Albuquerque, NM - Danny Perales singled in the first run of the game and Ricardo Nanita lifted a sacrifice fly to give the 51s a 2-0 lead in the top of the first. The offence rallied to tie the game at 4-4 in the sixth against the Dodgers affiliate on Perales' two-run homer. A wild pitch produced Las Vegas' final run in the ninth. Perales and Adeiny Hechavarria had two-hit nights and Mike McDade singled and walked. Kenen Bailli also had a base hit.
Mississauga native Shawn Hill (6-1) was beaten around for six runs on a dozen hits and two walks over six frames. He only struck out one and six of his 14 outs in play remained in the infield. Jim Hoey endured a rough seventh inning-plus by giving up two runs on three hits and two walks with one strikeout. He did not retire any of the four hitters he faced in the eighth. Chris Jakubauskas stranded two of Hoey's three runners by pitching one inning of shutout ball.
Erie 9 New Hampshire 7 (17 Innings)
Manchester, NH - The Fisher Cats used a John Tolisano triple and Jake Marisnick sacrifice fly to score a run in the first. London, Ontario's Brad McElroy scored a run with a groundball out in the fifth while Ryan Goins and Ryan Schimpf each launched a two-run homer in the ninth to force the game into extras. A Kevin Howard homer in the eleventh kept the game going even longer. Goins was 4-for-6 with a walk and Howard was 3-for-5, finishing a triple short of the cycle. Tolisano and Brad Glenn had a walk to go along with their hits. Every Fisher Cat had at least one hit but Brian Bocock finished with a golden sombrero while Tolisano, McElroy and Sean Ochinko had a hat trick.
Fernando Hernandez pitched 5 2/3 innings and surrendered five runs, two were unearned after an error by McElroy in left. The Tigers affiliate got to him for eight hits and a walk but he struck out two and induced eight groundouts. Joel Carreno allowed an inherited runner to score and saw another cross the plate on three hits over 1 1/3 innings but he did whiff a pair. Vancouver native Trystan Magnuson worked two perfect frames with a strikeout. In overtime, Sam Dyson gave up a run on two hits over two innings but did rack up four outs on the ground. Matt Daly worked an inning that featured a hit, a walk, a strikeout and zero runs. Michael Dubee contributed three shutout innings of one-hit ball and struck out a trio of SeaWolves. Chorye Spoone (2-2) pitched two innings but saw two runs score on two hits and a walk while striking out one.
Palm Beach, FL - Dunedin rallied from a 3-0 deficit with two runs in the sixth, two more in the seventh and three in the eighth against the Reds affiliate. Oliver Dominguez drove in a run with a single to cap off the sixth and launched a two-run bomb in the eighth. Kevin Pillar knocked one home with a single, Jonathan Jones did the same with a ground ball and Kenny Wilson doubled in the final run. Dominguez was 3-for-4 while Wilson and Jon Talley were both 2-for-5 with a double. Toronto's Marcus Knecht doubled and walked.
Casey Lawrence (7-5) lasted seven innings and his nine groundball outs helped offset his lone strikeout. The Cardinals scored three times off Lawrence with seven hits and a walk. Dayton Marze overcame a hit and a walk and struck out one in a scoreless eighth and Randy Boone worked a clean ninth.
Dayton, OH - Much like Dunedin, Lansing scored a come-from-behind win with a two-run rally in the sixth. K.C. Hobson knotted up the game at 2-2 with a two-run double, Chris Hawkins gave the Lugnuts the lead for good with an RBI single in the eighth and bases-loaded walks by Hawkins and Kevin Patterson added two insurance runs in the ninth. Hawkins was 2-for-3 with a walk and a stolen base and Shane Opitz was 2-for-4 with a double. Hobson had a walk to go along with his single but Nick Baligod, recently up from Vancouver, had the most interesting line of the night by going 0-for-1 with three runs scored and four walks.
A passed ball by Aaron Munoz and an error by Gustavo Pierre at third resulted in two unearned run for Anthony DeSclafani. He scattered five hits, a walk and a hit by pitch over six frames and struck out two to lower his earned run average to 2.96. Ian Kadish (1-0), just up from Vancouver, earned the win with two punchouts over 1.2 perfect innings. Lefty Tyler Ybarra got a hold for striking out the lone hitter he faced. Ajay Meyer gave up just one hit and struck out a batter in the ninth for his 29th save.
17 year-old Roberto Osuna fires his first pitch in Vancouver, a 91 mile per hour fastball that was fouled back.
Vancouver, BC - The C's bounced back from a crushing series loss to Everett by completing a three-game sweep of the Giants affiliate. Roberto Osuna, after whiffing a baker's dozen batters in his first Vancouver start, did not fare nearly as well as this one. He surrendered four runs on six hits and two walks over three innings. The 17 year-old did strike out four with three of his four outs put into play on the ground. Nick Purdy (2-1) of Cobourg, Ontario was the winning pitcher. He overcame a bases loaded situation created on a single, walk and bunt single by getting a 3-2-3 double play and a 5-3 groundout. Purdy pitched two scoreless innings with two hits, two BBs and a K. Bryan Longpre struck out two over two scoreless inning and Jonathan Lucas finished with a one-hit ninth.
The C's scored in every inning except the third. A Balbino Fuenmayor sacrifice fly and an Art Charles double accounted for a two-run first. After a long first inning, Salem-Keizer went to the bullpen to start the second. Jorge Flores tied the game at 3-3 with a two-out single but was thrown out trying to reach second. Ian Parmley's RBI groundout tied the game at 4-4 in the fourth while an Art Charles run-scoring grounder and error gave Vancouver the lead for good in the fifth. A Flores fielder's choice and a Matt Newman double in the sixth made it 8-4 Vancouver. Daniel Arcila doubled in a run in the seventh. Fuenmayor tripled in a run and Charles' RBI grounder produced the final two runs in the eighth. Flores, Newman, Fuenmayor and Arcila each had a pair of hits and only Fuenmayor did not get a walk but he did double and triple. Sweeney had a single and a walk.
