All posts by Jeff A

Minor Details: Games of April 24

INDIANAPOLIS INDIANS AT ST. PAUL SAINTS

Rained out.  Will be made up as part of a doubleheader today.

SPRINGFIELD CARDINALS 5, WICHITA WIND SURGE 2 IN WICHITA

Springfield just eased out to a lead, scoring one in the first on a force out, one in the second on a Chase Davis RBI single, and two in the third, one a Dakota Harris RBI single and the other on a double play.  With the score 4-0, Wichita finally got on the board in the sixth on a run-scoring double by Rubel Cespedes.  Each team would score once more, with Miguel Ugueto knocking in a run with a single in the eighth and Tanner Schobel bringing one home with a single in the ninth.  Wichita had the bases loaded with two out, but a ground out ended the game.

Batters:  Rubel Cespedes was 2-for-3 with a double and a walk.  Kyler Fedco was 2-for-4 with a run.

Pitchers:  Starter Trent Baker pitched five innings, giving up four runs (three earned) on eight hits and no walks.  He struck out three.  Jarret Whorff struck out four in three innings, giving up an unearned run on two hits and a walk.  Cody Laweryson pitched a perfect inning, striking out one.

Opponents:  Chase Davis was 3-for-5 with a double and a run.  Dakota  Harris was 2-for-4 with an RBI.  Darlin Moquett was 2-for-4 with a run.  Tekoah Roby pitched five shutout innings, giving up two hits and three walks and striking out two.

Stats:  Kyler Fedco is batting .348 with an OPS of 1.148.  Aaron Sabato is batting .333 with an OPS of 1.011.  Tyler Dearden is batting .333 with an OPS of .861.  Ricardo Olivar is batting .321.  Rubel Cespedes has an OPS of .829.  Tanner Schobel has an OPS of .813.  Jarret Whorff has an ERA of zero.  Trent Baker has an ERA of 3.21.

Record:  Wichita is 10-8, in second place, three games behind Arkansas.

WISCONSIN 13, CEDAR RAPIDS 5 IN CEDAR RAPIDS

It looked good early.  Nate Baez drove in two with a single and Kaelen Culpepper followed with an RBI single to make it 3-0 after two.  Wisconsin responded with a Matthew Wood grand slam in the third to take a 4-3 lead.  Danny De Andrade singled home a run in the bottom of the third, and we were tied 4-4.  It stayed there until the eighth, when run scoring singles by Yhoswar Garcia and Eduardo Garcia put Wisconsin up 6-4.  They then put the game away with a seven-run ninth.  They had a triple, a double, two singles, three walks, a hit batsman, and a balk in the inning.

BattersDanny De Andrade was 2-for-3 with a double, a walk, and an RBI.  Billy Amick was 2-for-4 with a walk, a run, and an RBI.  Kaelen Culpepper was 2-for-5 with an RBI.  Gabriel Gonzalez was 2-for-5 with a run.

Pitchers:  Starter Chase Chaney struck out five in five innings but allowed four runs on five hits and a walk.  Samuel Perez struck out two in two shutout innings, giving up a hit and two walks.

Opponents:   Jadher Areinamo was 2-for-3 with two walks, two runs, and an RBI.  Yhoswar Garcia was 2-for-4 with a walk, a run, and an RBI.  Blake Burke was 2-for-5 with a double and a run.  Eduardo Garcia was 2-for-5 with a walk, a run, and an RBI.  Hedbert Perez was 2-for-6 with a triple, a run, and two RBIs.  Matthew Wood was 1-for-5 with a grand slam.  Zach Peek struck out three in two perfect innings.

Stats:  Nate Baez is batting .394 with an OPS of 1.080.  Billy Amick is batting .377 with an OPS of .998.  Kaelen Culpepper is batting .333 with an OPS of .907.  Kyle DeBarge has an OPS of .848.  Caden Kendle has an OPS of .831.  Gabriel Yanez has an ERA of 3.00.

Record:  Cedar Rapids is 11-6, in second place, one game behind Quad Cities.

