Syracuse drops to .500 again but a big hitting streak remains alive while New Hampshire "inches" closer to first place Trenton in the Eastern League's Northern Division in a game that saw a Fisher Cat record a "memorable" first. In other action, Dunedin won its tenth game in a row in convincing fashion, Auburn won a nail-biter and the GCL Jays? Well, the less said, the better.
Louisville, KY - Things started well for the International League's Pitcher of the Week. Scott Richmond got some early run support when Kevin Melillo went yard for a three run shot in the second. However, the Bats got two of those runs back in their half of the second on an Adam Rosales solo homer and a Chris Dickerson bases-loaded walk. Richmond settled down in the next two innings, striking out of four out of the six batters he faced swinging, including all three batters in the fourth. The Chiefs added another run in the fourth on a RBI single by Curtis Thigpen but they left a run or two on the table when Chip Cannon failed to drop a sac bunt to advance the runners and Kevin Melillo was caught stealing third. The Chiefs would leave the bases loaded.
Things fell apart for Richmond in the fifth when an error by Chip Cannon at first allowed the leadoff man to reach and that eventually led to a three-run tater by Rob Mackowiak to put the Reds affiliate ahead 5-4. Syracuse got the tying run in the sixth on a strange play to say the least. Wayne Lydon hit into an unconventional 4-6-5-2 double play with the bases loaded that led to Russ Adams scoring but Kevin Melillo was out at the plate and Curtis Thigpen was out at second. Jonah Bayliss relieved Richmond with the sixth and survived a two-out triple but his luck ran out in the seventh when he gave up a two-run bases loaded single. Rick Bauer would supply a scoreless eighth with two strikeouts to offset a single and stolen bases but the Chiefs were unable to rally. Their best hope came in the seventh when Russ Adams had runners at second and third but he struck out the end the inning.
Boxscore Notes - A good news-bad news outing for Scott Richmond. He gave up five runs (four earned) on six hits (including two homers) and three walks in five innings and threw 100 pitches, 68 for strikes. However, he did strike out seven and he induced six groundball outs...........Jonah Bayliss suffered his first loss as a Chief after giving up two runs on three hits, a walk and a hit batsmen while uncorking a wild pitch in two innings. On the positive side, he did strike out three.........Danny Sandoval extended his hitting streak to 20 games with a 1-for-5 day at the plate.......Kevin Melillo reached base all four times he was up, going 3-for-3 with a HR and BB but he had problems on the basepaths as he was caught stealing and was thrown out at home....Matt Watson, Hector Luna and Curtis Thigpen had two hits each while Russ Adams had a double and a walk.
Manchester, NH - The Fisher Cats struck first against the Yankees affiliate with a pair of runs in the first. Travis Snider doubled home the first run and Brian Jeroloman's RBI groundout provided the other. Lefty Brett Cecil didn't appear to have his "A" game early as he had to deal with two runners on in the first three innings, including two hit batters. May I interject here? Is hitting a Yankee-affiliate batter ever wrong? I mean really, they're Yankee wannabes! Anyhow, Cecil kept the Thunder off the board until surrendering a solo homer to Edwar Gonzalez to cut the F-Cats lead to 2-1.
New Hampshire did give Cecil a lot of breathing room in their half of the fourth when J.P. Arencibia knocked home a run with a single on a play that saw Ryan Patterson thrown out at third from right field. That prevented a yummy grand salami by David Smith, who instead had to settle for a three-run dinger to vault New Hampshire to a 6-1 lead. Cecil worked a one-hit fifth inning and got the first two outs of the sixth before giving way to Orlando Roman, who promptly got the next hitter in a 1-2-3 frame. Roman ran into problems in the seventh when he loaded up the bases on a hit batter, a walk and a single before issuing a bases-loaded walk to push home Trenton's second run. Lefty Daryl Harang bailed out Roman big time by getting out of the bases-loaded jam by getting an infield popout before punching out the next two batters. A clutch performance indeed by Aaron's bro! Jacob Butler's RBI single in the eighth provided New Hampshire's final run while Jean Machi worked the last two innings, giving up a single and a walk but getting two double play balls to keep Trenton from crossing the plate.
Boxscore Notes - Brett Cecil gave up a run on six hits and two hit batsmen while whiffing six over 5 2/3 innings. He improves to 5-2 with a 2.76 ERA...........Scott Campbell had a perfect night at the dish, going 2-for-2 with three walks and two runs scored. He's hitting .343 with an OPS of .912.......Every Fisher Cat hitter got at least one hit with Ryan Patterson and David Smith also getting two apiece......Travis Snider had a hit, an RBI, two walks and no strikeouts......On the flip side, the wait is over for J.P. Arencibia! He drew a walk, folks! He did the deed to lead off the eighth so put the "JPAWM" (J.P. Arencibia Walk Meter) at 1!! He's on the board and he gained ground on Brian Jeroloman as the BJWM remains at 47.....This game was delayed by rain for a couple of hours before they got it in.
