- The Twins suffered their 3rd straight loss and their 8th loss in their last 9 road games with a tough 5-2 loss to the Rays yesterday. The Twins ran into a tough pitcher in David Price who struck out 11 Twins in 5.2 innings. Francisco Liriano got the start for the Twins and I don't know how to explain the day he had other than to say he threw 94 pitches in 4 innings. The Rays did not hit many balls hard against Liriano but he just could not finish off the hitters very well. It was especially true in the 3rd inning where the Rays got 3 runs to pretty much put the game out of reach as they turned a 1-1 game into a 4-1 game with 3 runs. In that inning Liriano threw 47 pitches to get the 3 outs. It was the same every hitting he would get ahead 0-2 or 1-2 and they would fould pitch after pitch off and somehow would get to 3-2. Then they would hit a chopper that the Twins could do nothing about. In all the Rays had 3 infield singles in 3rd along with a Evan Longoria rbi bloop single barely over Alexi Casilla's head. Liriano did not help himself with 3 walks and 2 wild pitches in the inning, but he was not as bad as his line would indicate. I will admit during the game I wanted him sent to the bullpen or the minor leagues. However, after calming down and looking at the game rationally his control of the strikezone was much better he just did not have a great slider so he couldn't finish off these hitters. His changeup right now is just to throw people off his fastball maybe he could develop it a little more for it to become a strikeout pitch ala Johan Santana. RA Dickey came in relief and did his job as normal pitching 4 innings and only giving up 1 run to lower his very good era down to 3.26 on the year. When the Twins put Dickey in situations like this he has done a great job allowing the Twins the chance to come back in the game and thats all you can ask for out of your long reliever.
- The Twins really could not figure out David Price or Grant Balfour as they combined for 14 strikeouts. Sometimes the pitching is just too good and on this day they ran into the David Price show. Price if he can throw strikes like he did yesterday is almost unhittable. The Twins were only able to muster 6 hits in the game. They were led by the M&M boys once again as they combined for 2 hits and a walk in the game. Justin Morneau had a hit along with his 46th rbi of the year. Alexi Casilla returned to the lineup and contributed a hit and his 5th rbi of the year. Joe Mauer, Denard Span, Brendan Harris, and Carlos Gomez also contributed a hit apiece for the Twins. Delmon Young continued his struggles as he went 0-4 with 3 strikeouts. In 6 games since his return from the death of his mother Young is 2-23 with 13 strikeouts. I know we need to be patient with him because he is such a streaky hitter but he is not being patient at all up there and doesn't seem to have a clue whats going on at the plate. For the Twins to have a chance to contend we need more out of Young then we are getting right now so hopefully he can get it going again.
- Today, the Twins finish off the season series with the Rays with Nick Blackburn gong to the hill for the Twins and will square off against former Twin Matt Garza.
Rochester Wrap
Rochester 6 Lehigh Valley 3
- The Red Wings took their 2nd straight from Lehigh Valley with a very impressive 6-3 victory last night. Steve Tolleson made his season debut with the Red Wings and did not disappoint as he went 2-3 with his 1st double of the year and also added a walk. Jason Pridie also had a big night going 3-5 with his 13th and 14th stolen bases. After getting off to a slow start Pridie is starting to get it going as he raised his average to .246 on the year. Jose Morales also had a big night going 2-4 with his 7th and 8th rbi's of the year. He is now hitting .297 on the season in only a handful of games. Tommy Watkins also added a hit and his 5th rbi of the year. Justin Huber, David Winfree, and Drew Butera also added singles for Rochester.
- It was not the prettiest of outings, but Jason Jones kept the Red Wings in the game and picked up his 1st win with the Red Wings improving to 1-4 on the season. Jones went 5.2 innings and gave up 6 hits and 3 runs on 2 homeruns along with 2 walks and 4 strikeouts. Jones is not the pitcher many of us expected when we gave up a solid reliever to obtain him in spring training, however he seems to be coming on and being a serviceable pitcher. Juan Morillo came in relief and got 4 outs, but he walked 2 batters and that is something no Twins fan wants to see. Really walks are the only stat we need to pay attention to with Morillo and based on that even though he did not give up any runs this was not a good outing for him. Bobby Keppel then came in and pitched a clean 8th inning. Mike Gosling, the new Wings closer, came on in the 9th to pick up his first save in a Wings uniform.
- Today, the Wings continue their series with Lehigh Valley as staff ace Kevin Mulvey gets the start for Rochester.
