The Chiefs could manage only two hits on the evening, but fortunately one of them was Kevin Barker's 12th homer of the year. Jason Scobie pitched six shutout innings for the win. Vinny Chulk came on and threw 2 sweet innings of 1-hit ball, featuring 5 strikeouts and no walks. Brandon League earned his eighth save, allowing one ground ball single and recording two ground outs and a punchout. Chulk now has 43 strikeouts in 31 triple A innings with an ERA of 2.32. In League's case, the mixture has been a heady one of good control, a solid strikeout record and a very high ground ball rate. He still has not allowed a homer this season, and has adapted to the closer role in Syracuse well.
Portland 4 @ New Hampshire 8
Jesse Litsch earned his first double A win, with home run support from Adam Lind, David Smith and Chip Cannon. Litsch fell behind 3-0 in the top of the first, but Lind hit a 2 run shot in the bottom of the frame to narrow the gap. The Fisher Cats scored 4 in the 4th inning to take the lead with Smith's 2 run tater the key blow . Litsch allowed 4 earned runs in 6 innings on 8 hits and 1 walk with 4 strikeouts. Tracy Thorpe earned the lon
g
save with 3 shutout innings featuring 4 strikeouts. Dustin
Majewski reached base 5 times in 5 tries as the leadoff man. Lind
drove in 3 with his homer and a sacrifice fly, while Smith added a
baserunner kill to his offensive tally for the day. Dunedin 3 @ Clearwater 8
After the D-Jays scored 3 runs in the top of the sixth inning to tie the game, and take starter Eric Fowler off the hook, it all came undone for Po-Hsuan Keng and Daryl Harang in the bottom of the inning as Clearwater scored 5. Fowler allowed 3 earned runs in 5 innings on 7 hits and a walk, with 4 strikeouts. Ryan Patterson singled and doubled in 4 plate trips
Lansing 6 @ Wisconsin 0
Chi-Hung Cheng was outstanding again, this time throwing a 2 hitter over 7 innings with 10 strikeouts. He walked three. Randy Dicken completed the gem with 2 perfect innings, striking out 4. The Lugnuts had baserunners galore in the first few innings, but could only manage a single run in the third inning on a Jacob Butler single and a Joey Metropoulos double. Butler's 2 run dinger in the seventh inspired a 5 run inning to salt the game away. Anthony Hatch played short and had 3 hits. Brian Pettway had 2 base hits and 2 walks in 5 plate appearances, while Josh Bell doubled, singled and walked among his five.
Auburn 3 @ Mahoning Valley 4
The Doubledays scratched out 3 runs on only 4 hits, but fell one short on the evening. Shane Benson started and went 5 innings, allowing 4 earned runs on 7 hits and no walks with 2 strikeouts. Shortstop Jonathan Diaz continued his early season hot streak with 2 singles in 3 trips.
Bristol 6 @ Pulaski 2
The P-Jays scored a run in the first, but a B-Sox run in the second and two in the third was enough to spell defeat on this night. The keystone combination of Wes Stone and Raul Barron each contributed 2 hits to the Pulaski cause. Rightfielder Travis Snider threw out a runner at the plate. Jeffrey Gilmore struck out 6 in 2.2 innings of very effective cleanup work.
3 star selection
3rd star- Vinny Chulk
2nd star- David Smith
1st star- Chi-Hung Cheng