All the affiliates other than Las Vegas won. Lansing blew a lead in the eighth inning but came back to win in the 13th. Adam Calderone with two home runs and Bobby Bell with seven good innings led New Hampshire to victory. Dunedin won despite Chuck Huggins not having his best start. Mike McDade led the hitters with four hits including a home run.
It wasn’t quite an episode of Too Many Molinas, but Las Vegas played host to a game that featured relatives facing each other and one of them delivering the game-changing hit. New Hampshire won big off a top Canadian prospect and a former Blue Jay. Fine relief in Florida prevented Dunedin from nearly blowing a sizeable lead and Lansing saw an impressive pitching performance that nearly gave the outfielders an entire evening off.
The Jays affiliates managed a winning night by going 2-1 that included a shootout, an extra innings win and a game postponed due to the G20 Summit. I'm not buying one word of this "postponed due to rain BS". However, the best news of the night came from the mound in Dunedin.
The farm split their four games on Monday night, and this week we take an in-depth look at New Hampshire's season-to-date.
Well you should. Because he threw a shutout today.
It was an ugly night on the farm. Las Vegas went down early and couldn't mount any kind of comeback. New Hampshire kept it close until the fifth when the floodgates opened. Dunedin, like New Hampshire, kept it close, but couldn't win as Henderson Alvarez was a bit shaky again. Lansing took a 4-0 lead to the bottom of the ninth and lost thanks in part to two errors.
New Hampshire trailed 5-0 after seven innings and they had only one hit in the game. But they exploded for seven runs in the eighth and won. The win masked a rough start by Zach Stewart. The Lugnuts racked up 16 hits to support Chad Jenkins on their way to a win. Las Vegas and Dunedin were losers Friday.
Ryan Schimpf had four hits to lead the Lugnuts to the win. The pitchers allowed only one hit, Evan Crawford pitched five shutout innings. Dunedin also won with Sean Shoffit delivering the big hit and Chuck Huggins pitching well. New Hampshire lost a close one while Las Vegas were blown out.
There was a split on the farm last night, with the middle two affiliates losing while Las Vegas and Lansing won their games. Las Vegas was powered by the top of their lineup and patience, while Lansing made their few opportunities count. Meanwhile, New Hampshire and Dunedin could not get the big hit and combined to strand 27 runners on base.
New Hampshire's big day at the plate was the good news. A one-run loss in regulation and an extra innings heartbreaker were the bad news in a 1-3 night on the farm.
It was a high-scoring night on the farm (mostly for the opponents), as 61 runs were scored between the four games.
A couple of big name pitching prospects came up small on Sunday.
New Hampshire took a 5-1 lead into the ninth inning Saturday and with Tim Collins and Danny Farquhar in the bullpen it was game over, right? Not so fast. Collins was touched for three runs and Farquhar for five to put the Fisher Cats down 9-5 heading to the bottom of the ninth. Game over, right? Not so fast. Eric Thames hit a three run home run, his second, followed shortly thereafter by a two run walk-off home run by Adam Calderone. The fans in Manchester got their money's worth with this game.
Las Vegas won with a team effort. Dunedin won behind good pitching from Chuck Huggins and Lansing also had a walk off win.
Kyle Drabek pitched well, again, and Brad Emaus hit a three run home run in the first inning to lead the Fisher Cats to victory. Dunedin also won in a pitchers duel that went ten innings. Brad Mills was not at his best and Las Vegas lost. Lansing gave up eight runs in the eighth and lost also.
A mixed night on the farm as New Hampshire scored more runs than the other three affiliates combined as the Junior Jays finished 2-2.
