Tacoma 4 @ Las Vegas 5 – Boxscore

Although not quite as notable as the news from New Hampshire, the pitching news was also uplifting from Las Vegas last night. Fabio Castro had a good start for the 51s against Tacoma. Castro went 7 innings and gave up two runs, although only one was earned. Castro allowed four hits and didn’t walk a batter, while striking out two. He got 13 of his 18 outs on balls in play in the air and threw 61 of 96 pitches for strikes. Jonah Bayliss gave up a couple of runs over 0.1 innings and Bill Murphy pitched two-thirds of a frame and allowed one of Bayliss’s runners to score. Buzzie Buzachero pitched a scoreless ninth for his third save.

Newly promoted Brian Dopirak led the Las Vegas offence with a 3 for 4 game. He’s hitting .750 at Triple-A and has shown he’s ready for immediate promotion to the majors. Aaron Mathews was the only other Las Vegas player with more than one hit and he went 2 for 4 with a two-run homer and 4 RBI. Kevin Howard went 1 for 3 with a pair of runs. Randy Ruiz added a double and a run and Travis Snider pitched in with a single and a walk. Joe Inglett and JP Arencibia were among the 51s without a hit. On another night Castro and Dopirak would both have received stars, but a pair of pitching performances in Double-A kept them out of the minor league awards for last evening.

Connecticut 0 @ New Hampshire 1 – Boxscore

In a very promising sign for the Blue Jays Shaun Marcum made his first rehab start for New Hampshire and, although short, it was a dandy. Marcum threw 4.2 innings and surrendered three hits and two walks. He didn’t give up a run and struck out four. Marcum turned the ball over to Adrian Martin who also pitched very well. Martin pitched 4.1 frames and only allowed two hits. Martin didn’t walk a batter and struck out two.

New Hampshire only had four hits on the afternoon, but the batters displayed good patience and drew six walks. The Fisher Cats managed very little success early on, as they were up against the force known as Madison Bumgarner. Bumgarner only surrendered one hit, but he didn’t have his best stuff as he only struck out three and walked four.

Two of the hits came in one inning and that was enough to score the only run of the game. Todd Donovan was 2 for 4, including a single to second to lead off the bottom of the eight inning in a 0-0 game. Darin Mastroianni followed him with a single that advanced Donovan to third. After Brad Emaus popped out David Cooper hit a sac fly that scored Donovan for the winning run. Jonathan Diaz doubled for the Fisher Cats other hit. Diaz and Mastroianni also drew walks and Mastroianni also stole two bases. Nick Gorneault drew two walks.

Dunedin 0 @ Lakeland 4 – Boxscore

It was not a good day to be a Dunedin batter yesterday as Lakeland pitchers threw a one-hitter and struck out 12 D-Jays. And I do mean pitchers, as Mauricio Robles started for Lakeland and only went 2.2 innings. Robles didn’t give a hint of the problems to come for Dunedin batters, as while he didn’t give up a hit Robles walked four and only struck out one. He left the bases loaded when he turned the ball over to Lester Ontiveros, who got out of the inning without difficulty. Ontiveros gave up one hit, but struck out five in 2.1 innings. Two other relievers struck out six over 4 innings and Dunedin didn’t manage anything besides an Adam Loewen single. Brad McElroy and John Tolisano each drew a pair of walks.

Andrew Liebel had a mediocre start for Dunedin. He walked four and only struck out two in 5 innings. He gave up six hits and four runs, three earned. Daniel DeLucia came in for 2 innings of solid relief and Alan Farina struck out two in the only inning he pitched.

Cedar Rapids 13 @ Lansing 6 – Boxscore

The teams combined for 29 hits in a game that was somehow played in under 3 hours, which perhaps demonstrates the unnecessary delays between innings that commercials have added. Henderson Alvarez started for the Lugnuts and had his worst start in over a month. He gave up three runs in 5 innings on five hits and a walk, which leads to the logical question of who gave up so many hits for Lansing? Ryan Koch was one of the guilty parties, as he allowed five hits and six runs in a third of an inning. He wasn’t helped by the fact Chase Lirette allowed all three of the runners he inherited to score. Lirette allowed six hits and four runs over 2.2 innings before Yorman Mayora pitched a hitless ninth.

Kenny Wilson, Luis Fernandez and Brian Van Kirk all went 1 for 5 with Van Kirk’s two-run homer the only notable hit among the three. Michael McDade, Chris Emanuele and Justin McClanahan each went 2 for 4. McDade had a double and an RBI and McClanahan added two doubles, two runs and an RBI. Jonathan Talley was 3 for 4 with 2 RBI and Antonio Jiminez added a single during a start at third base.

Oneota 5 @ Auburn 4 – Boxscore

Oneota squeaked by Auburn in a contest where the teams liked to exchange runs in consecutive half-innings. After Auburn scored one in the bottom of the first, Oneota struck back with two in the top of the second. The Tigers scored two in the top of the sixth after the Doubledays got two in the bottom of five and the teams traded runs in the ninth inning. Scott Gracey took the loss after he gave up four runs over 5 innings. Two were unearned on a Marcus Brisker error as Gracey allowed five hits and walked three. Brian Justice pitched 3 innings of one-hit ball in relief and Zach Outman came in for the ninth, where his own throwing error led to a costly insurance run.

For the offence it was a tale of two lineups. The six through nine batters went 0 for 15 with Bradley Glenn drawing one walk. Meanwhile the first five batters were 10 for 18 with three walks. Jonathan Fernandez was 2 for 4 with a walk, a stolen base and a pair of runs scored while fellow big league offspring Leon Durham was 2 for 4. Eric Eiland added three singles and a couple of runs as Yan Gomes went 1 for 3 with a pair of RBI and a pair of free passes. Wellinton Ramirez had a good game as he contributed all over the diamond. He had two outfield assists, including one at home, in the field and at the plate had a single, a double and two RBI.

GCL Blue Jays 1 @ GCL Phillies 9 – Boxscore

Gustavo Pierre had a decent game at the plate with a homer to leadoff the game and he added a triple later, but he also made two fielding errors and has seven on the season already. Catcher Carlos Perez also had two hits, but was caught stealing second twice. John Roberts and Yudelmis Hernandez added doubles and Hernandez, who has 18 strikeouts in 41 at-bats, avoided striking out in the game.

Sam Strickland’s rough beginning to professional baseball continued as he gave up five runs, three earned, in 2 innings. Leandro Mella gave up three runs in 1.2 innings, but the other four relievers avoided giving up any earned runs.

Three Stars:
3rd Star – Wellinton Ramirez, 2-4, 2B, 2 RBI, 2 SB, 3 TB
2nd Star – Adrian Martin, 4.1 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 2 K
1st Star – Shaun Marcum, 4.2 IP, 3 H, 0 ER, 2 BB, 4 K