Two touchdowns and five stolen bases by one of the affiliates highlighted Monday's action on the farm. Another affiliate scored eight runs less but still managed to get by while a perfect game and no-hit bid went up in flames.
Salt Lake City, UT - It was a 1-2-3 victory in the linescore over the Angels affiliates as they scored their six runs in the first, third and seventh innings. As Jerry Howarth would say, it was a honey of a game.
Hitting - Moises Sierra singled the first run home and doubled home two more in the third as part of a three-hit night. Anthony Gose and Adam Lind teamed up to match Sierra's donation with one-run and two-run singles in the seventh respectively. Gose, Lind and Adeiny Hechavarria had two hits apiece. Ruben Gotay was 1-for-4 and Ricardo Nanita singled in his lone plate appearance after taking over for Mike McCoy, who had a walk. Jonathan Diaz heard ball four twice and Travis d'Arnaud heard it once. Chris Woodward was 0-for-4.
Running - Las Vegas was just 2-for-5 in stolen base attempts. McCoy and Gose were successful while Gose, Sierra and Diaz were not.
Pitching - Robert Coello (3-1) met the minimum innings requirement by pitching five frames of two-run, four-hit ball. One of the runs was unearned and the other was a homer. He struck out six, walked two and four of his seven outs were on the green. Clint Everts earned the hold by scattering two hits and a walk over three shutout innings. He whiffed three and split his four outs of play evenly on the ground and in the air. Jerry Gil plunked a hitter to highlight an otherwise uneventful ninth.
Fielding - Hechavarria fired one away from short and that directly led to Salt Lake's first run in the third. In the running game, d'Arnaud nailed a runner trying to steal second. Nanita replaced McCoy in left field in the bottom of the seventh (perhaps he's on the way to Baseball North).
Binghamton, NY - New Hampshire led 2-0 after scoring twice in the fourth but the B-Mets broke out for five runs in the sixth and another in the eighth.
Hitting - Kevin Howard's RBI single and Brad Glenn's sacrifice fly accounted for the Fisher Cats offence. Howard and Mark Sobolewski comprised 80 percent of New Hampshire's hit total with two singles apiece while Mike McDade had the other base hit. Howard, Brian Van Kirk and Brian Bocock each drew a base on balls and Van Kirk took one for the team to reach base twice without a hit. The other Brian, Brian Jeroloman, did not draw a walk so the needle for the BJBBM remains stuck at 7. Ryan Goins and Brad McElroy were 0-for-4 and 0-for-3 respectively.
Running - The running game did not meet expectations.
Pitching - For the first five innings, I thought I would have another Fisher Cats no-hitter to write about. Deck McGuire (2-6) shuffled through the Mets lineup with a 15-up, 15-down performance. However, the perfect game bid went out the window when he plunked the leadoff hitter in the sixth. The no-hit bid was ruined an out later by a single. McGuire lasted 5 1/3 innings and gave up just two hits, a walk and a hit batsman. He struck out a pair and got six of his 10 outs in play on the ground. Lefty Aaron Loup allowed both of McGuire's runners to score so McGuire was charged with four runs over 5 1/3. Loup only got one out and gave up a run of his own on a single, two walks and a hit by pitch. Ronald Uviedo, part of the no-hitter last week, stranded the bases loaded but was nicked for a run on three hits and a walk over 2 1/3 innings. He also joined the HBP club with McGuire and Loup.
Fielding - Uviedo picked off a runner from first.
Dunedin - Scheduled day off.
Lansing, MI - The Lugnuts put up a quick six in the first inning and never looked back against the Indians affiliate.
Hitting - Every Lugnut hitter reached base at least once. Jonathon Berti and Kevin Pillar had four hits apiece with Berti getting a double and an RBI while Pillar tripled and drove home a pair. Shane Opitz had a double among his three hits and plated home a pair while Carlos Perez added three singles and took one for the team. K.C. Hobson had two doubles, a walk and two RBI and Kevin Patterson had three walks, including one that brought home a run. Kenny Wilson had two singles and two RB while, Chris Hawkins had a single, a base on balls and a run batted in. Kellen Sweeney had a walk and a sacrifice fly.
Running - Berti stole three bases to run his total to 24 while Perez and Pillar had one each. Pillar is up to 18.
Pitching - Noah Syndergaard pitched four innings and surrendered three runs, but only one was earned. Only four hits showed up on his pitching line and his K-BB total was 5-0. Seven of his eight outs in play were confined to the infield. Anthony DeSclafani (4-1) got the win but did not pitch quite as well over his four innings. Three of his four runs were earned on five hits and a walk. He struck out three and atch Syndergaard's groundball total with two flyball outs. Javier Avendano walked one and struck out one in his scoreless frame.
Fielding - Syndergaard threw one away while Berti and Sweeney booted one each from the keystone and hot corner respectively.
*** 3 Stars!!! ***
3. Robert Coello, Las Vegas
2. Moises Sierra, Las Vegas
1. Jonathon Berti, Lansing
Extra Innings...
MLive.com has a chat up with Lugnuts manager John Tamargo Jr.
"Tamargo said coming into this season, he was aware of the top prospects on the Lugnuts’ roster, including Perez, Hawkins and pitchers Justin Nicolino, Noah Syndergaard and Aaron Sanchez. But he said he has been pleasantly surprised with some of the players not ranked as top prospects by Baseball America. Two of those “surprise” players are from Michigan: right-handed pitcher Jesse Hernandez from Grand Rapids and second baseman Jon Berti from Troy."
