The minor league teams were 7-0, what do you think about that! David Bush looks to be ready for prime time and there were numerous candidates for the stars of the day.
Syracuse 3 Indianapolis 1, 11 innings
David Bush started for the Chiefs and when Bush starts the Chiefs know they will be in the game. Bush was a little wild yesterday, his three walks allowed were two more than he had allowed in his four previous June starts combined. Bush conceded a run in the first inning but thereafter he shut down Indy through eight innings. Bush's line was 8 IP, 5 H, 3 W, 5 K's. In five June starts Bush has pitched 34.2 innings, conceding 34 hits and four walks. That makes for a 1.10 WHIP and a 7.3 K/BB ratio. His June ERA is 2.63. If Pat Hentgen has not heard footsteps yet they will be louder by the all-star break. Incidently Bush's next start is scheduled for Friday in Buffalo.
Meanwhile Syracuse were trying to score. They had the bases loaded with no-one out in the fifth and could not score. They had two on with one out in the seventh but a double play erased their chance. It looked like they were out of luck. But Gabe Gross walked with one out in the ninth and a Julius Matos double put runners on second and third. Paul Chiaffredo hit a sac fly to tie the game. Kevin Frederick pitched the ninth and tenth and retired six of seven hitters. In the eleventh, with two out, Gross and Matos walked and Chiaffredo doubled down the left field line to score both runners. Jason Kershner pitched a three up, three down, bottom of the eleventh, striking out the first two hitters.
Syracuse had four candidates for stars of the day. Bush was outstanding. Frederick's two scoreless innings lowered his AAA ERA to 1.00. As an aside JP has mentioned that Kevin will likely get a callup this year to see if they can count on him for next year. Julius Matos went 3-3 with two walks, and Paul Chiaffredo went 3-4 and drove in all three Syracuse runs.
Game Story
Portland 3 New Hampshire 4
This game had most of runs scored early. In the bottom of the first Anton French doubled, stole third and scored on a sac fly from Aaron Hill. The first two hitters in the top of the second went triple, home run off Gustavo Chacin to give Portland a (brief) lead. In the bottom of the second Dominic Rich doubled and scored on a home run by Victor Valencia.
The Fisher Cats added an insurance run in the fourth when Mikael Jova scored on a single by Rich. The newest Fisher Cat Travis Thompson surrendered a home run to the first hitter he faced in the seventh. He also allowed two baserunners with one out in the eighth but John Ogiltree came out of the bullpen to escape the eighth and nail down his first save in the ninth.
Rich was the only Cat with two hits. Hill went 0-3 with the sac fly
Game Story
Dunedin 6 St. Lucie 5
St. Lucie touched up Shawn Marcum for five runs in the first three innings. Dunedin scored in four of the first five innings and the scoring was done for the day in the middle of the fifth.
Marcum made his second start for Dunedin. The first hitter he faced hit a home run. The third inning was a long one, St. Lucie batted around scoring four runs on six hits. Marcum fought back to face the minimum six hitters in the fourth and fifth. Marcum had an odd line. On the negative side he conceded ten hits in five innings. On the positive side he did not walk anyone, he had eight strikeouts and he finished strong. The bullpen was very effective, Tracey Thorpe had four K's in two almost perfect innings (he hit a batter) and Brian Reed and Bubbie Buzachero pitched a scoreless inning each.
Dunedin scored two in the first, Carlo Cota and Ron Davenport each doubled and scored. Vito singled in Cota, who had doubled again, in the third. Davenport drove in two in the fourth and Cota walked with the bases loaded in the fifth for the winning run.
Cota, Davenport and John Schneider each registered three hits. Vito and Negron each had two. Raul Tablado went 0-5 and Tingler 0-6 with TWO K's.
Lexington 1 Charleston 6
Charleston scored twice in the first and twice more in the second and with Tom Mastny pitching it was game over. Mastny pitched seven shutout innings allowing three hits and two walks. Davis Romero finished up allowing a run in the ninth. Jermy Acey went 4-5 with three runs scored to push his average to .519. Robinson Diaz also had two hits and two runs scored.
Game Story
Auburn 9 New Jersey 4
Auburn spotted New Jersey a run in the second but answered with five in the third and two in the fourth en route to the routine win. Mike MacDonald (15th) started and allowed six baserunners and one run in four innings. Chris Neylan was ineffective, Eric Rico pitched two strong innings and Randy Dicken (7th) pitched three. Five Doubledays had two hits, Aaron Mathews (19th), Ryan Klosterman (5th), Brian Hall (10th), Chip Cannon (8th) and Eric Nielsen (12th).
Pulaski 3 Greenville 2
Pulaski 8 Greenville 5
Pulaski played two to make up for Friday's rainout. Pulaski's hitters were held to seven hits in the opener. Nick Thomas and Junior Churio each drove in a run, in the first and second innings respectively. Yesson Berroa allowed two unearned runs in the second and the game remained tied until the fifth. Two hits and a walk loaded the bases for Pulaski and a wild pitch scored Jose Salas with the winning run.
Berroa pitched 6.1 innings with seven hits allowed and two strikeouts. Michael Rider finished up for the save.
In the nightcap Pulaski were outhit 8-7 but they added seven walks. Raymon Sanchez started for Pulaski but was gone in the second having allowed two runs on four hits and two walks. The Jays scored four in the second, John Ashford and Anthony Garibaldi (37th) each drove in a pair. Pulaski added three in the fourth and one in the fifth, but in the bottom of the fifth Eddie Cannon allowed four of five hitters to reach. Derek Tate (34th) came on to escape the jam and went on to finish off the game, pitching 2.2 innings with one hit allowed. Jay Ashford with two doubles in three trips was the only Jay to have two hits.
Our Three-Star Selection
The 3rd Star: Tom Mastny, three hits allowed in seven shutout innings
The 2nd Star: David Bush, one run allowed in eight innings
The 1st Star: Paul Chiaffredo, drove in all three Syracuse runs, one to tie the game in the ninth and two to win it in the eleventh
Honourable Mention: Julius Matos, Carlo Cota, Ron Davenport, Jermy Acey
Standings
Syracuse were 2-4 on the week and their record now is 32-45. Syracuse are 16 games behind Scranton
New Hampshire, 5-2 for the week and are 41-33, two games back of Binghamton
Dunedin, Dunedin were 4-3 for the week and the second half, and are in second, one game behind Tampa
Charleston were 4-2 to start the second half and are in a tie for first place
Auburn were 6-1 for the week and have started 7-3 to lead their division
Pulaski are 7-0 to start the season
Combined the Jays minor league teams were 28-12 for the week and their record is 177-144, a .551 winning percentage.
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