Scranton/Wilkes-Barre 4, Rochester 1 in Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. The Yankees scored two in the first and two in the seventh. Toby Gardenhire singled and doubled. Rene Rivera had two hits. Dusty Hughes came out of the bullpen to start and did okay, giving up two runs on three hits and two walks while striking out four in four innings.
New Britain 11, Trenton 8 in Trenton. The Rock Cats trailed 2-0 after three, took a 9-2 lead after seven, then had the lead cut to 9-8 in the eighth before putting it away. Chris Herrmann had two singles and a homer, driving in four. Brian Dozier singled and homered, raising his average to .312. Deibinson Romero singled and doubled. Evan Bigley had two hits. Starter Spencer Steedley got the win, giving up two runs on five hits and a walk in five innings. Steve Hirschfeld struck out three in two shutout innings, giving up one hit. Tyler Robertson got his sixteenth save with 1.1 scoreless innings, striking out three while giving up a hit and walking two. The win pulled the Rock Cats back to within one game of Reading for the last playoff spot.
St. Lucie 4, Ft. Myers 1 in Ft. Myers. The Mets broke a 1-1 tie with two in the eighth. Angel Morales was 3-for-3 with a walk. Daniel Rohlfing and Nick Romero each had two hits. Matthew Tomshaw went seven strong innings, giving up a run on five hits. Bruce Pugh surrendered three runs on four hits and two walks in two innings to take the loss.
Burlington 4, Beloit 0 in Beloit. The Bees got three in the fifth to break a scoreless tie. The Snappers had just two hits. Blayne Weller allowed three runs on ten hits and no walks in 6.2 innings, striking out six.
Elizabethton 17, Bluefield 8 in Bluefield. The Twins overcame a 4-2 deficit with eight in the third. Eddie Rosario singled and hit two homers, his eighteenth and nineteenth. He scored three times, drove in five, and raised his average to .319. Matthew Koch hit two doubles and a homer, scoring three times and driving in four. Niko Goodrum had three hits. JaDamion Williams singled and homered, raising his average to .331. Miguel Sano and Tyler Koelling had two hits. Starter Tyler Jones surrendered six runs on eight hits and two walks in three innings. David Hurlbut got the win with five innings of relief, giving up one run on five hits and a walk. The win keeps Elizabethton two games ahead of Kingsport for the last playoff spot.
GCL Twins 12, Orioles 6 (11 innings). The Twins scored three in the ninth to tie and six in the eleventh to win. Kelvin Silvania had two doubles, a single, and a home run, driving in five. Jorge Polanco had four hits. Kelvin Ortiz singled and homered. Stephen Wickens singled and doubled. Aderlin Mejia had two hits and scored three times. Starter Nathan Fawbush yielded five runs on five hits and four walks while striking out five in four innings. Gonzalo Sanudo struck out three in two shutout innings, giving up just one hit. Tyler Herr struck out three in three shutout innings to get the win.
Rosario is the man. He leads the league in HRs by three and is second in OPS and slugging. The guy he trails in both stats has about one-third less ABs.
I am grasping for straws.
Liam Hendriks had a very, very good age-22 season at NB (2.70 ERA, 2.82 FIP, 81:18 K:BB in 90 innings). He's been roughed up since his promotion to Rochester (25 runs allowed in 35 1/3 innings), but he has yet to allow a HR at that level and shown decent plate command (6.11 ERA, 2.46 FIP, 19:3 K:BB). A .349 BABIP in his seven AAA starts sounds like bad luck to me. Is he good enough to earn a serious look next spring? I'd have to guess "yes" to that.
Looking at his 2011 Futures Game f/x, it seems that he has a low/mid-90s fastball and excellent command. Dare we say "Radke-ish"?? I'd like to see him compete for a rotation spot in the spring.
Tyler Robertson looks to be Dunce-Lite. Probably no help there, although he has struck out a batter per inning this year.
Brian Dozier needs to be given a chance to compete for a middle infield spot. He's been NB's best hitter (312/375/496) since his promotion from Ft. Myers and he's already 24. Now or never. It's not as though Tolbot is capable of being a bona fide major leaguer, and the same is probably true of Plouffe and Casilla. Let's get the kid in the mix.
and I've already gotten on the verge of Chuck James'ing on Joe Benson. Bring him up and kick the tires.