The affiliates posted a .750 winning percentage in their four games Monday night. Two of the three wins were decided in extras and the lone loss was of the one-run variety.
Pawtucket 5 Buffalo 4
Pawtucket, RI - Steve Tolleson made sure the Bisons were heard from in the first inning with his first homer of the season to give the visitors a 1-0 lead. Dan Johnson had a two-run shot in the fourth, his fourth of the year, to score a Chris Getz bunt single to make it 3-1 Bisons. The Herd fell behind 4-3 but nearly tied it in the eighth but Tolleson was cut down at the plate trying to score from second on a Johnson single to center.
Johnson and Getz had two hits apiece and Kevin Pillar had the other base knock. Tolleson was the on-base leader with two walks to go with his dinger and he swiped his third base of 2014. Anthony Gose went 0-for-4 with three whiffs.
Marcus Stroman (1-2) limited the Paw Sox to a run over the first four innings but gave up another in the fifth and was charged with two more in the sixth. Stroman lasted 5.1 innings, yielding four runs (three earned) on 10 hits. However, his K-BB and GO/FO ratios were 5-0 and 7-0 respectively. He threw 61 strikes of his 95 pitches for a 71 percent strike rate. Lefty Rob Rasmussen did Stroman no favours by allowing two inherited runs to score thanks to two wild pitches and a throwing error by catcher Erik Kratz. Rasmussen gave up a hit and a walk with one strikeout over one inning. Bobby Korecky stranded a runner for Rasmussen and pitched the final 1.2 innings with one walk and one K.
Of note, Shane Victorino was 1-for-4 for Pawtucket and by the way, what the hell is a Heiker Meneses?
New Hampshire 7 New Britain 4 (14 Innings)
New Britain, CT - Brad Glenn tied this one for the Fisher Cats at 1-1 with his second homer of the season in the second inning. The Twins affiliate led 4-1 after four innings but the Fisher Cats clawed their way back starting with a Jon Berti RBI double in the fifth. Glenn went deep again in the sixth and a dropped ball by the Rock Cats first baseman on an Andy Burns ground ball led to the tying run in the eighth. Berti doubled home the go-ahead run in the 14th inning to score Kenny Wilson's leadoff single. Glenn lifted a sacrifice fly to bring in Berti. A throwing error by the pitcher on another ground ball by Burns produced the third and final run of the inning.
Berti's two doubles were part of a 4-for-7 evening at the plate. Glenn was 3-for-6 while Wilson and Ryan Schimpf had two apiece. Schimpf had two doubles and two walks. Wilson had one double and swiped his second base of the year. A.J. Jimenez walked once in three plates appearances before being replaced by Jack Murphy.
Scott Copeland finished an out short of five innings, allowing all four runs on nine hits, a walk and a hit by pitch. He served up a homer and uncorked three wild pitches. Copeland struck out five, collected six ground ball outs and threw 60 of 96 pitches (63 percent) for strikes. Lefties John Anderson, Tyler Ybarra and Tony Davis combined for 7.1 scoreless innings of relief. Anderson walked a pair but matched that with a pair of K's. Ybarra gave up two hits and uncorked a couple of wild pitches but also racked up 4 K's. Davis gave up just a hit and a walk while whiffing a batter an inning over his three frames. Scott Gracey (1-1) worked a one-hit inning and Gregory Infante survived a dropped pop-up in the infield to pick up his third save.
Of note, Burns was 0-for-6 with a walk but he saved the Fisher Cats in the 10th with a diving catch at short to double off a runner for an inning-ending double play. The F-Cats won this one despite going 0-for-13 with runners in scoring position and leaving 12 men on base.
Dunedin 5 Lakeland 3 (10 Innings)
Lakeland, FL - Emilio Guerrero got the D-Jays on the board with an RBI double in the fourth after trailing 2-0. They took their first lead in the fifth when Dalton Pompey singled home a run and K.C. Hobson had an RBI groundout to plate the go-ahead marker. Dunedin did not score again until the tenth when Marcus Knecht delivered a two-out, two-run single to score the winning runs.