Extra Notes
Robert Osuna - His fastball velocity was around 91-95 miles per hour and his strikeouts came on swing and misses of 92, 94, 79 (the ol' Uncle Charlie) and 92 respectively. Salem-Keizer did foul off a good number of pitches in the first inning, running up his pitch count and the first two hitters of the game eventually reached on walks. He struggled with his fastball command by missing high in the strike zone and pitching coach Jim Czajkowski paid him a visit to the mound during the first inning. Osuna gave up a single to the third hitter, resulting in a run.
After the C's offence responded with two runs of their own in a first inning that took about 45 minutes to complete, Osuna missed high on the first three pitches to the leadoff hitter in the second but threw a strike and then got a groundball out. After allowing a single, Osuna gave up a bouncer (not exactly scalded) over the head of third baseman Kellen Sweeney that resulted in a double and an error by Matt Newman in left resulted in a run scored and a runner at third. The next S-K hitter lifted a fly ball to right and Carlos Ramirez fired a one-hop throw to the plate and catcher Dan Klein could not come up with it and that led to the second run. Then the leadoff man for the Volcanoes dropped a bunt between third and the mound and it appeared there was confusion between who would take the ball, Osuna or Sweeney. Neither of them did and it resulted in a bunt single.
Osuna did get the last out of the second and retired the next two hitters to start the third. A seeing-eye single up the middle past second baseman Daniel Arcila and a double resulted in another run but he ended the frame and his outing with a strikeout. It was going to be hard to live up to his C's debut in Everett but he did not look particularly rattled for a 17 year-old. It's too bad his pitch count was elevated, especially in the first, but I hope to get to see more of him before the month is out.
Jorge Flores goes from first to third on a Matt Newman single and would score the first Vancouver run on a Balbino Fuenmayor sacrifice fly.
Hitting-wise, the offence did a great job of grinding out at-bats. Jorge Flores must have worked the pitchers for at least 20 pitches total for both of his first two at-bats. He drew a walk in the first and scored before singling home a run in the second. He had the dirtiest uniform for the C's, who were in their white unis in this one. Daniel Arcila, Art Charles and Balbino Fuenmayor all had wall-banging doubles and they probably would have been out if not for the extremely high fence at Nat Bailey Stadium. Fuenmayor had a triple that could have been an inside the park job had he had a little bit more speed after the left fielder dove for the ball and came up empty. He also did a nice job of starting a 3-2-3 double play to bail out Nick Purdy in a bases-loaded, nobody out jam in the fourth.
Johnson City, TN - Deivy Estrada (2-4) was burned for five runs over five innings, but two of the runs were earned thanks to six errors on the night. The Cardinals reached Estrada for seven hits that included a home run and a walk. He collected two Ks and had a groundout-flyout ratio of 11-3. Colby Broussard was also victimized by the defence with two unearned runs on two over two frames but he struck out three and did not walk anyone. Belmont, Ontario lefty Shane Davis pitched a one-hit ninth with one strikeout.
Santiago Nessy drove in four of the Bluefield runs with three singles in the fifth, seventh and ninth innings and Christian Frias singled home the other run in the seventh. Christian Lopes had two doubles and Seth Conner had two singles. Matt Dean and Dwight Smith Jr. had the other hits. Jorge Vega-Rosado was 0-for-3 but heard ball four twice. Jacob Anderson was 0-for-5 with the golden sombrero.
GCL Phillies 5 GCL Blue Jays 2
Clearwater, FL - A groundball RBI by Surrey, BC's Justin Atkinson provided the Jays with a 1-0 lead in the first but they did not score until the ninth when John Silviano knocked home a run with a double. Silviano had two of the three Jays hits, Jesus Gonzalez had the other. They also drew walks. D.J. Davis earned two free passes and stole two bases to run his total to 15. Gabriel Cenas was 0-for-3.
Alberto Tirado (1-2) was one out short of reaching five innings, yielding four runs on six hits and two walks while whiffing two. His 10 outs in play were divided evenly on the ground and in the air. Justin D'Alessandro let two of Tirado's runs come in to score on two hits and a walk before getting the final out of the fifth. Tyler Gonzales went 1 2/3 innings, giving up a run on a hit. Tim Brechbuehler allowed that runner to score on a hit and a walk over 1 1/3 shutout innings.
San Pedro de Macoris, DR - Jesus Tinoco scattered five hits, a walk and a hit by pitch of over four innings of one-run ball. He struck out two and got three groundball outs. Lefty Oscar Cabrera (0-2) had trouble finding the plate as he walked four hitters and plunked another, leading to two runs in 3 2/3 innings. He gave up a hit, committed a balk and struck out three. Wilmin Lara struck out three and a got a groundball out in 1 1/3 perfect innings.
Andres De Aza singled home the tying run in the sixth and drew the Jays within one with another run-scoring single in the eighth. Cesar Barazarte and Rolando Segovia also had two-hit efforts with one double. Edwin Fuentes drew two walks, Leudy Garcia doubled and Gustavo Perinan walked.
*** 3 Stars!!! ***
3. Balbino Fuenmayor, Vancouver. Fuenmayor is hitting .326 in day games and has 35 runs batted in.
2. Casey Lawrence, Dunedin. Lawrence has soaked up innings, alternating between six and seven frames over his last seven starts.
1. Ryan Goins, New Hampshire. Goins is hitting .368 with a 1.008 OPS over his last 10 contests.
