The affiliates played .500 ball on Wednesday, featuring a come-from-behind victory and a come-from-ahead loss. One of the clubs put up a 10-run inning but it was almost not enough.
Buffalo 5 Indianapolis 4
Buffalo, NY - The Herd rallied from a 4-0 deficit to pull out a win against the Pirates affiliate. A Brett Wallace two-run home run in the fourth put the Bisons on the comeback trail and he ended it with a walk-off single in the ninth. Sean Ochinko's solo poke over the wall had tied it in the seventh. Wallace had a three-hit night while Ochinko had two hits. Darin Mastroianni singled and walked twice. Kevin Pillar and Jonathan Diaz had a single, a walk and a stolen base.
P.J. Walters was whacked for all four runs on eight hits in six innings with a 4-3 K-BB total and an Andrew Lambo homer on his line. Sergio Santos and Kyle Drabek pitched perfect innings and Bobby Korecky (5-1) overcame a hit with two K's in the ninth.
New Hampshire 7 Binghamton 2
Binghamton, NY - Two batters in, the Fisher Cats got on the board quickly. Jon Berti led off the game with a single and Matt Newman sent him home with a two-run dinger. An RBI double by Derrick Chung and an RBI single by K.C. Hobson also happened in inning number one. Cory Aldridge had the other RBI with a run-scoring single in the ninth. Berti had a 4-for-5 night at the dish with a pair of doubles. Burns and Chung were 2-for-5 with a double apiece.
Casey Lawrence (8-5) pitched to plenty of contact in his seven innings. He managed to hold the Mets down to two runs on seven hits and a walk. He only struck out a pair and of his 16 outs in play, seven were on the ground. Mickey Storey finished up the last two frames with only one hit and one walk allowed. He struck out a trio of hitters to get his second save.
St. Lucie 4 Dunedin 3
Port St. Lucie, FL - The D-Jays spotted the Mets a four-run lead and fell short in their comeback bid. All of their runs came in the eighth inning on a Gustavo Pierre base hit and a Christian Lopes two-run double. Lopes had three hits but Ian Parmley was the on-base leader with two hits, including a double, and two walks. Shane Opitz singled and walked twice while Marcus Knecht singled and walked once.
Matt Boyd (5-2) was victimized for an unearned run out of the two he allowed. Gustavo Pierre's 21st error from third base led to the Mets first run of the game. Boyd racked up five K's and split his eight outs evenly on the grass and in the air. Ben White coughed up the other two runs on three hits and a hit batter in the sixth. Jonathan Waldling had a one-hit seventh while Wil Browning had a one-walk, one-HBP and one-K ninth.
Dayton 3 Lansing 1
Lansing, MI - A three-run first inning by the Reds affiliate held up against the Lugnuts. Brad Allen had an unearned run out of three on his pitching line after back-to-back errors by D.J. Davis in center field. Allen rebounded to put up five shutout frames after the first. He allowed eight hits and a walk, striking out six and getting all eight of his outs in the air. Roberto Espinosa pitched two perfect frames with four K's and Phil Kish had a one-two-three ninth.
The Lugnuts only run came on an error in the second inning. They managed just three hits by Dawel Lugo, Mitch Nay and Derrick Loveless - whose knock was of the pinch variety. Lugo walked once but he was outdone in the on-base department by Chaz Frank, who walked thrice and was 1-for-2 stealing bases. Matt Dean and Jason Leblebijian drew one free pass apiece.
Boise 8 Vancouver 7
Max Pentecost had an RBI triple as part of a two-hit performance and scored a pair of runs as the designated hitter in Boise Wednesday.
Boise, ID - The Canadians blew a 7-0 lead against the Cubs affiliate in the first meeting between the teams since the C's beat the Hawks in last year's Northwest League final. Franklin Barreto's sac fly helped Vancouver take a 1-0 lead as part of a two-run first inning. Tim Locastro was responsible for both runs in the second by singling one home and scoring the other after stealing third and scoring on an error by the catcher. A Ryan McBroom fly ball cashed in a Max Pentecost triple in the fifth and Roemon Fields doubled in two runs in the sixth. Pentecost, McBroom, Chris Carlson and Boomer Collins all shared the hit lead with two apiece. Fields and Locastro singled, walked and stole a base. Barreto also swiped a bag.
Jairo Labourt spun five shutout innings in Boise Wednesday night but a bullpen meltdown led to him getting a no-decision.
