The affiliates lost five out of nine Monday, thanks in large part to a doubleheader sweep and a come from ahead loss. The Mariners affiliates were of no help whatsoever, handing Jays farm clubs two losses and costing another a playoff spot.
Buffalo 11 Lehigh Valley 4 (10 Innings)
Allentown, PA - The Bisons were down 4-3 to the Phillies affiliate before tying the game in the ninth inning and putting up a converted touchdown in the tenth. Mike Nickeas sent the game into extras with a sacrifice fly before Jonathan Diaz put the Herd ahead for good with a run-scoring single. Ryan Goins singled home two runs, a Ryan Schimpf infield single along with an error led to two more runs and Brad Glenn doubled in two more for good measure. A Cory Aldridge sac fly in the second and a Schimpf two-run triple in the third gave Buffalo an early 3-1 lead. The hit leaders were A.J. Jimenez and Brett Wallace with three apiece with Jimenez adding a double. Goins, Schimpf, Glenn and Kevin Pillar were one behind the frontrunners. Pillar walked twice to get on base four times while Schimpf was hit by a pitch to reach three times. Jared Goedert singled and walked.
Liam Hendriks pitched seven innings of four-run, eight-hit ball. He surrendered a solo homer to Russ Canzler but had a sterling K-BB total of 9-0 and a groundout/flyout mark of 6-0. Steve Delabar (1-2) struck out four over two shutout frames with one walk as his only blemish. Chad Jenkins finished things up with a two-hit tenth. And to think, he was sent down for Brad Mills.
Trenton 4 New Hampshire 1 (Game 1 - 7 Innings)
Manchester, NH - John Anderson (3-2) got behind the eight-ball early when he was pounded for a two-run homer by Yankees prospect Gary Sanchez in the third. The other two runs Anderson allowed were unearned but one was his own doing on an errant throw during a pickoff attempt. The other was the result of a K.C. Hobson error at first. Anderson lasted 5.1 innings, allowing seven hits with a 4-2 K-BB ratio. Eight of his nine outs in play were on the ground. Tyler Ybarra gave up two hits and struck out two over 1.2 scoreless innings.
The Fisher Cats got their only run in the fourth when Kevin Nolan singled home a Jon Berti double to make it a 2-1 game. Andy Burns and Mike Crouse had the other base hits. Dalton Pompey was 0-for-3.
Trenton 8 New Hampshire 5 (Game 2 - 7 Innings)
The Thunder completed the doubleheader sweep by overcoming 3-0 and 5-4 deficits over the first couple of innings. Richard Bleier was bashed around for a pair of homers, including Peter O'Brien's 20th, and that accounted for three of the five runs he coughed up. Bleier only lasted three innings as the Yankees got to him for eight hits. He struck out two and walked nobody. Blake McFarland (0-2) gave up a run in 1.1 innings and Randy Boone allowed the other in 1.2 frames. Gregory Infante had a shutout inning with one K.
Matt Newman doubled home the first run and Kevin Nolan plated two more with a double of his own in the first. Newman and Nolan used the extra-base hit again in the second to add the final two Fisher Cat runs. Newman, Nolan, Jon Berti and Dalton Pompey had the two-hit efforts for New Hampshire with Berti doubling and walking. K.C. Hobson walked and stole a base. Jorge Flores also drew a free pass. Andy Burns was hitless in three at-bats.
Dunedin 3 Bradenton 0
Dunedin, FL - A Dwight Smith Jr. home run in the fourth inning gave Dunedin the only run it would need against the Pirates affiliate. Smith Jr. drove in the final run with a bases loaded walk in the eighth. Kevin Patterson drove in the other run in the seventh with a double. Nick Baligod doubled and walked while Marcus Knecht singled and walked. Peter Mooney had the other base hit.
Taylor Cole (7-5) may not be as smoking hot as his actor namesake but he was pretty darn good. He limited the Marauders to two hits and one walk while striking out 12 batters over 6.2 innings. He split his eight outs in play evenly on the ground and in the air. Wil Browning stranded a runner for Cole and struck out four to overcome a couple of hits and a walk over 1.1 innings. Arik Sikula compiled his 22nd save with a three-up, three-down ninth.
Clinton 2 Lansing 1
Lansing, MI - The Lugnuts tied the game when Justin Atkinson tripled home a Dickie Joe Thon walk in the fifth. Atkinson, Thon and Dawel Lugo all had a hit and a walk. Daniel Klein also singled and Mitch Nay drew a base on balls and stole his fifth base of the year. David Harris was hit by a pitch. Matt Dean and D.J. Davis were both 0-for-4. Guess who struck out once and who whiffed four times? If you guessed Dean and Davis in that order, you'd be wrong! It was the other way around. Dean got the golden sombrero.
