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Norfolk Tides 9, Lehigh Valley IronPigs 5
Not the greatest start fro young Mike Wright, but he kept the ball on the ground for the most part and struck out six IronPigs while walking one. Wright's night looked to be the sort of death by a thousand cuts affair that on occasion dooms the groundball pitcher, but the journeymen from the Phillies organization found their stroke in the fourth and put up four runs. Kudos to Wright for stopping the bleeding and gutting it out into the sixth. Preston Guilmet pitched a couple innings for the win. Troy Patton also logged his second inning of the season.
Wily vet Sean O'Sullivan somehow held the Tides to two earned runs in seven innings, but the Tides would not be denied tonight. A ninth inning chock full of singles, walks and defensive miscues led off by a sharp single from Ivan DeJesus Jr. (2-4 on the evening). The Tides would end up batting around and scoring six runs to not not only take the lead, but put the nail in the coffin. Every Tides starter got on base at least once and Brett Wallace shook off a pretty nasty slump to go 3-5 with a double.
Bowie Baysox 5, Erie Seawolves 9
In a sort of mirror image of the Tides game, it was the Baysox on the receiving end of the big inning in last night's matchup against the Erie Seawolves.
If you weren't a fan of Jake Pettit's body of work before last night, this game isn't going to change your opinion. Pettit seemed to handle things okay one time through the lineup, but that's about it. Eugenio Suarez hit a two run homer off of Pettit in the fourth and then would hit a grand slam off of Pettit in the fifth. Jason Gurka and new kid Steve Hensley pitched four shutout innings of relief in a bid to hold the line for the Baysox.
The story of the night, though, maybe that Buck Britton and Niuman Romero were 5-10 at the top of the order and only scored one run between them. The Baysox were 4-14 with runners in scoring position. Christian Walker and Michael Ohlman in particular had nightmarish evenings with six strikeouts between them. Ohlman was also charged with his fourth error of the season.
Dariel Alvarez homered for the third time in four games and is slashing .293/.326/.610 in his last ten games. Alvarez also threw out a runner attempting to score. Garabez Rosa has continued to led a charmed life in this wonderful BABIP fuelled season as he picked up a pair of hits to raise his batting average to .368.
Frederick Keys 5, Myrtle Beach Pelicans 4
The Pelicans must have punched themselves out in their 21 run slaughter of the Keys as they were pretyy solidly shut down by the combo of Branden Kline and Matt Hobgood. The pair held the Pelicans to seven hits and one earned run, but walked four and struck out five. Kline has now allowed one earned run in his last two starts and has gone seven innings in both. It's maybe not unreasonable to wonder if he finds himself at Bowie before too long.
The core of the Keys lineup was 9-15 with four doubles. Wynston Sawyer in particular had a fine evening with a pait of walks in addition to a double and single and has been on fire of late slashing .333/.366/.472. Adrian Marin walked for the first time this season...and there was much rejoicing.
Delmarva Shorebirds 0, Charleston RiverDogs 6
Mike Yastrzemski has had a great start to his first full season in pro ball slashing .299/.368/.478 and has sported a muscular 1.023 OPS in his last ten games. He was 2-4 last night, but there really wasn't much else to write home about in this tired Sally League affair. His compatriots struck out 16 times on the night.
Mitch Horacek got the start for the Shorebirds and got roughed up a little for the first time this season. Horacek allowed five earne runs and eleven hits and didn't make it out of the sixth, but he only walked one batter and struck out five. He has generally excelled at limiting the free pass, so there's that.
The defensive trials of young Chance Sisco continue as the developing catcher was charged with his second passed ball of the season. The youngsters from Salisbury turned three double plays in an act of penance.
To get the full box scores and additional details, visit MiLB.com.
Today's Games
Norfolk Tides @ Lehigh Valley IronPigs, 7:05 PM
Tides SP: Kevin Gausman
Bowie Baysox @ Harrisburg Senators 7:00 PM
Baysox SP: Matt Bischoff
Myrtle Beach Pelicans @ Frederick Keys, 7:05 PM
Keys SP: Parker Bridwell
Charleston RiverDogs @ Delmarva Shorebirds, 7:05 PM
Shorebirds SP: Sebastian Vader