A slow day on the farm, as the Jays' affiliates go 2-5 despite some nice pitching performances.
Las Vegas 7 Salt Lake 5
Chad Beck pitched 5.1 innings and left trailing 3-2, but Ryan Shealy immediately got him off the hook with a two-run, game-winning homer in the seventh. Ricardo Nanita and Jayson Nix also went deep. The Bees rallied for two runs in the ninth to bring the tying run to the plate with two out, but Danny Farquhar came on as a ROOGY to dispatch cleanup hitter Jeff Baisley for the ultra-cheap save. Darin Mastroianni went 2-5 with a triple and a stolen base. Ryan Budde threw out both Salt Lake basestealing attempts.
Harrisburg 2 New Hampshire 1
Tough loss for Chad Jenkins, who was perfect aside from three hits in the second inning. He pitched 6.2 innings, struck out 6, walked 0 and retired the last 14 batters he faced. Evan Crawford and B.J. LaMura were perfect in relief. Anthony Gose doubled, stole third and scored on a Moises Sierra groundout. Gose and Sierra were each picked off. Gose's eventful day also included an outfield assist at third. The Fisher Cats had John Tolisano as the tying run on third with one out in the sixth, with murderer's row of Travis d'Arnaud (0-3, walk) and Mike McDade (1-4) due up. Sadly, both flied out harmlessly. The Fisher Cats remain in first place, 2.5 games ahead of New Britain and 3 ahead of Reading.
Daytona 7 Dunedin 4
Ryan Tepera gave up 5 hits, K'd 3 and walked 3 over his six innings to leave with a 3-2 lead. Brian Tallet pitched a scoreless 7th. Aaron Loup pitched a scoreless 8th, but got knocked around a bit in the 9th as Daytona rallied for five runs off him and Matt Daly. Kevin Ahrens was the offensive star, going 3-3 with a double and a walk. Jon Talley homered for the 17th time this year, and leadoff man Brad McElroy went 2-4 with a walk and a CS. McElroy is now 30/34 stealing this year. A.J. Jimenez threw out both of his basestealers.
Lansing 1 Fort Wayne 6
The Lugnuts were shut down by a Campbell River native and UBC product, lefty Mark Hardy, who held them to four hits over six shutout innings. Lansing starter Sean Nolin was dinked around in the fourth inning, when he allowed his only run over five. Dustin Antolin held the fort before the Tincaps exploded for five runs off Daniel Webb in the eighth. Lansing's only run came in the form of Jake Marisnick reaching on a three-base error and Marcus Knecht knocking him in with a sac fly. Garis Pena and Jonathan Jones had the only other two hits for Lansing; Jones also added a SB and a CS.
Tri-City 4 Vancouver 9
Vancouver's combined pitching struck out one, walked four, gave up a homer... and allowed two hits. Ben White didn't strike anyone out, but he weaved through five one-hit, one-run innings while walking only two, and that was more than enough for the Pitcher Win. The C's offense didn't have any such problems, piling up 13 hits against Ben Alsup and company. Matt Newman, Jonathon Berti, Kevin Patterson, Stephen McQuail and Shane Opitz had two hits each. McQuail homered. Aleson Escalante and Brandon Kaye combined for three no-hit innings. Alex Pepe was a bit wild in mopping up the ninth, but he limited the damage to three runs and managed to finish the game.
Elizabethton 5 Bluefield 3
Rough day for Bluefield, as their bats managed only five singles. Deivy Estrada went four innings allowing six hits, three walks and two strikeouts. Chris Hawkins had two singles for the Jays. Eddie Rosario continues to ravage the Appalachian League for the Twins. He went 3-5 with a triple, 6-11 with five walks for the weekend, and is hitting .323/.387/.642. Les Williams and Ian Kadish piled up 5 and 3 strikeouts respectively in long relief.
GCL Phillies 5 GCL Blue Jays 3 (10 innings)
Starter Randal Thompson pitched four spotless innings and struck out four. The Blue Jays ran out of comebacks in the tenth inning. Santiago Nessy had three hits. Yudelmis Hernandez homered, walked and stole a base.
