For the second week in a row, the Thursday MLU was delayed and almost cancelled due to technical issues. Fear not, however, my painfully slow Internet connection eventually went through and here you are. Four wins and one loss.
Syracuse 2 @ Pawtucket 0 (8 innings, first game)
Ty Taubenheim got the start, but before you think he was spinning a complete-game shutout, he was pulled after the third. It's not obvious from the game log why he left early, but the last play he was involved in was a 3-1 groundout. This sort-of recap doesn't help much either. Lee Gronkiewicz made it a nervous eighth by allowing the tying run to reach with one out, but Hee Seop Choi grounded into a math student's favourite scoresheet notation: the 5-4-3 double play.
In any event, nothing much happened in this game until extra innings (remember, seven-inning games in doubleheaders) when Wayne Lydon showed up again (single) and Luis Figueroa doubled him home. A throwing error on this play that sent the ball into the third base dugout sent Figueroa home as well, so that's where the 2-0 score came from. Lydon had two hits on the night, but he's only hitting .218 -- and in fact, nobody in the Chiefs' lineup aside from Kevin Barker is hitting higher than .243.
David Riske started for Pawtucket but was on a strict pitch count and left after 26 pitches were thrown to four batters: strikeout-strikeout-walk-walk.
Syracuse 5 @ Pawtucket 2 (second game)
I was surprised to see Brandon League's name in the boxscore as the starting pitcher. Indeed, it was his first start of the year. But he was removed as well after just three innings. So now I'm wondering what's going on -- did the rain come back? And if it was raining, how did they manage to get the first game in? Colour me confused.
Jason Frasor came in to pitch the bottom of the sixth with a four-run lead and the bases loaded with two outs. He walked in one run, but got the groundout to preserve the 5-2 lead. That was the second run of the inning, the only inning in which Reading scored. Frasor then came back out for the seventh, allowed a single with one out and was pulled for Brian Tallet. This is where it gets interesting -- Tallet got the easy save when Real Canadian Hero Adam Stern flew into an 8-3 double play. Either it was a tremendous play by...yes, Wayne Lydon or Alejandro Machado was running a bit too much on contact.
Syracuse scored in five out of seven innings, so there were a bunch of single runs scattered everywhere. Guess who, Wayne Lydon scored twice and had a triple. Sergio Santos homered in the second and singled in the sixth to drive in two runs of his own.
New Hampshire 4 @ Reading 2
First of all, don't be fooled by Kurt Isenberg's two earned runs. Jordan De Jong came on with two on and nobody out in the seventh and allowed both inherited runners to score. Eight hits and two walks against just two strikeouts isn't world-beating, but it was enough yesterday for the F-Cats. Pitching six shutout innings should be enough.
Maikel Jova doubled in the second and third runs of the game in the fourth, but the R-Phils' starter, Scott Mathieson, had it going on for the first three innings. He struck out the side in the first, two more in the second, and only allowed a run in the third on a couple of singles and a sac fly.
However, the night belonged to Brad Hassey. Not everyone can get thrown out at third 7-5-3-5-3-4 after doubling in a run. I'm actually surprised the first baseman was over on the left side so quickly.
Palm Beach 5 @ Dunedin 2
Huh. In two years of minor league coverage, I never thought the D-Jays played Palm Beach. Jesse Litsch probably wishes they hadn't: 9 hits, 5 runs, fourth loss of the season. He did strike out 5 and did not walk anyone, but the two homeruns allowed reduced any chance for a perfect DIPS night. Brad Mumma faced five batters and got five outs in relief, helping his own cause by starting a 1-6-3 double play. The "3" on that was Ron Davenport, and this is the first time I've seen him at first base.
https://www.battersbox.ca/article.php?story=20060510211901907