Las Vegas - All-Star Break
Portland 9 at New Hampshire 5
The Fisher Cats ran into the Portland pitching staff buzz-saw. The hitters each struck out at least once, and as a team K'ed a ridiculous 17 times in the usual nine innings. Anthony Gose was a particularly notable victim, going 0-5 with 4 Ks. Mark Sobolewski had the best day, going 2-4 with a HR. Travis d'Arnaud singled and walked.
Joel Carreno got the start and wasn't too great, allowing four runs in four innings. Frank Gailey really put the Cats in a hole by allowing five runs in his two innings, and that was too much of a deficit for New Hampshire to overcome.
Dunedin 4 at Palm Beach 8
Deck McGuire deserved better. The 2010 draft pick pitched five solid innings, allowing eight base-runners leading to one earned run, and striking out five. Let's get an update on Deck's season stats: 92.2 IP, 80 H, 36 BB, 88 K, 8 HR, 0.74 GO/AO. Good stats, not elite, but he's probably a solid B prospect.
Letting McGuire down were Scott Gracey and Dumas Garcia, who combined to allow six runs in two innings.
None of the hitters had great games, though Brad McElroy and Ryan Goins each had two hits.
Lansing 4 at Lake County 6
Lansing was winning this one 4-2 for most of the game, and stayed ahead thanks mostly to Casey Lawrence, who almost duplicated Deck McGuire's line: 5.1 IP, 6 H, 1 BB, 5 K, 1 ER. Dustin Antolin picked Lawrence up with five perfect outs of relief, but Dayton Marze couldn't close it out, letting the Captains come back with four runs in the bottom of the eighth to earn the coveted blown save-loss combo.
Someone named Eli Boike had a great game for the Luggies, as he walked twice and hit a triple. Bryson Namba smacked a two-run homer.
Vancouver 9 at Spokane 6
Finally, Vancouver provides us with the first win of the night on the farm. At least, the first win in this decreasing-level-of-play order, not necessarily chronologically.
Anyway, Vancouver had a bit of a home run derby of their own, smacking four against the Indians. Two were hit by the Great Balbino, who also singled and walked, and one each were hit by Stephen McQuail and Pierce Rankin. All the Canadians got in on the offensive fun, but none more so than the aforementioned Balbino Fuenmayor, who had a huge game.
Pitching mention goes to Alesone Escalante, who pitched two perfect innings in relief.
Bluefield - no game scheduled
GCL Jays 3 at GCL Phillies 6
Highly-regarded prospect Griffin Murphy got the start and pitched fairly well, allowing two runs in five innings and striking out three. Unfortunately, his counterpart, Ramon Oviedo, was much better, and the G-Jays couldn't muster enough offense to win this game.
Chris Peters probably had the best game at the plate, which isn't saying much, as Peters had a triple and a walk.
DSL Braves 4 at DSL Jays 8
Steven Romero pitched three scoreless innings with four strikeouts. Angel Rojas reached base three times, and Kervin Santiago had 3 RBIs on two hits.
Three Stars!
3. Deck McGuire and Casey Lawrence
2. Pierce Rankin
1. Balbino Fuenmayor