Like the parent club, the affiliates fell a game below .500 in their nine games Tuesday night. The highlights were a couple of shutouts in the upper levels but the lowlights were a doubleheader sweep and a disappointing start to the second half for one of the affiliates. The GCL Blue Jays got an unscheduled day off as they were rained out.
Buffalo 6 Syracuse 0
Syracuse, NY - Jon Berti picked a good night to draw attention to himself. He drove in the first two runs of the game with a two-run triple in the second inning before scoring on a Munenori Kawasaki base hit. The Troy (Tulowitzki!), Michigan native then launched his first Triple-A home run in the fourth inning to make it 4-0 Herd. Berti scored again in the sixth when his leadoff walk was brought in by a Dalton Pompey sacrifice fly. Andy Burns would add another run with an RBI double. Kawasaki was 3-for-3 while Berti and Alex Hassan had two hits and a walk. Burns had two hits and Josh Thole walked twice. Melky Mesa had a double and an outfield assist from center field after getting a runner at second. Matt Hague had a hit and Ty Kelly got a walk.
Jeff Francis (5-0, 1.58) confounded the Chiefs by holding them to five hits over seven shutout innings while striking out four. Nine of his 14 outs in play against the Nationals affiliate were on the ground to boost his Game Score to 71. Steve Delabar struck out two in a perfect eighth and Chad Jenkins walked one in a shutout ninth.
New Hampshire 5 Harrisburg 0
Manchester, NH - Another shutout win over a Nationals farm club and a near no-hit bid. Scott Barnes (2-1, 3.72) kept the horses in the barn with five perfect frames that included four K's to also record a Game Score of 71. Jimmy Cordero walked a couple over two frames but picked off one of those runners at second base. He also had one strikeout. Chad Girodo coughed up the no-hit bid on a single to the first batter he faced but he allowed just one other hit over two frames and struck out a pair to wrap things up.
The Fisher Cats opened the scoring on back-to-back RBI singles by Roemon Fields and Shane Opitz to score back-to-back singles by Christian Lopes and Jorge Flores in the third inning. K.C. Hobson doubled home two more runs in the sixth and Fields worked a bases-loaded walk in the eighth. Lopes and Flores had two hits apiece with Flores also drawing a walk. Kevin Nolan walked three times while Ryan Schimpf doubled and walked. Martin Medina reached base with a base on balls but Matt Newman was 0-for-4.
Charlotte 6 Dunedin 2 (Game 1 - 7 Innings)
Port Charlotte, FL - The D-Jays felt the pinch of the Rays affiliate as they scored six runs in their last three at-bats to win this one. Sean Reid-Foley (0-3, 4.71) retired 10 of the first 11 batters he faced but was roughed up for five runs in 4-2/3 innings on six hits and two walks. He struck out four and got five of his nine outs in play on the ground. Lefty Matt Dermody stranded a runner for Reid-Foley but was dinged for a run of his own on three hits. He struck out one in his 1-1/3 inning outing.
Richard Urena ripped a home run to left to open the scoring in the fourth and Derrick Chung singled home a Rowdy Tellez double to give Dunedin a short-lived 2-0 lead. Tellez was the only D-Jay to get on base twice with a walk and Anthony Alford had the other hit with a double. Matt Dean, Andy Fermin, J.D. Davis and Derrick Loveless were all 0-for-3 while Dickie Joe Thon was 0-for-2.
Charlotte 11 Dunedin 5 (Game 2 - 7 Innings)
The Rays affiliate rocked the Jays again with another late offensive outburst, scoring the final eight runs over the last two innings to sweep the doubleheader. Alonzo Gonzalez was gonged for three runs (one earned after a Mitch Nay error at third) on four hits and a walk over three innings. He struck out four and his groundout/flyout total was 4-1. Alberto Tirado was tapped out for four runs on four walks but struck out a pair. Arik Sikula was ambushed for four more runs on seven hits, including two home runs, but struck out four in two innings.
