Three teams play extra innings, but Cedar Rapids provides the only win. David Hurlbut and Randy LeBlanc each pitched well in defeat. Keaton Steele continues to struggle.
LEHIGH VALLEY 2, ROCHESTER 1 IN LEHIGH VALLEY (11 INNINGS)
Daniel Palka doubled leading off the second and scored on a Ben Paulsen single to give the Red Wings a 1-0 lead. The IronPigs tied it 1-1 in the fourth, and there things stood until the eleventh. Dylan Cozens led off the bottom of the eleventh with a home run to give Lehigh Valley the victory. Switch-pitcher Pat Venditte pitched two perfect innings for the IronPigs.
David Hurlbut pitched six innings, giving up one run on seven hits and a walk with three strikeouts. His ERA is now 1.59. Trevor Hildenberger pitched a scoreless inning to drop his ERA to 2.59. Nik Turley pitched two shutout innings to make his ERA 1.50. Palka was 2-for-3 with a double and a walk. Byung-Ho Park returned to the lineup from the disabled list and went 0-for-5.
MONTGOMERY 4, CHATTANOOGA 3 IN MONTGOMERY (12 INNINGS)
RBI singles by Jonathan Rodriguez in the first and by Engelb Vielma in the fourth gave the Lookouts a 2-0 lead. The Biscuits tied it in the fifth on Nathan Lukes' two-run triple-plus-error. Each team scored once in the eleventh and missed a chance to score more, as Chattanooga left the bases loaded and Montgomery left two on. In the twelfth, Alec Sole single, was bunted to second, and scored on a Michael Russell single to win the game.
After a terrible AA debut, Randy LeBlanc may be finding his footing, as he has improved every game. In this one he pitched seven innings, giving up two runs (one earned) on two hits and two walks with two strikeouts. Raul Fernandez pitched two shutout innings, lowering his ERA to 1.59. Mason Melotakis allowed his first run of the season, giving him an ERA of 0.60. LaMonte Wade was 3-for-5 and is batting .326. Vielma was 2-for-5 and is batting .308. Rodriguez was 2-for-5 with a walk. Nick Gordon was 2-for-6 with a double and is batting .331.
PALM BEACH 5, FORT MYERS 0 IN FORT MYERS
The Cardinals opened the game with two doubles and a single, taking a 2-0 lead before an out was recorded. Four singles and a double produced three more runs in the second. Starter Keaton Steele came out at that point, but the damage was done. The Miracle had eight hits, two of them doubles, and two walks, but stranded nine and went 0-for-8 with men in scoring position.
Steele made his sixth start and has yet to have a good one. Here he pitched 1.2 innings and allowed five runs on eight hits and no walks, with one strikeout, raising his ERA to 9.11 and his WHIP to 2.06. He had a decent year in Fort Myers last year--it seems likely that he's either doing something wrong mechanically or he's hiding an injury. Four relievers shut down Palm Beach the rest of the way. Jonny Drozd pitched 3.1 scoreless innings, dropping his ERA to 1.65, Williams Ramirez pitched two shutout innings, lowering his ERA to 2.00, Sam Clay pitched a scoreless inning to make his ERA 2.95, and Nick Anderson also pitched a scoreless inning to keep his ERA at zero with 13 strikeouts in 13.1 innings. Sean Miller was 3-for-4 to lead the offense. Bradley Strong was 2-for-4. Chris Paul was 0-for-4 to drop his average to .308.
CEDAR RAPIDS 6, DAYTON 5 IN DAYTON (10 INNINGS)
Aaron Whitefield singled and scored in the ninth to give the Kernels a 5-3 lead, but Taylor Trammell (apparently no relation to Alan) hit a two-run homer in the bottom of the ninth to tie it 5-5. With one out in the tenth, Travis Blankenhorn and Caleb Hamilton walked and Shane Carrier delivered an RBI single to give Cedar Rapids a 6-5 lead. The Dragons got a man to third with two out in the bottom of the tenth, but Tom Hackimer came in to strike out Avain Rachal to end the game.
Tyler Wells struck out six in five innings, but gave up three runs on four hits and two walks. His ERA is 2.65. Hector Lujan pitched two shutout innings to drop his ERA to 1.88. Carrier was 3-for-4 and Lewin Diaz was 3-for-5 with a double to lead the offense. Ariel Montesino was 2-for-3 with a double. Jermaine Palacios was 1-for-5 and is batting .350.
TODAY'S TILTS
5:05 Rochester (Adalberto Mejia, 0-1, 4.91) at Pawtucket (Marcus Walden, 1-2, 2.01)
5:35 Fort Myers (Lachlan Wells, 1-4, 4.15) at Charlotte
6:35 Cedar Rapids (Sean Poppen, 1-0, 1.89) at Bowling Green (Travis Ott, 2-2, 2.38)
7:05 Chattanooga (Matt Tracy, 2-2, 2.60) at Montgomery (Jose Mujica, 1-2, 2.10)