Casey Janssen's sterling performance, 7 innings of no-hit ball, in Lansing was the highlight of a 2-2 day for the farm affiliates yesterday.
Rochester 9 Syracuse 7
Yesterday's BBRadio thread tells the story with BlueJayLee at the keyboard. Scott Downs was perfect for 3 innings for the Sky Chiefs, but then it all fell apart in the 4th and 5th as the Red Wings scored 4 runs in each inning. Josh Rabe's grand slam in the 5th off Mike Nannini was the key blow; it was Nannini's first batter of the game. Downs went 4 innings plus allowing 7 runs, 4 earned on 7 hits and 1 walk while striking out 2. After the grand slam, Nannini was very good, throwing 3 innings with no other hits, no walks and 5 strikeouts. Adrian Burnside pitched a scoreless ninth. Jason Alfaro and Eric Crozier hit back to back homers, while Aaron Hill and Justin Singleton each had 3 hits in a losing cause.
Matt Michael's Game Story
New Britain 5 New Hampshire 1
Hot Minnesota prospect Francisco Liriano and closer Kevin Cameron shut down the Fisher Cats, allowing just 3 hits, before a sellout crowd of over 7,000. Ismael Ramirez started and was bruised for 5 runs, all earned on 6 hits, including a homer and 2 doubles. He walked 1 and struck out 4. Steve Andrade, Bubbie Buzachero and John Ogiltree were effective in relief. The Fisher Cat batting order featured Barker and Acuna in the 3-4 slots. This presumably will change before too long.
John Habib's game story
Kevin Gray on the beautiful new park
Dunedin 3 Clearwater 2
David Purcey's 5 shutout innings and Clint Johnson's 2 run homer led the D-Jays to victory. Purcey gave up 3 hits, walked 4 and struck out 4. Davis Romero came on in relief and went 1.2 innings giving up a run on 3 hits. Jeremy Harper, Ryan Prahm and Milton Tavarez finished up. Third baseman Eric Arnold singled and doubled in 3 trips, and scored the other D-Jay run. Adam Lind played left-field for the D-Jays.Lansing 1 Fort Wayne 0
Casey Janssen threw 7 beautiful innings as Lansing said hello to the Jay farm system by treating us to a gem. Janssen walked one and struck out 7, and was in complete command. Ryan Klosterman singled off Fort Wayne reliever Vern Sterry to drive in Eric Nielsen's double for the only run of the game, and gave Janssen the win. Joey McLaughlin and Danny Hill each pitched a scoreless inning to complete the shutout. Christian Snavely played third base for the Lugnuts, while Juan Peralta moved over to second from short.The BBRadio thread contains fascinating comments by Bauxite Lugnut Fan, who was at the game, on many topics of interest.
Mark Feather's Game Story complete with a nice picture of Casey Janssen
The minor league boxscores that are available at writing through milb.com have errors and omissions, incorrect team listings and absent inning pitched counts for pitchers. Hopefully, it is just opening day jitters.
Three-Star Selection
First Star - Casey Janssen Second Star - David Purcey Third Star - Clint Johnson
https://www.battersbox.ca/article.php?story=20050407233139348