It was an ugly night on the farm. Las Vegas went down early and couldn't mount any kind of comeback. New Hampshire kept it close until the fifth when the floodgates opened. Dunedin, like New Hampshire, kept it close, but couldn't win as Henderson Alvarez was a bit shaky again. Lansing took a 4-0 lead to the bottom of the ninth and lost thanks in part to two errors.
New Hampshire trailed 5-0 after seven innings and they had only one hit in the game. But they exploded for seven runs in the eighth and won. The win masked a rough start by Zach Stewart. The Lugnuts racked up 16 hits to support Chad Jenkins on their way to a win. Las Vegas and Dunedin were losers Friday.
Ryan Schimpf had four hits to lead the Lugnuts to the win. The pitchers allowed only one hit, Evan Crawford pitched five shutout innings. Dunedin also won with Sean Shoffit delivering the big hit and Chuck Huggins pitching well. New Hampshire lost a close one while Las Vegas were blown out.
There was a split on the farm last night, with the middle two affiliates losing while Las Vegas and Lansing won their games. Las Vegas was powered by the top of their lineup and patience, while Lansing made their few opportunities count. Meanwhile, New Hampshire and Dunedin could not get the big hit and combined to strand 27 runners on base.
New Hampshire's big day at the plate was the good news. A one-run loss in regulation and an extra innings heartbreaker were the bad news in a 1-3 night on the farm.
It was a high-scoring night on the farm (mostly for the opponents), as 61 runs were scored between the four games.
A couple of big name pitching prospects came up small on Sunday.
New Hampshire took a 5-1 lead into the ninth inning Saturday and with Tim Collins and Danny Farquhar in the bullpen it was game over, right? Not so fast. Collins was touched for three runs and Farquhar for five to put the Fisher Cats down 9-5 heading to the bottom of the ninth. Game over, right? Not so fast. Eric Thames hit a three run home run, his second, followed shortly thereafter by a two run walk-off home run by Adam Calderone. The fans in Manchester got their money's worth with this game.
Las Vegas won with a team effort. Dunedin won behind good pitching from Chuck Huggins and Lansing also had a walk off win.
Kyle Drabek pitched well, again, and Brad Emaus hit a three run home run in the first inning to lead the Fisher Cats to victory. Dunedin also won in a pitchers duel that went ten innings. Brad Mills was not at his best and Las Vegas lost. Lansing gave up eight runs in the eighth and lost also.
A mixed night on the farm as New Hampshire scored more runs than the other three affiliates combined as the Junior Jays finished 2-2.
The farm system was perfect last night, as the affiliates won three games and Las Vegas had the day off. None of the affiliates gave up more than two runs, but none of the starters made it out of the sixth inning.
Due to time constraints and being on the road, this will be quick. The affiliates went 3-1 on the night and one of the Jays top pitching prospects gets his first professional win.
There was quite a bit of rain in the minor leagues on Monday night. None of it affected the Blue Jays' affiliates. What did affect the affiliates, however, was the absence of games on the schedule. Las Vegas was the only affiliate in action, and they lost what must have been a pretty boring game, especially after Sunday´s thriller.
It's entirely possible that the most exciting and entertaining thing to happen in Sin City today was the baseball game.
Kyle Drabek has his best start of the season leading New Hampshire to the win. Brad Mills made one mistake and that was enough to lose 2-1. Lansing won in extra innings while Dunedin were easily beaten.
