Rochester Red Wings 11, Durham Bulls 6

After falling behind big early, it would have been hard to fault the Bulls if they were just looking to get the game over and try again tomorrow. However, they fought back, and although they fell short, it was still a good effort.

The Red Wings already had a run on the board when they loaded the bases with one out in the bottom of the second for Eric Fryer. Fryer took full advantage, hitting a grand slam to left as Rochester took a 5-0 lead. They extended that lead in the sixth, loading the bases once again, this time with no one out. Antoan Richardson drove in two runs with a base hit, putting Rochester up 7-0. Ray Olmedo followed with an RBI single, to give the Red Wings an 8-0 lead. After an out, Chris Colaberra drove in a run with a double, and the Red Wings scored again on a sacrifice fly. They tacked on another run in the bottom of the seventh, as they held an 11-0 lead going into the eighth.

Then the Bulls came to life.With two outs, Brandon Guyer hit a two run triple to put the Bulls on the board, and came around to score on Tim Beckham‘s double. After a walk, Juan Apodaca hit a two run double, and came around to score on Jason Bourgeois‘ base hit. Unfortunately, Durham was unable to get closer, and fell 11-6.

Jim Pauduch took the loss, allowing five runs on six hits and three walks in five innings. Austin Hubbard was shelled, allowing five runs on four hits and three walks, recording just two outs in relief. Vince Belnome went 3-5 with a double.

Montgomery Biscuits v. Huntsville Stars (Brewers) – Postponed

The series opener between the Montgomery Biscuits and the Huntsville Stars was postponed due to rain, and will be made up as part of a double header on Saturday.

Fort Myers Miracle (Twins) 8, Charlotte Stone Crabs 0

The Miracle entered last night’s game leading the Stone Crabs by 13 games in the South Division in the Florida State League, and had the best record overall. They did nothing to discount that standing in the opener against the Stone Crabs.

Fort Myers took the lead quickly, loading the bases with two outs. Angel Morales cleared the bases with a triple, putting the Miracle ahead 3-0. Stephen Wickens tripled in a run in the second, as Fort Myers expanded their lead. The Miracle blew the game open in the fifth, scoring three more times highlighted by a two run home run from Kennys Vargas.

The Stone Crabs were unable to put anything together against Fort Myers pitching, managing just three hits and two walks against starter D.J. Baxendale. Ryan Carpenter took the loss, giving up seven runs, four earned, in five innings of work. He allowed eight hits and a walk, while striking out one. Ryan Brett was the only Charlotte player to reach base twice, going 1-3 with a walk.

Bowling Green Hot Rods 4, West Michigan Whitecaps (Tigers) 0

Bowling Green had the benefit of a true team effort from te pitching staff, as they managed to shut out the West Michigan Whitecaps 4-0 last night. Sean Bierman came off the disabled list to make the start, and pitched the first 3.1 innings, allowing three hits and a walk while striking out two batters. Brandon Henderson pitched the next four innings to pick up the victory, allowing five hits while striking out two.

The Hot Rods snapped a scoreless tie in the fifth, as Patrick Leonard led off the inning with his first home run of the year. They added two more in the sixth, with Joey Rickard leading off with a triple and scoring on a fielder’s choice. Leonard drove in another run with a two out single. Bowling Green tacked on another run in the top of the ninth, providing the final margin in the 4-0 victory. Leonard was 2-4 with a home run, two RBIs and a run scored. Justin O’Conner also picked up two hits in the victory.

Triple-A International League Game 1: Durham Bulls 10, Norfolk Tides (BAL) 4 (7 innings)

The game was going about as well as it possibly could have. Through 3 innings, the Bulls offense had already driven in 5 runs while Chris Archer rolled on the pitching side, and the Bulls had a 5-0 lead. In the 4th, though Chris Archer got into a 1-out jam, allowing a walk, a single, and a walk to load the bases. But everyone had confidence that Archer would be OK, and sure enough, Archer forced a groundball to Tim Beckham at second base. As this video shows (although I can’t recommend watching it), Beckham fielded the ball a little less than halfway-between second base and first base with his momentum taking him towards first, but he made the ill-advised decision to not only go for the force at second base but also to flip the ball to the shortstop Hak-Ju Lee instead of throwing it, and the ramifications of that were everyone’s worst nightmare. The ball came towards Lee and was slightly offline, and Lee couldn’t handle it, putting him right in front of second base as the runner, Travis Ishikawa, slid into the base. Ishikawa feet slid directly into the lower part of Lee’s leg, and after the contact caused Lee to bend down, Ishikawa’s head collided directly with Lee’s knee, leaving Lee writhing in pain and Ishikawa also hurt. Both would leave the game, but their prognoses were very different. Ishikawa had broken his nose; Lee had torn ligaments in his knee and will be out for the remainder of the season. Lee was 1 for 2 in the game, upping his average to .422 in 45 at-bats on the season. Overall, he managed a .422/.536/.600 line with 3 doubles, a triple, a homer, 7 RBI, 6 of 8 in stolen base attempts, and 11 walks against just 9 strikeouts in 15 games and 56 plate appearances. He was playing out of his mind on a trajectory that would surely end in the major leagues by the time the season was through- but now it’s over.

