A rough game for Kyle Gibson. New Britain dies with a boot. A big game for Jorge Polanco.
COLUMBUS 5, ROCHESTER 1 IN COLUMBUS,
Batting stars: Chris Colabello was 2-for-4 with a double and scored once. Clete Thomas was 2-for-4.
Pitching stars: Shairon Martis pitched 2.1 scoreless innings, giving up one hit and no walks. Rafael Perez pitched a perfect inning.
Opposition stars: Joe Martinez pitched 7.2 scoreless innings, allowing six hits and a walk. Ryan Rohlinger was 3-for-4 and scored twice. Matt LaPorta was 2-for-5 with a home run and three RBIs.
Key inning: The fifth. Leading 2-0, the Clippers put together four consecutive one-out singles to make it 4-0. A two-out single increased the lead to five. All the damage was done off starter Kyle Gibson, who surrendered five runs on eleven hits in 4.2 innings.
PORTLAND 5, NEW BRITAIN 4 IN PORTLAND
Batting stars: Josmil Pinto was 2-for-3 with a walk, scoring once and driving in two. Daniel Ortiz was 2-for-4.
Pitching stars: Pat Dean struck out six in 6.1 innings, giving up two runs on five hits and no walks. Aaron Thompson struck out one in a scoreless inning, giving up only a walk.
Opposition stars: Matt Spring was 2-for-3 with a walk and a two-run homer. Shannon Wilkerson was 2-for-5 and scored once.
Key inning: The ninth. The Rock Cats led 4-3 and brought in Michael Tonkin to close it out. With one out, Spring walked and was replaced by pinch-runner Heiker Meneses, who stole second. Derrik Gibson struck out, but a single by Wilkerson put runners on first and third and a fielding error by Antoan Richardson allowed both the tying and the winning run to score.
FORT MYERS 6, ST. LUCIE 0 IN FORT MYERS
Batting stars: Kennys Vargas was 4-for-4 with two doubles, scoring once and driving in one. Drew Leachman was 2-for-3 with a walk and scored once.
Pitching stars: Matthew Summers struck out six in five innings, giving up four hits and a walk. Adrian Salcedo gave up just one hit in two shutout innings. Zach Jones gave up one hit and two walks in two shutout innings.
Opposition star: Noah Syndergaard struck out five in six innings, allowing one run on eight hits and two walks.
Key inning: The seventh. Leading 1-0, the Miracle scored five times. Two singles and an error loaded the bases with none out, and a pair of sacrifice flies made the score 3-0. A walk and three more singles added three runs to make it 6-0. Fort Myers batted ten in the inning.
CEDAR RAPIDS 8, WEST MICHIGAN 6 IN WEST MICHIGAN
Batting stars: Jorge Polanco was 3-for-5 with two doubles, scoring once and driving in three. Jhonatan Arias was 3-for-4 with a double. Adam Brett Walker II was 2-for-5.
Pitching stars: None really, but we'll mention Mason Melotakis, who settled down after giving up three in the first to go six innings. He gave up four runs (two earned) on eight hits and a walk.
Opposition stars: Zach Kirksey was 2-for-4 with a home run and two RBIs. Devon Travis was 2-for-5 with a home run. Mario Martinez was 2-for-4 with a double and an RBI.
Key inning: The ninth. The Whitecaps had just scored in the eighth to cut the lead to 6-5. With one out and the bases loaded, Polanco delivered a two-run double to put the Kernels up 8-5. A two-out homer by Travis in the bottom of the ninth made it 8-6 and West Michigan did get the tying run up to bat, David Hurlbut was able to retire Jake Stewart on a fly ball to end the game.
TODAY'S TILTS
12:00 New Britain (Trevor May, 1-1, 4.62) at Portland (Charlie Haeger, no record)
5:05 St. Lucie (TBA) at Fort Myers (Tom Stuifbergen, 1-1, 2.60)
6:05 Rochester (Liam Hendriks, 0-2, 4.86) at Columbus (Toru Murata, 0-0, 6.00)
6:05 Cedar Rapids (Tyler Duffey, 2-1, 3.60) at South Bend (Blake Perry, 0-1, 4.97)