Two wins in five games for the affiliates. New Hampshire stayed hot behind Randy Boone, with homers from Brian Jeroloman and Adam Calderone. Dunedin had three hits from Adeiny Hechavarria, and a home run from Mike McDade, as they came from behind to win. Las Vegas had twenty hits and lost, as Rey Gonzalez was bombed. Brian Dopirak hit two home runs. Lansing lost both ends of a doubleheader in two very similar games.
Yours truly was in Lansing for the doubleheader and lugnut fan, Chad Hillman, stopped by to say hello, as we exchanged notes about the players. I talked with manager Sal Fasano, look for that on the site next week.
Henderson Alvarez cruised through seven shutout innings Friday night. He gave up five hits but recorded 14 of his 16 non-strikeout outs via groundballs. Mike McDade popped two home runs. And in the "glimpse of the future" department, in the sixth inning Adeiny Hechavarria, Tyler Pastornicky and Travis D'Arnaud had consecutive hits to score two runs. Jesse Litsch was pretty good for six innings in AAA on Friday but the bottom fell out fast in the seventh. Las Vegas went on to lose. Kyle Drabek had a not so good start and the hitters were shut down by Bowie. Lansing were rained out.
New Hampshire had 20 hits and lost while none of the other three afiliates did more than half that number while all emerging victorious.
It was a .500 night on the farm. The bad news saw a rehabbing Jays pitcher get rocked as well as an extra innings loss. On the flip side, the only affiliate on the road picked up a win and a couple of Canadians carried the big lumber in a walk-off victory.
Saturday was ike Friday, three affiliates won, Las Vegas being the only loser, and Adam Calderone was the hitting hero again. Calderone drove in the first three Fisher Cat runs in support of Kyle Drabek. Drabek was matched up against Casey Kelly, one of Boston's top prospects. Drabek pitched seven shutout innings for the win.
Henderson Alvarez had to face Jimmy Rollins as well as the rest of the Clearwater side and he pitched six shutout innings and kept Rollins off the bases. Jon Tolisano had three hits including a home run. Dunedin and Clearwater also finished a game suspended earlier in the season and Dunedin won that one too. Adeiny Hechavarria hadone hit in each game and so far is hitting the ball on the ground most of the time.
Lansing were down 3-0 in the eighth but came back to win. Brad Mills had a rough start and Las Vegas were blown out.
The Jays affiliates managed a winning night by going 2-1 that included a shootout, an extra innings win and a game postponed due to the G20 Summit. I'm not buying one word of this "postponed due to rain BS". However, the best news of the night came from the mound in Dunedin.