Two affiliates won and both were outhit. Vancouver won because they hit four two run home runs. Bluefield won thanks to errors and walks by their opponent. Buffalo,New Hampshire and Lansing lost. Dunedin were rained out.
There is just over a week left in the minor league season. Three of the Jays affiliates have been eliminated, Buffalo, New Hampshire and Vancouver. Of the other four Dunedin are best placed with a 2.5 game lead. Bluefield are a half game ahead for the last playoff spot. Lansing and the GCL Jays are 3.5 and 2 games out and time is running out for both. They need a win streak.
Lehigh Valley 5 Buffalo 2
Mike Bolsinger was fine through two innings but had a bad third. Four hits, a walk and an error in that inning led to four runs, three earned. Bolsinger hung in to go five innings. Of note, Chris Smith was promoted from New Hampshire and made his AAA debut. He pitched a clean inning with two K's. Canadian starter Chris Leroux was released to make room for Smith. The Bisons will have to replace Leroux for one start.
Buffalo got on the board in the first inning, Dalton Pompey doubled and later scored on a sac fly by Darrell Ceciliani. Ceciliani scored the second run, he singled and scored when Matt Dominguez also singled. Jesus Montero was the only hitter with two hits. His average is now .318 and its almost sure he will end the season over 300. Montero's OPS is 793 which is not as high as his average would imply.
New Hampshire 6 Reading 7
John Stilson came into a tied game in the eighth inning and allowed three runs. Stilson's problems started with a one out walk. A single was followed with two more walks. Another single made it a three run inning. That put a damper on a decent start by Jeremy Gabryszwski, he gave up four runs in seven innings. with one start left Gabby has a 5.26 ERA.
New Hampshire were held hitless by Mark Leiter until the seventh inning. The no-no was broken up by Rowdy Tellez with his 18th home run. Shortly thereafter Emilio Guerrero hit a three run home run to tie the game. In the ninth Ian Parmley made it a one run game by tripling in two runs with two outs. But that was it. Guerrero and Parmley each had two hits. Richard Urena was hitless and his average has dropped to .282.
Lakeland at Dunedin - rained out
Lansing 6 Lake County 8
Despite the recent reinforcements Lansing lost again and have lost six of their last seven, moving out of the playoff picture. Lansing built a 4-2 lead and with Justin Maese on the mound they must have been optimistic. Unfortunately Maese was not at his best. He gave up a two run home run in the first inning. In the fourth, four hits, 3 doubles, and a walk led to four runs. Three of the four hits were ground ball hits. Two more doubles and a walk led to two more runs off Maese in the fifth. That's eight runs off Maese, a start to forget.
The Lugnuts had eleven hits. Conor Panas had two plus he was twice hit by pitches. Cavan Biggio was also hit by a pitch, walked twice and had a hit. Josh Palacios keeps on htting, he had two as did Carl Wise. JB Woodman just had one.
Vancouver 8 Everett 6
The Canadians were outhit 10-8 and Vancouver made four errors but they also hit four round trippers. All the homers were of the two run variety. Bryan Lizardo started it in the third inning. Jacob Anderson and DJ McKnight went deep in the fourth. Juan Tejada hit his in the fifth. Christian Williams, did not have a home run but did have two hits.
Patrick Murphy went six innings and was responsible for four runs. He had just two K's. Grayson Huffman and Nick Hartman each allowed a run.
Johnson city 5 Bluefield 9
The Jays were outhit 10-9 but the Cardinals made four errors and walked eight Jays. Reggie Pruitt had two more hits and three RBI. That makes seven hits for Pruitt over the weekend. Lance Jones also had two hits while Javier Monzon had a triple and two RBI. Vlad Jr. sat out his second straight game.
Jose Espada went five innings allowing three runs. Kelyn Jose went 2.2 just conceding an unearned run.
Three Stars
Third Star - Ian Parmley
Second Star - Emilio Guerrero
First Star - Reggie Pruitt
Highlights on Saturday included two hits for Christian Lopes and four RBI. Conner Greene took 108 pitches to get through five innings. Ryan McBroom hit his 21st home run, Max Pentecost picked up two hits. Conor Fisk pitched a two hitter over eight innings. JB Woodman went 3-3 with a home run for Lansing. Bluefirld had a walk off win, Reggie Pruitt had three hits.
On Friday Rowdy Tellez was a triple short of the cycle. Christian Lopes also had three hits. Ryan Borucki pitched five shutout innings with nine K's. Reggie Pruitt had two hits.