Dunedin climbed back from a 3-0 deficit with four runs in the fourth. Dickie Joe Thon hit the equivalent of a little league inside-the-park home run after clearing the bases with a double before scoring himself on a throwing error at short. That cashed in walks by Rowdy Tellez and L.B. Dantzler and a single by Matt Dean. The other run came on a double play ball hit by Dean in the ninth. Thon had two doubles and a walk for a perfect performance at the plate and Tellez got aboard three times via the base on balls. Derrick Loveless hit a double, Richard Urena had a base hit and Anthony Alford got a free pass. Mitch Nay was 0-for-4 and Mike Reeves went 0-for-3.
Lansing 5 Lake County 3
Eastlake, OH - The Lugnuts jumped on the Indians affiliate for five runs over the first two innings and that proved to be enough to put the Lugnuts one victory shy of 60 on the season. Jason Leblebijian's ground-rule double scored the first run and Dawel Lugo capped off the first with a two-run single. A David Harris base hit brought home a Chris Carlson triple and Harris would go home on a Ryan McBroom sacrifice fly in the second. Lugo and Christian Vazquez turned in two-hit games with Vazquez getting a double. Leblebijian was on base three times by adding a couple of walks with his double and he stole a base. McBroom had two walks while Harris and D.J. Davis had a base hit and a walk. Michael De La Cruz also recorded a single but Josh Almonte whiffed twice in five hitless at-bats.
Starlyn Suriel was shaky to say the least as he walked six over four innings. He served up a two-run homer among the three runs and four hits he surrendered. He struck out three and induced five groundball outs. Tim Mayza (1-0) tamed the Captains to a couple of hits while racking up three strikeouts over two shutout frames. Phil Kish earned a hold with a one-walk seventh and Jose Fernandez nailed down his 10th save by offsetting three hits with three K's over two scoreless innings.
Everett 8 Vancouver 5
Turner Lee turned in his second straight scoreless appearance against the AquaSox, pitching 1-1/3 scoreless innings Tuesday.
Everett, WA - The C's are 0-2 to begin the second half after dropping two of three to the Mariners affiliate on the road. Sounds familiar, doesn't it? The AquaSox got to Jonathan Harris (0-2, 4.34) for two runs in the first and racked up four hits and a walk over his two-inning stint in a morning afair. Harris struck out four and his two outs in play were on the ground. Stuart Holmes was slammed for four runs on six hits and a walk over 1-2/3 innings. He left one on for Turner Lee, who stranded the runner and issued just one walk in 1-1/3 innings of scoreless relief. Brandon Hinkle worked around a hit and a walk and whiffed four over two shutout frames but Andrew Case allowed two runs on two hits and a walk in the ninth.
Gabriel Cenas got a hold of one for a two-run homer in the ninth but the C's rally would come up short.
The C's scored their first run in the second inning in bizarre fashion when a throwing error by the catcher during a James Lynch walk allowed Lane Thomas to score from third base after getting aboard with a double. They did not score again until the eighth when another error produced a run. The bats came alive in the ninth when Gabriel Cenas hit his first home run of the season, a two-run shot to score a Sean Hurley base hit. J.C. Cardenas, Kevin Garcia and Andrew Guillotte followed with three straight singles to load the bases with nobody out. However, the most they could do with that was a Rolando Segovia sacrifice fly as Justin Atkinson went down swinging and Thomas grounded out to end the game. Garcia and Ryan Hissey had the two-hit games for Vancouver. Segovia and Gunnar Heidt also picked up base hits while catcher Josh Reavis collected a double in his first game with Vancouver since being called up from Bluefield. However, Reavis and Harris had trouble stopping the Everett running game as Drew Jackson stole two of his three bases off of that battery, the other came against the Garcia and Case tandem. On the positive side, Lynch threw out a runner at home from left field.
Princeton 9 Bluefield 2 (Game 1 - 7 Innings)
Princeton, WV - Just like with Dunedin, Bluefield scored first but did not score often or last as they saw the Rays run away with this one by tallying the final nine runs of the game. Jacob Brentz had an average start over five innings as he started and finished up with a Game Score of 50. The 11th round pick from 2013 yielded two solo homers and five hits overall, leading to three runs. The southpaw walked two but struck out three and his groundout total was five. John Kravetz (0-2) got just one of the five hitters he faced as he was charged with an unearned run on two hits and a walk. The run was unearned after a Deiferson Barreto error at second. Lefty Zak Wasilewski escaped a bases-loaded jam in two-thirds of an inning but was walloped for three runs on three hits. Zachary Rodgers saw two of Wasilewski's runs cross the plate on his watch and also allowed three runs on two hits and two walks over two-thirds of a frame. Joe Claver stranded a runner by whiffing the only hitter he faced.
