Sunday saw three wins in four tries for the affiliates highlighted by a strong start by a top prospect and the professional debut of another.
Salt Lake City 3 Las Vegas 4
While the major league rotation hasn't shown many flaws during the first week of the season, Brett Cecil isn't allowing that to faze him. Cecil ensured that he'll be at or near the top of the recall list if and when someone's needed with an excellent first start going 5 innings and allowing two runs on six hits with no walks and eight strikeouts. Josh Roenicke went two scoreless allowing two hits while striking out a pair. Sean Henn and Rommie Lewis, with his 2nd save, closed things out for the 51s.
No real stars at the plate as Las Vegas benefited from a well-balanced attack. Four different 51s had two hits, including Jorge Padilla who was 2-for-3 with two doubles and two RBI. Brett Wallace took an 0-for-4 with two strikeouts while Brian Dopirak had one hit in four trips.
New Hampshire 7 New Britain 4
Not a heck of a lot to say about this one, actually. Adam Calderone had a three-run homer and Brad Emaus continued his hot start with an RBI double and a walk. Darin Mastroianni had two hits at the top of the line-up but somehow didn't steal a base. Weird. David Cooper was 1-for-5 with an RBI.
Marty McCleary started his 14th (!) professional season with a short outing. The 35 year-old lasted just three innings allowing two runs on five hits with a pair of walks and strikeouts. Randy Boone picked him up nicely with four strong frames and Tryston Magnuson and Adrian Martin finished things off with a scoreless inning each.
Dunedin 1 Clearwater 3
You're not going to believe this but the Dunedin offense struggled. Travis D'Arnaud provided the only run with a solo shot in the first inning and then nobody else did anything.
Joel Carreno made his Hi-A debut and had a mixed bag of results. The 23 year-old went 5.2 frames and allowed three runs on 11 hits. On the plus side, he walked just one and struck out six. Frank Gailey and Chad Beck finished things off.
Lansing 10 Great Lakes 8
The Lugnuts trailed this one 7-1 heading into the 7th but put up a four spot in the 7th and five more in the 8th to steal one away from the Loons. Mark Sobolewski had a nice afternoon going 2-for-4 with a double, HR, and 2 RBI. Eric Eiland was 2-for-5 with a double and two runs scored but also struck out three times. 2009 draftee Kevin Nolan was 2-for-5 with a double and 3 RBI.
The big story on the day, however, was the debut of 2009 1st round pick Chad Jenkins. Jenkins struggled at times and was betrayed by his defense in the second inning which led to two runs. He settled down nicely until the fifth when he started single, double, home run, double, before striking out the final two batters which ended his day with a line of 5 IP, 5 R, 3 ER, 0 BB, 4 K. Nestor Molina and Steven Turnbull picked up the win and save respectively.
Three Stars:
3rd Star- Travis D'Arnaud- 1-for-4, HR, RBI
2nd Star- Jorge Padilla- 2-for-3, 2 2B, 2 RBI
1st Star- Brett Cecil- 5 IP, 6 H, 2 ER, 0 BB, 8 K
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