A big day for Eddie Rosario. Tyler Duffey pitches a gem. Dalton Hicks and J. D. Williams make their Florida State League debuts.
INTERNATIONAL LEAGUE 4, PACIFIC COAST LEAGUE 3 IN RENO
Twins: Chris Colabello was 1-for-3 with a double and an RBI. Andrew Albers pitched one inning, giving up one run on two hits and no walks while striking out one.
International League stars: Tony Sanchez hit a three-run homer. Chris Bootcheck pitched two shutout innings, giving up one hit and no walks while striking out one.
Pacific Coast League star: Michael Wacha retired all five batters he faced.
Key inning: The second. The score was tied at one. With one out, Zach Walters singled, ex-Twin Jason Pridie walked, and Sanchez hit a three-run homer to give the International League a 4-1 lead.
NEW BRITAIN 4, HARRISBURG 3 IN HARRISBURG
Batting stars: Eddie Rosario was 3-for-5 with two RBIs. Danny Santana was 2-for-4 with a double and scored twice. Daniel Ortiz was 2-for-4.
Pitching stars: D. J. Baxendale pitched 5.2 innings, giving up two runs on five hits and a walk while striking out two. Cole Johnson pitched 1.2 scoreless innings, giving up no hits and one walk with one strikeout. Bruce Pugh pitched a scoreless inning, giving up no hits and one walk with one strikeout.
Opposition stars: Justin Bloxom was 1-for-3 with a walk. Taylor Hill pitched six innings, allowing three runs (two earned) on eight hits and a walk with two strikeouts.
Key inning: The sixth. The score was tied at two. Adam Pettersen led off with a double, was bunted to third, and scored on a single by Rosario to give the Rock Cats the lead.
Prospect watch: Josmil Pinto was 0-for-4 with a walk and scored once. Nate Hanson was 1-for-4.
FORT MYERS 6, DUNEDIN 4 IN DUNEDIN,
Batting stars: Aderlin Mejia was 2-for-5 with a run and an RBI. Matt Koch was 2-for-4. J. D. Williams was 2-for-4.
Pitching stars: Tyler Duffey struck out seven in seven shutout innings, giving up just one hit and four walks. Zach Jones pitched a scoreless inning, giving up no hits and one walk with one strikeout.
Opposition stars: Kyle Drabek started and pitched three shutout innings, giving up one hit and no walks while striking out two. Mike Crouse hit a grand slam.
Key inning: The ninth. The Miracle trailed 4-3. With one out, Koch singled and Mike Kvasnicka walked. Kennys Vargas then delivered a two-run double to put Fort Myers ahead. Stephen Wickens singled Vargas home to add an insurance run.
Prospect watch: Byron Buxton was 1-for-5 with a triple and scored once. Dalton Hicks, in his FSL debut, was 1-for-4 with a two-run homer. Vargas was 1-for-3 with a walk and a double, scoring once and driving in two.
CEDAR RAPIDS 7, LAKE COUNTY 6 IN LAKE COUNTY (12 INNINGS)
Batting stars: Niko Goodrum was 4-for-5 with two walks and an RBI. Jeremias Pineda was 3-for-5 with a walk, a double, and a home run (his second), scoring four times and driving in three. Tyler Grimes was 2-for-5 with a walk and scored once.
Pitching stars: No one hit the ball off Dallas Gallant in 1.2 innings, as he gave up no hits, struck out five, and walked two. Alex Muren struck out two in two shutout innings, giving up no hits and two walks. Tim Shibuya struck out two in a perfect inning.
Opposition stars: Benny Suarez struck out three in three shutout innings, allowing two hits and a walk. Erick Gonzalez was 2-for-6 with a three-run homer. Todd Hankins was 2-for-5 with a walk, a home run, and two RBIs.
Key inning: The twelfth. The score was tied at six. Pineda led off with a single, went to second on a sacrifice, and scored on a two-out single by Jorge Polanco to give the Kernels the lead.
Prospect watch: Adam Brett Walker II was 0-for-7. Max Kepler was 1-for-4 with two walks and a triple, scoring once.
ELIZABETHTON AT BRISTOL
Rained out.