The Jays got their only two runs in the first when a Yeltsin Gudino walk and a Jacob Anderson single came in to score on a Christian Williams fielder's choice that resulted in an 8-4 putout at second and a throwing error by the shortstop. Anderson - making his season debut - had one of the Jays' three hits. The others were a Freddy Rodriguez double and a D.J. McKnight single. McKnight also drew two walks for a perfect day at the dish but he was picked off at third by the catcher. Rodrigo Orozco drew two walks and Gudino added three at the top of the order but Orozco was caught stealing in the first. Gabriel Clark and Deiferson Barreto also worked the count to ball four. Matt Morgan was 0-for-3.
Bluefield 5 Princeton 2 (Game 2 - 7 Innings)
Bluefield got the doubleheader split by scoring all of their runs in the first two innings. They did their damage in the first when D.J. McKnight singled home a run and Juan Tejada doubled home two more. Aaron Attaway would cap off the frame with a sac fly. McKnight doubled in another run in the second. McKnight and Yeltsin Gudino had two hits apiece while Mattingly Romanin had a base knock and a hit by pitch. Gabriel Clark was the on-base leader with a hit and two walks. Christian Williams and Andres Sotillo were 0-for-3 and Attaway was 0-for-2.
Dalton "Roadhouse" Rodriguez (2-3, 3.89) dimmed the Rays to a pair of runs on six hits over five frames while striking out three and walking nobody for a Game Score of 50. Seven of his 10 outs in play stayed on the grass. Alberto Guzman tossed a one-hitter and struck out two over two shutout frames for his first third save. Ooh Alberto!
DSL Orioles 3 DSL Blue Jays 2
Boca Chica, DR - The Orioles scored runs in their last two at-bats to record a come-from-behind victory. Guadalupe Chavez put in a solid six-inning start by scattering five hits, two walks and a hit by pitch while whiffing four. He recorded nine groundball outs on the way to a Game Score of 60. Wilmin Lara (3-2) gave up the tying and winning runs on a hit, a walk and a hit by pitch and committed a balk in 1-1/3 innings. The tying run was unearned after an error by Moreta at third. Alvardo Galindo struck out one and got the final two outs but not before allowing one of Lara's two runners to score on a hit.
A Norberto Obeso RBI single tied the game for the Jays in the sixth inning and they took the lead when Antony Fuentes hit into a double play in the seventh. Antonio Concepion led off the ninth with a pinch-hit double. Sam Buelens came in to pinch-run but only made it as far as third. Obeso had two of the Jays' six hits. The other three hits were singles by Francisco Rodriguez, Manuel Herazo and Christian Peguero. Jesus Navarro and Enmanuel Moreta got on base with a base on balls and Moreta also stole a base. Fuentes, Sterling Guzman and Yorman Rodriguez were all hitless in 11 combined at-bats.
