There were four close games at the top of the system last night. Ricky Romero had the Bisons in the lead but he let it slip away. Kevin Pillar got the lead back with his first AAA home run but the bullpen gave up the lead and lost it. Similarly in New Hampshire a lead in the seventh turned into a two run loss courtesy of the bullpen. Dunedin had a four run lead until an error made it a one run lead but they held on for the win. Lansing out hit Great Lakes 11-4 but again the bullpen let four runs score without a hit and the Lugnuts lost by a run.
Vancouver took an early lead and won. Bluefield had their hitting shoes on and had such a big lead that the bullpen didn't blow it. The GCL Jays were the opposite down early and by a lot.
Buffalo 4 Charlotte 5
Through five innings Ricky Romero had a two hit shutout. But in the sixth four hits led to three runs. A lead -ff double started the tough inning. The big question for Ricky now is how does he handle adversity, can he manage his way out of a tough situation or does his confidence fail him. Romero finished with 7 K's and one walk in his six innings. Ben Wagner, the Bisons broadcaster, says Romero had some bad luck "Tough sixth for Romero - bad hop single/bloop/bang-bang play at the plate".
The Bisons had a 2-0 lead before Romero gave up the 3 runs. The two runs were solo home runs by Ryan Goins and Luis Jimenez. In the seventh, trailing 3-2, Kevin Pillar hit his first AAA home run to restore the lead to the Bisons. Charlotte had doubles to lead off the eighth and ninth and both scored. One off Joel Carreno and the other off Brad Lincoln.
Buffalo had seven hits, Mauro Gomez led with two.
Portland 7 New Hampshire 5
This was a back and forth contest. New Hampshire took a 3-0 lead in the first inning on a three run home run by Brad Glenn. Portland came back to score four runs off Deck McGuire through six innings. McGuire went 6.2 innings and gave up four runs on five hits and two walks with 8 K's. In the sixth inning Ryan Schimpf hit a two run home run to give the Fisher cats a 5-4 lead. An error led off the top of the seventh followed by a double, both with Evan Crawford pitching. Dustin Antolin followed and let both runners score to restore the lead to Portland. Antolin gave up another run in the ninth.
The Fisher Cats outhit the Red Sox 9-8. AJ Jimenez was the only Fisher Cat with multiple hits, he had three, including a double, to push his average back over 400.
Tampa 5 Dunedin 6
After Scott Copeland gave up a run in the first the D Jays scored four in the bottom of the innings. Shane Opitz and Peter Mooney started off the inning with back to back doubles, followed by a walk and later another double by Gabe Jacobo. A single from Nick Baligod made it 4-1. In the second Mooney and Michael Crouse hit back to back jacks.
Copeland pitched seven innings but an error from Gustavo Pierre led to three unearned runs in the seventh. Ajay Meyer got a two inning save. Opitz, Mooney and Crouse had two hits each.
Great Lakes 4 Lansing 3
Javier Avendano had an outstanding start, seven shutout innings, just three hits. He was relieved by Efrain Nieves who gave up the lead and three runs without a hit. Two walks and a fielders choice loaded the bases. A ground out scored one. Ian Kadish relieved Nieves and another ground out a wild pitch put Great Lakes ahead. The Loons added another in the ninth.
Both Lansing runs came in the third. Emilio Guerrero hit a solo home run, Dwight Smith followed with a single and then Jorge Flores had an RBI double. Smith, Flores and Carlos Ramirez had two hits each.
Tri-City 2 Vancouver 5
Vancouver scored three runs in the second inning. They loaded the bases without a hit, an error and two walks. Nico Taylor singled in a run and two scored on a ground out/error combo. The Canadians made it 4-0 in the third when Michael Reeves singled in LB Dantzler. It was a similar story in the fourth, Brenden Kalfus singled in Dickie Thon.
Eric Brown went five shutout innings. Joe Spano gave up the two runs in the sixth. Thon, Dantzler and Kalfus had two hits each.
Bluefield 11 Danville 3
It was an offensive explosion for Bluefield. They scored in seven innings and every hitter had a hit. DJ Davis had two hits including a bases loaded triple. Mitch Nay and Matt Dean each had two hits including a double. Tim Locastro (2103 - 13th round) also had two hits.
Brady Dagmire started and gave up two runs in three innings. Joe Lovecchio pitched three perfect innings with 4 K's.
GCL Jays 2 GCL Braves 9
Tim Mayza (2013 - 12th round) made his first start and it could have gone better. He gave up 7 runs in 2 innings. The Jays couldn't recover from such a start but Sean Hurley tried. He doubled in a run and homered for the second run. Hurley and Edwin Fuentes had two hits.
Jesus Tinoco followed and pitched four innings. He did give up one run but had 6 strikeouts. Tyler Gonzales pitched an inning and gave up a run one a hit and two walks.
Three Stars
#3 - Javier Avendano
#2 - Mitch Nay
#1 - Peter Mooney
