Mariners 2 Twins 1
- After winning a close up and down game on Friday night the Twins fell in the exact type of game Saturday afternoon to the Mariners by a score of 2-1. Even though they lost the game the story of it is the continued excellence of Twins starter Nick Blackburn. Blackburn went 7 innings and only gave up 1 run on only 6 hits along with a walk and a strikeout. Blackburn ended up getting a no decision to keep his season record at 5-2. With the 1 run allowed Blackburn lowered his starter low 3.30 on the season. Nick Blackburn has been the biggest surprise for me this year because I was not expected much out of the tall right hander this year, but he has proven me wrong and I really hope he can keep it coming because the Twins really could use a good year out of Blackburn after the way some of our other pitchers are going. Sean Henn came on then and gave up a run in his 2/3 of an inning thanks to a 2 out rbi double by Ken Griffey Jr to score Ichiro Suzuki from first base. Really anyone else and the run would not of scored so I didn't think he pitched that bad. He took his first loss of the year and raised his era to still a very good 3.52. Luis Ayala then come on a got a flyout to end the inning.
- The story of the game offensively for the Twins was wasted opprotunities as they left 9 guys on base and had their chances all day against Mariner starter Jarrod Washburn. A bright spot for the Twins is the play of Alexi Casilla lately as he added 2 more hits and has 4 in the series to bring his average up to .190 on the year. After really struggling at the beginning of the year which led to a demotion to Rochester Casilla is playing very well right now being the guy that we got used to seeing last season with the Twins. When Nick Punto comes back I don't know who it will be to go, but it will not be Casilla he is back to being the solid second basemen we are used to seeing. Joe Crede had a big game going 2-4 to raise his average to .235. Mike Redmond had the only rbi of the game for the Twins driving a run scoring double to score Joe Crede to put the Twins on top. Michael Cuddyer and Brian Buscher also contributed hits in the tough Twins loss.
- Today, the Twins finish off their series with the Mariners as they will face Mariner pitcher Erik Bedard and the Twins will send out Kevin Slowey looking to tie Roy Halladay with 9 wins on the year.
Rochester Wrap
Syracuse 3 Rochester 2
- The Red Wings continued their struggles last night as they dropped their 4th consecutive game as they fell to Syracuse 3-2. Bobby Keppel made his starting debut for the Red Wings and was very good for the Wings. Keppel went 7 innings and gave up 2 earned runs on 6 hits and added 5 strikeouts in the very effective start. He was the very unlucky guy because of a Luke Hughes error led to an unearned run so he was the tough luck loser to make his record on the year 2-2. With the 2 earned runs Keppel lowered his era to a very good 2.38 on the season. Keppel has done no matter where they have put him and if the Twins need a reliever I would definately have no problem him getting the call because he has definately earned a call up. Juan Morillo then came on in to pitch the last 2 innings. The good news is he did not give up a run to lower his era to 3.54. The bad news is he walked 3 batters along with his 4 strikeouts and the walks just have to get better if he is going to get a call to the majors again. He started good with this but he has walked 7 batters in his last 4.2 innings. He obviously needs to get better and I am hopeful that he can do that, but really it is up to him there is nothing anyone can do to help him he has to be the one to get it done.
- The Red Wings are starting to create a pattern right now of not getting the big hit when they need it as they left on 8 more runners yesterday. Jose Morales had a big day going 2-4 to bring his season average to .275 on the year. Trevor Plouffe went 1-4 with his 7th double of the year and drove in his 32nd and 33rd rbi's of the year. Plouffe is not hitting for a high average of only .231, but leads the team with 33 rbi's. Brock Peterson continued his recent string of strong play going 2-2 along with a walk to bring his average to .205 on the year. Peterson is 5 for his last 6 so that is some reason for optimism that Brock can turn it around and be a key player for the Red Wings. Steve Tolleson, David Winfree, and Dustin Martin added singles for the Red Wings.
- Today, the Red Wings continue their series with Syracuse as Philip Humber gets the start for Rochester.
New Britain Business
Harrisburg 8 New Britain 3
- The Rockcats lost for the second consecutive time to Harrisburg last night by a score of 8-3. Cole Devries got the start for the Rockcats and was not very good for the first time in quite a while. Devries lasted 5 innings and gave 5 runs on 8 hits along with a walk and 2 strikeouts and gave up 3 homeruns in the tough outing to drop his record to 4-5. With the 4 earned runs allowed Cole's era was raised to 3.05 on the year. Cole Devries has been so good this season that when he has a rough outing everyone is like what is going on, but people should not get too excited about it because he has proven that one bad start does not get to him so I would expect him to come back strong next time. Frank Mata then came on and did what he has been doing a good job of lately and that is giving up runs. In his inning of work Mata gave up 3 runs on only 2 hits along with a walk to bring his era to 5.13 on the year. Yohan Pino then came on and pitched a good 7th inning. Zack Ward then pitched a clean bottom of the 8th to end the pitching portion of the game.
- In a game that the Rockcats needed the offense to pick up the pitching staff and they just couldn't get it done as they only had 6 hits. Whit Robbins and Erik Lis each contributed 2 hits in the game. Whit Robbins also hit his 7th homerun of the year along with his 27th rbi. Robbins is now hitting .328 on the year after the 2 hits. Wilson Ramos added his 6th double of the year in the losing cause and Brandon Roberts added his 19th rbi of the year. In a note that I haven't really talked about is the slump that Danny Valencia is in. Valencia is 0-18 and 4 for his last 32. I am not very worried about it because Danny is too good of a hitter for it to last much longer plus in that streak he has walked 8 times so he is still finding a way to get on base which is important for any hitter.
- Today, the Rockcats finish off their series with Harrisburg as new Rockcat Carlos Gutierrez gets the start for New Britain.
Fort Myers Minutes
Fort Myers 1 Clearwater 0
- The Miracle continue to find ways to get it done even though they are struggling as of late with the bats the pitching has picked it up as the Miracle pulled another one out in the bottom of the 9th 1-0 over Clearwater. Tyler Robertson was the story of the game as he has pitched really well as of late after getting off to a slow start for the Miracle. In this one Robertson went 7 innings and did not give up a run and scattered 8 hits in his 7 innings along with 2 walks and 4 strikeouts. After his 0 runs in 7 innings Robertson's era is down to 3.42 on the year. Tyler has been really good as of late compiling a 3-2 record with a very good 2.85 era in his last 10 starts and has a 13 inning scoreless streak going. Henry Arias then come on and pitched 2 very effective innings to pick up the win for the Miracle his first of the year and lowered his era to 5.87.
- The Miracle continued their hitting woes in this one as they were only able to muster 7 hits, but got them when it counted as they had 2 hits and a walk to push across the winning run in this one. Rene Leveret was the hero in this one as he won the game with a pinch hit single to score Nick Romero with the winning run. Leveret drove in his 21th run of the year and raised his average to a very good .345. Ben Revere also had a big game going 1-4 with his 23rd and 24th stolen bases of the year. His average now stands at .333 on the year which is 2nd highest on the team behind Rene Leveret. Chris Parmalee added his 7th double of the year for the Miracle. Evan Bigley, Nick Romero, Chris Cates, and Allan De San Miguel also contributed hits for the Miracle's win as they saw their magic number to clinch the first half title go down to 6.
- Today, the Miracle begin a series with Lakeland as Mike Mccardell gets the start for Fort Myers.
Beloit Beat
- The Snappers had their game last night against Wisconsin rained out and will play a double header today with Dan Berlind pitching in the first game and Dan Osterbrock starting in the 2nd game.
