The only team that won last night was the only team with John Hattig. Count the ring!
Toledo 4, Syracuse 3 (11)
Box score, game story
Another spread-out night among the lineup as far as run-scoring plays are allowed (I know this is the first game reading-wise, but I wrote the copy for the New Hampshire game before I wrote this one, so in my mind, it's "another" game of that type, deal with it), with no player getting more than one RBI or run, but Bryant Nelson and Eric Crozier both collected four hits. Crozier also stole a base, which surprised me. Syracuse left 13 men on base; Anton French struck out four times.
Chad Gaudin got the call and performed well enough to get the win -- five strikeouts, two runs on seven hits through seven. If only he could pitch eleven innings. Jason Arnold gave up a run in the top of the ninth (blown save) and Spike Lundberg gave up a triple and a single in his second inning of work. Those two hits formed the winning run for the Mud Hens. In fact, DH DeWayne Wise drove home the winner, which begs the question...why was DeWayne Wise DHing?
Interesting note: five pitchers appeared last night for Syracuse, and they all have ERAs under 2.90.
Portland 6, New Hampshire 5
Box score, game story
I suppose Vince Perkins, in his first AA season, couldn't be expected to perform well against this well-hitting Sea Dogs lineup. I know there are park effects in play here, but seven Portland players are slugging over .415, which is the highest slugging average of any Fisher Cat, and even that one is the 29 year old, Kevin Barker.
Accordingly, Perkins gave up five runs in four innings. He struck out three, walked two -- nothing out of the ordinary there. Jamie Vermilyea, who should be seeing Syracuse any time soon, picked him up with 3.2 scoreless relief innings. Seven K's for Vermilyea yesterday afternoon, which is very, very nice.
By the ninth, when Vermilyea had handed the ball over to Steve Andrade (faced two batters: walk and a strikeout), the Fisher Cats had tied the game at 5 thanks to three hits (two doubles) from Ron Acuna and assorted RBI hits up and down the lineup. Only four extra-base hits from New Hampshire yesterday against eight singles; the power continues to hide.
In the bottom of the ninth, the Sea Dogs put the winning run on third with nobody out. Two intentional walks loaded the bases, but it didn't matter: Jeremy West "singled" to end the game. He hit it off the wall in left-centre, and it was inches away from being a grand slam, says beat writer Kevin Grey. Ryan Houston was stuck with the tough loss. West was the hero of the day for Portland, as he also homered in the bottom of the second.
Dunedin 3, Palm Beach 2
Box score
Palm Beach never had a lead in this one, and the least the D-Jays could do is have more than two non-singles, give me something to write about other than Zack Jackson's fine start -- 6 IP, 6 K, 5 H, 1 ER. Brian Reed (7th, 8th) and Bubbie Buzachero (9th) together faced just ten batters in the last three scoreless innings.
As you might have figured out from the title and intro, Dunedin welcomed Batter's Box favourite, Guam bomb, Toronto Star story subject and all-around good egg John Hattig to their lineup last night, batting fifth and playing third. His at-bats, for no substantial reason:
2nd inning: With a runner on first, Hattig lined a single to right. He later scored on a double.
3rd inning: With two HBP's on base, Hattig flew out to left, a sac fly, though it's not recorded as one.
5th inning: With Robinzon Diaz on first, Hattig singled to right. Somehow, Diaz scored while Hattig was thrown out at second 9-6. I don't get it. No, really. If it was deep enough to score Diaz from first, why did Hattig not make it into second? I guess he's still hurting, but I would like to know more about that play.
7th inning: A double play ball to end the inning, stranding one runner.
Lansing was rained out
Funny story: I wrote up a summary of Tuesday's Lansing-Burlington game before realizing my error. The irony is not lost on me as I sit here in Burlington, Ontario, a far superior Burlington to that of Iowa, I'm sure.
Your Three-Star Selection:
3. Zach Jackson
2. Bryant Nelson
1. Jamie Vermilyea
Today’s Games:
Syracuse (Rosario) vs Toledo, 2:00 ET.
New Hampshire has the day off. Weren't they idle last Thursday?
Dunedin (MacDonald) vs Palm Beach, 7:00 ET.
Lansing (Yates, Cheng) @ Burlington, TBD (DH).
https://www.battersbox.ca/article.php?story=20050511184124764