Tuesday's Linescores
*** 3 Stars!!! ***
3. Jon Berti, Buffalo
2. Scott Barnes, New Hampshire
1. Jeff Francis, Buffalo
Wednesday's Schedule / Probable Starters
DSL Reds @ DSL Blue Jays, 10:30am ET - TBA
GCL Braves @ GCL Blue Jays, 12:00 pm ET - TBA
Harrisburg @ New Hampshire, 12:05 pm ET - John Anderson (5-5, 4.85)
Lansing @ Lake County, 1:00 pm ET - Chase Mallard (4-3, 4.97)
Dunedin @ Charlotte, 7:00 pm ET - Jeremy Gabryszwski (7-5, 3.68)
Buffalo @ Syracuse, 7:05 pm ET - Scott Copeland (7-3, 2.17)
Princeton @ Bluefield, 7:05 pm ET - Angel Perdomo (3-1, 2.12)
Vancouver @ Boise, 9:15 pm ET - TBA
Extra Innings
Buffalo 6 Syracuse 0
Syracuse, NY - Jon Berti picked a good night to draw attention to himself. He drove in the first two runs of the game with a two-run triple in the second inning before scoring on a Munenori Kawasaki base hit. The Troy (Tulowitzki!), Michigan native then launched his first Triple-A home run in the fourth inning to make it 4-0 Herd. Berti scored again in the sixth when his leadoff walk was brought in by a Dalton Pompey sacrifice fly. Andy Burns would add another run with an RBI double. Kawasaki was 3-for-3 while Berti and Alex Hassan had two hits and a walk. Burns had two hits and Josh Thole walked twice. Melky Mesa had a double and an outfield assist from center field after getting a runner at second. Matt Hague had a hit and Ty Kelly got a walk.Jeff Francis (5-0, 1.58) confounded the Chiefs by holding them to five hits over seven shutout innings while striking out four. Nine of his 14 outs in play against the Nationals affiliate were on the ground to boost his Game Score to 71. Steve Delabar struck out two in a perfect eighth and Chad Jenkins walked one in a shutout ninth.
New Hampshire 5 Harrisburg 0
Manchester, NH - Another shutout win over a Nationals farm club and a near no-hit bid. Scott Barnes (2-1, 3.72) kept the horses in the barn with five perfect frames that included four K's to also record a Game Score of 71. Jimmy Cordero walked a couple over two frames but picked off one of those runners at second base. He also had one strikeout. Chad Girodo coughed up the no-hit bid on a single to the first batter he faced but he allowed just one other hit over two frames and struck out a pair to wrap things up. The Fisher Cats opened the scoring on back-to-back RBI singles by Roemon Fields and Shane Opitz to score back-to-back singles by Christian Lopes and Jorge Flores in the third inning. K.C. Hobson doubled home two more runs in the sixth and Fields worked a bases-loaded walk in the eighth. Lopes and Flores had two hits apiece with Flores also drawing a walk. Kevin Nolan walked three times while Ryan Schimpf doubled and walked. Martin Medina reached base with a base on balls but Matt Newman was 0-for-4.
Charlotte 6 Dunedin 2 (Game 1 - 7 Innings)
Port Charlotte, FL - The D-Jays felt the pinch of the Rays affiliate as they scored six runs in their last three at-bats to win this one. Sean Reid-Foley (0-3, 4.71) retired 10 of the first 11 batters he faced but was roughed up for five runs in 4-2/3 innings on six hits and two walks. He struck out four and got five of his nine outs in play on the ground. Lefty Matt Dermody stranded a runner for Reid-Foley but was dinged for a run of his own on three hits. He struck out one in his 1-1/3 inning outing.
Richard Urena ripped a home run to left to open the scoring in the fourth and Derrick Chung singled home a Rowdy Tellez double to give Dunedin a short-lived 2-0 lead. Tellez was the only D-Jay to get on base twice with a walk and Anthony Alford had the other hit with a double. Matt Dean, Andy Fermin, J.D. Davis and Derrick Loveless were all 0-for-3 while Dickie Joe Thon was 0-for-2.
Charlotte 11 Dunedin 5 (Game 2 - 7 Innings)
The Rays affiliate rocked the Jays again with another late offensive outburst, scoring the final eight runs over the last two innings to sweep the doubleheader. Alonzo Gonzalez was gonged for three runs (one earned after a Mitch Nay error at third) on four hits and a walk over three innings. He struck out four and his groundout/flyout total was 4-1. Alberto Tirado was tapped out for four runs on four walks but struck out a pair. Arik Sikula was ambushed for four more runs on seven hits, including two home runs, but struck out four in two innings.
Dunedin climbed back from a 3-0 deficit with four runs in the fourth. Dickie Joe Thon hit the equivalent of a little league inside-the-park home run after clearing the bases with a double before scoring himself on a throwing error at short. That cashed in walks by Rowdy Tellez and L.B. Dantzler and a single by Matt Dean. The other run came on a double play ball hit by Dean in the ninth. Thon had two doubles and a walk for a perfect performance at the plate and Tellez got aboard three times via the base on balls. Derrick Loveless hit a double, Richard Urena had a base hit and Anthony Alford got a free pass. Mitch Nay was 0-for-4 and Mike Reeves went 0-for-3.