New Britain Business
New Britain 6 Binghamton 5
- The Rockcats got back on the winning side as the bats picked up Jay Rainville after a so so start in the Rockcats 6-5 victory over Binghamton. Danny Valencia and Rene Tosoni were the story in this game as they combined to go 4-7 with 2 homeruns and 5 rbi's. Valencia went 2-3 with his 6th homerun of the year and 2 rbi's to bring his season total up to 24. With the 2 hits in the game Valencia is now hitt a very good .321 this year. If I have said it once I have said it a thousand times Danny Valencia is ready for AAA as his .321 average and great defense would attest to. I really hope he gets the chance to get to AAA this year, because he has shown when he gets promoted it takes about 25-30 games for Danny to get used to the pitching, but when he gets it he takes off so the sooner he gets there the better. Rene Tosoni also had a big day as went 2-4 with his 7th homerun of the year a 3 run shot that put the Rockcats back in the lead. Tosoni improved his average up to .252 and the 3 rbi's brough his season total up to 28. Brandon Roberts, Brian Dinkelman, Whit Robbins, Erik Lis, Matt Moses, Yancarlos Ortiz, and Danny Lehman all contributed hits for the Rockcats.
- Jay Rainville continues to be an enigma for the Rockcats because every time you think he his turning the corner and being the pitcher we all know he can be he has a stinker like he had last night. Rainville went 5.2 innings and gave up 5 runs on 7 hits along with 2 walks and 1 strikeout. With the 5 runs it increased Rainville's era to 5.17 on the year. I really don't get him he can be so good one start and then pitch bad the next. If he is going to move up to AAA he is going to have to get more consistant because the talent is there he just has to bring that focus on a nightly basis. The bullpen really picked up Rainville as they went 4.1 innings of shutout ball. Frank Mata was the first guy out of the pen getting out of the 6th inning getting an out. Rob Delaney then came in the 7th inning and pitched 2 wonderful innings not giving up anything and striking out 4 batters. Anthony Slama came in the 9th and slammed the door for his 10th save of the season.
- Today, the Rockcats finish their weekend series with Binghamton as Ryan Mullins gets the start for New Britain.
Miracle Minutes
Fort Myers 7 Brevand County 1
- The Miracle continued their dominant first half of the year by beating up on fellow first place Brevand County 7-1 last night. David Bromberg got the start and man was he dominant as he went 6 innings and only gave up a run on 5 hits with 1 walk and an awesome 12 strikeouts. Bromberg blew the hitters away with a 94 mile per hour fastball and good breaking pitches. With the great outing Bromberg's era is down to 1.94 on the year. Bromberg improved his record to 5-0 on the year in his finest outing as a professional. Bromberg and Gutierrez have made quite a 1-2 punch in the rotation for the Miracle and will look to keep it going next time out. Kyle Waldrop came in relief and was very good as well pitching the last 3 innings to pick up his 1st save of the year for the Miracle. In 3 innings he gave up 4 hits and struck out 2 batters to lower his era to 4.00 on the year.
- The Miracle brought their hitting shoes to the ballpark as well as they had 14 hits along with their 7 runs. The hitting star by far has to be Deibinson Romero who was coming into the game on a 1-36 streak. In this one Romero went 2-5 and drove in his 22nd and 23rd runs of the year. Hopefully this is the start of a rebirth for Romero who is too good to be only hitting barely over .200 for the year. Marc Dolenc also had a big game going 3-4 to bring his average up to a very good .301. Chris Cates had another big game going 3-5 with 2 rbi's to bring his total up to 15 on the season. Ben Revere was not going to be outdone going 1-2 with a walk and his 22nd rbi of the year. Rene Leveret had 2 big hits to bring his average up to .363. Steve Singelton, Danny Berg, and Allan De San Miguel also contributed with a hit.
- The Miracle continue their series with Brevand County this afternoon with Tyler Robertson getting the start for Fort Myers.
Beloit Beat
Kane County 5 Beloit 2
- The Snappers saw their brief 2 game winning streak come to an end in a very tight highly contested game against first place Kane County 5-2. Michael Allen was on the hill for the Snappers and was ok once again, but that didn't stop him from dropping his record to an awful 0-7 on the year. Allen went 6 innings and gave up 3 earned runs on 8 hits along with 1 walk and 6 strikeouts. Bruce Pugh came in relief and went 2 innings and gave up 1 run on 2 hits along with a walk and 4 strikeouts. Michael Tarsi finished off the game with a shutout inning with a strikeout. His era on the season now is 5.14 in only a few innings so he has pitched better than his era indicates. The Snappers have been pitching better and if they can keep this up they will be in many more of these games and possibly get some more wins.
- The Snappers offense was really handcuffed by the Kane County pitchers as they were only able to get 6 hits on the night. Ramon Santana had the best night going 1-4 with his 20th rbi of the year. Besides him noone had more than one hit and basically they could not do much against the Kane pitchers. James Beresford went 1-3 with a walk to bring his average up to a very good .315 on the year. Nathan Hansen contributed his 7th double of the year for the Snappers. Alex Soto, Angel Morales, and Juan Richardson also contributed hits for the Snappers.
- Today, the Snappers finish off their series with Kane County as Dan Berlind gets the start for Beloit as the Snappers try to take the series.
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