Baby Jays Recap - Richard Urena & Nick Podkul hit big HR’s

Buffalo (23-18) - Win 4-3 over Syracuse

Buffalo was able to battle back late in this one to secure a 4-3 win with a 2-run 8th inning being the difference. In that inning, Buffalo got a solo HR from Richard Urena (5) to tie the game and then a 2-out double from Logan Warmoth, who was driven home by Nash Knight to score the winning run. The Herd scored singles in the 2nd & the 6th innings. In the 2nd, Cullen Large singled and then Tyler White was hit by a pitch. Two outs later Warmoth walked and then Knight walked in a run. In the 6th, White doubled, moved to 3rd on a Urena flyout and scored on a Juan Graterol sac fly. All told, Warmoth was the only batter with 2 hits, a single and a double. Knight had a single and 2 walks, driving in 2. Breyvic Valera & Christian Colon each added singles.

TJ Zeuch got the ball and threw 6 innings, allowing 3 earned runs on 4 hits and 3 walks. Zeuch did record 4 strikeouts, but was his normal AAA ground ball machine. Kirby Snead threw a scoreless inning, allowing 2 walks and a strike out. Jeremy Beasley had a scoreless inning, allowing a walk. Hobie Harris recorded save #4, allowing a walk and striking out 2. Harris got the job done, but did need 21 pitches to get through the inning.

New Hampshire (19-24) - Win 10-3 over Bowie

Another game, another big comeback against a teams bullpen. New Hampshire trailed 3-2 heading into the 8th inning, when the bats came alive for 8 runs. The 8th started with a Nick Podkul fly out. Samad Taylor walked and moved to second on a wild pitch. Austin Martin & Otto Lopez both walked to load the bases. Gabriel Moreno singled in Taylor & Martin to give the Fisher Cats the lead. Jordan Groshans struck out before Chavez Young walked to load the bases again. Vinny Capra singled in 2 and then Tanner Kirwer walked to reload the bases. Podkul made good on his 2nd at-bat in the inning, hitting his 4th HR of the year, a grand slam to blow the game wide open. Taylor then walked for the second time in the inning, before Martin struck out to end the inning.

Earlier in the game, New Hampshire got 1 in the 2nd. Groshans singled, Young walked, Capra singled and then Kirwer walked in Groshans. Podkul would have seen his WPA dive as he then hit into a 5-2-3 double play. In the 6th, Lopez had a 1-out triple and scored on a Moreno groundout. On the day, Lopez, Moreno & Capra each had 2 hits. Lopez also added a walk. Taylor had 3 walks on the game. Kirwer had his first AA hit, a double, and 2 walks. Young had 2 walks. Podkul has now homered in back-to-back games against Bowie, doubling his output for the season.

Johnny Barbato started for New Hampshire, and was pretty good aside from the 2nd inning. The 2nd inning opened with a single, an RBI double, a walk, a wild pitch and then a triple. After allowing 3 runs, Barbato got a fly ball, a ground ball to 3rd where the runner was thrown out at the plate and then a runner picked off and caught stealing. Final line for Barbato was 6 innings, the 3 runs allowed on 7 hits and 2 walks. Barbato struck out 5. Graham Spraker came in and pitched 2 scoreless innings of relief, allowing only a hit batter while striking out 4. Jon Harris pitched the 9th and recorded 2 K’s.

Vancouver (24-20) - Loss 7-5 to Eugene

The bullpens giveth to Buffalo & New Hampshire, but taketh away from Vancouver. Vancouver took a 5-2 lead into the bottom of the 7th inning, but allowed 5 runs to lose this one. The C’s got 1 in the 4th as Cameron Eden had a 1-out single, stole 2nd and then stole 3rd and scored on a Sebastian Espino double. Espino then added a stolen base as well. The 6th plated 2 as Phil Clarke singled, Eden singled and then Spencer Horwitz reached on an error by the 2B of Eugene, to load the bases. Espino singled to drive in the 2 runs. In the 7th, Vancouver added 2 more, as Luis De Los Santos and Ryan Gold singled to start the inning. A strikeout and a ground out and Vancouver had runners on the corners. Rafael Lantigua stole second and then both De Los Santos and Lantigua scored on an Andres Guerra single. All told, Espino had 3 hits and drove in 3. Eden had 2 hits, a walk and 3 stolen bases. Tanner Morris had a single and a walk. Gold finished with a hit and 2 walks.

CJ Van Eyk started for Vancouver and had a decent start. Van Eyk threw 6 innings, allowing 3 hits and striking out 8. The hits were a single, a double and a solo HR, but it was a pretty solid outing from the 2020 draftee. Sean Mellen came in for the 7th and was touched up for 4 runs on 2 hits and 2 walks in 0.2 innings. 2 of the runs scored on a 3-run HR that Justin Maese allowed relieving Mellen. Maese threw the final 1.1 innings, allowing the HR and striking out 3.

Dunedin (17-24) - Tied 10-10 in the bottom of the 6th inning when game 1 was suspended

Dunedin had battled back to tie the game up when the rain opened up with 1 out in the bottom of the 6th. Nathanael Perez started and got through the 1st inning relatively smoothly before getting rocked for 6 runs in the 2nd. A solo HR to lead off the inning, bookended by a grand slam and Perez’s day was done. Perez walked 2, gave up 5 hits and struck out 4 over his 1.2 innings. Juan De Paula followed and wasn’t strong as he allowed 4 runs on 8 hits and a walk in 3.1 innings. However the 5 run top of the 6th inning let De Paula off the hook. Geison Urbaez replaced De Paula and got a quick ground out and a walk before the delay.

At the plate, Orelvis Martinez was having a big day. Martinez was 3-3 with 2 doubles and a hit-by-pitch through 6 innings. That included driving in 4 runs and scoring 2. Addison Barger had a 3-run HR in the 6th inning with 2-out to tie the game up. Zach Britton was 1-1 with a double, a walk and was hit by 2 pitches. Miguel Hiraldo was 1-2 with a walk and a sac fly. Zac Cook had a single and a double in his 4 trips to the plate. Leo Jimenez and Jhon Solarte each had a walk and had scored a run.

This one will get finished prior to the new game being played on Thursday.

Today’s Probables

Buffalo has a double header with Syracuse today, starting at 5:05 to make up Tuesday’s game that was postponed due to Covid. No starting pitchers have been named at this point.

New Hampshire takes on Bowie again, though no starter is listed

Vancouver looks to get back on the winning track. Adam Kloffenstein (2-3, 6.39 ERA, 4.76 FIP, 5.30 xFIP) gets the ball

Dunedin will attempt to finish up the game they started yesterday and then play one more game. No starter is listed for the night cap.

As you can see, with all of the injuries, there is a lack of clarity on starting pitchers at every level right now. It would be nice to see some clarity, but I don’t anticipate that for the time being.