Alonzo Gonzalez went the first four innings and gave up a run to the Mariners affiliate on two hits and two walks but struck out four. Jimmy Cordero supplied three scoreless innings with a couple of K's but Brady Dragmire (3-6) was victimized by an unearned run in the eighth as part of his two-inning stint. A Thon error at second base led to the unearned tally.
Vancouver 10 Tri City 6
Ryan Metzler - shown scoring a run against Spokane June 20 - started the C's offence with a single and scored their first run. He scored twice and went 2-for-4 with a hit by a pitch on Monday.
Pasco, WA - The C's ended the first half with 25 victories in 38 tries after completing a three-game sweep of the Rockies affiliate in a morning contest. Spokane finished with an identical 25-13 mark with a win over Everett last night to tie Vancouver atop the Northwest League's North Division. However, the C's lost the tie-breaker as they lost four of six to the Indians. The good news would be if Spokane wins the second-half division title, Vancouver would be in great shape to advance to the post-season as they hold an 11-game cushion on Tri City and a 14-game bulge on Everett.
The C's eliminated a 1-0 deficit when Roemon Fields singled home a run and Franklin Barreto lifted a sac fly in the third. They would snap a 2-2 tie in the fifth on a Tim Locastro run-scoring fly ball and a Barreto run-scoring single. Max Pentecost cashed in Barreto with a base hit. Vancouver would pour it on with four more runs in the sixth with a wild pitch and a Locastro double leading to the first two runs. Barreto would follow up with an RBI double and Ryan McBroom with an RBI single. Boomer Collins added one more in the eighth with a sac fly. McBroom had a three-hit game and was plunked once. Ryan Metzler had two hits and also took one for the team. Fields, Locastro and Barreto also joined Metzler in the two-hit club. Fields stole his 28th base, Barreto walked and pilfered a bag and Collins added a steal to go with two walks. Alexis Maldonado had a triple.
Michael Kraft - shown here in his Vancouver debut July 16 - pitched a shutout seventh inning in relief of winning pitcher Miguel Castro.
Miguel Castro (5-2) put together six solid frames of two-run ball, scattering four hits and three walks with five K's and six ground ball outs. Michael Kraft and Joe Lovecchio pitched a shutout frame apiece but Yeyfry Del Rosario could only get one out in the ninth as he was charged with four runs (two earned) after a Maldonado error at third. Francesco Gracesqui walked in a run but stranded the other two Del Rosario runners by getting the final two outs, one via the K, for his first save. His ERA is still 0.00.
Pulaski 7 Bluefield 6 (10 Innings)
Pulaski, VA - This game was a rollercoaster with the Jays trailing the Mariners 3-0 and 4-2 before rallying to take a 6-4 lead. The Jays got on the board in the second inning after Trent Miller hit into a double play and scored again on a wild pitch. Miller would single home a run to start the seventh before a wild pitch led to another run. A Rowdy Tellez ground out and a Gabriel Cenas base hit capped off the four-run rally. Josh Almonte led the on-base parade with three singles and a hit by pitch while Angel Rojas also contributed three hits. Tellez, Cenas and Richard Urena all had two-hit performances. Almonte and Urena also swiped a base each.
Jesus Tinoco was trumped for four runs over four innings with the Mariners getting four hits and two walks. He did strike out five. Everyone loves Jordan Romano after three spotless innings that included two K's. Oscar Cabrera (2-1) was hurt by an Aaron Attaway error at short because it preceded a two-run homer that tied the game in the ninth. Cabrera would give up the winner in the tenth. He struck out four but walked three, two of them on purpose.
GCL Astros 8 GCL Blue Jays 3
Dunedin, FL - Grayson Huffman got through four innings and was touched up for a run on a hit and three walks but also struck out three. Mickey Storey gave up another run in his one-inning stint. Turner Lee (1-1) was spun around for four runs over two innings. Francisco Diaz could not get away unscathed either with two runs over two frames, one of them unearned.
The Jays were able to get in flight on a Juan Tejada homer to tie the game at 1-1 in the fourth innning. They grabbed a 3-2 lead in the fifth on a Gunnar Heidt RBI double and a Juan Kelly RBI single. Cliff Brantley had the only other hit for the Jays and he took one for the team. He also stole his first base of the year. Matt Morgan was 0-for-4 with three whiffs.
