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Iowa 4, Las Vegas (66-56) 3
Vic Black struck out Mike Baxter to start the 9th inning before allowing a double that right fielder Travis Taijeron misplayed allowing the hitter to go to third. Matt Szczur successfully executed the squeeze play to knock in the winning run. Black would then strike out Javier Baez and get a groundout to end the inning.
Kevin Plawecki went 0-4 but the big story was him making his first appearance of the year at first base. He played one game there last year for Las Vegas and 17 at 1B for St. Lucie in 2013. He didn’t have any balls hit to him at first and caught every ball thrown to him. Kevin also played some first base when he was in college at Purdue. Another way to get him and Travis d’Arnaud in the same lineup.
Dilson Herrera was 2-5 with two doubles, two RBI, and a run scored. Matt Reynolds was 1-4 with his 12th stolen base, two strikeouts, and his 11th error of the season at shortstop. Brandon Nimmo didn’t start the game and popped up while pinch hitting in the 7th inning.
Lefty Chase Huchingson pitched two perfect innings of relief with three strikeouts lowering his ERA to 1.82 but has walked 17 hitters in 24.2 innings. Scott Rice gave up one hit while striking out two and lowering his ERA to 1.95, however he has walked 24 batters in 32.1 innings. Box Score
Binghamton (64-54) 3, New Britain 0
Tyler Pill moved to 3-0 since being sent down from Las Vegas to help out the B’Mets rotation. He pitched 6 scoreless innings allowing four hits and a walk while striking out two. Tyler helped himself with the bat as well going 3-4 with a RBI. L.J. Mazzilli had a big night with the bat going 4-5 with a double, run scored, and two RBI.
Erik Goeddel made his return to Binghamton where he started 25 games back in 2013 with a scoreless 7th inning allowing a double and striking out two. He threw 16 pitches with 12 of them being for strikes. Jon Velasquez pitched a perfect 8th to lower his AA ERA to 1.64 in 33 innings with the league hitting only .167 against him. Paul Sewald struck out two in the 9th to pick up his 20th save of the year.
Gavin Cecchini was 1-2 with three walks, he now leads the league with his .316 average and his 191 total bases. His .818 OPS ranks him 5th in the Eastern League, he has scored 61 times which ties him for 2nd, and his .441 slugging puts him in 7th and .014 points above Pirates 1B prospect Josh Bell. Box Score
St. Lucie (60-59) 5, Bradenton 3
Rafael Montero made the start going three inning allowing one run on two hit, two walks, and struck out one. He threw 46 pitches with only 25 of them for strikes. Jake Kuebler pitched three innings in relief with two strikeouts and gave up one run to pick up his third win of the year and lower his ERA to 1.53.
James Duff pitched two scoreless with two strikeouts to pick up his first hold with St. Lucie, he has a 2.84 ERA in 6.1 innings since being promoted from Savannah. Robert Coles pitched a scoreless 9th inning allowing one hit and striking out one to collect his 4th save of the season.
Dominic Smith went 2-4 with his 2nd stolen base, his league leading 32nd double, and two RBI to give him 72 on the year which ranks second in the Florida State League. He is also tied for 2nd in total bases with 177 behind Pirates outfield prospect Austin Meadows who has 183.
Jeff McNeil was 2-5 with his 16th stolen base, 35th RBI, and his league leading 74th run scored. Amed Rosario went 1-3 with a walk, 19th double, and scored a run. Las Vegas outfielder Kyle Johnson was 1-4 with a double, RBI, and run scored in his 5th rehab game with St. Lucie. Box Score
Savannah (70-48) 4, Greensboro 0
Michael Gibbons was promoted before the game to make the start and pitched 5 scoreless innings allowing five baserunners while striking out two leading the Sand Gnats to their 13th straight win. He improved to 2-3 with the Sand Gnats (4-4 overall) and lowered his season ERA to 3.24 over four different levels. Outfielder Oswald Caraballo was also promoted from Brooklyn with Savannah placing closer Cameron Griffin and outfielder John Mora on the DL.
Ben Griset struck out two in his scoreless 6th inning of work, he now has 39 strikeouts in 35.1 innings this year. Tim Peterson pitched two scoreless and struck out five while allowing three hits and a walk. Luis Mateo pitched a perfect 9th inning with two strikeouts, he has now allowed three runs on nine hits in 17.1 innings this year returning from TJS.
Sand Gnats produced only four hit but walked seven times in 1.1 innings against the Grasshoppers starter Enderson Franco. Catcher Tyler Moore was 1-3 with a walk and a solo homerun for his second of the season. Luis Guillorme had his hitting streak snapped at 13 games going 0-1 with two walks and a sac bunt.
Wuilmer Becerra was 0-2 with two walks and saw his 7 game hitting streak come to and end. Eudor Garcia was 1-4 extending his own hitting streak to 9 games and is hitting .395 over that span. Patrick Biondi went 1-4 and stole tow bases giving him 33 for the season. Box Score
Hudson Valley 3, Brooklyn (25-30) 2 F/11
Cyclones blew an early 2-0 lead by giving up a run in the 7th, 9th, and 11th innings to lose their sixth straight game. Andrew Church made a fantastic start pitching 6.2 innings allowing only and unearned run on two hits with three strikeouts. He the 78 pitches (57 strikes) and the run was walked in by reliever Craig Missigman.
Corey Taylor pitched a perfect 8th inning with one strikeout, he has allowed one earned run in his first 16 pro innings. Cyclones closer Alex Palsha blew his first save of the year and had his scoreless streak end at 19.2 innings when he allowed a run in the 9th.
David Thompson was 1-3 with two walks and has reached base six time in his last three games after going hitless in his previous 12 at bats. Enmanuel Zabala was 2-4 with Brooklyn’s only RBI on the night. Brandon Brosher went 0-4 with a walk and four strikeouts. Box Score
Kingsport (28-24) 8, Princeton 5
Dash Winningham went 2-4 with his 15th double, scored a run and had two RBI giving him 43 and the Appalachian League lead. Patrick Mazeika was also 2-4 with his league leading 24th double, run scored, and two RBI giving him 41 on the year. Patrick is leading the league with his .367 average and 2nd in the league with his 1.046 OPS.
Dash had himself a monster weekend going 5-13 with three homeruns and eight RBI including two homeruns and five RBI in a 7-6 Mets victory on Saturday.
Kevin Kaczmarski was 2-4 with a walk, double, two runs scored, and his 15th steal of the year while raising his average to .340. Milton Ramos was 2-4 with two RBI, he is hitting .324 with nine RBI over his last ten games. Ivan Wilson was 1-3 with a walk, RBI, and double. Luis Carpio went 1-5 with a RBI and run scored lowering his average to .306 for the year.
Gabriel Llanes got the win despite giving up five runs on then hits with three strikeouts in 6 innings. Dillon Becker got a ground ball out to end the game with the bases loaded to pick up his first professional save. Box Score