Lansing 5 Lake County 3
Eastlake, OH - The Lugnuts jumped on the Indians affiliate for five runs over the first two innings and that proved to be enough to put the Lugnuts one victory shy of 60 on the season. Jason Leblebijian's ground-rule double scored the first run and Dawel Lugo capped off the first with a two-run single. A David Harris base hit brought home a Chris Carlson triple and Harris would go home on a Ryan McBroom sacrifice fly in the second. Lugo and Christian Vazquez turned in two-hit games with Vazquez getting a double. Leblebijian was on base three times by adding a couple of walks with his double and he stole a base. McBroom had two walks while Harris and D.J. Davis had a base hit and a walk. Michael De La Cruz also recorded a single but Josh Almonte whiffed twice in five hitless at-bats.Starlyn Suriel was shaky to say the least as he walked six over four innings. He served up a two-run homer among the three runs and four hits he surrendered. He struck out three and induced five groundball outs. Tim Mayza (1-0) tamed the Captains to a couple of hits while racking up three strikeouts over two shutout frames. Phil Kish earned a hold with a one-walk seventh and Jose Fernandez nailed down his 10th save by offsetting three hits with three K's over two scoreless innings.
Everett 8 Vancouver 5
Turner Lee turned in his second straight scoreless appearance against the AquaSox, pitching 1-1/3 scoreless innings Tuesday.
Everett, WA - The C's are 0-2 to begin the second half after dropping two of three to the Mariners affiliate on the road. Sounds familiar, doesn't it? The AquaSox got to Jonathan Harris (0-2, 4.34) for two runs in the first and racked up four hits and a walk over his two-inning stint in a morning afair. Harris struck out four and his two outs in play were on the ground. Stuart Holmes was slammed for four runs on six hits and a walk over 1-2/3 innings. He left one on for Turner Lee, who stranded the runner and issued just one walk in 1-1/3 innings of scoreless relief. Brandon Hinkle worked around a hit and a walk and whiffed four over two shutout frames but Andrew Case allowed two runs on two hits and a walk in the ninth.
Gabriel Cenas got a hold of one for a two-run homer in the ninth but the C's rally would come up short.
The C's scored their first run in the second inning in bizarre fashion when a throwing error by the catcher during a James Lynch walk allowed Lane Thomas to score from third base after getting aboard with a double. They did not score again until the eighth when another error produced a run. The bats came alive in the ninth when Gabriel Cenas hit his first home run of the season, a two-run shot to score a Sean Hurley base hit. J.C. Cardenas, Kevin Garcia and Andrew Guillotte followed with three straight singles to load the bases with nobody out. However, the most they could do with that was a Rolando Segovia sacrifice fly as Justin Atkinson went down swinging and Thomas grounded out to end the game. Garcia and Ryan Hissey had the two-hit games for Vancouver. Segovia and Gunnar Heidt also picked up base hits while catcher Josh Reavis collected a double in his first game with Vancouver since being called up from Bluefield. However, Reavis and Harris had trouble stopping the Everett running game as Drew Jackson stole two of his three bases off of that battery, the other came against the Garcia and Case tandem. On the positive side, Lynch threw out a runner at home from left field.
Princeton 9 Bluefield 2 (Game 1 - 7 Innings)
Princeton, WV - Just like with Dunedin, Bluefield scored first but did not score often or last as they saw the Rays run away with this one by tallying the final nine runs of the game. Jacob Brentz had an average start over five innings as he started and finished up with a Game Score of 50. The 11th round pick from 2013 yielded two solo homers and five hits overall, leading to three runs. The southpaw walked two but struck out three and his groundout total was five. John Kravetz (0-2) got just one of the five hitters he faced as he was charged with an unearned run on two hits and a walk. The run was unearned after a Deiferson Barreto error at second. Lefty Zak Wasilewski escaped a bases-loaded jam in two-thirds of an inning but was walloped for three runs on three hits. Zachary Rodgers saw two of Wasilewski's runs cross the plate on his watch and also allowed three runs on two hits and two walks over two-thirds of a frame. Joe Claver stranded a runner by whiffing the only hitter he faced.