Pompey enjoyed a 3-for-5 night with a walk and stole his 9th base of the season. Dwight Smith Jr. had two hits and a base on balls. Others reaching base three times were Knecht with a double, a single and a walk; Derrick Chung singled, walked and was hit by a pitch and Matt Newman offset a 0-for-3 night at the dish with three walks. Guerrero had two hits while Christian Lopes was plunked twice.
Taylor Cole met the quality start guidelines (3ER, 6IP) on six hits and a walk. He posted an impressive 9-1 K-BB total with six of his 10 outs in play were on the ground. Ajay Meyer only walked one batter over two scoreless frames while striking out a pair. Lefty Chad Girodo (1-0) struck out one in the ninth and Arik Sikula overcame a hit and a balk by striking out two to earn his sixth save.
Of note, Kevin Eichhorn (son of Mark) started this one for the Flying TIgers and gave up three runs in five innings. The losing pitcher was Guido "Sarducci" Knudson.
Lansing 7 Lake County 6
Lansing, MI - The Lugnuts came up to bat trailing 1-0 but Mitch Nay rectified that by doubling home a Dickie Thon Jr. two-bagger to tie things up against the Indians affiliate. Lansing pulled ahead in the second inning on an RBI double by Jason Leblebijian. The Lugnuts broke a 2-2 tie with a three-run third on a Nay RBI groundout, a Derrick Loveless RBI single and a Santiago Nessy run-scoring base hit. Nessy doubled home another run in the fifth to tie the game at 6-6. Nay brought in the winning run with a sacrifice fly to score a Matt Dean triple in the seventh.
Six Lugnuts had two-hit games in Thon Jr., Nay, Dean, Loveless, Nessy and Leblebijian. All but Loveless had a double and Leblebijian had two two-baggers. Carlos Ramirez drew the lone Lugnuts walk and stolen base. D.J. Davis was 0-for-5 with two strikeouts and Dawel Lugo struck out twice as part of his 0-for-4 night at the dish.
Alberto Tirado pitched the first three innings and surrendered two runs (one earned) on four hits and three walks. He served up a gopher ball but struck out a pair and five of his six outs in play were on the grass. Lefty Jairo Labourt started the fourth inning but only retired one batter of the five he faced. That resulted in four runs on his line (two unearned) on two hits and two walks. All the unearned runs were the result of two errors by Nay at third base. Roberto Espinosa could not strand two Labourt runners but he struck out five and scattered two hits and a walk over 2.2 frames. Lefthander Griffin Murphy (1-0) worked around two hits to post two scoreless frames that included two punchouts. Fellow southpaw Scott Silverstein allowed a hit but finished things out for his second save.
Of note, Thon Jr. was credited with two assists from left field as he nailed a runner at first and at second.
Linescores
*** 3 Stars!!! ***
3. Dalton Pompey, Dunedin - Six multi-hit games over his last 10 pushes his average to .349, six points ahead of Dwight Smith Jr.'s .343 to give Dunedin a potent 1-2 punch in the batting order.
2. Jon Berti, New Hampshire - Hitless in his last four games before breaking out with a four-hit night. Caught stealing for the first time after swiping six bases to start the year.
1. Brad Glenn, New Hampshire - Batting a robust .339 after tripling his home run output to three.
Tuesday's Schedule & Probable Starters...
Dunedin @ Lakeland, 6:30 pm ET - RHP Ben White (1-0, 2.79)
Buffalo @ Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, 6:35 pm ET - LHP Ricky Romero (0-0, 3.60).
New Hampshire @ New Britain, 6:35 pm ET - RHP Casey Lawrence (1-0, 1.72).
Lake County @ Lansing, 7:05 pm ET - RHP Jeremy Gabryszwski (0-2, 5.17).
Extra Innings...
In case you missed it from Sunday's minor league thread, FanGraphs.com talks about Mitch Nay. A tip of the Blue Jays 70's retro cap to Bauxite TangledUpInBlue.
