New Britain wins its eleventh straight. A split for Kane County. Elizabethton wins without any RBIs.
BUFFALO 3, ROCHESTER 2 IN BUFFALO
Batting stars: Doug Bernier was 4-for-5 with a double and a run. Chris Colabello was 2-for-3 with a double and a walk, driving in two. Chris Rahl was 2-for-4.
Pitching stars: Michael Tonkin pitched 1.1 scoreless innings, giving up one hit with one strikeout. Aaron Thompson pitched a perfect inning with one strikeout.
Opposition stars: Kevin Pillar was 1-for-4 with a two-run homer, his second. Ryan Goins was 2-for-3 with a double and a run. P. J. Walters pitched five innings, allowing one run on six hits and two walks with four strikeouts.
The game: Buffalo got all three of their runs in the third inning, as Anthony Gose had an RBI single and Pillar hit a two-run homer. Colabello singled in a run in the fifth and double one home in the seventh, but could get no closer.
Of note: Josmil Pinto was 1-for-4. Chris Herrmann was 0-forr-1 with a rrunn. Starter Sean Gilmartin pitched 5.2 innings, giving up three runs on four hits and two walks with four strikeouts.
NEW BRITAIN 5, READING 3 IN NEW BRITAIN
Batting star: Kyle Knudson was 2-for-3 with an RBI.
Pitching stars: Tyler Duffey pitched 7.1 innings, giving up three runs on six hits and a walk, striking out six. Adrian Salcedo pitched a scoreless inning, giving up only a walk. Ryan O'Rourke struck out both batters he faced.
Opposition stars: Jake Fox was 2-for-4 with a double and a run. Peter Lavin was 1-for-4 with a home run, his second. Mike Nesseth pitched three shutout innings, giving up a hit with two strikeouts.
The game: In the first, Aaron Hicks led off with a single, took second on a balk, went to third on a wild pitch, and scored on a ground out to give New Britain a 1-0 lead. Three singles and a sacrifice fly tied it in the second. In the third, a walk, three singles, a double, and a sacrifice fly resulted in four runs and a 5-1 Rock Cats lead. Lavin homered in the fifth to make it 5-2, but Reading did not get another man on base until the eighth, when Albert Cartwright doubled and scored. The Fightin Phils had the tying run up to bat with one out in the eighth, but their final five batters were retired.
Of note: Hicks was 1-for-3 with a run and an RBI. Eddie Rosario was 0-for-4 with an RBI. Nate Hanson was 0-for-2 with two walks. Kennys Vargas was 0-for-3 with a walk.
FORT MYERS 4, CHARLOTTE 3 IN CHARLOTTE
Batting stars: Stuart Turner was 2-for-4 with a home run (his fourth) and two runs. Jorge Polanco was 2-for-5 with a double and an RBI. Lance Ray was 2-for-5 with a double.
Pitching stars: Matt Tomshaw pitched five innings, giving up two runs on five hits and two walks with three strikeouts. Madison Boer struck out three in two shutout innings, giving up one hit and two walks. Tyler Jones pitched a scoreless inning, giving up one hit with one strikeout.
Opposition stars: Maxx Tissenbaum was 2-for-5 with a double and a home run, his third. Ariel Soriano was 2-for-4 with an RBI. Leonel Santiago pitched six innings, allowing two runs on six hits and no walks with four strikeouts.
The game: Three singles and a wild pitch gave Fort Myers two runs in the second inning. Charlotte tied it with single runs in the second and fourth, the latter coming on a Tissenbaum homer. Turner homered in the seventh to give the Miracle a 3-2 lead, but the Stone Crabs tied it in the eighth on Soriano's RBI single. In the ninth, Max Kepler singled, went to second on a bunt, and scored on a Polanco single to put Fort Myers ahead 4-3. Charlotte got the tying run to second base with one out but a grounder and a line out ended the game.
Of note: Adam Brett Walker II was 1-for-5. Dalton Hicks was 1-for-3 with a walk and an RBI.