GCL RAYS 4, GCL TWINS 3 AT RAYS
Batting stars: Zach Larson was 2-for-4 with a home run. Alex Swim was 2-for-4 with a run and an RBI.
Pitching stars: Damian Defrank pitched two shutout innings, giving up no hits and two walks with one strikeout. Stephen Gonsalves struck out four in three innings, giving up one run on two hits and no walks.
Opposition stars: Roel Ramirez pitched three perfect innings with one strikeout. Cristian Toribio was 2-for-4 and scored once.
Key inning: The eighth. The Rays trailed 3-2. Riley Unroe led off with a single. Nick Ciuffo hit a one-out double to tie the score. Singles by Hector Montes and Erick Vasquez brought Ciuffo home with the go-ahead run. The damage came off Daniel Sattler, who came in to start the inning.
Prospect watch: Amaurys Minier was 1-for-4. Adonis Pacheco was 0-for-4. Alex Wimmers started and struck out three in two innings, giving up one run on three hits and two walks.
DSL TWINS 13, DSL REDS 11 AT TWINS
Batting stars: Francis Mateo was 3-for-5 with a run and two RBIs. Frank Encarnacion was 2-for-2 with a double and three RBIs. Dubal Baez was 2-for-3 with two walks, scoring twice and driving in one.
Pitching stars: Jhon Silva struck out three in two shutout innings, giving up one hit and no walks. Elias Villasana pitched four innings of relief, giving up two unearned runs on four hits and a walk while striking out two.
Opposition stars: Geraldo Valor was 2-for-3 with two walks, scoring twice and driving in one. Jose Siri was 2-for-3 with two walks and scored three times. Raynar Guerrero was 2-for-5 with a run and three RBIs.
Key inning: The eighth. The Twins had trailed 5-0, 8-3, and 9-6, but at this point led 11-9. In the top of the inning, the Reds tied the score with two singles, an error, a walk, and two wild pitches. The tying run scored on a double steal of second and home. In the bottom of the inning, Mateo led off with a single. A one-out double by Jorge Parra put runners on second and third. With two out, Encarnacion doubled to bring both runners home.
TODAY'S TILTS
9:30 DSL Twins at DSL Diamondbacks
11:00 GCL Rays at GCL Twins
5:00 Elizabethton (TBA) at Bristol (Scott Carroll, 0-0, 1.80)
Game 2 Elizabethton (TBA) at Bristol (TBA)
5:30 Fort Myers (Taylor Rogers, 7-3, 2.94) at Dunedin (Aaron Sanchez, 2-3, 3.34)
6:00 Cedar Rapids (Josue Montanez, 3-2, 5.35) at Lake County (Luis DeJesus, 3-9, 6.18)
6:05 Binghamton (Mark Cohoon, 4-3, 4.96) at New Britain (Nick Blackburn, 0-1, 9.64)
6:05 Syracuse (TBA) at Rochester (Vance Worley, 6-3, 3.88)
hey, almost a clean sweep
Sano is struggling some with a .198/.298/.469 line. Rosario though, not so much since he's batting .306/.368/.438. His power is down a bit and I wonder about his defense. I have no reason to question it, but since he's a center fielder converted to a second baseman, Dozier is in the way now. Move Dozier to third and Plouffe to first?
but where would Mauer play?
Is Sano really struggling that badly? His BABIP is .213 and 12(!) of his 19 hits are for extra bases so I would guess his line drive percentage is still fairly high. I'm guessing he's just getting unlucky so far.
he's struggling badly with his luck
I did append "some" for that reason. His strikeout rate is up to 28%, though his walk rate is also up, which is encouraging.
I realize that it wasn't really the point of your post. I just looked at his slash line and thought that his ISOs were high enough that I should look up what was really going on.
3B? Um... Sano?
That's true. Guess Dozier will have to settle for a utility job.
Was he really that bad of a shortstop? His metrics weren't too bad considering all the errors, which is probably the easiest thing to fix. He's been extremely sure-handed at second, so could he transition back to shortstop and be a steady good-bat SS?
Probably could. I'm not sure he would be an upgrade over Florimon though. Florimon is 0.3 WAR above Dozier in both variants right now.
hEh.