Pawtucket 5 Buffalo 4
Pawtucket, RI - Steve Tolleson made sure the Bisons were heard from in the first inning with his first homer of the season to give the visitors a 1-0 lead. Dan Johnson had a two-run shot in the fourth, his fourth of the year, to score a Chris Getz bunt single to make it 3-1 Bisons. The Herd fell behind 4-3 but nearly tied it in the eighth but Tolleson was cut down at the plate trying to score from second on a Johnson single to center.
Johnson and Getz had two hits apiece and Kevin Pillar had the other base knock. Tolleson was the on-base leader with two walks to go with his dinger and he swiped his third base of 2014. Anthony Gose went 0-for-4 with three whiffs.
Marcus Stroman (1-2) limited the Paw Sox to a run over the first four innings but gave up another in the fifth and was charged with two more in the sixth. Stroman lasted 5.1 innings, yielding four runs (three earned) on 10 hits. However, his K-BB and GO/FO ratios were 5-0 and 7-0 respectively. He threw 61 strikes of his 95 pitches for a 71 percent strike rate. Lefty Rob Rasmussen did Stroman no favours by allowing two inherited runs to score thanks to two wild pitches and a throwing error by catcher Erik Kratz. Rasmussen gave up a hit and a walk with one strikeout over one inning. Bobby Korecky stranded a runner for Rasmussen and pitched the final 1.2 innings with one walk and one K.
Of note, Shane Victorino was 1-for-4 for Pawtucket and by the way, what the hell is a Heiker Meneses?
New Hampshire 7 New Britain 4 (14 Innings)
New Britain, CT - Brad Glenn tied this one for the Fisher Cats at 1-1 with his second homer of the season in the second inning. The Twins affiliate led 4-1 after four innings but the Fisher Cats clawed their way back starting with a Jon Berti RBI double in the fifth. Glenn went deep again in the sixth and a dropped ball by the Rock Cats first baseman on an Andy Burns ground ball led to the tying run in the eighth. Berti doubled home the go-ahead run in the 14th inning to score Kenny Wilson's leadoff single. Glenn lifted a sacrifice fly to bring in Berti. A throwing error by the pitcher on another ground ball by Burns produced the third and final run of the inning.Berti's two doubles were part of a 4-for-7 evening at the plate. Glenn was 3-for-6 while Wilson and Ryan Schimpf had two apiece. Schimpf had two doubles and two walks. Wilson had one double and swiped his second base of the year. A.J. Jimenez walked once in three plates appearances before being replaced by Jack Murphy.
Scott Copeland finished an out short of five innings, allowing all four runs on nine hits, a walk and a hit by pitch. He served up a homer and uncorked three wild pitches. Copeland struck out five, collected six ground ball outs and threw 60 of 96 pitches (63 percent) for strikes. Lefties John Anderson, Tyler Ybarra and Tony Davis combined for 7.1 scoreless innings of relief. Anderson walked a pair but matched that with a pair of K's. Ybarra gave up two hits and uncorked a couple of wild pitches but also racked up 4 K's. Davis gave up just a hit and a walk while whiffing a batter an inning over his three frames. Scott Gracey (1-1) worked a one-hit inning and Gregory Infante survived a dropped pop-up in the infield to pick up his third save.
Of note, Burns was 0-for-6 with a walk but he saved the Fisher Cats in the 10th with a diving catch at short to double off a runner for an inning-ending double play. The F-Cats won this one despite going 0-for-13 with runners in scoring position and leaving 12 men on base.
