That's because no one else sure as hell did on Monday! It was a light night on the minor league front with Las Vegas, New Hampshire and Lansing having the night off.
Clearwater, FL - Jon Talley's three-run homer and Jack Murphy's two-run double gave Dunedin a 5-0 lead after a half-inning. Murphy's RBI double in the sixth interrupted Clearwater's nine runs in a row and Michael Crouse knocked one over the wall in the eighth. Talley, Murphy and Crouse had two hits apiece and Marcus Knecht had a double, a single and a walk. Kevin Nolan doubled and walked and Ryan Schmipf singled and walked. Jonathan Jones singled once in four at-bats, leaving Jake Marisnick as the only D-Jay without a hit. He did, however, draw a walk. On the basepaths, Schimpf, Nolan and Crouse were each caught stealing. With the gloves, Talley botched one at first and Knecht threw one away from right field.
Ryan Tepera emerged with a WHIP of over 2.00 in his first start back with Dunedin. He lasted three innings in which the Phillies affiliate scored three runs on five hits and a walk. All three runs came in the second inning and one was unearned on a Talley error. Tepera struck out four and also plunked a batter. The Dunedin debut for Jesse Hernandez (0-1) was a smash hit - for the Threshers. He was thrashed around for six runs on eight hits over 1 1/3 while striking out one. Lefty Boomer Potts stranded a runner for Hernandez and survived a hit batsman in his scoreless two-thirds of an inning. Dayton Marze saw two runs cross the plate on four hits, a walk and a plunk over his two innings while whiffing one. Alan Farina struck out one in a clean ninth inning.
Spokane, WA - A two-run double by Balbino Fuenmayor in the first was all the C's would really need over the Rangers affiliate. Dalton Pompey accounted for the third run with a leadoff walk to start the fifth, proceeded to steal second and third and scampered home on a throwing error by the catcher. Fuenmayor topped things off in the fifth with a solo homer, his second of the year. Matt Johnson singled home a run in the sixth and Dan Klein had an RBI double in the seventh before clubbing a three-run dinger in the ninth. Fuenmayor paced the Vancouver attack with three hits while Johnson had two hits, a walk and a stolen base. Klein, Nicholas Baligod and Jordan Leyland had two-hit games. Kellen Sweeney doubled and was plunked while Pompey walked twice. Derrick Chung chipped in with a double while Matt Newman had a base on balls.
Lefty Colton Turner threw the first three innings in which Spokane got their only run. Turner allowed the sole Spokane hit and two walks while getting a hat trick worth of strikeouts. Lefty Bobby Brosnahan (1-0) was perfect over three innings by striking out three while getting three of his five outs in play on the ground. Philip Brua issued just one walk and struck out a batter over two shutout frames and Drew Permison worked an uneventful ninth.
GCL Pirates 13 GCL Blue Jays 3
Dunedin, FL - Argh, matey! Lefty John Anderson (0-1) could not settle in as he gave up four runs in the first. The first run scored courtesy of a walk, a hit by pitch, a wild pitch and a ground out. Anderson gave up three more runs on three hits, including a triple, and struck out one. He did retire the side in the second before giving way to fellow southpaw Zak Adams, who fared much worse over his 2 2/3 innings. He was burned for seven runs on nine hits and two walks. Luis Mendez completed the sixth inning but not before allowing a hit that led to an inherited run scoring. The Bucs got to Mark Biggs for a two-run homer over his two innings of work, which also included two more hits and a walk. Adonys Cardona worked around a hit and a walk in a scoreless ninth and set a team high with two Ks.
Gabriel Cenas blasted a two-run homer in the fourth to score Seth Conner and Conner's sacrifice fly in the sixth accounted for the other run. Conner had two singles and was plunked by a pitch and Jesus Gonzalez belted two doubles. Cenas walked once and D.J. Davis was aboard twice with a single and a hit by pitch but struck out twice. Anthony Alford had a single but the six-through-nine spots in the order - Emilio Guerrero, Wuilmer Becerra, Justin Atkinson and Dawel Lugo - were a combined 0-for-15. Of note, Davis was picked off first and made an error in left but also threw out a runner at second.
San Pedro de Macoris, DR - A Ronniel Demorizi RBI single and a wild pitch resulted in a 2-0 lead for the Jays in the second inning. Demorizi lifted a sacrifice fly in the sixth and a wild pitch led to the final run in the ninth. Gustavo Perinan had the best batting line of the night by going 3-for-4 with a double and a walk. Angel Rojas had two hits and a walk and Cesar Barazarte singled twice and scored twice. Juan Kelly had a pair of walks and a stolen base while Andres Sotillo took one for the team in a pinch-hit appearance and scored a run. Deiferson Barreto and Juan Tejada were 0-for-5, Kervin Santiago and Roberto Vahils were a combined 0-for-4 and Luis Martin was 0-for-3. Defensively, Rojas threw two away at first base, Perinan chucked one away from third and Santiago airmailed one from behind the dish to give the Dom-Jays a four error game.
Jesus Tinoco got the start and surrendered two runs on two walks and a hit over three frames. He only whiffed one but five of his seven outs in play were on the grass. Luis De La Rosa (2-1) suffered the loss as he was tagged for five runs without recording an out. Two of the runs were unearned as he yielded three hits, walked a batter and hit one. Wilmin Lara went 1 2/3 innings but allowed a De La Rosa runner to score and gave up five runs. One of the runs was unearned as Lara allowed two hits while walking three and plunking one. Osman Gutierrez bailed out Lara by stranding the bases loaded and pitched 2 1/3 scoreless innings. He was nicked for just one hit while striking out three. Lefty Miguel Burgos turned in some impressive relief as well with two scoreless frames, allowing just one hit while ringing up four Ks.
*** 3 Stars!!! ***
3. Jon Talley, Dunedin. Hitting .304 with 5 HR, 35 RBI.
2. Bobby Brosnahan, Vancouver. Free agent signing from University of Michigan won his professional debut.
1. Balbino Fuenmayor, Vancouver. Four multi-hit games to start the year and is batting .474.
Extra Innings...
- In case you missed it, The Toronto Star had a feature about Adam Lind in Las Vegas.
- MLB.com gets comments from Las Vegas hitting coach Chad Mottola on Lind, Travis d'Arnaud and Anthony Gose.
- CBC.ca has an article about Drew Hutchison and his former Lansing skipper Mike Redmond.
- The Nashua Telegraph looks at how infielder Kevin Nolan is doing in Dunedin.
- The Bluefield Daily Telegraph talks to pitchers Daniel Norris and Joe Musgrove as they get ready to start the year in Bluefield.
- TriCities.com also speaks with Norris.
- NavySports.com talks to Bluefield Blue Jays outfielder Alex Azor.
- MLive.com shines the spotlight on Lansing closer Ajay Meyer.
- The Vancouver Sun chats with C's manager Clayton McCullough and looks at the team's Canadian content. They also chew the fat with shortstop Jorge Flores.