Jairo Labourt made his first appearance in Boise since Game 1 of last year's championship final, striking out 10 that day but taking the loss. He was in line for the win after five shutout frames of two-hit ball. Labourt walked four but struck out six and all five outs in play stayed in the diamond. Tim Mayza gave up the first run in the sixth but struck out a pair. Alberto Tirado struck out a batter but he was tonged on for five runs on four hits and a walk in two-thirds of an inning. Jose Fernandez was charged with an unearned marker on a Barreto error at short in 0.2 innings. Adaric Kelly (1-1) shared the same fate as Fernandez in his 0.2 frames but it was Locastro's error at second that gave the Hawks the walk-off victory.
Bluefield 13 Johnson City 6
Johnson City, TN - This was actually a 2-2 game heading into the seventh before the Jays busted it open against the Cardinals. Bluefield got back-to-back runs in the second and third innings on a Jesus Gonzalez single and an Aaron Attaway groundout. Gonzalez and Dan Jansen restored their two-run lead with solo homers in the seventh. Jansen drew a walk with the bases loaded to kick-start a six-run eighth. Gabriel Cenas followed with a run-scoring single and Gonzalez plated another with a groundout. A wild pitch, a Rolando Segovia double and a Richard Urena triple accounted for the other three runs in the frame. A Cenas RBI double and a Gonzalez triple added two more runs in the ninth. For those of you keeping track, Gonzalez was a double short of the cycle. The six-pack of Urena, Jansen, Cenas, Segovia, Trent Miller and Rowdy Tellez all had two hits. Jansen walked twice while Tellez and Segovia added one to their BB totals.
Matt Smoral gives up no runs over four innings and gets a no-decision but Francisco Rios (3-1) gives up six over four frames and gets the win? That's right up there with pitchers getting unearned runs when it's the pitcher who makes the error. Smoral's mistake was pitching the first four frames in which he gave up only three hits and had impressive ratios of 4-1 and 6-1 in the K-BB and GO-FO departments respectively. Two of Rios' six runs were unearned but he was roughed up for six hits and four walks while getting 3 K's. Chase Wellbrock had a hit and a strikeout in a scoreless ninth.
GCL Braves 7 GCL Blue Jays 0
Kissimmee, FL - The Braves blew up Sean Reid-Foley (1-1) for six runs in 2.1 innings with six hits and three walks. He only struck out one but all five of his outs in play were on the grass. Angel Perdomo allowed an inherited runner to score and walked five hitters but still managed to pull off 3.2 scoreless frames. He struck out two as did Francisco Diaz, who accomplished that feat in just one inning. Joe Claver had a K but coughed up a run on one hit in the ninth.
Cole Gillespie was installed as the leadoff hitter and got a single and a walk but was also caught stealing. Yeltsin Gudino and Andres De Aza had the other hits. Cliff Brantley and Lane Thomas were both 0-for-4. Matt Morgan struck out in all three of his plate appearances.
DSL Blue Jays 12 DSL Brewers 11
San Pedro de Macoris, DR - The Jays led by two runs, trailed by three, led by five and tried their best to blow it but the Brewers eventually decided to pay the cheque. Francisco Rodriguez doubled in a run in the second inning and Enmanuel Moreta scored another with a single in the third. The offence stayed quiet until they erupted for a 10-run eighth inning. Bryan Lizardo started the slaughter with a two-run double, Edward Olivares and Junior Vasquez added RBI singles and Rodrigo Orozco scored two with his base hit. Two errors led to the next two runs before Lizardo doubled in another and Ronniel Demorizi drove in the winner with a ground ball. Lizardo led the hit parade with four and Rodriguez got aboard four times with two hits and two walks. Miguel Almonte had two hits and a walk and Javier Hernandez had the other two-hit effort. Demorizi and Orozsco stole a base.
Yonardo Hernandez was one out short of a five inning outing as he gave up five runs, four of them the result of a pair of two-run homers, on five hits. He struck out five, walked nobody and got six of his eight outs in play on the ground. Luis Gomez (3-1) got nicked for a run on three hits but struck out six with zero walks over 3.1 innings. Thony Vincio struck out a batter but that was the only out he got as he was thumped four fours. William Zambrano also struck out a batter but that was the only one he retired as he was charged for a run and allowed both runners he inherited to score. Pedro Diaz also whiffed a batter and that was the only batter he set down but the good news was that was the final out of the game. He stranded the potential tying and winning runs on base for his fourth save.
Wednesday's Linescores
*** 3 Stars!!! ***
3. Jesus Gonzalez, Bluefield - A three-game streak of no strikeouts after whiffing 45 times in his previous 96 at-bats.
2. Jon Berti, New Hampshire - A seven-game hit streak, a .995 OPS in his last 10 games and 33 stolen bases on the season.
1. Brett Wallace, Buffalo - A three-game hitting streak in which he has gone 5-for-12 with a home run and four runs batted in.
