Batter's Box Interactive Magazine - Tuiasosopo Saves the Day

After a sweep on Friday the four minor league teams lost on Saturday. The only win was from Buffalo who split a doubleheader. Matt Tuiasosopo hit a two run home run for the win. Chad Jenkins pitched five good innings in a spot start. Sean Nolin pitched six shutout innings in the opener but the bullpen lost the game. Matt Boyd pitched well for Dunedin but the bullpen lost his game too. Deck McGuire was decent but the bullpen lost that game. The Lugnuts game followed a different pattern, starter Tom Robson did not get out of the first inning.

Buffalo 0 Pawtucket 1 - game 1

Pawtucket scored a run in the bottom of the ninth off Mickey Storey to win. The game had been a pitching duel between Sean Nolin and Red Sox prospect Anthony Renaudo. Both starters went six innings, Nolin allowed 3 hits and a walk, Renaudo 2 hits and 2 walks. But Nolin out-did Renaudo with 7 k's to 5.

Buffalo had just four hits.

Buffalo 3 Pawtucket 2 - game 2

Chad Jenkins made the spot start in game two having been the Bisons closer. Jenkins pitched five innings and a solo home run was all he conceded. Austin Bibbens-Dirkx gave up a run in the sixth before John Stilson bailed him out and pitched the seventh.

Anthony Gose, back from Toronto, went 3-4 and scored the first run. The big hit was a two run home run off the bat of Matt Tuiasosopo in the sixth inning. Tui had three hits too, so he and Gose had six hits between them. The rest of the lineup had one hit.

New Hampshire 2 Binghamton 3

Another bullpen loss, in this case Richard Bleier loaded the bases with two outs but Tyler Ybarra gave up the winning hit. Deck McGuire started and went just five innings, he allowed two runs on six hits and a walk.

The Fisher Cats had just four hits. One run was a solo home run from Jack Murphy, the other run was unearned.

Dunedin 1 Brevard County 3

Dunedin's Matt Boyd pitched six innings of one run ball to increase his ERA to 0.39. Efrain Nieves followed him and was hit for the two run margin of loss.

Dwight Smith and Dalton Pompey at the top of the lineup each had two hits, the only multi-hit batters. Smith drove in the only run.

Lansing 4 Beloit 10

Tom Robson's struggles continued. In this game we had unable to get out of the first inning, he faced seven hitters and gave up three runs. Alonzo Gonzalez releived and didn't provide much. Beloit hit a two run home run in the second and a three run home run in the third. After three the Lugnuts trailed 9-0. The game quieted down then until the eighth when Dickie Thon hit a two run home run. Jason Leblebijian added another two run home run in the ninth.

Thon, Mitch Nay and Derick Loveless had two hits each.

Three Stars

1st Star: Matt Tuiasosopo

2nd Star: Sean Nolin

3rd Star: Matt Boyd

Boxes

Posted by Gerry on Saturday, April 19 2014 @ 11:00 PM EDT.

Tuiasosopo Saves the Day | 8 comments | Create New Account

The following comments are owned by whomever posted them. This site is not responsible for what they say.

whiterasta80 - Sunday, April 20 2014 @ 07:44 AM EDT (#285066) #

All Jenkins does is put together useful starts when given the opportunity. Is there a more disrespected first rounder in baseball?

tercet - Sunday, April 20 2014 @ 09:48 AM EDT (#285071) #

Yea Jenkins is next on the call-up radar at this point.
I didn't expect much from Tom Robson this year, but I didn't think he would be this bad. What does everyone think of his start?

jerjapan - Sunday, April 20 2014 @ 09:54 AM EDT (#285073) #

Jenkins had a grand total of 76k in 154 minor league innings from 2012-2013. He's actually looked better in the bigs the last 2 seasons then he did in the minors, where he has yet to impress above high A ball. It wasn't that long ago that general consensus around the Box was that he was a bust.

What's the guy done to deserve respect? I see an inning-eating 5th starter at best, middle reliever or AAAA pitcher most likely. Happ, Redmond, Nolin, Stroman and perhaps even Hendricks are ahead of him on the starter depth chart. In the pen, he's likely the next righty called up.

I wouldn't mind him getting AAA starts over Romero, but otherwise, how should he be treated differently?

Mike Green - Sunday, April 20 2014 @ 09:57 AM EDT (#285074) #

Jenkins is ready to fill in if needed any time. Stroman and Nolin are both very close, with 23 and 26 successful high minors starts under their belts. A little more consistency with control and command would help. It would not hurt either of the latter two to spend some time in a low leverage role in a major league bullpen. There is, for the first time that I can recall, good pitching depth.

whiterasta80 - Sunday, April 20 2014 @ 11:13 AM EDT (#285075) #

Jerjapan: I guess my point at least in part is that he has performed well at the major league level. This despite the fact that he's only ever been used in tough situations (not stretched out etc...).

I am quite aware of his questionable minor league track record but would point out that it also includes impeccable control at just about every level.

I value that and his durability. I'm not saying he should be in our 5 man rotation just yet, but I do think he should be the first callup. And he definitely should have a full time spot in the aaa rotation. Sometimes letting someone pitch until the league figures them out has tremendous value (gustavo chacin for instance)

uglyone - Sunday, April 20 2014 @ 12:41 PM EDT (#285077) #

Jenkins has shown signs of being useful but we can't exaggerate what he's done - and we can't refer to a 26yr old drafted 5yrs ago as a "first rounder" to make him look better, either.

In the end this is what he's done so far at the higher levels:

MLB: 65.3ip, 3.58era, 4.59fip
AAA: 35.2ip, 4.79era, 5.25fip

PeterG - Sunday, April 20 2014 @ 09:38 PM EDT (#285090) #

3.58 ERA is netter than any of the starters last year.

bpoz - Monday, April 21 2014 @ 09:29 AM EDT (#285099) #

I have always given Jenkins a favorable opinion based on reading what minor league pitching coaches say. They say that a prospect has to improve on certain things, usually secondary pitches. Maybe develop or improve on certain pitches. So if Jenkins or anyone did this and it resulted in poor results during the development process, I take that as a necessary cost. His results look very good to me in AAA so far and with never having enough pitching I expect him to get some opportunities in the pen & the rotation eventually.

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