Three Stars
3. Chad Jenkins (6.2 IP, 6 K, 0 BB, 3 H, 2 R)
2. Kevin Ahrens (3/3, double, walk)
1. Randal Thompson (4 IP, 4 K, 0 BB, 0 H, 0 R)
Las Vegas 7 Salt Lake 5
Chad Beck pitched 5.1 innings and left trailing 3-2, but Ryan Shealy immediately got him off the hook with a two-run, game-winning homer in the seventh. Ricardo Nanita and Jayson Nix also went deep. The Bees rallied for two runs in the ninth to bring the tying run to the plate with two out, but Danny Farquhar came on as a ROOGY to dispatch cleanup hitter Jeff Baisley for the ultra-cheap save. Darin Mastroianni went 2-5 with a triple and a stolen base. Ryan Budde threw out both Salt Lake basestealing attempts.
Harrisburg 2 New Hampshire 1
Tough loss for Chad Jenkins, who was perfect aside from three hits in the second inning. He pitched 6.2 innings, struck out 6, walked 0 and retired the last 14 batters he faced. Evan Crawford and B.J. LaMura were perfect in relief. Anthony Gose doubled, stole third and scored on a Moises Sierra groundout. Gose and Sierra were each picked off. Gose's eventful day also included an outfield assist at third. The Fisher Cats had John Tolisano as the tying run on third with one out in the sixth, with murderer's row of Travis d'Arnaud (0-3, walk) and Mike McDade (1-4) due up. Sadly, both flied out harmlessly. The Fisher Cats remain in first place, 2.5 games ahead of New Britain and 3 ahead of Reading.
Daytona 7 Dunedin 4
Ryan Tepera gave up 5 hits, K'd 3 and walked 3 over his six innings to leave with a 3-2 lead. Brian Tallet pitched a scoreless 7th. Aaron Loup pitched a scoreless 8th, but got knocked around a bit in the 9th as Daytona rallied for five runs off him and Matt Daly. Kevin Ahrens was the offensive star, going 3-3 with a double and a walk. Jon Talley homered for the 17th time this year, and leadoff man Brad McElroy went 2-4 with a walk and a CS. McElroy is now 30/34 stealing this year. A.J. Jimenez threw out both of his basestealers.
Lansing 1 Fort Wayne 6
The Lugnuts were shut down by a Campbell River native and UBC product, lefty Mark Hardy, who held them to four hits over six shutout innings. Lansing starter Sean Nolin was dinked around in the fourth inning, when he allowed his only run over five. Dustin Antolin held the fort before the Tincaps exploded for five runs off Daniel Webb in the eighth. Lansing's only run came in the form of Jake Marisnick reaching on a three-base error and Marcus Knecht knocking him in with a sac fly. Garis Pena and Jonathan Jones had the only other two hits for Lansing; Jones also added a SB and a CS.
Tri-City 4 Vancouver 9
Vancouver's combined pitching struck out one, walked four, gave up a homer... and allowed two hits. Ben White didn't strike anyone out, but he weaved through five one-hit, one-run innings while walking only two, and that was more than enough for the Pitcher Win. The C's offense didn't have any such problems, piling up 13 hits against Ben Alsup and company. Matt Newman, Jonathon Berti, Kevin Patterson, Stephen McQuail and Shane Opitz had two hits each. McQuail homered. Aleson Escalante and Brandon Kaye combined for three no-hit innings. Alex Pepe was a bit wild in mopping up the ninth, but he limited the damage to three runs and managed to finish the game.
Elizabethton 5 Bluefield 3
Rough day for Bluefield, as their bats managed only five singles. Deivy Estrada went four innings allowing six hits, three walks and two strikeouts. Chris Hawkins had two singles for the Jays. Eddie Rosario continues to ravage the Appalachian League for the Twins. He went 3-5 with a triple, 6-11 with five walks for the weekend, and is hitting .323/.387/.642. Les Williams and Ian Kadish piled up 5 and 3 strikeouts respectively in long relief.
GCL Phillies 5 GCL Blue Jays 3 (10 innings)
Starter Randal Thompson pitched four spotless innings and struck out four. The Blue Jays ran out of comebacks in the tenth inning. Santiago Nessy had three hits. Yudelmis Hernandez homered, walked and stole a base.
Three Stars
3. Chad Jenkins (6.2 IP, 6 K, 0 BB, 3 H, 2 R)
2. Kevin Ahrens (3/3, double, walk)
1. Randal Thompson (4 IP, 4 K, 0 BB, 0 H, 0 R)
