Lansing Explodes

Tuesday, July 21 2009 @ 12:52 AM EDT

Contributed by: Dave Rutt

Lansing put on a clinic, playing one of the best games of the Jays' minor league season, a couple top prospects had good games, and a rehabber had a not so good game.

Colorado Springs 5 at Las Vegas 3

Vegas led 3-2 after the 4th inning, but then the bats went to sleep. Davis Romero, Brian Wolfe and Sean Stidfole did their best to keep the 51s in it, but in all cases their best was actually just their mediocrest.

J.P. Arencibia led the offense with a single and a homer (and a strikeout). Mighty Joe Inglett had 2 singles and a walk.

Trenton 4 at New Hampshire 5 (10 innings)

The bullpen nearly blew this one for New Hampshire. Kenny Rodriguez was great over 6 innings, allowing just a run on 6 hits and a walk while striking out 3 and getting 10 ground balls. After the Fisher Cats finally broke through to tie it up in the 7th, Matt Hensley coughed up 2 runs in the top of the 8th. Luckily, the Cats stormed right back to once again tie it up on a David Cooper 2-run double. The bullpen nearly gave it away again in the 10th, when Zach Dials gave up a run, but one last time the offense came through, this time on a Brad Emaus sac fly and a Nick Gorneault walk-off single.

Cooper was the offensive star, with a double and 2 walks, while Luis Sanchez also reached base 3 times and Adam Calderone hit a solo homer.

Dunedin 3 at Fort Myers 6

Ryan Page only allowed 7 hits in 6 innings, with no walks, but 3 of those hits were doubles, and combined with a Moises Sierra fielding error, this led to 4 runs. (By the way, on the same play, Sierra was credited with an assist, throwing out the batter Chris Parmelee on a 9-2-6.) The offense couldn't overcome this 4-run deficit, though they gave it their best shot with 3 runs in the 8th. Too little, too late.

Man-Rod had 2 singles and a walk, while Jon Jaspe hit a solo homer and Adam Loewen tripled.

Wisconsin 1 at Lansing 15

Remember when Lansing didn't know how to score? Oh yeah, right, every game of the season so far. Until today! (in case you're wondering, they've scored 371 runs in 91 games, or 4.08 runs/game, and I believe that figure includes tonight.) Anyway, Lansing exploded. Here's what the offense did:

Chris Emanuele: 4-6, 2 2B, RBI
Luis Fernandez: 1-4, BB, 2 R, RBI
Brian Van Kirk: 3-5, 2B, 3 R, 4 RBI, BB
Johermyn Chavez: 2-5, HR, BB, 2 R , 2 RBI
Mike McDade: 4-5, 2B, HR, BB, R, 5 RBI
Justin McClanahan: 1-5, BB, R (loser)
Jon Talley: 2-5, HR, R, RBI
Balbino Fuenmayor: 1-5, 3 R
Chris House: 3-5, R

Of course, you could just click on the box score to see all that, but I wanted to type it out for myself just to appreciate the beauty. And yes, that is everyone who got an at bat on the evening.

Oh by the way, the pitching was pretty good too: Chad Beck went 6 2/3, allowing Wisconsin's only run on 4 hits and a walk, striking out 8. Add in the bullpen's perfect 2 1/3 with 5 K's and the Nuts' aggregate pitching line looks like: 9 IP, 4H, 1BB, 1ER, 13 K.

Auburn 9 at Tri-City 3

Man, I just typed out what may have been the best single-game performance by any minor league affiliate, and now I have write about 2 teams that nobody cares about? Okay, that was a little harsh, but usually Auburn and the GCL Jays' rosters include some interesting draftees, but the Jays seem to be lolly-gagging on signing those dudes up.

Anyway, Auburn had a pretty good game, as you can tell from the score. Kevin Glenn was the star of the game, going 3-4 with 2 doubles and a homer, while driving in 5. Sean (I keep wanting to write Chad) Ochinko also homered, walked, and scored 3 runs. Egan Smith pitched 6 shut out innings to lead the Doubledays to an easy victory.

GCL Braves 6 at GCL Jays 3

After 3 innings, it was 3-3. It remained that way until the top of the 11th inning, when the baby Braves scored 3 off Tyler "Sbarro" Ybarra.

How did the Braves score those 3 runs, you ask? Well, you probably didn't ask that, since 3 runs isn't out of the ordinary at all. But it was off of a rehabbing Scott Richmond, who was awful - he allowed 9 hits in just 3 1/3, and this is the GCL we're talking about. Ouch. After that, the pitching was great! Maybe we should call up Carlos Pina, "Daniel" Nestor Molina, and Shawn Griffith, since they're clearly out-pitching Richmond right now.

Not much to get excited about offensively. A couple guys reached base twice. Gustavo Pierre had a game-OBP of 1.000... in one plate appearance.

Three Stars!
3. Chad Beck - 6.2 IP, 1 ER, 8K
2. Kevin Glenn - 3-4, 2 2B, HR, 5 RBI
1. Mike McDade - 4-5, 2B, HR, BB, 5 RBI


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