The farm featured some great pitching performances from top prospects, but the best performance (possibly of the entire year) came from an unheralded DSL pitcher.
New Orleans 4 at Las Vegas 12
When I checked this game in the seventh inning it was 4-4. Then, apparently, Las Vegas happened.
Led by homers from Jayson Nix, Adam Loewen and Chris Woodward, the offense banged out 17 hits, at least one per starter and multiple hits by seven of the nine starters, to crush the Zephyrs. David Cooper singled twice and walked twice, only not-reaching-base once. Maybe we should measure his production in terms of Not On Base Average (NOBA). Travis Snider was 2-5 with a pair of singles.
Kyle Drabek got the start and had another unencouraging start. Though his four runs allowed over six innings is passable, especially in Sin City, twelve base-runners allowed and no strikeouts are not good signs.
New Hampshire - no game scheduled
Dunedin 4 at Tampa 3
Ladies and gentlemen, Drew Hutchison.
In a season full of great starts, the righty had arguably his best Monday night, facing just one batter over the minimum over six innings. Hutchison actually allowed three base-runners - one hit and two HBP - but induced a double play and had some help from his battery-mate A.J. Jimenez, who threw out a would-be base-stealer. Hutchison didn't allow a run and struck out five.
Unfortunately (for him, if he's into that kind of thing, I couldn't care less), Drew didn't pick up the win as the bullpen was shaky after his departure, especially Harold Mozingo who allowed three hits and a walk without recording an out. To the rescue came Scott Gracey and Matt Wright, who shut the Yankees down the rest of the way to preserve a tenuous one-run lead.
One note about Hutchison: he's pitched exactly six innings in his last few starts, and given the number of base-runners allowed tonight, he couldn't have had a very high pitch count. I'm guessing he's on some sort of six inning limit, which would be weird. I'd rather see a pitch limit...
Most of the offense came courtesy of Brian Van Kirk, who hit a two-run homer and drove in another run on a single. A.J. Jimenez singled and walked in five trips while Kevin Nolan and Justin Jackson each went 2-4.
Lansing 8 at Fort Wayne 2
The excellent starting pitching continued at Lansing where Casey Lawrence did his best Drew Hutchison impression, going six solid innings. Lawrence allowed a few more hits (6) and runs (2) but struck out seven. Casey picked up his 10th win to go along with 8 losses, which seems like a lot of decisions, and that is a completely meaningless piece of trivia.
Though the Lugnuts held the lead the entire game, it didn't become a blowout until the ninth, when Lansing exploded for five runs. Most of those runs came from a three-run homer by Jake Marisnick, who also singled. Marcus Knecht doubled and walked in five trips, while Carlos Perez spread the same number of bases over three plate appearances: two singles and a walk.
Vancouver 1 at Everett 5
Aw, we got four games in before a loss. The quest for a perfect day will have to wait another, um, day.
Noah Syndergaard"en" got the start and Justin Nicolino got the finish. Two top prospects who have been pitching well combining to throw seven innings? How did Vancouver lose??! Before we get to the answer, let's see how the pitchers did. Syndergaard was okay, allowing five hits and two walks in four innings while striking out six. Nicolino was very good, allowing just a single hit in three innings, but that hit somehow made his way around the bases to score.
The answer to how Vancouver lost, of course, is that they didn't score. Balbino Fuenmayor accounted for the Canadians' lone run with a solo home run, and there wasn't much else to speak of.
Bluefield 5 at Johnson City 8
We're fully into "who are these guys" territory down here in Bluefield. Second baseman Daniel Arcila doubled and tripled to lead the offense, but Myles Duvall had a bit of a blowup out of the pen and Bluefield got soundly beaten by the Cardinals.
DSL Yankees1 at DSL Jays 2
Man, these DSL games are low-scoring affairs, eh? On the Jays side of things, this was mostly due to soon-to-be-20-year-old Cesar Sanchez, who managed to pitch eight innings out of the bullpen, not allowing a run and striking out 13??! Whoa. Oh, and Sanchez also induced nine ground ball outs to ZERO fly ball outs????? Who is this guy?! The answer to that question is: he's a pretty good pitcher, but his numbers are somewhat more pedestrian than you'd expect based on Monday's incredible performance.
Angel Feliz hit a homer to put the DSL Jays ahead for good.
Three Stars
3. Casey Lawrence - 6 IP, 2 ER, 7 K
2. Drew Hutchison - 6 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 5 K
1. Cesar Sanchez - 8 IP, 0 ER, 13 K, 9:0 GO:AO
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Hitters and Pitchers of the Week. No Jays.