The Jays got their only two runs in the first when a Yeltsin Gudino walk and a Jacob Anderson single came in to score on a Christian Williams fielder's choice that resulted in an 8-4 putout at second and a throwing error by the shortstop. Anderson - making his season debut - had one of the Jays' three hits. The others were a Freddy Rodriguez double and a D.J. McKnight single. McKnight also drew two walks for a perfect day at the dish but he was picked off at third by the catcher. Rodrigo Orozco drew two walks and Gudino added three at the top of the order but Orozco was caught stealing in the first. Gabriel Clark and Deiferson Barreto also worked the count to ball four. Matt Morgan was 0-for-3.
Bluefield 5 Princeton 2 (Game 2 - 7 Innings)
Bluefield got the doubleheader split by scoring all of their runs in the first two innings. They did their damage in the first when D.J. McKnight singled home a run and Juan Tejada doubled home two more. Aaron Attaway would cap off the frame with a sac fly. McKnight doubled in another run in the second. McKnight and Yeltsin Gudino had two hits apiece while Mattingly Romanin had a base knock and a hit by pitch. Gabriel Clark was the on-base leader with a hit and two walks. Christian Williams and Andres Sotillo were 0-for-3 and Attaway was 0-for-2.Dalton "Roadhouse" Rodriguez (2-3, 3.89) dimmed the Rays to a pair of runs on six hits over five frames while striking out three and walking nobody for a Game Score of 50. Seven of his 10 outs in play stayed on the grass. Alberto Guzman tossed a one-hitter and struck out two over two shutout frames for his first third save. Ooh Alberto!
DSL Orioles 3 DSL Blue Jays 2
Boca Chica, DR - The Orioles scored runs in their last two at-bats to record a come-from-behind victory. Guadalupe Chavez put in a solid six-inning start by scattering five hits, two walks and a hit by pitch while whiffing four. He recorded nine groundball outs on the way to a Game Score of 60. Wilmin Lara (3-2) gave up the tying and winning runs on a hit, a walk and a hit by pitch and committed a balk in 1-1/3 innings. The tying run was unearned after an error by Moreta at third. Alvardo Galindo struck out one and got the final two outs but not before allowing one of Lara's two runners to score on a hit.
A Norberto Obeso RBI single tied the game for the Jays in the sixth inning and they took the lead when Antony Fuentes hit into a double play in the seventh. Antonio Concepion led off the ninth with a pinch-hit double. Sam Buelens came in to pinch-run but only made it as far as third. Obeso had two of the Jays' six hits. The other three hits were singles by Francisco Rodriguez, Manuel Herazo and Christian Peguero. Jesus Navarro and Enmanuel Moreta got on base with a base on balls and Moreta also stole a base. Fuentes, Sterling Guzman and Yorman Rodriguez were all hitless in 11 combined at-bats.
Tuesday's Linescores
*** 3 Stars!!! ***
3. Jon Berti, Buffalo
2. Scott Barnes, New Hampshire
1. Jeff Francis, Buffalo
Wednesday's Schedule / Probable Starters
DSL Reds @ DSL Blue Jays, 10:30am ET - TBA
GCL Braves @ GCL Blue Jays, 12:00 pm ET - TBA
Harrisburg @ New Hampshire, 12:05 pm ET - John Anderson (5-5, 4.85)
Lansing @ Lake County, 1:00 pm ET - Chase Mallard (4-3, 4.97)
Dunedin @ Charlotte, 7:00 pm ET - Jeremy Gabryszwski (7-5, 3.68)
Buffalo @ Syracuse, 7:05 pm ET - Scott Copeland (7-3, 2.17)
Princeton @ Bluefield, 7:05 pm ET - Angel Perdomo (3-1, 2.12)
Vancouver @ Boise, 9:15 pm ET - TBA
Extra Innings
- The National Post catches up to 1992 World Series MVP Pat Borders
- The Post also hangs out with Matt Hague