Archer went 5 innings allowing 3 runs, 2 earned, on 7 hits, striking out 4 while walking 3 but forcing an outstanding 8-1 groundout to flyout ratio. Steve Geltz tossed the final 2 innings for Durham and allowed a run on 3 hits but struck out 5 without walking a batter, leaving him with 9 strikeouts against no walks in his last two games. Geltz is a pitcher known for severe control struggles, but maybe he has finally broken through. On the offensive side, Leslie Anderson slammed a 3-run homer in 4 trips, Mike Fontenot went 2 for 3 with a double, 2 RBI, and a run scored, and Beckham went 1 for 2 with a triple, a walk, and a run scored. It was a dominating win, but all feeling was taken out of it when Lee went down.

Game 2: Durham Bulls 5, Norfolk Tides 3 (7 innings)

There was a second game as well, and the Bulls came away with a second win while their emotions were numb. Alex Torres pitched solidly for Durham although his control issues resurfaced, going 5 innings allowing 3 runs on just 1 hit, striking out 8 while walking 4 and posting a 5-1 groundout to flyout ratio. Hopefully the strikeouts and groundouts are more indicative of the future than the walks. Kirby Yates and Josh Lueke struck out 5 batters in the next 2 innings to finish the game, leaving the Bulls with 13 strikeouts in just 7 innings. Wow. On the offensive, an event we have all been waiting for finally took place as Wil Myers slammed his first home run of the season, going 1 for 2 with a walk on the day. Myers’ power hasn’t been impressive so far, but his strikeout to walk ratio has been an outstanding 15-10, exactly what the Rays needed to see from him after he managed just a 140-61 mark last year. Vince Belnome also had a 2-run home run, and Beckam went 1 for 3 with an RBI double. Great to see Myers slam that first homer, but he certainly could have picked a better day because one home run doesn’t ease the grief of losing Lee for the year.

Double-A Southern League: Tennessee Smokies (CHC) 11, Montgomery Biscuits 4

It’s amazing that this game was as close as it was because the Biscuits were terrible. Jake Thompson got shelled again, going 4 innings allowing 7 runs, 6 earned, on 8 hits, striking out 4 while walking 2. He followed up a tremendous season debut by allowing 7 runs in 4 innings in his last 2 starts. The bullpen only allowed 4 more runs in the next 4 innings. But pretty amazing was the offense, which didn’t get a single hit outside of its first three batters but somehow managed to score 4 runs, stranding just 1 runner on base the entire game. Ty Morrison went 2 for 4 with an RBI and a run scored and Mikie Mahtook had an RBI triple.

High-A Florida State League: Charlotte Stone Crabs 7, Jupiter Hammerheads (MIA) 4 (13 innings)

Lenny Linsky blew the save in the 9th (to his credit, he was trying to pull off the always-difficult 2.2 inning save), but Charlotte got 3 runs in the 13th to win the game 7-4. Parker Markel struggled once again to begin the year, allowing 3 runs in 3.2 innings, but Eliazer Suero and Linsky were excellent, allowing just 1 run in 5.1 innings. Unfortunately for them, that one run was enough to send the game into extra innings. But after Nate Garcia tossed 2 shutout innings, Hector Guevara came up huge in the 13th, drilling a 2-run double as part of a 3-run inning as the Stone Crabs found a way to win. Jake DePew had a big game, going 2 for 4 with a walk and an RBI, Jeff Malm finally slammed his first homer of the season and surprisingly stole a base, and Alejandro Segovia and Kyeong Kang both went 2 for 6, with Segovia driving in 2 runs. Outstanding bullpen effort by the Stone Crabs (1 run in 8.1 innings!), and it was great that they got enough offense to make it count.

