Three out of four wins on Sunday thanks to good pitching. Thomas Hatch and TJ Zeuch combined in Buffalo. Kyle Johnston pitched well for New Hampshire but the bullpen wasn't up to the job. Paxton Schultz was excellent for Vancouver and Naswell Paulino pitched well for Dunedin.
We are approx. 30 games into the minor league season. After last years "lost year" there was come concern that players would come back rusty and out of game fitness. There were stories in the press about sloppy play in the first few weeks of the season. Well with thirty games under their belt, the players should be good to go now. We can give players and pitchers mulligans for the first thirty games but now its down to business. Players who want to move up the prospect lists should start to see their numbers improve from here.
I have tried not to be too judgmental on players to this point. I will be watching more closely over the next thirty games.
Syracuse 2 Buffalo 5
Binghamton 9 New Hampshire 6
Eugene 3 Vancouver 7
Bradenton 3 Dunedin 4
This is what I noted from yesterday's games.
Good pitching led the way for the Bisons. Thomas Hatch was back on the mound and threw two innings with just a walk over the minimum. He was followed by R who went the full seven to close out the gamer. It was a typical Zeuch performance, just one K, encouragingly no walks and just 83 pitches over seven innings. There were lots of balls in play, nine on the ground and six in the air.
The Bisons had twelve hits. Tyler White had three, Juan Graterol and Kevin Smith two each. Cavan Biggio homered.
The Fisher Cats bullpen has been terrible this season. I believe they said on the Around the Nest podcast (highly recommended) that the Cats were oh for nine in save opportunities. Sunday added to that. Kyle Johnston pitched a good game and left with a 2-1 lead. But the bullpen coughed up eight runs to take another loss and add another blown save. Johnston went five innings, had eight K's and just conceded the one run.
Austin Martin hit his second home run, one of his two hits. Nick Podkul hit his first home run. Demi Orimoloye also had two hits.
Fourteen hits for the C's, six players had two hits each. Tanner Kirwer had two hits and scored three times. Phil Clarke was another two-hitter, he scored two and drove in two. Cameron Eden joined them and drove in two runs.
Paxton Schultz dominated, nine K's over six innings. He only allowed one run on two hits. Justin Maese struck out five in two innings for his third save.
Four runs on four hits were enough for the D-Jays. Jhon Solarte scored two of the runs, including the winning run in the eighth. Leonardo Jimenez drove in that winning run with a single. Orelvis Martinez had two hits, one a triple, score one and drove in one.
Naswell Paulino started and went five innings. He only gave up one hit but he walked four. The Rays scored three off him but just one was earned.
Three Stars
Third Star - Tanner Kirwer
Second Star - Paxton Schultz
First Star - TJ Zeuch
