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There wasn’t much to write about on the farm last night, as there was a rainout and two blowout losses. The only bright spot came in Florida, where Dunedin won in extra innings with a 17-hit effort after tying the game in the bottom of the ninth.

Las Vegas @ Salt Lake – PPD

Game postponed.

Trenton 13 @ New Hampshire 3Boxscore

It was not pretty as Fisher Cats batters struck out eleven times in the game. The only batter who avoided this fate was Eric Thames, who also had the only mutli-hit game with a 2-4 performance that included a solo homer. Al Quintana had the only other extra-base hit with a double and both he and Adam Loewen came around to score on a Luis Sanchez single. Calix Crabbe and Manny Mayorson continued to struggle, combining to go 0-8 and both are batting under .200.

Randy Boone pitched better than his line of 4.2 innings and 5 runs indicates. While he allowed six hits, he only walked one and struck out seven. Boone got six of his seven outs on balls in play on the ground. However, Trenton’s five-run fifth put New Hampshire in a deficit from which they wouldn’t recover. Zach Dials relieved Boone and allowed both of his inherited runners to score. Dials wasn’t his usual self, as he surrendered three hits and three walks in 1.1 innings. Bubbie Buzachero also struggled, surrendering seven runs over 3 innings on three hits and four walks.

Brevard County 8 @ Dunedin 9 (10 innings)Boxscore

Joel Carreno went 5 innings, striking out eight and walking one. However, Brevard County’s seven hits led to six runs, five earned. Chad Beck gave up a pair of runs over 1.2 innings on four hits and a walk. However, with Brevard County winning 8-6 Alan Farina and Boomer Potts combined for 3.1 scoreless innings of relief to give the D-Jays a chance to come back and win. Outfield assists at home plate by Brian Van Kirk and Welinton Ramirez aided Dunedin pitchers in the seventh and ninth innings.

Dunedin pounded out 17 hits, including one by every batters. Raul Barron and Ramirez led the way with three each, Barron added a double and two runs and Ramirez a run and an RBI. Travis d’Arnaud, starting at DH, Sean Shoffit, Tyler Pastornicky and Justin McClanahan each had a pair, with Pastornicky and d’Arnaud also reaching via the bases on balls. Despite all this offence, both the tying and winning runs were scored on errors on the back end of double play efforts. Pastornicky scored to tie the game in the ninth after the shortstop made a throwing error trying to complete the tail end of a 4-6-3 double play. In the tenth Dunedin loaded the bases with one out and Barron bounced to the pitcher, who got the force out at the plate before the catcher threw wild to first, allowing McClanahan to scamper home with the winning run.

Lansing 2 @ Fort Wayne 10Boxscore

Chad Jenkins didn’t perform that well in his third professional start. Jenkins struggled with his control, walking three batters over 5 innings. Jenkins also surrendered 7 hits and four earned runs, taking a loss in his professional decision. Nestor Molina didn’t have his stuff last night, allowing six hits and five runs in a single inning. Scott Gracey pitched the final 2 innings, allowing Fort Wayne’s last run on two hits and a pair of walks.

Lansing was held to four hits. Ryan Schimpf, Oliver Dominguez, Kevin Nolan and Eric Eiland all had singles. All four had good games, drawing at least one walk, and in Schimpf’s case two. Karim Turkamani walked, and he and Eiland scored Lansing’s two runs. On the other side of the ledger, Ryan Goins was 0-4 with three punchouts.

Three Stars:

3rd Star – Tyler Pastornicky, 2-5, R, 2B. 2 RBI, BB 3 TB

2nd Star – Welinton Ramirez, 3-5, R, RBI, 3 TB, Outfield Assist (at home)

1st Star – Eric Thames, 2-4, R, HR, RBI, 5 TB

Mound Struggles | 9 comments | Create New Account
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Mike Green - Thursday, April 22 2010 @ 09:54 AM EDT (#214007) #
D'Arnaud had another nice game.  In 57 PAs, he has 5 doubles, 3 homers, 4 walks and 5 strikeouts.  His .396 average is very unlikely to be sustained over the course of the year, but the extra base power and plate control is a very nice combination. 
Ducey - Thursday, April 22 2010 @ 11:26 AM EDT (#214010) #
Pastornicky is having a nice start to the season with the bat for a 20 year old SS in high A.
Gerry - Thursday, April 22 2010 @ 11:30 AM EDT (#214011) #
BA spotlights Travis D'Arnaud and Henderson Alvarez today.
TamRa - Thursday, April 22 2010 @ 12:00 PM EDT (#214012) #
Gerry, you have any info on Bobby Bell?

First he gets pounded, then Boone gets his start - but he's not on the DL (at least he wasn't yesterday)

Any info?

92-93 - Thursday, April 22 2010 @ 04:13 PM EDT (#214018) #
Alvarez adding MPH to his fastball is excellent news for a guy considered to be the team's top SP prospect before the Doc trade.
Gerry - Thursday, April 22 2010 @ 05:14 PM EDT (#214023) #

Bell is scheduled to start tonight.  It was Zach Stewart who was skipped.  As far as I know they are just holding Stewart out to work on his delivery and they had Randy Boone ready to go.

I am not sure what the plan is from here, sometimes pitchers working on things will pitch out of the bullpen for a while as they try to change their delivery.  If I hear something more specific I will let you know.

Sano - Friday, April 23 2010 @ 04:22 AM EDT (#214032) #
I don't know, I'm always scared when I see a prospect get a sudden bump in velocity. Seems that that is usually a sign of them forcing something or a change in delivery that often ends with injury. I seem to remember Rosario and a few other prospects that had sudden jumps in velocity (or K numbers) and then had TJ surgery. Is this something that only I've noticed?
bpoz - Friday, April 23 2010 @ 11:52 AM EDT (#214042) #
Dustin Antolin looks good so far. I know that at the end of the season a handful of prospects go to the AFL and Hawaii, but does anyone know if Dunedin stays open and if a bunch of players stick around for further development. Is this called the instructional league ? In the interview with Mel Queen, I got the impression that Antolin had a good fastball but not much else. So this would be a good place to work on other pitches. Maybe even Purcey and Merkin Valdes could go there and do the same.
TamRa - Saturday, April 24 2010 @ 01:44 AM EDT (#214075) #
yes, they have an instructional league - in September I think. Not sure if Purcey is too far gone to go there but I'm sure Valdez is.
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