Dunedin, FL - The D-Jays had this one in cruise control early, scoring a pair of runs in the first and second for a 4-0 lead to support Mississauga lefty A.J. Wideman. A wild pitch scored a Chris Emanuele walk and Anthony Hatch doubled in another in the first while Brad Emaus and Cory Patton had run-scoring singles in the second. The D-Jays tried for another run on Emaus' single but Marcos Cabral was thrown out at the plate by the Cardinals center fielder. That was pretty much the only thing Palm Beach did right.
Dunedin enjoyed another two-run frame in the fifth on an RBI double by Brian Dopirak and a RBI single by Robinzon Diaz. Chris Emanuele belted a solo shot in the seventh and a Marcos Cabral sac fly rounded out the scoring. Celson Polanco worked a clean 2 1/3 innings in relief of Wideman and Nate Starner racked up two punchouts in the ninth to overcome an error by Jesus Gonzalez at short, a wild pitch and a hit batter to kept the shutout intact.
Boxscore Notes - It wasn't pretty but A.J. Wideman delivered 5 2/3 shutout innings despite four hits and four walks but he did punch out five and induced seven groundouts to improve to 3-4 with a 4.89 ERA..........Every Dunedin batter reached base once and only Adam Calderone failed to get a hit but he did draw a walk and score a run. Brad Emaus and Cory Patton had three hits apiece and Brian Dopirak had a hit and two walks.
Auburn, NY - Tri-City! More like Try.........Again! This is a family website, after all. This game was scoreless as the D-Days Joel Carreno and the Valley Cats Jarred Holloway traded zeroes for the first five frames. Auburn had chances to score as they stranded two runners apiece in the first two innings and had at least one runner on over the next three. Carreno didn't give up a hit until the third and racked up five K's in the first three innings. The Astros affiliate threatened to score was in the fifth when Carreno gave up a single and saw the runner advance to second on a Joel Collins passed ball. The Dominican righty was able to work around that by striking out the side, all swinging. Carreno struck out the first two batters in the sixth but that was followed by a single and a walk. However, Joel Collins gunned down at runner at second on a stolen base attempt to end the frame. Carreno's dominance was finally rewarded in the sixth when the D-Days mustered a run thanks to, of all things, a passed ball. Luis Rivera drew a walk off Tri-City reliever Daniel Meszaros and went to third on a Jon Del Campo single before he scampered home on the PB.
Daniel O'Brien relieved Carreno in the seventh and allowed the first two runners to get aboard on a single and bunt single. However, a botched sac bunt and a double play ball got O'Brien out of the inning. Jason Monti provided another Maalox moment in the eighth when a leadoff single was pushed into scoring position on a sac bunt. Tri-City got the key two-out hit but not the desired end result as left fielder Christoper Hopkins threw out the runner at the plate to preserve Auburn's 1-0 lead. The Doubledays added an insurance run in their half of the eighth when Michael McDade doubled home a leadoff walk by Hopkins. McDade made it to third on a sac bunt but was picked off by the Astros first round pick, catcher Jason Castro, to short-circuit the rally. Robert Bell came on in the ninth with a much-easier on the nerves 1-2-3 inning to get the save.
Boxscore Notes - Joel Carreno had his mojo working in this one, supplying six scoreless frames with a WHIP of less than one and three hits and two walks while striking out a whopping 11. He is 4-1 with a 1.80 ERA and his K/BB mark is 40-8 in 35 IP while hitters are batting just three ticks below the Mendoza line.........Christopher Hopkins was 0-for-1 at the plate with three walks, a run scored and a key assist from left field to keep Tri-City off the board.......Luis Rivera had a near-similar line going 0-for-1 with a run and two walks......Jon Del Campo had two hits while Chris "Speed" Demons, Michael McDade and Robert Sobolewski had one apiece.
Lansing - Scheduled Day Off.
Dunedin, FL - The G-Jays had a chance to take the lead in this one. A two-out triple by Justin McClanahan in the first went for naught because his teammates could not make contact as Tyler Pastornicky, Jonathan Talley and Welinton Ramirez all struck out swinging. The Tribe got to Jays starter Johnny Cueto, er, Jonas Cuotto, with a two-run homer in the second and a solo shot in the third to jump ahead 3-0. The Jays finally scored in the fifth when Kyle Gilligan doubled and the Skipper's Little Buddy came home on a Balbino Fuenmayor sacrifice fly.
