Syracuse, NY — Ricky Romero (1-3) finally has his first win of the season. The lefty scattered six hits, two walks and a hit by pitch over seven innings, resulting in two runs against the Nationals affiliate. He gave up a homer but struck out seven. Eight of his 11 outs in play were on the ground. Of his 105 pitches, 65 were strikes. John Stilson finished up with two perfect frames and two strikeouts.Romero got some help from the rehabbing Brett Lawrie as he produced an RBI single in the first before belting a two-run homer in the sixth. Anthony Gose and Mike Nickeas had back-to-back RBI doubles in the fifth. Ryan Goins had a sacrifice fly in the seventh for the final Bisons run. Kevin Pillar had three hits, including a triple, and Lawrie stole a base to complement his two-hit performance. Goins had the other base hit. Eugenio Velez and Mike McCoy had two bases on balls apiece with Velez collecting his 19th stolen base of the season. Andy LaRoche and Clint Robinson, in his first game at Triple-A, were both 0-for-4.
Dunedin 8 Tampa 4 (Completion of June 30 game)
Dunedin, FL — Mike Crouse drove in the first Dunedin run with a single in the first to even things up at 1-1. They grabbed the lead for good when Peter Mooney delivered a bases-clearing double in the fourth. A K.C. Hobson sacrifice fly and a Gustavo Pierre RBI single scored two runs in the fifth. Crouse and Hobson had back-to-back sac flies in the eighth. Opitz had three hits and a walk. Jon Berti was on base three times with two hits and a walk and swiped his 34th base of the season. Crouse, Mooney, Pierre, Marcus Knecht and Nick Baligod all had two-hit efforts. Derrick Chung was 0-for-4.Marco Grifantini gave up a run on two hits and a walk. Jesse Hernandez (5-6) pitched the next 6 2/3 innings and all three runs he allowed were unearned. He struck out seven, walked nobody and induced eight groundball outs. Lefty Tyler Ybarra stranded a runner for Hernandez and worked his way around a pair of walks to pitch 1 1/3 innings of scoreless ball. He struck out a pair to earn his first save.
Tampa 7 Dunedin 0 (7 Innings)
Tampa, FL — The Yankees did most of their damage in the first two innings against Shawn Griffith (0-3), bunching up five hits and three walks to produce three runs. Griffiths struck out three. Marco Grifantini allowed a run on a hit and a walk over one inning. Lefty Tony Davis served up a solo long ball but whiffed two in his inning of work. Blake McFarland had a one-walk eighth and Ajay Meyer also walked one in the ninth but struck out a pair.
Dunedin's bat did not make the trip to Tampa, save for Marcus Knecht, who provided the lone hit with a single. Jon Berti drew a walk. Shane Opitz, Mike Crouse, K.C. Hobson, Nick Baligod, Oliver Dominguez and Pierce Rankin put up a goose egg in their three at-bats. Matt Newman was 0-for-2.
Johnson City 7 Bluefield 2
Bluefield, WV — Bluefield led 2-0 after RBI singles by Dawel Lugo in the fifth and Alexis Maldonado in the seventh. Lugo was denied a two-run single when Jorge Saez was thrown out at home by the Cardinals right fielders. Lugo had a two-hit night and Mitch Nay had two walks. D.J. Davis singled and stole his fourth base of the year. Saez, Matt Dean, Jesus Gonzalez and D.J. Jones also had base hits. Jonathan Davis drew a walk. Derrick Loveless was 0-for-4. Melvin Garcia and John Silviano came up empty in pinch-hitting appearances.
Alberto Tirado pitched three shutout innings by navigating his way around three hits and a walk. His strikeout and groundout totals came in at three. Fellow Dominican Jairo Labourt (1-1) was not as fortunate in his 4 1/3 innings. Two of the lefty's four runs were unearned on a Maldonado error at second. Labourt surrendered a homer among his six hits, including a home run. He struck out two and got eight groundball outs. Brett Barber stranded a Labourt runner but was roughed up for three runs on two hits and a walk in 1 1/3 innings while whiffing one. Lefty Francisco Gracesqui allowed both of his inherited runners to score on two hits before getting the final out.
GCL Phillies 8 GCL Blue Jays 7
Clearwater, FL — Matt Smoral was not able to get out of the first inning as the Phillies used four hits and two walks to score five times. The left did not strike anyone out in his two-thirds of an inning. Lefthander Corey Gorman stranded a runner for Smoral but had problems of his own in his two innings as he surrendered a run on two hits and two walks while whiffing one. Lefty Jose Fernandez stranded a runner for Gorman and survived a hit and two walks in one scoreless frame that included a K. Francisco Diaz saw one run cross the plate on three hits but did strike out four in 2 1/3 innings. Phil Kish (0-1) yielded the winning run on three hits and a hit by pitch but collected three K's.
Lydell Moseby helped the Jays claw back from a 5-0 hole with a run-scoring single in the second and brought home another run with an RBI groundout in the sixth. Thomas Collins III singled home another run in third and Gabriel Cenas brought home another with a bases loaded walk. The Jays would tie it with three runs in the seventh. Dan Jansen drove in a run with a ground-rule double and Cenas would follow with a sacrifice fly. The tying run scored on a strike three wild pitch to Andres De Aza.
Jansen had two doubles while Cenas and Collins had the other two-hit games. Jansen and Cenas also had a walk apiece. Sean Hurley reached base four times with a single, a hit by pitch and two bases on balls. Franklin Barreto had a double and a walk while De Aza singled and was plunked. Koby Kraemer was 0-for-5 and Trey Pascazi was 0-for-3. Josh Almonte and Edwin Fuentes were both 0-for-1.
Boxscores
*** 3 Stars!!! ***
3. Kevin Pillar, Buffalo — Hitting .373 with 15 extra-base hits in 75 at-bats with Buffalo, compared to 27 extra-base hits in 304 ABs with New Hampshire. Might be major league ready!
2. Brett Lawrie, Buffalo — Went 0-for-6 with Lansing but hit .333 with New Hampshire and now .500 with Buffalo. Anything less than .667 in Toronto will be a huge disappointment! ;D
1. Ricky Romero, Buffalo — A 17-5 K-BB ratio over his last 19 innings. Is the former ace finally turning a corner?
Wednesday's Probable Starters...
DSL Blue Jays — TBA vs. DSL Nationals, 10:30 am ET.
GCL Blue Jays — TBA vs. GCL Pirates, 12:00 pm ET.
Dunedin — Austin Bibens-Dirkx (4-3, 2.88) @ Tampa, 12:00 pm ET.
Buffalo — Justin Germano (5-7, 5.44) @ Syracuse, 7:00 pm ET.
Bluefield — TBA @ Burlington, 7:00 pm ET.
Lansing — Javier Avendano (5-6, 4.46) @ Peoria, 7:05 pm ET.
Vancouver — TBA vs. Boise, 10:05 pm ET.