DSL Blue Jays 9 DSL Angels 3
San Pedro de Macoris, DR - The Jays scored the first nine runs of the game enroute to an easy win. They jumped ahead to a 3-0 lead in the second on a Manuel Herazo base rap and a two-run knock by Leudy Garcia. Two more runs came in the fifth on a Jesus Severino single and a Javier Hernandez double. Herazo sparked another rally with an RBI single in the sixth and Garcia added another two-run base hit. A Severino fielder's choice plated the final run of the inning. Garcia had three hits on the day, one more than Herazo, Enmanuel Moreta and Frankie Rodriguez. Miguel Almonte walked twice.
Juliandy Higuera (2-3) fired five shutout innings, giving the Halos just two hits and two walks while racking up 10 K's. Guillermo De La Cruz pitched two shutout frames and Thony Vinicio had one despite plunking a batter apiece. Kelyn Jose was charged with all three runs without getting an out in the ninth. William Zambrano would wrap things up by getting the final three outs.
Monday's Linescores
*** 3 Stars!!! ***
(Image from EBay.com)
3. Juliandry Higuera, DSL Blue Jays - Just four runs allowed in 21.1 innings translating to a 1.27 earned run average for July - a huge improvement from a 5.50 ERA in June.
(Image from MiLB.com)
2. Dwight Smith Jr., Dunedin - A five-game hitting streak and hitting .370 in July, a big bounce back from a .229 mark in June.
(Image from MiLB.com)
1. Taylor Cole, Dunedin - A 2-0 record and 1.08 ERA in July versus a 1-3, 5.61 mark in June.
Tuesday's Schedule & Probable Starters...
DSL Blue Jays @ DSL Angels, 10:30 am ET - TBA.
GCL Blue Jays @ GCL Astros, 12:00 pm ET - TBA.
Dunedin @ Bradenton, 6:30 pm ET - Kendall Graveman (8-3, 2.30).
Buffalo @ Lehigh Valley, 7:05 pm ET - TBA.
Trenton @ New Hampshire, 7:05 pm ET - TBA.
Elizabethton @ Bluefield , 7:05 pm ET - TBA.
Hillsboro @ Vancouver, 10:05 pm ET - Starlyn Suriel (4-1, 3.41).
Buffalo 11 Lehigh Valley 4 (10 Innings)
Allentown, PA - The Bisons were down 4-3 to the Phillies affiliate before tying the game in the ninth inning and putting up a converted touchdown in the tenth. Mike Nickeas sent the game into extras with a sacrifice fly before Jonathan Diaz put the Herd ahead for good with a run-scoring single. Ryan Goins singled home two runs, a Ryan Schimpf infield single along with an error led to two more runs and Brad Glenn doubled in two more for good measure. A Cory Aldridge sac fly in the second and a Schimpf two-run triple in the third gave Buffalo an early 3-1 lead. The hit leaders were A.J. Jimenez and Brett Wallace with three apiece with Jimenez adding a double. Goins, Schimpf, Glenn and Kevin Pillar were one behind the frontrunners. Pillar walked twice to get on base four times while Schimpf was hit by a pitch to reach three times. Jared Goedert singled and walked.Liam Hendriks pitched seven innings of four-run, eight-hit ball. He surrendered a solo homer to Russ Canzler but had a sterling K-BB total of 9-0 and a groundout/flyout mark of 6-0. Steve Delabar (1-2) struck out four over two shutout frames with one walk as his only blemish. Chad Jenkins finished things up with a two-hit tenth. And to think, he was sent down for Brad Mills.
Trenton 4 New Hampshire 1 (Game 1 - 7 Innings)
Manchester, NH - John Anderson (3-2) got behind the eight-ball early when he was pounded for a two-run homer by Yankees prospect Gary Sanchez in the third. The other two runs Anderson allowed were unearned but one was his own doing on an errant throw during a pickoff attempt. The other was the result of a K.C. Hobson error at first. Anderson lasted 5.1 innings, allowing seven hits with a 4-2 K-BB ratio. Eight of his nine outs in play were on the ground. Tyler Ybarra gave up two hits and struck out two over 1.2 scoreless innings.
The Fisher Cats got their only run in the fourth when Kevin Nolan singled home a Jon Berti double to make it a 2-1 game. Andy Burns and Mike Crouse had the other base hits. Dalton Pompey was 0-for-3.
