Cedar Rapids and Elizabethton are in the playoffs. It's do or die time for the other teams.
ROCHESTER 4, SYRACUSE 3 IN ROCHESTER
The Red Wings trailed 3-1 going to the bottom of the ninth, but all six of their batters that inning reached base as they got the walkoff win. Adam Brett Walker II tied it with a two-run double and John Ryan Murphy singled to win it. Jose Berrios struck out fourteen in eight innings, giving up three runs on five hits and a walk. Kennys Vargas was 3-for-4. Mitch Garver was 1-for-4 and is batting .303. Byron Buxton was 0-for-2 and is batting .305. He is 5-for-31 in his last ten games and 1-for-18 in his last six games. Rochester is 3.5 games behind Lehigh Valley for the wild card spot and their elimination number is three. They begin a season-ending five-game series with the IronPigs today and need to win all five to get the wild card.
MISSISSIPPI 6, CHATTANOOGA 2 IN CHATTANOOGA
Johan Camargo had a two-run triple in a four-run second that put the Braves in the lead to stay. Felix Jorge pitched well other than that inning, but his line reads seven innings, six runs, fourteen hits, no walks, and three strikeouts. Engelb Vielma was 3-for-5. Edgar Corcino was 2-for-3 with a double. Zach Granite was 0-for-4 and is batting .301. The Lookouts are three games behind Montgomery in the second half standings. Should Jackson overtake the Biscuits in the second half (they remain a half game back), the last playoff spot would be determined by the best record overall. Chattanooga is one game behind Montgomery in that race.
PALM BEACH 5, FORT MYERS 2 IN PALM BEACH (GAME 1--7 INNINGS)
The Cardlnals scored four in the fifth to turn a 2-1 deficit into a 5-2 win. Miles Nordgren had pitched well for four innings, but got no outs in the fifth, so his line is four innings, four runs, seven hits, one walk, two strikeouts. The Miracle had only four hits.
FORT MYERS 1, PALM BEACH 0 IN PALM BEACH (COMPLETION OF SUSPENDED GAME--7 INNINGS)
The game's lone run scored in the third on doubles by Sean Miller and Christian Ibarra. Cody Stashak had pitched 3.2 scoreless innings before the game was suspended. He gave up three hits and a walk with four strikeouts. His ERA is now 0.54 with a WHIP of 0.96 in three high-A starts (16.2 innings). The Miracle had only three hits in this game, giving them a total of seven for the doubleheader. They remain in third, three games back of St. Lucie. They're elimination number is three.
WISCONSIN 3, CEDAR RAPIDS 2 IN WISCONSIN
The Timber Rattlers scored all of their runs in the first inning to snap an eight-game Kernels winning streak. Sean Poppen struck out seven in five innings but allowed three runs on four hits and no walks. Andrew Vasquez struck out three in 2.1 scoreless innings. His ERA drops to 1.71 with an 0.95 WHIP and 33 strikeouts in 26.1 innings. Luis Arraez was 2-for-4 and is batting .348. Kevin Garcia was also 2-for-4. J. J. Fernandez hit a home run, his eighth. Travis Blankenhorn was 0-for-3 with a walk and is batting .308. Nelson Molina was 0-for-4 and is batting .304. Cedar Rapids has already clinched a playoff spot.
GREENEVILLE 6, ELIZABETHTON 2 IN ELIZABETHTON
A three-run fourth put the Astros up 4-0 and they were never threatened. Domenick Carlini pitched five innings, allowing five runs on nine hits and no walks with four strikeouts. Johan Quezada pitched the perfect innings of relief. Ariel Montesino was 2-for-4. Lewin Diaz was 1-for-3 with a walk and is batting .310. The E-Twins have already clinched a playoff spot.
GCL RAYS 5, GCL TWINS 1 AT TWINS (10 INNINGS)
Jonathon Arrowood hit a grand slam in the tenth to give the Rays the win. Jordan Balazovic pitched 3.1 innings, giving up one run on five hits and no walks with five strikeouts. Callan Pearce, who rarely pitches more than two innings at a time, went five in relief in this one and was successful, giving up no runs on three hits and no walks with four strikeouts. Jean Carlos Arias was 3-for-3 with a walk, giving him seventy-five percent of the Twins' hits. Aaron Whitefield was 1-for-5 with a double and is batting .308. The Twins fall a half-game behind the Red Sox with one day left in the regular season. Numerous GCL games scheduled today have been cancelled, presumably due to Hurricane Hermine, but both the Twins and the Red Sox' games (with the Red Sox scheduled for a doubleheader) are still on at this writing.
TODAY'S TILTS
9:00 GCL Twins at GCL Rays--Last game of regular season
6:00 Greeneville (Diogenes Almengo, 1-2, 4.33) at Elizabethton (Jose Martinez, 1-5, 7.88)--Last game of regular season
6:05 Bradenton (Jonathan Brubaker, 2-6, 5.51) at Fort Myers (Cody Stashak, 2-0, 0.54)
6:05 Lehigh Valley (Anthony Vasquez, 4-0, 2.83) at Rochester (Nick Greenwood, 5-3, 3.11)
7:05 Cedar Rapids (Lachlan Wells, 6-3, 1.94) at Wisconsin (Jordan Yamamoto, 6-8, 4.00)
7:05 Chattanooga (Stephen Gonsalves, 8-1, 1.64) at Jackson (Brett Ash, 12-8, 4.52)
With five games left for Rochester, calling up Berrios and Buxton may have doomed their chances. I thought last night was the last start for Berrios but he had at least another start. Obviously the replacement could do well too, but Berrios is top-rated for a reason.
Buxton, as noted above, hasn't been hitting much lately, so I'm not sure how much of a loss he'll be. If it comes down to a deciding game Monday, though, I'm sure they'd love to have Berrios to pitch it.