 innings of work. Evan Crawford, Bobby Korecky and Alan Farina provided some good work from the pen. Farina earned his first save by getting the last out in the 9th. And then there’s base running with 3B Craig Stansberry (2 for 4) stealing his 3rd base in just 2 games worked.
“Man Mountain” Mike McDade (4 for 4, 2B, RBI) extended his on fire hitting with a perfect day at the plate. Stansberry, who singled twice, was the other Fisher Cat with a multiple hit game. New Hampshire’s RBIs came from McDade, Adeiny Hechaverria (1 for 4, 2B, RBI), Adam Calderone (1 for 4, 2B, RBI) and DH Ricardo Nanita (1 for 4, RBI). In the last two games, the Fisher Cats put up an impressive total of 22 hits.
Dunedin suffered their third loss in as many games at the hands of the Clearwater Threshers. Baby Jay pitching gave up 11 hits and 4 runs while their bats could muster only a pair of runs on 7 hits. Ryan Shopshire (0-1) gave up 3 earned runs on 5 hits in the 8th inning and took the loss. Starter Chad Beck had a decent 5.1 innings pitched with 1 run on 4 hits while deftly striking out 7.
The D-Jays spread out 7 hits and brought in a paltry 2 runs in the fifth inning on consecutive 3 baggers. Ryan Goins’ (1 for 3, 3B, RBI) two out triple scored A.J. Jimenez (0 for 2, 2BB) who had walked. That was followed by Kenny Wilson’s (1 for 3, 3b, RBI) triple scoring Goins.
Lansing vs West Michigan (postponed – three games in a row)
THREE STARS:
Third Star: (Tie) Chris Woodward (2 for 4, HR, 2 RBIs) Mike McDade (4 for 4, 2B, RBI)
Second Star: Manny Mayorson (3 for 4, 2B, 3RBIs)
First Star: David Cooper (4 for 5, 2B, 3RBIs)
