An April shower of strikeouts by May. The Cats get rocked again. Felix Jorge has a poor outing in his Class A debut.
ROCHESTER 5, SCRANTON/WILKES-BARRE 0 IN ROCHESTER (GAME 1--7 INNINGS)
Batting stars: Darin Mastroianni was 3-for-4 with a double and a run. James Beresford was 1-for-3 with a walk, scoring once and driving in one. Dan Rohlfing was 1-for-1 with a walk and a sacrifice fly, scoring once.
Pitching stars: Kris Johnson pitched five innings, giving up two hits and one walk with four strikeouts. Ryan Pressly pitched two innings, giving up two hits with one strikeout.
Opposition stars: None.
The game: With two out in the second, Rohlfing singled and scored on an Eric Farris double to make it 1-0. Rochester opened the fifth with four consecutive singles to increase the lead to 2-0. Following a strikeout, two more singles made it 4-0 and a sacrifice fly scored the fifth run. Three of the singles were infield hits, two of them bunts. The RailRiders twice got a man to third base, in the fourth with one out and in the seventh with two out.
Of note: Danny Santana was 1-for-4 with a run. Chris Parmelee was 1-for-3 with an RBI.
ROCHESTER 6, SCRANTON/WILKES-BARRE 5 IN ROCHESTER (GAME 2--7 INNINGS)
Batting stars: Darin Mastroianni was 3-for-4 with two runs. Brad Nelson was 2-for-2 with a walk, scoring once and driving in one. Wilkin Ramirez was 2-for-4 with a run and an RBI.
Pitching stars: Trevor May struck out eight in five innings, giving up one run on three hits. Michael Tonkin struck out three in 1.1 scoreless innings, giving up one hit.
Opposition stars: Russ Canzler was 2-for-3 with a triple, scoring twice and driving in one. Zelous Wheeleer was 2-for-4 with a double, scoring once and driving in one.
The game: A three-run rally in the third put Rochester ahead 4-0. The RailRiders scored one in the fifth and then rallied for four in the sixth, scoring on two walks, a double, and three singles to take a 5-4 lead. In the bottom of the sixth, Mastroianni singled and James Beresford walked, putting men on first and second with none out. The next two batters fanned, but Danny Santana and Wilkin Ramirez came through with RBI singles to put the Red Wings up 6-5. Tonkin pitched a perfect seventh to secure the victory.
Of note: Chris Parmelee was 0-for-4.
HARRISBURG 6, NEW BRITAIN 2 IN NEW BRITAIN
Batting stars: Brad Boyer was 2-for-3 with a run. Mike Kvasnicka was 2-for-4.
Pitching stars: Cole Johnson struck out two in 1.2 scoreless innings, giving up one hit. Lester Oliveros struck out three in 1.2 in scoreless innings, giving up one hit and one walk.
Opposition stars: Jason Martinson was 2-for-5 with a double, scoring twice and driving in two. Destin Hood was 3-for-5 with a double and a run. Caleb Ramsey was 2-for-4 with three RBIs.
The game: Martinson's two-run double highlighted a three-run first for Harrisburg. New Britain scored two in the the third to cut the lead to 3-2, but Ramsey's two-run single in the fifth made it 5-2 Senators. The Rock Cats did not threaten to get back into the game.
Of note: Nate Hanson was 0-for-4 with a run. Kennys Vargas was 0-for-4. Daniel Ortiz was 1-for-4 with an RBI. Sean Gilmartin started and pitched five innings, allowing five runs (four earned) on nine hits and one walk with four strikeouts.
CHARLOTTE AT FORT MYERS
Rained out.
GREAT LAKES 8, CEDAR RAPIDS 4 IN GREAT LAKES
Batting stars: Zach Larson was 3-for-4 with two doubles and a run. Bryan Haar was 2-for-4 with a home run, his second. Jeremias Pineda was 1-for-3 with a walk and a two-run homer.
Pitching star: Alex Muren pitched 2.2 scoreless innings, giving up two hits with one strikeout.
Opposition stars: Kyle Farmer was 2-for-4 with a triple, scoring once and driving in two. Justin Chigbogu was 1-for-4 with a two-run homer, his second. Dillon Moyer was 2-for-3 with two doubles and a walk, driving in one.
The game: In the second, Chigbogu hit a two-run homer and Moyer had an RBI double to put Great Lakes ahead 3-0. It was 4-0 after three. In the fourth, doubles by Larson and Michael Quesada put Cedar Rapids on the board, but the Loons got the run back in the bottom of the fourth. The Haar homer made it 5-2 in the top of the sixth, but Great Lakes scored three times in the bottom of the sixth to put the game away. Pineda hit a two-run homer in the seventh to make it 8-4, but that was as close as the Kernels would come.
Of note: Engelb Vielma was 0-for-4. Felix Jorge started but lasted only three innings, allowing four runs on five hits with three strikeouts.
TODAY'S TILTS
4:05 Charlotte (Leonel Santiago, no record) at Fort Myers (Mason Melotakis, 0-0, 18.00)
Game 2 Charlotte (Roberto Gomez, 0-0, 3.60) at Fort Myers (Jason Wheeler, 1-0, 1.59)
5:05 Cedar Rapids (Aaron Slegers, 0-0, 3.60) at Great Lakes (Jonathan Martinez, 1-0, 0.00)
5:35 Harrisburg (Blake Schwartz , 0-1, 16.20) at New Britain (Pat Dean, 1-0, 3.38)
6:05 Scranton/Wilkes-Barre (Chase Whitley, 0-1, 10.80) at Rochester (Scott Diamond, 0-1, 18.00)