Low-A Midwest League: Dayton Dragons (CIN) 6, Bowling Green Hot Rods 3

Disastrous finish to this one as Jose Alberto Molina allowed 4 runs in the 8th to turn a 3-2 lead into a 6-3 deficit. Before that, Sean Bierman was great for Bowling Green, going 5 innings allowing just 2 runs, 1 earned, on 1 hit, striking out 6 while walking 1. After he’s allowed just 1 run in his first 3 starts, allowing just 7 hits in 16 innings, striking out 11 while walking 2, and managing a 1.40-to-1 groundout to airout ratio, you have to imagine that he could be ticketed for High-A before long if he keeps pitching well. On the offensive side, Andrew Toles slammed the home run that gave the Hot Rods their 3-2 lead in the 8th, Joey Rickard went 2 for 3 with a triple, a walk, and an RBI, and Tyler Goeddel had a triple of his own and a run scored. Solid effort by the Hot Rods, and tough to see the game finish the way it did.

Triple-A International League: Charlotte Knights (CHW) 5, Durham Bulls 4

The Bulls blew a 4-2 lead after five and a half innings as they lost their second straight game after a four-game winning streak. Jake Odorizzi took the hill for Durham and was great overall but allowed a 2-run homer to Brent Morel in the 6th inning to knot the game up at 4. Odorizzi went 5.1 innings allowing 4 runs on 5 hits, but most impressively, he struck out 9 while walking none, improving his strikeout-to-walk ratio to a ridiculous 17-2 for the season. But even as Odorizzi racks up the strikeouts, he has to do a much better job keeping the ball down in the zone before he can unleash his potential at the MLB level for the Rays. The Bulls did have a decent offensive day in the loss, with Jason Bourgeois going 3 for 5 with an RBI, Rich Thompson going 2 for 5 with a stolen base, Brandon Guyer going 1 for 3 with a hit-by-pitch, an RBI, and a run scored, and most impressively, Hak-Ju Lee slamming a solo home run in 4 trips.

Double-A Southern League: Jackson Generals (SEA) 10, Montgomery Biscuits 9 (10 innings)

This one really stung. The Generals jumped out to a 9-3 lead after 5 innings before the Biscuits came all the way back to tie the game at 9 in the 9th on a 2-out, bases-clearing 3-run double by Mark Thomas, but they lost in walk-off fashion in the 10th. Enny Romero got hit hard for the Biscuits, going 4.1 innings allowing 7 runs, 6 earned, on 6 hits, striking out 3, walking 3, and allowing 3 home runs, but it was three shutout innings by C.J. Riefenhauser and Neil Schenk that allowed Montgomery to rally. The Biscuits offense did everything in their power to win this game, with Thomas going 2 for 5 with his huge hit, Riccio Torrez going 3 for 5 with a homer, 2 doubles, 2 RBI, and 2 runs scored, and Todd Glaesmann homering while Ty Morrison and Shawn O’Malley laced triples, but it wasn’t enough as the Biscuits’ bullpen could only keep Jackson off the board for so long.

High-A Florida State League: Fort Myers Miracle (MIN) 8, Charlotte Stone Crabs 7

The Stone Crabs fought valiantly, but a 4-run 8th wasn’t enough to overcome the fact that they gave Fort Myers this game on a silver platter with 5 errors and 3 passed balls. Roberto Gomez continued his early-season struggles after blowing by Low-A, allowing 5 runs on 5 hits in 5 innings, striking out 4 while walking 3. Eliazer Suero and Lenny Linsky couldn’t do much better, allowing 3 runs in 4 innings. The bats did show a good deal of promise, with Alejandro Segovia going 2 for 4 with a homer, a double, 3 RBI, and 2 runs scored, and Kyeong Kang, Jake Hager, and Drew Vettleson also having multi-hit games, but the Stone Crabs have to be hitting themselves for letting this one get away with their defensive miscues.

Low-A Midwest League: Bowling Green Hot Rods 4, West Michigan Whitecaps (DET) 2

There is hope for the future as at least the Hot Rods found a way to win. Of course it’s all about the pitching. Sean Bierman breezed by the Whitecaps, going 6 shutout innings allowing just 5 hits, striking out 4 while walking none. Bowling Green manager Jared Sandberg loved the way he “pounded the zone on both sides of the plate with all his pitches,” and after Bierman has thrown 11 shutout frames to begin his season, the 24 year old Bierman may be ticketed for High-A if he keeps impressing as the Rays try to make up for his advanced age for the level. Bierman was followed by Nick Sawyer, who struggled in his first two outings of the season but was right back to the domination that pervaded his 2012 pro debut on Saturday, going 2 no-hit innings striking out 4 while walking 1. Control has been an issue at times for Sawyer, but his stuff is electric and he was locked in against the Whitecaps. In terms of the lineup, Joey Rickard, Justin O’Conner, and Leonardo Reginatto all had multi-hit games with a double and Tyler Goeddel encouragingly went 1 for 3 with a walk and an RBI as the Hot Rods offense was far from prolific but got plenty given the quality of their pitching. Hopefully the Rays can take the same queue.