Trenton 8 New Hampshire 5 (Game 2 - 7 Innings)
The Thunder completed the doubleheader sweep by overcoming 3-0 and 5-4 deficits over the first couple of innings. Richard Bleier was bashed around for a pair of homers, including Peter O'Brien's 20th, and that accounted for three of the five runs he coughed up. Bleier only lasted three innings as the Yankees got to him for eight hits. He struck out two and walked nobody. Blake McFarland (0-2) gave up a run in 1.1 innings and Randy Boone allowed the other in 1.2 frames. Gregory Infante had a shutout inning with one K.
Matt Newman doubled home the first run and Kevin Nolan plated two more with a double of his own in the first. Newman and Nolan used the extra-base hit again in the second to add the final two Fisher Cat runs. Newman, Nolan, Jon Berti and Dalton Pompey had the two-hit efforts for New Hampshire with Berti doubling and walking. K.C. Hobson walked and stole a base. Jorge Flores also drew a free pass. Andy Burns was hitless in three at-bats.
Dunedin 3 Bradenton 0
Dunedin, FL - A Dwight Smith Jr. home run in the fourth inning gave Dunedin the only run it would need against the Pirates affiliate. Smith Jr. drove in the final run with a bases loaded walk in the eighth. Kevin Patterson drove in the other run in the seventh with a double. Nick Baligod doubled and walked while Marcus Knecht singled and walked. Peter Mooney had the other base hit.Taylor Cole (7-5) may not be as smoking hot as his actor namesake but he was pretty darn good. He limited the Marauders to two hits and one walk while striking out 12 batters over 6.2 innings. He split his eight outs in play evenly on the ground and in the air. Wil Browning stranded a runner for Cole and struck out four to overcome a couple of hits and a walk over 1.1 innings. Arik Sikula compiled his 22nd save with a three-up, three-down ninth.
Clinton 2 Lansing 1
Lansing, MI - The Lugnuts tied the game when Justin Atkinson tripled home a Dickie Joe Thon walk in the fifth. Atkinson, Thon and Dawel Lugo all had a hit and a walk. Daniel Klein also singled and Mitch Nay drew a base on balls and stole his fifth base of the year. David Harris was hit by a pitch. Matt Dean and D.J. Davis were both 0-for-4. Guess who struck out once and who whiffed four times? If you guessed Dean and Davis in that order, you'd be wrong! It was the other way around. Dean got the golden sombrero.
Alonzo Gonzalez went the first four innings and gave up a run to the Mariners affiliate on two hits and two walks but struck out four. Jimmy Cordero supplied three scoreless innings with a couple of K's but Brady Dragmire (3-6) was victimized by an unearned run in the eighth as part of his two-inning stint. A Thon error at second base led to the unearned tally.
Vancouver 10 Tri City 6
Ryan Metzler - shown scoring a run against Spokane June 20 - started the C's offence with a single and scored their first run. He scored twice and went 2-for-4 with a hit by a pitch on Monday.
Pasco, WA - The C's ended the first half with 25 victories in 38 tries after completing a three-game sweep of the Rockies affiliate in a morning contest. Spokane finished with an identical 25-13 mark with a win over Everett last night to tie Vancouver atop the Northwest League's North Division. However, the C's lost the tie-breaker as they lost four of six to the Indians. The good news would be if Spokane wins the second-half division title, Vancouver would be in great shape to advance to the post-season as they hold an 11-game cushion on Tri City and a 14-game bulge on Everett.The C's eliminated a 1-0 deficit when Roemon Fields singled home a run and Franklin Barreto lifted a sac fly in the third. They would snap a 2-2 tie in the fifth on a Tim Locastro run-scoring fly ball and a Barreto run-scoring single. Max Pentecost cashed in Barreto with a base hit. Vancouver would pour it on with four more runs in the sixth with a wild pitch and a Locastro double leading to the first two runs. Barreto would follow up with an RBI double and Ryan McBroom with an RBI single. Boomer Collins added one more in the eighth with a sac fly. McBroom had a three-hit game and was plunked once. Ryan Metzler had two hits and also took one for the team. Fields, Locastro and Barreto also joined Metzler in the two-hit club. Fields stole his 28th base, Barreto walked and pilfered a bag and Collins added a steal to go with two walks. Alexis Maldonado had a triple.
Michael Kraft - shown here in his Vancouver debut July 16 - pitched a shutout seventh inning in relief of winning pitcher Miguel Castro.