FORT MYERS MIGHTY MUSSELS 5, CLEARWATER THRESHERS 3 IN CLEARWATER (10 INNINGS)

Clearwater scored in the first on a passed ball.  It stayed 1-0 until the sixth, when Yasser Mercedes drove in a run with a double.  Jay Thomason homered to give Fort Myers a 2-1 lead in the seventh, but Raider Tello singled home a run in the eighth to tie it 2-2.  Maddux Houghton delivered a pinch-hit three-run homer in the tenth to put Fort Myers in the lead to stay.  Clearwater scored one in the bottom of the tenth but did not put the tying run on base.

Batters:  Jay Thomason was 1-for-3 with a home run (his fourth) and a walk.  Maddux Houghton was 1-for-1 with a three-run homer.

Pitchers:  Jason Doktorczyk pitched four innings, giving up an unearned run on two hits and a walk and striking out two.  Jacob Kisting struck out four in 2.1 scoreless innings, giving up two hits and two walks.

Opponents:  Eduardo Tait was 3-for-5 with a run.  Andrew Painter struck out three in three shutout innings, giving up two hits.  Marcus Morgan struck out two and walked one in two shutout innings.

Stats:  Jose Salas is batting .400 with an OPS of 1.200.  Poncho Ruiz is batting .316 with an OPS of .822.  Jay Thomason has an OPS of .893.  Maddux Houghton has an OPS of .856.  Jason Doktorczyk has an ERA of 1.15.  Devin Kirby has an ERA of 2.00.  Kade Bragg has an ERA of 2.35.  Jacob Kisting has an ERA of 3.09.

Record:  Fort Myers is 10-8, tied for first with Clearwater.

TODAY'S TILTS

5:00  Indianapolis (Bubba Chandler, 0-0, 1.76 and TBD) at St. Paul (Marco Raya, 0-0, 1.23 and Darren McCaughan, 0-0, 0.00)
5:30  Fort Myers (Cole Peschi, 1-0, 0.00) at Clearwater (TBD)
6:35  Wisconsin (Bishop Letson, 0-0, 2.45) at Cedar Rapids (Alejandro Hidalgo, 0-0, 6.55)
6:35  Springfield (Max Rajcic, 1-1, 5.27) at Wichita (Darren Bowen, 2-0, 1.38)

Happy Birthday–April 25

John Henry “Pop” Lloyd (1884)
George Fiall (1900)
Bill Grieve (1900)
Roy Parmelee (1907)
Bobby Estalella (1911)
Red Flaherty (1917)
Ed Vargo (1930)
Lew Krausse (1943)
Kerry Taylor (1950)
Greg Wells (1954)
Larry Pashnick (1956)
Tony Phillips (1959)
Darren Holmes (1966)
Joe Buck (1969)
Brad Clontz (1971)
Jacque Jones (1975)
J. P. Howell (1983)
Garrett Mock (1983)
Robert Andino (1984)
Trevor Williams (1992)
Daniel Norris (1993)

Shortstop Pop Lloyd was called the Black Honus Wagner.

A member of the basketball hall of fame as part of the “Renaissance Five” team, shortstop George Fiall played in the Negro Leagues from 1918-1931.

Bill Grieve was an American League umpire from 1938-1955.

Red Flaherty was an American League umpire from 1953-1973.

Ed Vargo was a National League umpire from 1960-1983 and was an umpire supervisor from 1984-1997.

Kerry Taylor played for the GCL Twins in 1968.  He then went into the Army and was killed in the Vietnam War.

The son of Hall of Famer Jack Buck, Joe Buck was a major league baseball broadcaster for many years.

Garrett Mock was drafted by Minnesota in the fourteenth round in 2002, but did not sign.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–April 25

Happy Birthday–April 24

Bob Ewing (1873)
Howard Ehmke (1894)
Harry Harper (1895)
Andy Cooper (1896)
Ed Musial (1922)
Frank Lucchesi (1927)
Lou DiMuro (1931)
Terry Tata (1940)
Ivan Murrell (1943)
Bill Singer (1944)
Pat Zachry (1952)
Bill Krueger (1958)
Mike Blowers (1965)
Omar Vizquel (1967)
Todd Jones (1968)
Chipper Jones (1972)
John Barnes (1976)
Carlos Beltran (1977)
Welington Castillo (1987)
Willi Castro (1997)
Jovani Moran (1997)
Miss SBG (2007)

Andy Cooper pitched in the Negro Leagues from 1920-1939.  He managed the Kansas City Monarchs to four consecutive Negro American League Championships from 1937-1940.  He also holds the Negro Leagues career record for saves with 29.

