Norfolk Tides 3, Buffalo Bisons 1
Rich Hill, making what could be his final rehab start before joining the Orioles, pitched a very solid game. He was on a 100 pitch limit and finished six innings on 94 pitches. His final line: 6 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 7 K.
The Tides scored single runs in the 1st, 5th, and 8th innings. Matt Wieters went 1-2 with a double, 2 walks, and 2 runs scored. Nolan Reimold also went 1-2 with 2 walks, and Oscar Salazar was 2-4.
Norfolk finishes its series in Buffalo tomorrow at 7:05. If I'm doing my math right Chris Tillman will be on the mound for the Tides.
Bowie Baysox 5, Erie Seawolves 6
Ryan Keefer made the start for Bowie and didn't fare well. He gave up 5 runs in 3 innings plus three batters. He didn't walk any but allowed two home runs with men on base. Ryan Rodriguez also gave up one run, but Fredy Deza and Wilfredo Perez finished the game easily. Perez is having a great year. His line on the season: 11 Games, 12 IP, 0 R, 9 BB, 16 K. The walks are high but so far so good.
Offensively, the day belonged to CF Dave Krynzel. Krynzel is old for the league at 28, but he's having a great year. He went 3-5 with a home run, an rbi, and 3 runs scored. Brandon Snyder also had 3 hits and continues to rake. His on base percentage is .421 and he's slugging over .600. It's good to see the kid do well.
Frederick Keys 15, Wilmington Blue Rocks 9
The Keys and Blue Rocks had themselves a good old fashioned slug fest today. Every Keys batter had at least one hit other than leadoff hitter Matt Angle, and even he reached on a walk. Shortstop Bobby Stevens was 5-5 with two home runs and a double. The other big hitters on the day were third baseman Tyler Henson and right fielder Billy Rowell. Henson was 4-4 with 3 doubles and a walk, scoring 5 runs. Rowell went 3-5 with 2 home runs and 5 RBI.
The 9 runs given up by the Keys was a joint effort between pitchers and fielders. Starter Zach Britton gave up 8 runs in 5 innings, but only 4 of those were earned. The other four were courtesy of errors in the field. Cliff Flagello, the winning pitcher, was also victim of an unearned run on an error by Billy Rowell.
Delmarva Shorebirds 8, Greensboro Grasshoppers 1
The Shorebirds sort of played a double header today. They started game 1 yesterday but it was suspended in the 2nd inning for rain. Oliver Drake pitched 1.2 perfect innings on day one and Rick Zagone picked up where he left off in day two. Zagone completed the game, going 7.1 innings and giving up just 2 hits and 2 walks while striking out 8. Zagone's ERA is down to 1.54 as he has allowed just 6 earned runs in 35 innings, giving up just 11 walks while striking out 33.
It was a balanced attack offensively. Xavier Avery had two hits including a double and Elvin Polanco and Luis Benardo each added three hits to the effort. Five different Shorebirds had RBIs.
Delmarva Shorebirds 4, Greensboro Grasshoppers 1
The 2nd game was limited to 7 innings and the Shorebirds used a team approach to pitching. Colin Allen pitched 2 innings, Brent Allar 0.2, Joseph Esposito 3.0, and Brandon Cooney 1.1. Allar allowed the only run in a most embarrasing manner as he got the first two outs in the third and then walked four straight batters.
The offense did their damage with doubles as the Shorebirds collected 5 of them. The 3 runs they scored in the 2nd inning were the result of doubles by Tyler Kolodny, Jacob Julius, and Dustin Black, and a sacrifice fly by Jedidiah Stephan.