A solid performance by Aaron Slegers. Dereck Rodriguez pitches well and Gabriel Moya has nothing to learn in Chattanooga. Anthony Marzi pitches well in his high-A debut, but Fort Myers fails to clinch the division. Jimmy Kerrigan hit two homers. Mariano Calcano keeps the DSL Twins' hopes alive.
ROCHESTER 6, PAWTUCKET 4 IN ROCHESTER
ByungHo Park hit a two-run homer in the first and Matt Hague had a two-run double in a three-run second that put the Red Wings ahead 5-0. Brian Bogusevic hit a three-run homer in the third to cut the margin to 5-3. There was no more scoring until the seventh, when a sacrifice fly made the score 6-3. The Red Sox got one back in the eighth and put men on first and second in the ninth, but a ground out ended the game.
Aaron Slegers struck out ten in 6.2 innings, giving up three runs on six hits and a walk. Leonardo Reginatto was 2-for-3 and is batting .301. Hague was 2-for-4 with a double. Park hit his fourteenth home run and had three RBIs.
CHATTANOOGA 3, MONTGOMERY 2 IN CHATTANOOGA (11 INNINGS)
A sacrifice fly put the Lookouts on the board in the first inning. The 1-0 lead held up until the fifth, when Jake Cronenworth delivered a two-out two-run single to put the Biscuits up 2-1. Chattanooga tied it in the eighth on LaMonte Wade's RBI single. The Lookouts loaded the bases with one out in the ninth and had men on first and second with none out in the tenth, but were turned away each time. With two out in the eleventh, however, Chattanooga put together three consecutive singles, the last a run-scoring hit by Edgar Corcino, to win the game.
Dereck Rodriguez struck out seven in six innings, giving up two unearned runs on two hits and a walk. Alex Muren pitched a scoreless inning to drop his ERA to 3.00. Cody Stashak struck out three in two shutout innings to keep his ERA at zero with a WHIP of 0.67 and 10 strikeouts in 6 innings. Gabriel Moya struck out three in two shutout innings to lower his ERA to 0.77 with a WHIP of 0.77 and 87 strikeouts in 58.1 innings. I have no idea what more the Twins think they need to see before they move him up. Corcino and Nick Gordon were each 3-for-6 with a double. Wade was 2-for-3 with a walk. Brian Navarreto was 2-for-5.
JUPITER 1, FORT MYERS 0 IN JUPITER
An RBI single by Colby Lusignan in the first inning produced the game's only run. The Miracle got six hits but only once advanced a man past first base. That came in the third, when Jermaine Palacios walked and advanced to third on a couple of ground balls.
Anthony Marzi pitched very well in his high-A debut, going six innings and giving up one run on four hits and a walk with five strikeouts. Sam Clay struck out three in two shutout innings to make his ERA 1.38. Sean Miller was 3-for-4. Zander Weil was 2-for-4. Joe Cronin made his high-A debut and was 1-for-3.
BURLINGTON 5, CEDAR RAPIDS 4 IN BURLINGTON
Jimmy Kerrigan hit a two-run homer in the first to put the Kernels up 2-0, but the Bees responded with three in the second, with John Schuknecht hitting a two-run homer, to take a 3-2 lead. Brandon Sandoval tripled and scored in the third to make it 4-2 and Brennan Morgan had an RBI single in the fifth build the lead to 5-2. Kerrigan hit another two-run homer in the bottom of the fifth to cut the lead to 5-4, but that was where it stayed. Cedar Rapids did not get a hit after the fifth inning.
Charlie Barnes pitched 4.2 innings and allowed five runs (four earned) on seven hits and a walk with four strikeouts. Max Cordy pitched 2.1 scoreless innings. Hector Lujan struck out three in two perfect innings to drop his ERA to 1.33 with a WHIP of 0.91 and 54 strikeouts in 54 innings. Kerrigan was 2-for-4 with two home runs (his fourth and fifth) and four RBIs. Caleb Hamilton was 2-for-3 with a walk. Royce Lewis was 0-for-3 with a walk and is batting .323.
ELIZABETHTON TWINS
No game scheduled. They will begin their best-of-three playoff series with Greeneville tonight.
GCL RED SOX 5, GCL TWINS 4 AT RED SOX (GAME 1--7 INNINGS)
Jared Akins hit a three-run triple in a four-run third that put the Twins ahead 4-1. The Red Sox came right back with two in the bottom of the third to cut the lead to 4-3. It was still 4-3 going to the bottom of the seventh. The Red Sox drew a pair of one out walks. A popup made two down, but two more walks tied the game and a wild pitch brought home the winning (and losing) run.
Matt Jones started and pitched 3.2 innings, allowing three runs on four hits and four walks with no strikeouts. Colton Burns was 2-for-2 with two doubles and a walk. Alex Robles was 1-for-2 to make his average .320.
GCL TWINS 9, GCL RED SOX 1 AT TWINS
The Twins scored all of their runs in the first three innings. Taylor Grzelakowski hit a two-run double in a three-run first. Colton Burns had a two-run single in the second to make it 5-0. In the fourth, Victor Tademo hit a two-run triple and Alex Robles had a two-run single to make it 9-0. The Red Sox got their lone run in the fourth. They had only one hit, a third-inning single by Ricardo Cubillan.
Taylor Clemensia struck out seven in 3.2 innings, giving up an unearned run on one hit and five walks. Petru Balan struck out four in 3.1 scoreless innings. Robles was 2-for-4 and is batting .324.
DSL TWINS 3, DSL DODGERS2 2 AT DODGERS (PLAYOFF GAME 2)
The Twins opened the scoring in the fifth when they pulled off a double steal of second and home. Mariano Calcano singled home a run in the sixth to make it 2-0. The Dodgers2 came back to score in the bottom of the sixth on an RBI single by Ismael Alcantara and tied it in the seventh on Luis Rodriguez' run-scoring single. Calcano led off the ninth with a walk. Pinch-runner Ruben Santana stole second, went to third on a ground out, and scored on another ground out to give the Twins a 3-2 lead.
TODAY'S TILTS
9:00 GCL Rays at GCL Twins
Game 2 GCL Twins at GCL Rays
9:30 DSL Dodgers2 at DSL Twins
5:00 Elizabethton at Greeneville (Jairo Solis, no record)
5:05 Jupiter (Scott Squier, 5-9, 3.85) at Fort Myers (Lachlan Wells, 4-10, 4.24)
5:05 Pawtucket (Hector Velazquez. 8-4, 2.23 at Rochester (Felix Jorge, 0-1, 4.50)
6:15 Montgomery (Anthony Misiewicz, 3-1, 3.63) at Chattanooga
7:00 Cedar Rapids (Bryan Sammons, 2-1, 4.35) at Beloit (Matt Milburn, 7-10, 4.33)
PLAYOFF PICTURE
Rochester is in first place in the wild card race, leading Lehigh Valley by two games. Their magic number is two.
Chattanooga won the first half and has clinched first place in the second half. They lead Montgomery by seven games.
Fort Myers is in first place in the second half, leading Charlotte by 2.5 games. Their magic number is one.
Cedar Rapids qualified for the playoffs by finishing second in the first half. They are in third place in the second half, trailing Peoria for second place by two games.
Elizabethton won their division. They begin a best-of-three playoff series with Greeneville tonight.
The GCL Twins have clinched their division. They lead the GCL Rays by 7.5 games.
The DSL Twins won their division and received a first-round bye in the playoffs. They play the DSL Dodgers2 this morning in the third game of their best-of-three semi-final series.