The Indians responded with two runs in the sixth on three singles and a double against lefty Joel Castillo, who had come into the game for the start of the fifth. The damage could've been worse if not for left fielder Yensy Perez throwing out a runner trying to advance from first to third. Southpaw "Slick" Willi Mendez got the final out of the sixth for the Jays. He worked a clean seventh but left with one out in the eighth after allowing a single and a walk. Corey "Not Randy, Not Tal" Bachman failed to take care of business as he gave up three singles and a triple that resulted in a four-run eighth. Justin McClanahan had a run-scoring single for the Jays in their half of the eighth but they still lost by a converted touchdown.
Boxscore Notes - All four D-Jays pitchers were scored upon with starter Jonas Cuotto "faring" the best, allowing three runs in four innings on six hits and a walk while striking out two. He also induced five groundball outs but is now 1-2 with an ERA of 3.21.........Markus Brisker, Kyle Gilligan and Justin McClanahan had two hits each with Brisker also drawing a walk and stealing two bases. Brisker is hitting .339 and is 8 out of 9 in pilfered base attempts. Gilligan, who also stole a base, is batting .291 and McClanahan is hitting .280 with a SLG of .500......Jonathan Talley, who had the D-Jays other hit, is also slugging .500 with a .323 batting average.
*** 3 Stars!!! ***
3. David Smith, New Hampshire - 2/4, HR, 3RBI, BB
2. Scott Campbell, New Hampshire - 2/2, 2R, 2B, 3BB
1. Joel Carreno, Auburn - 6.0IP, 3H, 0R, 0ER, 2BB, 11K = W
Honourable Mentions...............
Syracuse - Kevin Melillo, Matt Watson, Hector Luna, Curtis Thigpen, Russ Adams, Danny Sandoval, Rick Bauer.
New Hampshire - Brett Cecil, Travis Snider, Brian Jeroloman, Ryan Patterson, J.P. Arencibia, Daryl Harang, Jean Machi.
Dunedin - Brad Emaus, Cory Patton, Brian Dopirak, Chris Emanuele, Anthony Hatch, A.J. Wideman, Celson Polanco, Nate Starner.
Auburn - Christoper Hopkins, Luis Rivera, Michael McDade, Daniel O'Brien, Jason Monti, Robert Bell, Jon Del Campo.
GCL Blue Jays - Markus Brisker, Kyle Gilligan, Justin McClanahan, Balbino Fuenmayor.
Standings/Streaks......
Syracuse - 51-51, 3rd place - IL North (11.0 GB of Pawtucket), 2-8 Last 10, L1.
New Hampshire - 41-61, 6th place - EL North (22.5 GB of Trenton), 6-4 Last 10, W1.
Dunedin - 22-6, 1st place - FSL West (6.5 GA of Lakeland),10-0 Last 10, W10.
Lansing - 19-12, 2nd place - MWL East (1.0 GB of South Bend), 5-5 Last 10, L1.
Auburn - 18-15, 2nd place tie w/ Williamsport - NYP Pinckney (5.5 GB of Jamestown), 6-4 Last 10, W1.
GCL Blue Jays - 14-14, 3rd place - GCL North (2.0 GB of GCL Phillies), 5-5 Last 10, L1.
Today's Schedule/Probable Starters.........
GCL Blue Jays @ GCL Indians, 12:00 p.m. EDT - TBA vs. TBA.
Palm Beach @ Dunedin, 7:00 p.m. EDT - TBA vs. TBA.
Syracuse @ Louisville, 7:05 p.m. EDT - LHP Davis Romero, SYR (3-9,4.10) vs. RHP Ramon Ramirez, LOU (2-3, 3.98).
Trenton @ New Hampshire, 7:05 p.m. EDT - LHP Chase Wright, TRE (8-2, 3.09) vs. LHP Ricky Romero, NH (5-5, 5.33).
Quad Cities @ Lansing, 7:05 p.m. EDT - RHP Chuckie "Cheese" Fick, QC (3-2, 2.77) vs. Marc Rzepczynski, LAN (5-3, 2.55).
Tri-City @ Auburn, 7:05 p.m. EDT - LHP Shane Wolf, TC (1-1, 2.67) vs. RHP Castillo Perez, AUB (1-3, 4.70).
Bonus Material............
The New Hampshire Union Leader looks at game preparation through the eyes of Scott Campbell and J.P. Arencibia.
The Union Leader also provides the game story of last night's Fisher Cats win.
Dunedin's Brian Dopirak wins the Florida State League's Offensive Player of the Week Award.