Miguel Castro (5-2) put together six solid frames of two-run ball, scattering four hits and three walks with five K's and six ground ball outs. Michael Kraft and Joe Lovecchio pitched a shutout frame apiece but Yeyfry Del Rosario could only get one out in the ninth as he was charged with four runs (two earned) after a Maldonado error at third. Francesco Gracesqui walked in a run but stranded the other two Del Rosario runners by getting the final two outs, one via the K, for his first save. His ERA is still 0.00.
Pulaski 7 Bluefield 6 (10 Innings)
Pulaski, VA - This game was a rollercoaster with the Jays trailing the Mariners 3-0 and 4-2 before rallying to take a 6-4 lead. The Jays got on the board in the second inning after Trent Miller hit into a double play and scored again on a wild pitch. Miller would single home a run to start the seventh before a wild pitch led to another run. A Rowdy Tellez ground out and a Gabriel Cenas base hit capped off the four-run rally. Josh Almonte led the on-base parade with three singles and a hit by pitch while Angel Rojas also contributed three hits. Tellez, Cenas and Richard Urena all had two-hit performances. Almonte and Urena also swiped a base each.
Jesus Tinoco was trumped for four runs over four innings with the Mariners getting four hits and two walks. He did strike out five. Everyone loves Jordan Romano after three spotless innings that included two K's. Oscar Cabrera (2-1) was hurt by an Aaron Attaway error at short because it preceded a two-run homer that tied the game in the ninth. Cabrera would give up the winner in the tenth. He struck out four but walked three, two of them on purpose.
GCL Astros 8 GCL Blue Jays 3
Dunedin, FL - Grayson Huffman got through four innings and was touched up for a run on a hit and three walks but also struck out three. Mickey Storey gave up another run in his one-inning stint. Turner Lee (1-1) was spun around for four runs over two innings. Francisco Diaz could not get away unscathed either with two runs over two frames, one of them unearned.
The Jays were able to get in flight on a Juan Tejada homer to tie the game at 1-1 in the fourth innning. They grabbed a 3-2 lead in the fifth on a Gunnar Heidt RBI double and a Juan Kelly RBI single. Cliff Brantley had the only other hit for the Jays and he took one for the team. He also stole his first base of the year. Matt Morgan was 0-for-4 with three whiffs.
DSL Blue Jays 9 DSL Angels 3
San Pedro de Macoris, DR - The Jays scored the first nine runs of the game enroute to an easy win. They jumped ahead to a 3-0 lead in the second on a Manuel Herazo base rap and a two-run knock by Leudy Garcia. Two more runs came in the fifth on a Jesus Severino single and a Javier Hernandez double. Herazo sparked another rally with an RBI single in the sixth and Garcia added another two-run base hit. A Severino fielder's choice plated the final run of the inning. Garcia had three hits on the day, one more than Herazo, Enmanuel Moreta and Frankie Rodriguez. Miguel Almonte walked twice.Juliandy Higuera (2-3) fired five shutout innings, giving the Halos just two hits and two walks while racking up 10 K's. Guillermo De La Cruz pitched two shutout frames and Thony Vinicio had one despite plunking a batter apiece. Kelyn Jose was charged with all three runs without getting an out in the ninth. William Zambrano would wrap things up by getting the final three outs.
Monday's Linescores
*** 3 Stars!!! ***
(Image from EBay.com)
3. Juliandry Higuera, DSL Blue Jays - Just four runs allowed in 21.1 innings translating to a 1.27 earned run average for July - a huge improvement from a 5.50 ERA in June.
(Image from MiLB.com)
2. Dwight Smith Jr., Dunedin - A five-game hitting streak and hitting .370 in July, a big bounce back from a .229 mark in June.
(Image from MiLB.com)
1. Taylor Cole, Dunedin - A 2-0 record and 1.08 ERA in July versus a 1-3, 5.61 mark in June.
Tuesday's Schedule & Probable Starters...
DSL Blue Jays @ DSL Angels, 10:30 am ET - TBA.
GCL Blue Jays @ GCL Astros, 12:00 pm ET - TBA.
Dunedin @ Bradenton, 6:30 pm ET - Kendall Graveman (8-3, 2.30).
Buffalo @ Lehigh Valley, 7:05 pm ET - TBA.
Trenton @ New Hampshire, 7:05 pm ET - TBA.
Elizabethton @ Bluefield , 7:05 pm ET - TBA.
Hillsboro @ Vancouver, 10:05 pm ET - Starlyn Suriel (4-1, 3.41).