CEDAR RAPIDS 5, KANE COUNTY 0 IN KANE COUNTY (GAME 1--7 INNINGS)
Batting stars: Chad Christensen was 2-for-2 with a home run (his seventh) and two walks, scoring twice and driving in three. Mitch Garver was 1-for-2 with a double and a walk, driving in one. Zack Granite was 2-for-4 with a run.
Pitching stars: Ryan Eades pitched four innings, giving up two hits and four walks with one strikeout. Alex Muren pitched two shutout innings, giving up one hit with one strikeout. Todd Van Steensel pitched a perfect inning.
Opposition stars: Pierce Johnson pitched four innings, allowing one run on three hits and two walks with two strikeouts. David Bote was 1-for-2 with a double.
The game: Garver doubled in a run in the first, three singles, a walk, and a hit batsman resulted in two in the fifth, and Christensen hit a two-run homer in the seventh. Kane County had two on in the first and second, both times on a pair of walks, but did not have more than one man on base in any other inning.
Of note: Jason Kanzler was 0-for-4.
KANE COUNTY 3, CEDAR RAPIDS 2 IN KANE COUNTY (GAME 2--SCHEDULED 7 INNINGS)
Batting stars: Alex Swim was 2-for-3 with a double and two RBIs. Jason Kanzler was 1-for-2 with a run.
Pitching stars: Fernando Romero pitched three innings, giving up a run on one hit and two walks with two strikeouts. Jared Wilson struck out three in three shutout innings, giving up a hit and a walk.
Opposition stars: Jacob Rogers was 2-for-3 with a double and a home run, his seventh. Jacob Hannemann was 1-for-2 with two walks and an RBI. Jen-Ho Tseng pitched six innings, allowing one run on three hits and no walks with five strikeouts.
The game: A walk, a double, and a ground out put Kane County up 1-0 in the second. The lead held until the fifth, Swim doubled in Kanzler to tie it at one. Swim singled in a run in the seventh to give Cedar Rapids a 2-1 lead. However, Rogers led off the seventh with a home run to tie it, and unfortunately it didn't kill the Cougar rally. A walk, a single, and a walk loaded the bases with one out and Hannemann singled in the winning run.
Of note: Zack Granite was 0-for-3. Chad Christensen was 1-for-3. Mitch Garver was 1-for-3 with a run.
ELIZABETHTON 2, PULASKI 0 IN ELIZABETHTON
Batting star: Tyler Mautner was 0-for-1 with two walks and a run.
Pitching stars: Felix Jorge pitched five shutout innings, giving up two hits and a walk with four strikeouts. Kuo Hua Lo struck out two in two innings, giving up one hit. Jake Reed struck out two in two innings, giving up one hit.
Opposition stars: Wayne Taylor was 1-for-2 with a walk. Troy Scott pitched five shutout innings, giving up one hit and three walks with four strikeouts.
The game: It was scoreless through six. Brian Navarreto led off the seventh with a single and eventually came around to score on three wild pitches. In the eighth, Elizabethton got an insurance run on two walks, a ground out, and a wild pitch. Pulaski loaded the bases with two out in the first, but a ground out ended the inning. They never had more than one runner on at a time after that.
Of note: Jeremias Pineda was 0-for-3 with a walk. Nick Gordon was 0-for-4. Tyler Kuresa was 0-for-3 with a walk. Max Murphy was 1-for-2. Pat Kelly was 0-for-2 with a walk. Elizabethton won the game without getting a run batted in, which would seem like a difficult thing to do.
TODAY'S TILTS
9:30 DSL Twins at DSL Diamondbacks
11:00 GCL Twins at GCL Orioles
5:30 Fort Myers (Jose Berrios, 7-2, 2.09) at Orlando (Blake Snell, 1-3, 4.96
5:35 Altoona (Zack Dodson, 1-3, 4.22) at New Britain (Virgil Vasquez, 4-2, 3.50)
6:00 Pulaski (TBA) at Elizabethton (Derrick Penilla, no record)
6:05 Rochester (Alex Meyer, 4-3, 3.46) at Buffalo (Esmil Rogers, 1-1, 3.79)