It was a lousy night on the farm as none of the affiliates played particularly well.
Fresno 7 at Las Vegas 3
This one was close until the sixth inning when Lance Broadway got into trouble and gave up a run. In came Jesse Carlson, who made things worse, giving up two more runs charged to Broadway and one of his own, and that was all she wrote. The Jays got their runs of a Christian Colonel single in the second, a Chris Lubanski homer in the 7th and a Brian Dopirak non-RBI bases loaded GIDP in the 8th (which killed any chance of a 51st rally. Broadway had an ugly outing, allowing 11 baserunners through 5.1 (6 hits, 5 walks) while whiffing 4; he gave up 5, runs one of which unearned. Josh Roenicke pitched a scoreless inning. The 51s could only manage 6 hits and 4 walks; Colonel had 3 of the hits and Brett Wallace 2 of the walks.
Binghampton 7 at New Hampshire 6.
The Fisher Cats lost a tough one to the Binghampton Mets, blowing a 2 run lead in the process. The Fisher Cats struck early on doubles by Darin Mastroianni and Callix Crabbe along with singles by Brad Emaus and Eric Thames to lead 2-1 after 1. They added another in the second on a Brian Jeroloman home run, but were held scoreless for the next four innings while the Mets pounded Zach Stewart for 3 runs in each of the fourth and the fifth. New Hampshire would get within one but not closer as the last 6 Fisher Cats were retired in order. Darin Mastroianni and Eric Thames each had two hits while Brad Emaus went 3 for 3 (all singles) with a walk; his average is now .375. Stewart's final line was ugly: 4.1 IP 9 H 7 ER 4 BB 4 K.
Dunedin 2 at Brevard County 3 (10 innings)
The games get even closer as we move further down the ladder, but can the Jays affiliates actually win a game?. The D-Jays scored in the first on a Tyler Pastronicky walk and steal and a Brian Van Kirk single. They added another in the fourth on a single by the red hot Travis d'Arnaud and a Van Kirk double. Meanwhile Charles Huggins, the 699th pick of the 2008 draft picked up where he left off last year with continued strong performance. He was never in trouble and barely broke a sweat, allowing just two singles and no walks while whiffing 4 through seven innings. Unfortunately the Dunedin bullpen was incapable of holding a lead, as Matt Daly gave up 2 runs on 3 hits in the ninth and Daniel Delucia gave up the game winner on a walk, error, intentional walk and single in the bottom of the 10th. Tyler Pastronicky walked twice and Brian Van Kirk had 3 hits and 2 RBI, accounting for 5 of the D-Jays 9 baserunners.
Lake County 6 at Lansing 4
No, the affiliates can't pull out a W. Ryan Schimpf tripled and scored, and walked in a run to give the Lugnuts their first two runs, while Bradley Glenn homered and Karim Turkamani also walked in a run in a different inning (pretty wild, no?) and the game was tied at 4-4 after 3. However that was the point at which the Lugnuts stopped scoring and the Captains did not. After Dave Sever got lifted after 5 (6 H 4 ER 3 BB 2 K) Nestor "Too Many" Molina(s) gave up single runs in the 6th and 7th to doom the Lugnuts, who still presumably have had to score at some point to win the game. 2009 4th round pick Ryan Goins chipped in with 3 singles while Kenny Wilson, Karim Turkamani and Jonathan Talley each had two hits.
Third Star: Brad Emaus - 3 -3, BB
Second Star: Brian Van Kirk 3 - 4, 2B, 2 RBI
First Star: Charles Huggins 7 IP 2 H 0 ER 0 BB 4 K
https://www.battersbox.ca/article.php?story=20100416061855122