The brother of Stan Musial, Ed Musial played in the minors in 1941 and from 1946-1950.

Frank Lucchesi managed in the minors for twenty-three seasons and in the majors for seven seasons.

Lou DiMuro was an American League umpire from 1963-1982.

Terry Tata was a National League umpire from 1973-1999.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–April 24

Minor Details: Games of April 22

ST. PAUL SAINTS 16, INDIANAPOLIS INDIANS 4 IN ST. PAUL

Indianapolis scored one in the first, but in the bottom of the first a run was walked in to tie it and Carson McCusker followed with a grand slam to put St. Paul up 5-1.  Armando Alvarez hit a two-run homer in the third to make it 7-1 and Jeferson Morales hit an RBI single in the fourth to make it 8-1.  Indianapolis got three back in the fifth on homers by Darick Hall and Liover Peguero, but Mickey Gasper homered in the sixth, the Saints scored three in the seventh, and Ryan Fitzgerald hit a grand slam in the eighth to put an exclamation point on the game.

BattersJeferson Morales was 4-for-4 with a walk, a run, and an RBI.  Ryan Fitzgerald was 3-for-5 with a grand slam (his second homer), a walk, three runs, and five RBIs.  Armando Alvarez was 2-for-2 with a home run (his second), a double, a walk, two hit-by-pitches, three runs, and two RBIs.  Mike Ford was 2-for-5 with two runs.  Emmanuel Rodriguez was 2-for-6 with two RBIs.  Carson McCusker was 1-for-5 with a grand slam (his sixth homer) and two runs.  Mickey Gasper was 1-for-3 with a home run, a walk, a hit-by-pitch, and three runs.

Pitchers:  Zebby Matthews struck out four 3.2 innings, giving up an unearned run on seven hits and a walk.  He threw eighty pitches.  Travis Adams struck out four in four shutout innings, giving up three hits and no walks.

Opponents:  Ji Hwan Bae was 3-for-5 with a run.  Nick Yorke was 3-for-5.  Malcom Nunez was 2-for-4 with a run.  Darick Hall was 2-for-5 with a home run and two RBIs.  Liover Peguero hit a two-run homer.

Stats:  Mickey Gasper is batting .429 with an OPS of 1.600.  Ryan Fitzgerald is batting .309 with an OPS of .944.  Carson McCusker has an OPS of 1.069.  Jeferson Morales has an OPS of 8.29.  Zebby Matthews has an ERA of 1.45.  Travis Adams has an ERA of 2.08.

Record:  St. Paul is 8-10, in ninth place, three games behind Columbus.

WICHITA WIND SURGE 12, SPRINGFIELD CARDINALS 1 IN WICHITA

It was actually close for seven innings.  There was no score until the fourth, when Jeremy Rivas put Springfield on the board with an RBI double.  Wichita got the run back in the bottom of the fourth on a solo homer by Kala'i Rosario and took a 2-1 lead in the sixth on an Aaron Sabato RBI double.  Wichita then exploded for nine in the eighth.  The first run scored on a walk, an error, a wild pitch, and a balk.  Wichita got the benefit of four more walks and two more wild pitches in the inning.  They also got three singles before Jorel Ortega hit a pinch-hit grand slam to close out the inning.  The Wind Surge scored nine runs on just four hits.

Batters:  Ricardo Olivar was 3-for-4 with a walk and a run.  Kala'i Rosario was 2-for-4 with a home run (his third), a walk, and two runs.  Tanner Schobel was 2-for-5 with a run.  Jorel Ortega was 1-for-1 with a grand slam.

Pitchers:  Ricky Castro struck out five in five innings, giving up one run on five hits and no walks.  Mike Paredes pitched three shutout innings, giving up a hit and a walk and striking out one.  Michael Martinez pitched a scoreless inning, giving up one hit.

Opponents:  Chase Davis was 2-for-4.  Brycen Mautz struck out six in four innings, giving up one run on three hits and no walks.

