A shutout loss, a blowout victory and a one-run win happened on Memorial Day Monday for the Blue Jays affiliates. Dunedin had the day off. #LetsGoBlueJays
Lehigh Valley 5 Buffalo 0
The Bisons were blanked on five singles and a walk. Anthony Alford, Teoscar Hernandez, Richard Urena, Jordan Patterson, Alen Hanson and Jordan Patterson had the knocks with Hernandez drawing the only walk. Urena stole second base in the second but was caught stealing third in the second inning. The next half-inning saw the Phillies affiliate take the lead for good. Socrates Brito and Billy McKinney were 0-for-4. Patrick Cantwell and Andrew Guillotte were 0-for-3.
Conor Fisk was tagged with the loss after giving up three runs over three innings. The first run was unearned but it was due to Fisk dropping the ball while covering first base on a relay from Patterson. I've never understood why the pitcher gets an unearned run when it's his own error to begin with. He coughed five hits and walked a batter but struck out five. Zach Jackson served up a solo shot among his two hits in the fourth. William Ouellette put up a pair of zeros, giving up just one hit and whiffing three. Jonathan Cheshire was cuffed for a run on two hits in his two innings but did record four groundball outs.
New Hampshire 9 Hartford 2
The Fisher Cats pounced early on the Rockies affiliate by grabbing a 2-0 lead two batters in. Vinny Capra led off with a double and scored on a Forrest Wall two-run home run. Wall singled home Capra in the second inning and that was followed by RBI singles from Nash Knight and Patrick Kivlehan to put New Hampshire up by four. Wall singled home another run in the sixth but it was Kivelhan who drove in the other three runs with an RBI double in the fifth, a home run in the seventh and an RBI single in the eighth. Kivlehan was 5-for-5 and Wall was 4-for-5 with four RBI each. Nash Knight had a two-hit game and Riley Adams doubled and walked. Santiago Espinal, Brock Lundquist and Kevin Smith walked. Andres Sotillo was 0-for-4 but scored a run.
Hector Perez pitched 5-2/3 innings of one-run ball, giving up six hits and two walks. He rung up four and recorded nine outs on the ground. Tayler Saucedo stranded two runners and pitched 2-1/3 innings of scoreless ball with just one hit and one walk allowed, striking out three. Ty Tice saw an unearned run cross the plate on his watch, allowing two hits but striking out one.
Lansing 5 Lake County 4
The Lugnuts bunched up their runs in their first and last at-bats for the win. Jake Brodt launched a two-run homer to plate an Otto Lopez single in the first to open the scoring. Nick Podkul lifted a sacrifice fly to tie the game at 3-3 in the eighth before Gabriel Moreno went yard to score a Brodt walk to put the 'Nuts ahead for good. Lopez had a two-hit effort while Brodt was on base three times with a second walk. Ryan Gold doubled and walked and Tanner Kirwer singled and walked. Rafael Lantigua singled and Hunter Steinmetz earned a free pass. Reggie Pruitt was hitless in four AB's.
Sean Wymer managed to keep the Cleveland affiliate to two runs over five innings despite eight hits and a walk. He only struck out one but got six groundball outs and picked off a runner at first. Marcus Reyes yielded three hits and a walk that led to the other run in the sixth. Jackson Rees dominated in his two innings by stranding two runners and striking out the side in the seventh. He would whiff five of the six batters he faced to get the win. Will McAffer was charged with a run on two hits in his third of an inning. Cre Finfrock would strand a runner and get the final two outs, including a game-ending punchout for the save.
*** 3 Stars!!! ***
3. Jake Brodt, Lansing
2. Forrest Wall, New Hampshire
1. Patrick Kivlehan, New Hampshire
Extra Innings...
- Buffalo Bisons play-by-play man Duke McGuire reminisces on the 35th anniversary of The Natural.
- Lansing GM Tyler Parsons talks about the Lugnuts promotional schedule.
- WVNS-TV has a video feature about baseball in Mercer County with Bluefield and Princeton.