Dunedin 5 Lakeland 3 (10 Innings)
Lakeland, FL - Emilio Guerrero got the D-Jays on the board with an RBI double in the fourth after trailing 2-0. They took their first lead in the fifth when Dalton Pompey singled home a run and K.C. Hobson had an RBI groundout to plate the go-ahead marker. Dunedin did not score again until the tenth when Marcus Knecht delivered a two-out, two-run single to score the winning runs.Pompey enjoyed a 3-for-5 night with a walk and stole his 9th base of the season. Dwight Smith Jr. had two hits and a base on balls. Others reaching base three times were Knecht with a double, a single and a walk; Derrick Chung singled, walked and was hit by a pitch and Matt Newman offset a 0-for-3 night at the dish with three walks. Guerrero had two hits while Christian Lopes was plunked twice.
Taylor Cole met the quality start guidelines (3ER, 6IP) on six hits and a walk. He posted an impressive 9-1 K-BB total with six of his 10 outs in play were on the ground. Ajay Meyer only walked one batter over two scoreless frames while striking out a pair. Lefty Chad Girodo (1-0) struck out one in the ninth and Arik Sikula overcame a hit and a balk by striking out two to earn his sixth save.
Of note, Kevin Eichhorn (son of Mark) started this one for the Flying TIgers and gave up three runs in five innings. The losing pitcher was Guido "Sarducci" Knudson.
Lansing 7 Lake County 6
Lansing, MI - The Lugnuts came up to bat trailing 1-0 but Mitch Nay rectified that by doubling home a Dickie Thon Jr. two-bagger to tie things up against the Indians affiliate. Lansing pulled ahead in the second inning on an RBI double by Jason Leblebijian. The Lugnuts broke a 2-2 tie with a three-run third on a Nay RBI groundout, a Derrick Loveless RBI single and a Santiago Nessy run-scoring base hit. Nessy doubled home another run in the fifth to tie the game at 6-6. Nay brought in the winning run with a sacrifice fly to score a Matt Dean triple in the seventh.Six Lugnuts had two-hit games in Thon Jr., Nay, Dean, Loveless, Nessy and Leblebijian. All but Loveless had a double and Leblebijian had two two-baggers. Carlos Ramirez drew the lone Lugnuts walk and stolen base. D.J. Davis was 0-for-5 with two strikeouts and Dawel Lugo struck out twice as part of his 0-for-4 night at the dish.
Alberto Tirado pitched the first three innings and surrendered two runs (one earned) on four hits and three walks. He served up a gopher ball but struck out a pair and five of his six outs in play were on the grass. Lefty Jairo Labourt started the fourth inning but only retired one batter of the five he faced. That resulted in four runs on his line (two unearned) on two hits and two walks. All the unearned runs were the result of two errors by Nay at third base. Roberto Espinosa could not strand two Labourt runners but he struck out five and scattered two hits and a walk over 2.2 frames. Lefthander Griffin Murphy (1-0) worked around two hits to post two scoreless frames that included two punchouts. Fellow southpaw Scott Silverstein allowed a hit but finished things out for his second save.
Of note, Thon Jr. was credited with two assists from left field as he nailed a runner at first and at second.
Linescores
*** 3 Stars!!! ***
3. Dalton Pompey, Dunedin - Six multi-hit games over his last 10 pushes his average to .349, six points ahead of Dwight Smith Jr.'s .343 to give Dunedin a potent 1-2 punch in the batting order.
2. Jon Berti, New Hampshire - Hitless in his last four games before breaking out with a four-hit night. Caught stealing for the first time after swiping six bases to start the year.
1. Brad Glenn, New Hampshire - Batting a robust .339 after tripling his home run output to three.
Tuesday's Schedule & Probable Starters...
Dunedin @ Lakeland, 6:30 pm ET - RHP Ben White (1-0, 2.79)
Buffalo @ Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, 6:35 pm ET - LHP Ricky Romero (0-0, 3.60).
New Hampshire @ New Britain, 6:35 pm ET - RHP Casey Lawrence (1-0, 1.72).
Lake County @ Lansing, 7:05 pm ET - RHP Jeremy Gabryszwski (0-2, 5.17).
Extra Innings...
In case you missed it from Sunday's minor league thread, FanGraphs.com talks about Mitch Nay. A tip of the Blue Jays 70's retro cap to Bauxite TangledUpInBlue.
