Cole DeVries leads the Red Wings to victory in game one. Fort Myers wastes nine shutout innings by Taylor Rogers and gets swept out of the playoffs. Cedar Rapids drops the first game as the bats go silent.
ROCHESTER 7, PAWTUCKET 1 IN ROCHESTER
Batting stars: James Beresford was 4-for-5 with a double, scoring twice and driving in one. Eduardo Escobar was 2-for-3 with a walk and a double, scoring once and driving in one. Eric Fryer was 2-for-4 with two RBIs.
Pitching stars: Cole DeVries struck out six in six innings, giving up one run on five hits and one walk. Aaron Thompson pitched two shutout innings, giving up one hit and no walks with one strikeout. A. J. Achter pitched a scoreless inning, giving up one hit and one walk with one strikeout.
Opposition stars: Bryce Brentz was 2-for-4 with a double and a home run. Jackie Bradley, Jr. was 2-for-4.
Key inning: The second. The Red Wings led 2-0. In the top of the inning, Brentz led off with a home run to make the score 2-1. In the bottom half, Rochester got the run back when Ray Olmedo and Fryer hit one-out singles and Beresford delivered an RBI single with two out.
Prospect watch: Chris Parmelee was 1-for-5 with an RBI. Aaron Hicks was 2-for-4, scoring once and driving in one.
CHARLOTTE 2, FORT MYERS 1 IN FORT MYERS (10 INNINGS)
Batting star: Mike Kvasnicka was 2-for-4.
Pitching star: Taylor Rogers struck out nine in nine shutout innings, giving up three hits and one walk.
Opposition star: Dylan Floro pitched eight shutout innings, allowing five hits and one walk with three strikeouts.
Key inning: The tenth. It was a scoreless tie. Zach Jones came in to pitch. Richie Shaffer singled and Alejandro Segovia walked. A bunt moved runners to second and third with one out. A wild pitch scored the first run of the game. An intentional walk, a foul out, and an accidental walk loaded the bases with two out, and another wild pitch scored the second run. In the bottom half, Matt Koch singled, went to second on a wild pitch, and scored on a pair of ground outs, but the Miracle could do no more.
Prospect watch: Byron Buxton was 0-for-4. Dalton Hicks was 0-for-2 with two walks. Kennys Vargas was 1-for-4.
This concludes the season for Fort Myers. They lose in the first round of the playoffs, two games to none.
QUAD CITIES 2, CEDAR RAPIDS 1 IN QUAD CITIES
Batting star: Jorge Polanco was 2-for-4.
Pitching stars: Brett Lee struck out six in five innings, giving up one run on four hits and three walks. Alex Muren struck out three in two shutout innings, giving up no hits and one walk.
Opposition stars: Chris Devenski pitched five innings, allowing one run on three hits and three walks with one strikeout. Mitchell Lambson struck out five in 2.2 scoreless innings, allowing one hit and no walks. Carlos Correa was 3-for-4 and scored once.
Key inning: The eighth. The score was tied at one. Madison Boer came in to pitch. Teoscar Hernandez and Correa led off with singles, putting runners on the corners with none out. Danry Vasquez hit into a 6-4-3 double play, but the go-ahead run scored.
Prospect watch: Max Kepler was 0-for-4. Adam Brett Walker II was 1-for-4 and scored once.
TODAY'S TILTS
6:05 Pawtucket (Clay Buchholz, 0-0, 2.70 at Rochester (P. J. Walters, 7-5, 4.18)
6:35 Quad Cities (Joe Bircher, 3-3, 4.15) at Cedar Rapids (Tim Shibuya, 4-0, 0.96)
The Breeze.
His Breezeness.
Or El Breezarino if you're not into that whole brevity thing.
Heck of a game in Fort Myers yesterday.
Tough way to end the season when they only score via wild pitches from a reliever...especially after such an awesome performance from Rogers.
Now that Fort Myers is done, Is there room on the 40-man to add Buxton and give him the September cup of coffee?
(I assume he and Sano will need to be added to the 40-man in the offseason.)
This is what Ben Revere's first callup was like.
If nothing else, could add Wilkin to the 60-day DL.
I think Sano doesn't have to be added until after next year? He'll be getting an invitation to major league camp. Buxton probably doesn't have to be added for a couple more years, but I'm hoping he gets an MLB camp invite too. As far as room on the 40 man, I think they could make plenty given the sheer amount of chaff on the roster today.
In the bottom of the eighth inning in a tie game, Cedar Rapids goes for the double play instead of throwing home? What's up with that?
Pawtucket went 19-3 to finish the season, which is why the Red Wings had to settle for the wild card.
Yeah, and though he hasn't pitched in the Majors since June 8, Bucholz had been 9-0 with an ERA of 1.71 and 81 K to only 29 BB. Lets hope he's as rusty as a 3 month layoff would suggest. He did give up 3 Runs and issued 3 walks in his first rehab start, so there's that.