New Orleans 4 at Las Vegas 12
When I checked this game in the seventh inning it was 4-4. Then, apparently, Las Vegas happened.
Led by homers from Jayson Nix, Adam Loewen and Chris Woodward, the offense banged out 17 hits, at least one per starter and multiple hits by seven of the nine starters, to crush the Zephyrs. David Cooper singled twice and walked twice, only not-reaching-base once. Maybe we should measure his production in terms of Not On Base Average (NOBA). Travis Snider was 2-5 with a pair of singles.
Kyle Drabek got the start and had another unencouraging start. Though his four runs allowed over six innings is passable, especially in Sin City, twelve base-runners allowed and no strikeouts are not good signs.
New Hampshire - no game scheduled
Dunedin 4 at Tampa 3
Ladies and gentlemen, Drew Hutchison.
In a season full of great starts, the righty had arguably his best Monday night, facing just one batter over the minimum over six innings. Hutchison actually allowed three base-runners - one hit and two HBP - but induced a double play and had some help from his battery-mate A.J. Jimenez, who threw out a would-be base-stealer. Hutchison didn't allow a run and struck out five.
Unfortunately (for him, if he's into that kind of thing, I couldn't care less), Drew didn't pick up the win as the bullpen was shaky after his departure, especially Harold Mozingo who allowed three hits and a walk without recording an out. To the rescue came Scott Gracey and Matt Wright, who shut the Yankees down the rest of the way to preserve a tenuous one-run lead.
One note about Hutchison: he's pitched exactly six innings in his last few starts, and given the number of base-runners allowed tonight, he couldn't have had a very high pitch count. I'm guessing he's on some sort of six inning limit, which would be weird. I'd rather see a pitch limit...
Most of the offense came courtesy of Brian Van Kirk, who hit a two-run homer and drove in another run on a single. A.J. Jimenez singled and walked in five trips while Kevin Nolan and Justin Jackson each went 2-4.
Lansing 8 at Fort Wayne 2
The excellent starting pitching continued at Lansing where Casey Lawrence did his best Drew Hutchison impression, going six solid innings. Lawrence allowed a few more hits (6) and runs (2) but struck out seven. Casey picked up his 10th win to go along with 8 losses, which seems like a lot of decisions, and that is a completely meaningless piece of trivia.
Though the Lugnuts held the lead the entire game, it didn't become a blowout until the ninth, when Lansing exploded for five runs. Most of those runs came from a three-run homer by Jake Marisnick, who also singled. Marcus Knecht doubled and walked in five trips, while Carlos Perez spread the same number of bases over three plate appearances: two singles and a walk.
Vancouver 1 at Everett 5
Aw, we got four games in before a loss. The quest for a perfect day will have to wait another, um, day.
Noah Syndergaard"en" got the start and Justin Nicolino got the finish. Two top prospects who have been pitching well combining to throw seven innings? How did Vancouver lose??! Before we get to the answer, let's see how the pitchers did. Syndergaard was okay, allowing five hits and two walks in four innings while striking out six. Nicolino was very good, allowing just a single hit in three innings, but that hit somehow made his way around the bases to score.
The answer to how Vancouver lost, of course, is that they didn't score. Balbino Fuenmayor accounted for the Canadians' lone run with a solo home run, and there wasn't much else to speak of.
Bluefield 5 at Johnson City 8
We're fully into "who are these guys" territory down here in Bluefield. Second baseman Daniel Arcila doubled and tripled to lead the offense, but Myles Duvall had a bit of a blowup out of the pen and Bluefield got soundly beaten by the Cardinals.
DSL Yankees1 at DSL Jays 2
Man, these DSL games are low-scoring affairs, eh? On the Jays side of things, this was mostly due to soon-to-be-20-year-old Cesar Sanchez, who managed to pitch eight innings out of the bullpen, not allowing a run and striking out 13??! Whoa. Oh, and Sanchez also induced nine ground ball outs to ZERO fly ball outs????? Who is this guy?! The answer to that question is: he's a pretty good pitcher, but his numbers are somewhat more pedestrian than you'd expect based on Monday's incredible performance.
Angel Feliz hit a homer to put the DSL Jays ahead for good.
Three Stars
3. Casey Lawrence - 6 IP, 2 ER, 7 K
2. Drew Hutchison - 6 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 5 K
1. Cesar Sanchez - 8 IP, 0 ER, 13 K, 9:0 GO:AO
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Hitters and Pitchers of the Week. No Jays.