3 Stars images from MiLB.com.
Buffalo 5 Indianapolis 4
Buffalo, NY - The Herd rallied from a 4-0 deficit to pull out a win against the Pirates affiliate. A Brett Wallace two-run home run in the fourth put the Bisons on the comeback trail and he ended it with a walk-off single in the ninth. Sean Ochinko's solo poke over the wall had tied it in the seventh. Wallace had a three-hit night while Ochinko had two hits. Darin Mastroianni singled and walked twice. Kevin Pillar and Jonathan Diaz had a single, a walk and a stolen base.P.J. Walters was whacked for all four runs on eight hits in six innings with a 4-3 K-BB total and an Andrew Lambo homer on his line. Sergio Santos and Kyle Drabek pitched perfect innings and Bobby Korecky (5-1) overcame a hit with two K's in the ninth.
New Hampshire 7 Binghamton 2
Binghamton, NY - Two batters in, the Fisher Cats got on the board quickly. Jon Berti led off the game with a single and Matt Newman sent him home with a two-run dinger. An RBI double by Derrick Chung and an RBI single by K.C. Hobson also happened in inning number one. Cory Aldridge had the other RBI with a run-scoring single in the ninth. Berti had a 4-for-5 night at the dish with a pair of doubles. Burns and Chung were 2-for-5 with a double apiece.Casey Lawrence (8-5) pitched to plenty of contact in his seven innings. He managed to hold the Mets down to two runs on seven hits and a walk. He only struck out a pair and of his 16 outs in play, seven were on the ground. Mickey Storey finished up the last two frames with only one hit and one walk allowed. He struck out a trio of hitters to get his second save.
St. Lucie 4 Dunedin 3
Port St. Lucie, FL - The D-Jays spotted the Mets a four-run lead and fell short in their comeback bid. All of their runs came in the eighth inning on a Gustavo Pierre base hit and a Christian Lopes two-run double. Lopes had three hits but Ian Parmley was the on-base leader with two hits, including a double, and two walks. Shane Opitz singled and walked twice while Marcus Knecht singled and walked once.
Matt Boyd (5-2) was victimized for an unearned run out of the two he allowed. Gustavo Pierre's 21st error from third base led to the Mets first run of the game. Boyd racked up five K's and split his eight outs evenly on the grass and in the air. Ben White coughed up the other two runs on three hits and a hit batter in the sixth. Jonathan Waldling had a one-hit seventh while Wil Browning had a one-walk, one-HBP and one-K ninth.
Dayton 3 Lansing 1
Lansing, MI - A three-run first inning by the Reds affiliate held up against the Lugnuts. Brad Allen had an unearned run out of three on his pitching line after back-to-back errors by D.J. Davis in center field. Allen rebounded to put up five shutout frames after the first. He allowed eight hits and a walk, striking out six and getting all eight of his outs in the air. Roberto Espinosa pitched two perfect frames with four K's and Phil Kish had a one-two-three ninth.
The Lugnuts only run came on an error in the second inning. They managed just three hits by Dawel Lugo, Mitch Nay and Derrick Loveless - whose knock was of the pinch variety. Lugo walked once but he was outdone in the on-base department by Chaz Frank, who walked thrice and was 1-for-2 stealing bases. Matt Dean and Jason Leblebijian drew one free pass apiece.
Boise 8 Vancouver 7
Max Pentecost had an RBI triple as part of a two-hit performance and scored a pair of runs as the designated hitter in Boise Wednesday.
Boise, ID - The Canadians blew a 7-0 lead against the Cubs affiliate in the first meeting between the teams since the C's beat the Hawks in last year's Northwest League final. Franklin Barreto's sac fly helped Vancouver take a 1-0 lead as part of a two-run first inning. Tim Locastro was responsible for both runs in the second by singling one home and scoring the other after stealing third and scoring on an error by the catcher. A Ryan McBroom fly ball cashed in a Max Pentecost triple in the fifth and Roemon Fields doubled in two runs in the sixth. Pentecost, McBroom, Chris Carlson and Boomer Collins all shared the hit lead with two apiece. Fields and Locastro singled, walked and stole a base. Barreto also swiped a bag.
Jairo Labourt spun five shutout innings in Boise Wednesday night but a bullpen meltdown led to him getting a no-decision.
