A brilliant outing for Alex Wimmers. Matt Guerrier does well in his season debut. A ninth-inning comeback for Cedar Rapids.
PAWTUCKET 9, ROCHESTER 5 IN ROCHESTER
Batting stars: Danny Santana was 3-for-4 with two triples, scoring once and driving in one. Eric Fryer was 2-for-4 with a run and an RBI.
Pitching stars: None.
Opposition stars: Bryce Brentz was 3-for-5 with a home run (his second), scoring twice. Alex Hassan was 2-for-4 with a double and a walk, scoring once and driving in two. Justin Henry was 1-for-2 with three doubles and scored twice.
The game: Rochester scored three in the second to take a 4-2 lead. Pawtucket got one in the third and took over the lead with a three-run fifth, highlighted by Hassan's two-run double. A run-scoring ground out in the bottom of the fifth cut the Red Sox lead to 6-5, but Pawtucket got single runs in the sixth, seventh, and eighth, to take control of the game. The Red Wings got only one baserunner after the fifth inning.
Of note: Chris Parmelee was 0-for-2 with two walks and a run. Wilkin Ramirez was 1-for-4. Eduardo Nunez was 1-for-4 with a double and a run. Starter Trevor May struck out four in 4.1 innings, but he surrendered four runs on five hits and two walks.
NEW HAMPSHIRE 3, NEW BRITAIN 2 IN NEW HAMPSHIREM
Batting stars: Reynaldo Rodgriguez was 2-for-4 with a home run.
Pitching stars: Pat Dean pitched four innings, giving up one run on three hits and no walks with one strikeout. Matt Guerrier pitched a perfect inning with two strikeouts. Jim Fuller pitched a perfect inning.
Opposition stars: Ryan Schimpf was 2-for-2 with a double, a two-run homer, and a sacrifice bunt. Deck McGuire pitched six innings, allowing two runs on four hits and no walks with three strikeouts.
The game: Rodriguez homered in the first to put New Britain ahead 1-0. New Hampshire tied it in the fourth on a single, a hit batsman, and a pair of productive outs. Kennys Vargas had an RBI single in the sixth to give the Rock Cats a 2-1 lead, but in the bottom of the sixth, Schimpf hit a two-run homer to put the Fisher Cats back in front. New Britain threatened in the seventh as Rodriguez led off with a single, took second on a ground out, and went to third on a wild pitch, but he did not score and the Rock Cats went down in order in the eighth and ninth.
Of note: Nate Hanson was 0-for-4. Vargas was 1-for-4. Daniel Ortiz was 0-for-4. Aderlin Mejia was 0-for-4.
FORT MYERS 7, CHARLOTTE 3 IN CHARLOTTE
Batting stars: Dalton Hicks was 3-for-4 with a double, a triple, and two walks, driving in three. Travis Harrison was 5-for-5 with a double, scoring twice and driving in one. Levi Michael was 4-for-5 with a double and a walk, scoring twice.
Pitching star: Alex Wimmers struck out six in six shutout innings, giving up only one hit and no walks.
Opposition stars: Justin O'Connor was 2-for-4 with a three-run homer. Thomas Coyle was 2-for-4 with a double and a run.
The game: A two-run single by Jorge Polanco and an RBI double by Hicks gave Fort Myers a 3-0 lead after two. Hicks tripled in a run in the fourth to make it 4-0. The Miracle added two in the fifth and one in the sixth. Charlotte did not get on the board until O'Connor hit a three-run homer in the ninth. Coyle led off the game for the Stone Crabs with a double, but they did not get another hit until the seventh.
Of note: Polanco was 2-for-4 with a double and a walk, driving in two. Adam Brett Walker II was 0-for-5. Max Kepler was 0-for-5, dropping his average to .094.
CEDAR RAPIDS 5, SOUTH BEND 4 IN CEDAR RAPIDS
Batting stars: Mitch Garver was 3-for-4 with a triple and a walk, scoring once and driving in one. Bryan Haar was 3-for-3 with a double and a walk, driving in one. Tanner Vavra was 2-for-4 with a double and a run.
Pitching stars: Brandon Bixler struck out three in two shutout innings, giving up a walk. Hudson Boyd struck out two in two shutout innings, giving up a walk.
Opposition stars: Joe Munoz was 1-for-3 with a double and a walk, scoring twice. Andrew Velazquez was 1-for-2 with a walk, scoring once and driving in one.
The game: Zach Esquerra's two-run double capped a three-run second for South Bend. Garver tripled and scored in the bottom of the second to make it 3-1, but the Silver Hawks got the run back in the fourth when Munoz doubled and scored on an error. Vavra doubled in the sixth and scored on a Michael Quesada single, but the score stayed 4-2 until the ninth. The Kernels led off the inning with a single and a walk. With one out, Jason Kanzler singled in a run and a Vavra single loaded the bases. Zach Larson walked to tie the score and a Garver single gave Cedar Rapids the victory.
Of note: Kanzler was 1-for-5 with a run and an RBI. Larson was 0-for-4 with a walk and an RBI. Engelb Vielma was 0-for-1 with two walks. Starter Aaron Slegers pitched five innings, allowing four runs (three earned) on four hits and one walk with three strikeouts.
TODAY'S TILTS
4:35 New Britain (D. J. Baxendale, 0-1, 5.91) at New Hampshire (Austin Bibens-Dirkx, 0-1, 4.15)
5:30 Fort Myers (Jason Wheeler, 1-0, 1.74) at Charlotte (Roberto Gomez, 0-1, 4.91)
6:05 Pawtucket (Brandon Workman, no record) at Rochester (Scott Diamond, 0-1, 14.40)
6:35 South Bend (TBA) at Cedar Rapids (Ryan Eades, 1-1, 2.31)
Woo! Brilliant is right.
No walks in his other outing (a three inning relief stint), it'd be nice if he's figured that out.
Never walking anyone again would put him on the fast track to the majors. Right-handed version of Cliff Lee?
Carlos Silva!
A little more extreme than I was thinking, but hey, even better!
Ft. Myers had three players reach base five times each. That's hard to do with the whole team only scoring seven runs.
And there were only two oh-fers. They had eighteen hits and four walks. And its not like all eighteen hits were singles--there were six doubles and a triple. They stranded fourteen runners and went 4-for-17 with RISP.
Sounds like they're ready for the big club!
With all the discussion recently about the shortstop position, I recalled the Twins had selected a guy in the first round in '10 or '11 (couldn't remember) who'd played some college ball. I figured a guy with 2 or 3 seasons in college and 2 seasons in the minors might be someone looking to push into AA or even AAA. Not so much, it appears.
Career: .243/.337/.329 (worse than Florimon through age 23 season) and I can't say much about his defense.
Hi A ball for the third year (age 23, no less), having moved to second base full time so far this year? Yeah, that's starting to look like a stall out.
His autographed cards are going for a relative song, which is also an indication of his prognosis. Meanwhile, I can't approach Adam Walker's for anything reasonably priced.
Unrelated, I'm glad LA is pointed out so we can see how far away socal is from the Twins' affiliates.
size/aspect might need a little adjusting; Ft. Myers is off the bottom of the screen here.