Baby Jays Recap - Gabriel Moreno has a big night

Buffalo (17-15) - Win 4-2 over Scranton/Wilkes-Barre

Friday night saw Thomas Hatch start and get through 2 shutout innings. Hatch allowed a hit, a walk and a hit batter, striking out 3. Hatch needed 51 pitches to get through his 2 innings, and it appears that the organization is intending to stretch him out as a starter right now. Kirby Snead followed with 2 innings of scoreless relief, getting 3 K’s. Nick Allgeyer came in and threw 4 innings of relief, allowing a run on a solo HR. Allgeyer allowed 7 hits and 2 walks, while striking out 6. Bryan Baker pitched the 9th to get a save, giving up an unearned run on a strike out with a wild pitch, a ground out, a single coupled with a Logan Warmoth error, and a sac fly. Baker picked up 2 strike outs in the inning.

At the plate, Cullen Large continued to be hot, as he picked up 3 singles, driving in 2 runs and scoring a run. Large added a sac fly in the 4th to get the first Herd run. In the 6th inning, Logan Warmoth singled, stole second, moved to 3rd on a wild pitch, and then scored on a Large single. Kevin Smith followed with a 2-run double. Smith also picked up a walk. Dilson Herrera had a single and 2 walks. Richard Urena had 2 hits. Warmoth had the single and added a walk. Tyler White & Nash Knight each walked twice.

New Hampshire (12-21) - Win 14-6 in 10 innings against Portland

Hopefully Friday night can be a turning point for New Hampshire in their season, as they erased a 2-run deficit in the 9th inning, before putting up 8 runs in the extra frame. The top of 9 started with a Gabriel Moreno solo HR (5), followed by an LJ Talley double and a Kevin Vicuna single to tie the game. Then the 10th saw Reggie Pruitt hit by a pitch, Samad Taylor drove in Nick Podkul, who started as the runner on 2nd. Jordan Groshans singled to load the bases. Otto Lopez hit into a fielder’s choice but the Portland catcher dropped the ball, allowing a run to score. Moreno doubled in 2, Talley doubled in 2 more, and then Nick Podkul hit a 2-run HR (2) to complete the scoring.

All told, Moreno, Talley & Vicuna each had 4 hit games. Moreno had the HR, 2 doubles and added a walk. Talley had 2 doubles. Vicuna added 4 singles. Podkul had a double and the HR. Taylor had 2 singles. Groshans & Lopez each had a hit and a walk. Pruitt doubled and was hit by a pitch. Demi Orimoloye rounded out the lineup with a single, as all 9 players had at least a hit in this one.

Zach Logue started the game for the Cats, and was hit hard. Logue gave up 6 earned runs on 9 hits over 4 innings. Of the hits, Logue gave up 3 HR’s and 2 doubles, so a lot of loud contact. He finished the night with 7 K’s. The bullpen was solid in this one, allowing only 2 hits over the next 6 innings. Kyle Johnston gave up the 2 hits in 3 innings of relief, as well as walking 2. Curtis Taylor gave up a walk and struck out 3 in his inning of work. Mike Ellenbest pitched the final two frames, striking out 5 batters.

Vancouver (20-14) - Win 9-4 over Portland

Vancouver got out to a quick start in this one, as they led 3-0 before the first out was recorded. Tanner Kirwer walked and then stole second. Phil Clarke walked to follow. Cameron Eden followed that with his 2nd HR of the year, a 3-run shot. The game stayed that way until the 5th, when the C’s put up a crooked number again. Sebastian Espino started the inning with a triple. Ronny Brito doubled in Espino. DJ Neal reached on an error, allowing Brito to score. Kirwer singled to follow. Clarke singled to load the bases. Eden walked in a run. Tanner Morris singled in a run, then Ryan Gold hit a sac fly to CF, scoring Clarke, but Eden was thrown out at third on the play. That was all the offense the club would need.

Espino had 2 hits in this one. Morris had 2 singles. Eden had a hit and a walk, driving in 4 runs. Kirwer & Clarke sported the same 1-4 lines with a walk and 2 runs scored. Brito had the double and added a sac fly. The offense did enough with their 8 hits, 3 walks and 3 Spokane errors.

Adam Kloffenstein started the game, and was solid. Kloff went 5 innings, allowing 1 earned on 3 hits and 3 walks. Kloff also hit a batter, had 2 wild pitches and struck out 6. Marcus Reyes had 2 scoreless innings of relief, walking a batter and striking one out. Justin Maese had a wild 8th inning for him, allowing 3 earned runs on 3 singles, 2 walks, 2 hit batters and a wild pitch. Parker Caracci pitched a quick 9th inning, getting 3 outs on 4 pitches for the save.

Dunedin (13-21) - Win 8-7 in 10 innings versus Lakeland

Dunedin had a similar start to Vancouver, in that they got a 3-run HR in the top of the 1st to get things rolling. This one was courtesy of Orelvis Martinez (5), his second straight game with a 3-run HR. Dunedin added 2 more in the 4th, as PK Morris singled, Harry Ray walked, Ryan Sloniger doubled in Morris and then Jhon Solarte drove in Ray with a sac fly. MacKenzie Mueller had a solo HR in the 6th, his first professional HR. Leo Jimenez had an RBI single in the 7th, scoring Steward Berroa who had tripled.

Unfortunately 4 runs in the bottom of 7 meant that the game went to extra innings. In the 10th MacKenzie Mueller tripled in PK Morris to give the D-Jays the lead, but was thrown out at home trying to score on a wild pitch. Leo Jimenez had a 4-hit game. Mueller had a triple and a HR. Harry Ray had 2 hits, including a double, and added a walk. Miguel Hiraldo had a double and 2 walks. Each D-Jay batter picked up a hit with the exception of Solarte, who had the sac fly.

Lazaro Estrada started for Dunedin and allowed 2 earned on 6 hits in 4 innings. Estrada picked up 5 strike outs and 6 ground outs. Rafael Ohashi followed and allowed 5 runs, though only one was “earned” due to some favourable scoring from the Lakeland scorer. The leadoff runner got on by error. The inning then went walk, sac bunt, ground out, single and then a 2-run HR. That was the end for Ohashi. Based on how the inning went, I would have said 4 of the runs should have been earned. Ohashi’s final line was 2.2 innings, 5 runs on 4 hits and a walk, while striking out 3. Sean Mellen followed and allowed 2 singles to the first 2 batters he faced, but ended up throwing 2.1 innings of scoreless relief, striking out 3. Gabriel Ponce threw a scoreless 10th to get the save, allowing a hit batter.

Today’s Probables

Buffalo sends TJ Zeuch (1-3, 4.35 ERA, 4.68 FIP, 4.62 xFIP) to the mound to take on Scranton/Wilkes-Barre today at 6:30

New Hampshire is underway at 6:00 against Portland once again. No starter has been named

Vancouver will take on Spokane at 9:30. Starter for that one is TBD

Dunedin & Lakeland do battle again at 6:00. Dunedin’s starter is unknown.