Stats:  Aaron Sabato is batting .412 with an OPS of 1.230.  Kyler Fedco is batting .351 with an OPS of 1.237.  Ricardo Olivar is batting .304.  Mike Paredes has an ERA of zero.  Michael Martinez has an ERA of 2.45.

Record:  Wichita is 9-7, in second place, three games behind Arkansas.

CEDAR RAPIDS KERNELS 4, WISCONSIN TIMBER RATTLERS 2 IN CEDAR RAPIDS

Kyle DeBarge tripled and scored in the first, but Hedbert Perez hit a two-run homer in the fifth to put Wisconsin up 2-1.  It stayed 2-1 until the ninth, when Kyle DeBarge struck again.  This time, he hit a two-out, three-run walkoff homer to give Cedar Rapids the victory.

Batters:  Kyle DeBarge was 3-for-5 with a home run (his second), a triple, a double, two runs, and three RBIs.  He was a single shy of a cycle.  Kevin Maitan was 2-for-4 with a double.

Pitchers:  Jose Olivares struck out five in three shutout innings, giving up a hit and a walk.  Gabriel Yanez pitched a perfect inning, striking out one.  Paulshawn Pasqualotto pitched a scoreless inning, giving up one hit.

Opponents:  Hedbert Perez was 2-for-3 with a home run (his second), a double, and two RBIs.  Manuel Rodriguez pitched five innings, giving up one run on six hits and a walk and striking out three.  Patricio Aquino pitched two shutout innings, giving up two hits and striking out one.

Stats:  Kevin Maitan is batting .385 with an OPS of 1.115.  Billy Amick is batting .377 with an OPS of 1.023.  Kaelen Culpepper is batting .316 with an OPS of .935.  Gabriel Gonzalez is batting .305 with an OPS of .863.  Caden Kendle has an OPS of .921.  Kyle DeBarge has an OPS of .911.  Jose Olivares has an ERA of zero.  Gabriel Yanez has an ERA of zero.  Paulshawn Pasqualotto has an ERA of zero.  Spencer Bengard has an ERA of 3.86.

Record:  Cedar Rapids is 10-5, in second place, one game behind Quad Cities.

FORT MYERS MIGHTY MUSSELS 8, CLEARWATER THRESHERS 3 IN CLEARWATER

Eduardo Tait hit a two-run homer in the first to give Clearwater the early lead.  It held up until the fourth, when Fort Myers got two-run homers from Yasser Mercedes and Jose Rodriguez to take a 4-2 lead.  Fort Myers put it out of reach with four more in the sixth on a two-run double by Daniel Pena and a two-run single by Yohander Martinez.

Batters:  Jose Rodriguez was 1-for-3 with a home run (his third), a walk, two runs, and two RBIs.  Daniel Pena was 1-for-4 with a double, a run, and two RBIs.  Yohander Martinez was 1-for-4 with two RBIs.  Yasser Mercedes was 1-for-5 with a home run and two RBIs.

Pitchers:  Dylan Questad struck out six in five innings, giving up two runs on one hit and two walks.  Hunter Hoopes struck out three in a scoreless inning, giving up a hit and a walk.  Tyler Stasiowski pitched a scoreless inning, giving up two hits and striking out one.

Opponents:  Carter Mathison was 2-for-4 with a double and an RBI.  Brady Day was 2-for-4 with a double and a run.  Eduardo Tait was 1-for-4 with a two-run homer (his fourth).  Gabriel Barbosa pitched 2.2 scoreless innings, giving up three hits and a walk and striking out two.

Stats:  Jose Salas is batting .333 with an OPS of 1.000.  Poncho Ruiz is batting .333 with an OPS of .839.  Jay Thomason has an OPS of .902.  Byron Chourio has an OPS of .811.  Dylan Questad has an ERA of 1.38.

Record:  Fort Myers is 9-7, tied for first with Clearwater.

