Scranton 3 Buffalo 2
It was all hands on deck for Buffalo on Sunday. Drew Hutchison was due to start but obviously he was not available. Pat Venditte made the start and went three innings, one run allowed. The losing pitcher was Ben Rowen who has been pitching well recently. He was rocked for six hits and two runs in three innings.
Both Buffalo runs were unearned. Jesus Montero scored the first run when he stole third and third baseman Pete Kozma missed the ball. The second run scored on a passed ball by Yankees prospect Gary Sanchez. It was his second PB of the game. Montero and Casey Kotchman had two hits each.
New Hampshire 1 Binghamton 3
Shane Dawson had another start that was like his last start. Five innings, one run, four hits, four walks, seven K's. However Dawson was done after five because he had thrown 95 pitches. His efficiency needs to improve. Tim Myaza and Murphy Smith each allowed a run out of the pen, and that was the difference.
New Hampshire had just three hits, Roemen Fields had two. Rowdy Tellez ended his hot streak.
Tampa 0 Dunedin 1
Sean Reid-Foley was dominant, 7.1 innings, one hit, no walks and nine K's. Of all those numbers the zero walks is the best sign. SRF had 66 strikes in his 97 pitches.
Dunedin's only run came in the sixth. Richard Urena singled in Aaron Attaway. The Jays had only five hits.
Lansing 3 South Bend 5
This game was tied at one after six innings. Max Pentecost led off with is second home run of the game. Justin Atkinson doubled and Juan Tejada delivered the third run with a single. That held up until the bottom of the eighth. Ryan Borucki was pitching in the eighth, working on a six hitter. But the first two hitters of the eighth singled, and that was followed by a sac bunt. Starlyn Suriel came on and the first hitter doubled to tie the game. A couple more hits and an error gave South Bend the two run lead..
Pentecost was the only hitter with two hits. His two home runs gives him five on the season. Borucki was charged with three runs in his 7.1 innings. He hadeight K's.
Spokane 3 Vancouver 0
Justin Maese started but was hit by a line drive three batters in. He was removed from the game. Griffin Glaude replaced Maese, and as often happens, gave up a two run single. Maese faced three batters and took the loss. Glaude went 2.2 and gave up two more. Matt Smoral didn't give up a run in three innings. However Spokane did have four hits and a walk. Smoral K'd two. Gabe Noyalis went two hitless innings.
The offense had just six hits. Cavan Biggio had two and is hitting .326. He, Jacob Anderson and Mattingly Romanin are the only hitters above .240. The "prospects" who are not hitting include JB Woodsman, Rodrigo Orozco, Yeltsin Gudino and Bryan Lizardo.
Bluefield 8 Elizabethton 6 - 11 innings
Speaking of not hitting, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. Vlad Jr was 0-5 Sunday and is hitting .151. He is very young for the league and hopefully he will get the measure of the pitchers and show some improvement as the year moves on. The Jays took a two run lead to the bottom of the ninth but Mike Estevez loaded the bases and with two outs he had to leave with an "injured arm". New pitcher Chris Hall allowed two runs to score to tie the game. The Jays loaded the bases in the eleventh. Juandy Mendoza delivered a two run double for the margin of victory. The bottom of the eleventh was a bit nervous as Guerrero made his fifth error but the Jays nailed it down.
The bottom four in the order had nine of the Jays 12 hits. Jesus Severino had three hits and two walks. Mendoza had two doubles and two walks. Kalik May and Ridge Smith also had two hits. Smith is hitting .318, Severino .316. Hansel Rodriguez started and conceded four runs, two earned, in six innings.
GCL Blue Jays
The GCL Jays are usually a low scoring, low batting average team, with pitching dominating. Not this year. The top of the Jays order is on fire. Its still a small sample but four hitters have an OPS over 1000. Javier Monzon is hitting .375 with an OPS of 1351. Norberto Obeso is hitting .526; Bo Bichette .417 and Kevin Vicuna .448. If it continues they will be looking for a chance to play in Bluefield.
Three Stars
Third Star - Jandy Mendoza
Second Star - Max Pentecost
First Star - Sean Reid-Foley
Notable performances on Saturday included Rowdy Tellez who was 2-3 in game one of a DH and 3-4 with a home run in game two. Dwight Smith also homered. Conner Greene made his first AA start of 2016 and had a line of 5 3 5 4 3 4. Chris Rowley had another good start, two runs allowed in seven innings. Ridge Smith, 12th round this year, had two hits including a home run. For the GCL Jays, 23 year old Cuban Javier Monzon went 3-5 with a home run.
On Friday, Tellez went 2-3 with a HR in game one of a DH, again. In game two he was 1-2 with two walks. Jason Leblebijian was 3-4. Richard Urena had three hits. Jon Harris allowed one earned run in six innings. Nash Knight had four hits for Bluefield. Connor Eller started and just had one hit off him on five innings. Joel Espinal, 19 year old from the Dominican, had ten K's in six innings. The Pirates had just three hits off him.
