Twenty-eight runs and 46 hits on the farm led to a 3 and 1 evening for our stars in waiting. Only Lansing came up short, while Las Vegas, New Hampshire and Dunedin turned in good plate performances to secure their wins.
The 51s tooled into Tuscon, bats-a-blazing and gave the home team a lumber lesson, hitting 16 and scoring 10. Winning pitcher Brad Mills (5-5) turned in an impressive 6.0 Ip, shutting out and 4 hitting Tuscon while handing out 8 Ks. Wil Ledezma, Sean Henn, and Danny Farquhar came on and pitched and inning each, with Henn allowing Tuscon’s only run.
The Las Vegas lumber lesson was a team effort with all batters hitting on the evening. The top plate performance came from David Cooper (4 for 5, R, K) with 4 hits. The run production, however, was provided by Craig Stansberry (2 for 4, HR, 3RBIs BB, K) who homered in first. Travis Snider (2 for 5, HR, RBI) added a solo blast in the 4th. Eric Thames (1 for 4, 2B, 2 RBIs, 2Ks) and Danny Perales (2 for 4, 2RBIs, 2 Ks) each drove in a pair as well. Ryan Budde (2 for 4, 2R, 2B, BB) smacked a pair of hits including a double.
Starting pitcher Henderson Alverez (3-1) treated 6,945 home fans to a win over Richmond with 6.2 IP, 2R, 0 BB and 6K’s. Chad Beck and Bobby Korecky came on, combining for a pair of IP in shut-out relief. Adeiny Hechavarria (0 for 3, BB, K) booted his 6th error of the year in the ninth.
Man Mountain Mike McDade (0 for 3, 2RBIs, K) didn’t hit, but batted in a pair on a sac fly and a ground out. Darin Mastroianni (2 for 4, K) stole a pair of bases, his 10th and 11th of the year. Moises Sierra (2 for 2, R, RBI, 2BB) and Ricardo Nanita (2 for 4, R, RBI) also turned in multi hit performances. Travis d’Arnaud (1 for 4, 2B, RBI) batted in one with a double, while John Tolisano (0 for 3, RBI, 2Ks) drove in one with a sac fly. Mark Sobolewski (1 for 4, K) added a single.
429 Dunedin faithful came out on a steamy evening to see the baby Jays best Brevard in a slugfest of 25 total hits at Florida Auto Exchange stadium. Ryan Shopshire (1-1) was the winning pitcher with just 1.1 IP. Starter Nestor Molina tossed 4.2 IP with 5 Ks but allowed no less than 11 hits (including 2 homers), while giving up 7 earned runs. Shortstop Kevin Nolan (3 for 5, 2R, HR,K) knotched his 3rd error of the year.
Putting the fielding error behind him, Nolan topped the Dunedin offence parade with a 2 run homer in the fifth inning. He had three hits overall and batted in 3. Brian Van Kirk (2 for 3, R, 2B, HR, RBI, BB, K) added 2 extra base hits to the effort. John Talley (1 for 4, 2B, RBI, K) batted in a pair as well. The other run producer was Justin Jackson (2 for 5, RBI, 2K) who continued his strong year at the plate, now batting .310. DH Brad Glenn (1 for 5, 2B, RBI) and Ivan Contreras (1 for 4, R, 2K) each plated one. Chris Hopkins (1 for 2, 2BB) added a single as well.
Cedar Rapids brought out 2,377 home fans to see them loosen the Luggies Friday night, despite being out hit by Lansing 9 to 7. Daniel Webb (4-5) took the loss tossing 3.1 IP with 4 runs (2 earned) while striking out two and walking five. He was relieved by Brandon Berl for a pair of innings and Danny Barnes finished up with hitless and run free relief, striking out an impressive seven in just 2.1 innings of work. Gustavo Pierre (1 for 4, 3B) continued his shocking defensive struggle of 2011 by committing his 33rd error of the season, a run costing fielding muff in the fourth.
Lansing spaced out 9 hits, producing a paltry pair of runs on the evening. Batting highlights by the Luggies included Jake Marsnick (2 for 4, RBI) and Marcus Knecht (2 for 3, BB, K) who had the only multi hit performances Friday night. The other Marcus, Marcus Brisker (1 for 5, 2R, HR, RBI, 2 K) scored all of Lansing’s runs, including a solo round tripper in the third. Carlos Perez (1 for 5), K.C. Hobson (1 for 2, 3BB) and Bryson Namba (1 for 4, 2K) all added singles.
Three Stars:
3rd Star Danny Barnes – 2 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 7 Ks
2nd Star Craig Stansberry – 2 for 4, HR, 3 RBIs, BB, K
1st Star Brad Mills - 6.0 IP, 0 R, 4 H, 8 Ks