TODAY'S TILTS

11:00  Fort Myers (Eli Jones, 1-1, 3.14) at Clearwater (TBD)
11:05  Springfield (Ixan Henderson, 2-0, 0.90) at Wichita (TBD)
5:00  Indianapolis (Thomas Harrington, 0-0, 1.80 and TBD at St. Paul (Andrew Morris, 0-1, 4.61 and Cory Lewis, 1-0, 9.82)
6:35  Wisconsin (Ryan Burchard, 0-1, 4.70) at Cedar Rapids (Ty Langenberg, 0-1, 7.50)

Happy Birthday–April 22

Bob Smith (1895)
Taylor Douthit (1901)
Ray Benge (1902)
Lew Riggs (1910)
Mickey Vernon (1918)
John Orsino (1938)
Steve Jones (1941)
David Clyde (1955)
Moose Haas (1956)
Dave Schmidt (1957)
Terry Francona (1959)
Jimmy Key (1961)
Jack Savage (1964)
Mickey Morandini (1966)
George Williams (1969)
Tyson Ross (1987)
Dee Strange-Gordon (1988)
Kevin Kiermaier (1990)

We would also like to wish a very happy birthday to rowsdower.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–April 22

Minor Details: Games of April 20

ST. PAUL AT IOWA

Rained out.  Will be made up in the second week of May.

WICHITA WIND SURGE

No game scheduled.

CEDAR RAPIDS AT PEORIA

Rained out.  Make-up date TBD.

FORT MYERS MIGHTY MUSSELS 1, BRADENTON MARAUDERS 0 IN FORT MYERS

Twins' affiliates played one game, and they scored one run, and it was enough.  Fort Myers loaded the bases with two out in the first on three walks, but did not score.  Bradenton got men to second and third in the fifth on a hit batsman, a walk, and a ground out, but did not score.  Those were the only men to reach third base until the seventh, when Peyton Carr led off with a walk, went to second on a pickoff error, and scored on a pair of ground outs.  Twins baseball!

Fort Myers had five hits and drew seven walks, but managed to score only one unearned run.  But again, it was enough, as four Fort Myers pitchers shut out Bradenton on four hits and two walks.

Batters:  Jose Rodriguez was 2-for-3 with a double and a walk.

Pitchers:  Jakob Hall pitched three shutout innings, giving up a hit and a walk and striking out two.  Jacob Kisting pitched three shutout innings and only allowed a walk.  Devin Kirby pitched two shutout innings, giving up two hits and striking out one.  Kade Bragg struck out three in a scoreless inning, giving up one hit.

Opponents:  Jonawel Valdez struck out three and walked three in three shutout innings, giving up one hit.  Greiber Mendez struck out four in three shutout innings, giving up three hits and a walk.

Stats:  Poncho Ruiz is batting .333 with an OPS of .840.  Jay Thomason has an OPS of .934.  Byron Chourio has an OPS of .825.  Kade Bragg has an ERA of 1.50.  Devin Kirby has an ERA of 2.57.  Jacob Kisting has an ERA of 3.86.

Record:  Fort Myers is 8-7, in second place, one game ahead of Clearwater.

TUESDAY'S TILTS

11:07  Indianapolis at St. Paul--no starters listed
5:30  Fort Myers at Clearwater--no starters listed
6:05  Springfield at Wichita--no starters listed
6:35  Wisconsin (Manuel Rodriguez, 0-1, 1.69) at Cedar Rapids (TBD)

Happy Birthday–April 21

Hardy Richardson (1855)
Ken Strong (1906)
Gary Peters (1937)
Dick Green (1941)
Al Bumbry (1947)
Jesse Orosco (1957)
Les Lancaster (1962)
Ken Caminiti (1963)
Kip Wells (1977)
Terry Tiffee (1979)
Joc Pederson (1992)

A member of the pro football Hall of Fame, Ken Strong played minor league baseball from 1929-1931 and played very well.  He hit 41 home runs and had 130 RBIs in 1930 in what is now the Eastern League and hit .340 in 1931 in the International League.

In addition, we would like to wish a very happy birthday to twayn.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–April 21

Minor Details: Games of April 19

IOWA CUBS 1, ST. PAUL SAINTS 0 IN IOWA

In a marked contrast to the last couple of games, this one was a pitchers' duel.  The lone run scored on an Owen Caissie homer in the fourth.  The Saints had five hits and a walk but stranded only three due to a double play, a caught stealing, and an out on the base.  They struck out eleven times.

Batters:  Mickey Gasper was 2-for-4 with a double.

Pitchers:  Pablo Lopez pitched 4.2 innings, giving up one run on three hits and no walks.  Darren McCaughan pitched three shutout innings, giving up one hit and three walks and striking out two.