Jairo Labourt made his first appearance in Boise since Game 1 of last year's championship final, striking out 10 that day but taking the loss. He was in line for the win after five shutout frames of two-hit ball. Labourt walked four but struck out six and all five outs in play stayed in the diamond. Tim Mayza gave up the first run in the sixth but struck out a pair. Alberto Tirado struck out a batter but he was tonged on for five runs on four hits and a walk in two-thirds of an inning. Jose Fernandez was charged with an unearned marker on a Barreto error at short in 0.2 innings. Adaric Kelly (1-1) shared the same fate as Fernandez in his 0.2 frames but it was Locastro's error at second that gave the Hawks the walk-off victory.
Bluefield 13 Johnson City 6
Johnson City, TN - This was actually a 2-2 game heading into the seventh before the Jays busted it open against the Cardinals. Bluefield got back-to-back runs in the second and third innings on a Jesus Gonzalez single and an Aaron Attaway groundout. Gonzalez and Dan Jansen restored their two-run lead with solo homers in the seventh. Jansen drew a walk with the bases loaded to kick-start a six-run eighth. Gabriel Cenas followed with a run-scoring single and Gonzalez plated another with a groundout. A wild pitch, a Rolando Segovia double and a Richard Urena triple accounted for the other three runs in the frame. A Cenas RBI double and a Gonzalez triple added two more runs in the ninth. For those of you keeping track, Gonzalez was a double short of the cycle. The six-pack of Urena, Jansen, Cenas, Segovia, Trent Miller and Rowdy Tellez all had two hits. Jansen walked twice while Tellez and Segovia added one to their BB totals.Matt Smoral gives up no runs over four innings and gets a no-decision but Francisco Rios (3-1) gives up six over four frames and gets the win? That's right up there with pitchers getting unearned runs when it's the pitcher who makes the error. Smoral's mistake was pitching the first four frames in which he gave up only three hits and had impressive ratios of 4-1 and 6-1 in the K-BB and GO-FO departments respectively. Two of Rios' six runs were unearned but he was roughed up for six hits and four walks while getting 3 K's. Chase Wellbrock had a hit and a strikeout in a scoreless ninth.
GCL Braves 7 GCL Blue Jays 0
Kissimmee, FL - The Braves blew up Sean Reid-Foley (1-1) for six runs in 2.1 innings with six hits and three walks. He only struck out one but all five of his outs in play were on the grass. Angel Perdomo allowed an inherited runner to score and walked five hitters but still managed to pull off 3.2 scoreless frames. He struck out two as did Francisco Diaz, who accomplished that feat in just one inning. Joe Claver had a K but coughed up a run on one hit in the ninth.
Cole Gillespie was installed as the leadoff hitter and got a single and a walk but was also caught stealing. Yeltsin Gudino and Andres De Aza had the other hits. Cliff Brantley and Lane Thomas were both 0-for-4. Matt Morgan struck out in all three of his plate appearances.
DSL Blue Jays 12 DSL Brewers 11
San Pedro de Macoris, DR - The Jays led by two runs, trailed by three, led by five and tried their best to blow it but the Brewers eventually decided to pay the cheque. Francisco Rodriguez doubled in a run in the second inning and Enmanuel Moreta scored another with a single in the third. The offence stayed quiet until they erupted for a 10-run eighth inning. Bryan Lizardo started the slaughter with a two-run double, Edward Olivares and Junior Vasquez added RBI singles and Rodrigo Orozco scored two with his base hit. Two errors led to the next two runs before Lizardo doubled in another and Ronniel Demorizi drove in the winner with a ground ball. Lizardo led the hit parade with four and Rodriguez got aboard four times with two hits and two walks. Miguel Almonte had two hits and a walk and Javier Hernandez had the other two-hit effort. Demorizi and Orozsco stole a base.Yonardo Hernandez was one out short of a five inning outing as he gave up five runs, four of them the result of a pair of two-run homers, on five hits. He struck out five, walked nobody and got six of his eight outs in play on the ground. Luis Gomez (3-1) got nicked for a run on three hits but struck out six with zero walks over 3.1 innings. Thony Vincio struck out a batter but that was the only out he got as he was thumped four fours. William Zambrano also struck out a batter but that was the only one he retired as he was charged for a run and allowed both runners he inherited to score. Pedro Diaz also whiffed a batter and that was the only batter he set down but the good news was that was the final out of the game. He stranded the potential tying and winning runs on base for his fourth save.
Wednesday's Linescores
*** 3 Stars!!! ***
3. Jesus Gonzalez, Bluefield - A three-game streak of no strikeouts after whiffing 45 times in his previous 96 at-bats.
2. Jon Berti, New Hampshire - A seven-game hit streak, a .995 OPS in his last 10 games and 33 stolen bases on the season.
1. Brett Wallace, Buffalo - A three-game hitting streak in which he has gone 5-for-12 with a home run and four runs batted in.
3 Stars images from MiLB.com.