Opponents:  Moises Ballesteros was 2-for-3 with a double and a walk.  Owen Caissie was 1-for-4 with a home run, his third.  Chris Flexen struck out seven in six shutout innings, giving up two hits and a walk.

Stats:  Mickey Gasper is batting .500 with an OPS of 1.250.  Carson McCusker is batting .308 with an OPS of 1.073.  Ryan Fitzgerald has an OPS of .853.  Kody Funderburk and Darren McCaughan each have an ERA of zero.  Pablo Lopez has an ERA of 1.93.  That Lopez kid looks like he has potential, and I wouldn't be surprised to see him in the majors soon.

Record:  St. Paul is 7-10, in ninth place, 4.5 games behind Columbus.

WICHITA WIND SURGE 3, TULSA DRILLERS 1 IN TULSA (GAME 1)

Ricardo Olivar homered and Rubel Cespedes hit a two-run single to give Wichita a 3-0 lead in the second.  Two pitchers made the lead stand up, as the lone Tulsa run came on a Jose Ramos home run in the second.  Each team had just four hits.

Batters:  Rubel Cespedes was 2-for-2 with two walks and two RBIs.  Ricardo Olivar was 1-for-3 with a home run.

Pitchers:  Connor Prielipp struck out five in three innings, giving up one run on two hits and no walks.  Darren Bowen struck out four in four shutout innings, giving up two hits and three walks.

Opponents:  Jose Ramos was 1-for-2 with a home run (his second) and a walk.  Christian Suarez pitched two shutout innings, giving up a hit and a walk.

WICHITA WIND SURGE 7, TULSA DRILLERS 0 IN TULSA (GAME 2-- 5 1/2 INNINGS)

It was scoreless until the fourth, when Ben Ross singled home a run.  Wichita broke it open in the fifth, with three walks preceding an Allan Cerda grand slam.  Kyler Fedco hit a two-run homer in the sixth before rain made it impossible to finish.  Two Wichita pitchers combined to shut out Tulsa on two hits and a walk.

Batters:  Allan Cerda was 1-for-2 with a grand slam.  Kyler Fedco was 1-for-3 with a two-run homer and a walk.  Wichita had just five hits, but they made them count.

Pitchers:  John Klein struck out four in four shutout innings, giving up one hit.  Jarret Whorff pitched a scoreless inning, giving up a hit and a walk and striking out one.

Opponents:  None.

Stats:  Kyler Fedco is batting .364 with an OPS of 1.330.  Tanner Schobel and Rubel Cespedes each has an OPS of .808.  Klein has an ERA of 2.19.  Whorff has an ERA of zero.

Record:  Wichita is 8-7, tied for second with Springfield, three games behind Arkansas.

CEDAR RAPIDS KERNELS 13, PEORIA CHIEFS 6 IN PEORIA (COMPLETION OF SUSPENDED GAME)

When we left this one, is was 8-3 Cedar Rapids in the fourth.  The Kernels got one more in the fifth on three walks and a sacrifice fly.  A balk got the run back for Peoria in the bottom of the fifth.  Cedar Rapids put it away with four in the seventh on a two-run homer by Kyle DeBarge and a two-run double by Gabriel Gonzalez.  Peoria added two more in the bottom of the seventh on an error and a wild pitch.

Batters:  Nate Baez was 3-for-5 with a double, a run, and three RBIs.  Khadim Diaw was 3-for-5 with a run and an RBI.  Billy Amick was 2-for-3 with a walk, three runs, and an RBI.  Gabriel Gonzalez was 2-for-5 with two doubles, two runs, and two RBIs.  Kyle DeBarge was 1-for-5 with a two-run homer and a walk.  Misael Urbina was 1-for-5 with a three-run homer.

Pitchers:  Alejandro Hidalgo struck out four in three innings, but allowed three runs on three hits and a walk.  Juan Mendez and 
Samuel Perez each struck out two and gave up one hit in a scoreless inning.

Opponents:  Ian Petrutz was 2-for-2 with a double, a walk, and a run.  Johnfrank Salazar was 2-for-4 with a double and an RBI.  Ryan Campos was 1-for-4 with a home run, a walk, and three RBIs.  Jawilme Ramirez pitched two perfect innings, striking out one.

CEDAR RAPIDS KERNELS 4, PEORIA CHIEFS 1 IN PEORIA (SCHEDULED GAME)

Cedar Rapids scored two in the second, with Danny DeAndrade doubling home one run and another scoring on a fielder's choice.  Johnfrank Salazar singled home one in the bottom of the second.  It stayed 2-1 until the sixth, when Kevin Maitan delivered an RBI double and a sacrifice fly brought home another run.  Cedar Rapids pitchers allowed only three hits in the seven-inning game.  Cedar Rapids batters also only got three hits but drew six walks.

Batters:  Kevin Maitan was 1-for-3 with a double and two RBIs.

Pitchers:  Tanner Hall pitched five innings, giving up one run on two hits and four walks and striking out three.  Gabriel Yanez pitched a perfect inning.  Jacob Wosinski pitched a scoreless inning, giving up one hit and striking out one.

Opponents:  Tanner Jacobson struck out three and walked two in two shutout innings.

StatsNate Baez is batting .385 with an OPS of 1.133.  Billy Amick is batting .380 with an OPS of 1.035.  Kevin Maitan is batting .333 with an OPS of 1.056.  Gabriel Gonzalez is batting .309 with an OPS of .888.  Gabriel Yanez has an ERA of zero.  Jacob Wosinski has an ERA of 2.35.

Record:  Cedar Rapids is 9-5, in second place, one game behind Quad Cities.

FORT MYERS MIGHTY MUSSELS 8, BRADENTON MARAUDERS 0 IN FORT MYERS

Fort Myers ambushed the Marauders, jumping to a 5-0 lead in the first inning.  Daniel Pena started the scoring with an RBI double.  The second run scored on a fielder's choice, which was followed by another RBI double, this time by Miguel Briceno.  Then came run-scoring singles by Angel Del Rosario and Yohander Martinez.

Three Fort Myers pitchers made the runs stand up, as they allowed just four hits and a walk.  Fort Myers added three more in the sixth when Jay Thomason hit a three-run homer.

Batters:  Seven different Fort Myers players had one hit.  Jay Thomason was 1-for-4 with a three-run homer (his third) and two runs.

Pitchers:  Cole Peschi struck out six in five shutout innings, giving up two hits and a walk.  Ivran Romero struck out two in a perfect inning.  Zander Sechrist struck out three in three shutout innings, giving up two hits.

Opponents:  Yordany De Los Santos was 2-for-4 with a triple.  Inmer Lobo struck out four in 3.1 scoreless innings, giving up one hit.

Stats:  Poncho Ruiz is batting .333 with an OPS of .841.  Jay Thomason has an OPS of .994.  Daniel Pena has an OPS of .801.  Cole Peschi and Ivran Romero each has an ERA of zero.  Zander Sechrist has an ERA of 1.93.

Record:  Fort Myers is 7-7, tied for second with Dunedin and Tampa, one game behind Clearwater.

TODAY'S TILTS

11:05  Bradenton (Jonawel Valdez, 0-0, 5.68) at Fort Myers (Jakob Hall, 0-0, 12.07)
1:08  St. Paul (Zebby Matthews, 2-1, 1.80) at Iowa (TBD)
2:05  Cedar Rapids (Jose Olivares, 0-0, 0.00) at Peoria (Darlin Saladin, 0-0, 2.45)
Wichita Wind Surge--no game scheduled

Happy Birthday–April 20

Germany Smith (1863)
Tommy Dowd (1869)
Charlie Hemphill (1876)
Charlie Smith (1880)
Dave Bancroft (1891)
Heavy Johnson (1895)
Roy Hofheinz (1912)
Preston Gomez (1923)
Tom Hutton (1946)
Milt Wilcox (1950)
Doug Clarey (1954)
Floyd Chiffer (1956)
Don Mattingly (1961)
Greg Brummett (1967)
Dan Smith (1969)
Todd Hollandsworth (1973)
Brandon Belt (1988)

Judge Roy Hofheinz was the leader of a group that brought an expansion team to Houston.

Dan Smith was drafted by Minnesota in the twenty-second round in 1987, but did not sign.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–April 20