Mariners 4 Twins 2
- The Twins fell again to the Mariners in another close hard fought game to lose the series to the Mariners by a score of 4-2 yesterday afternoon. The Twins road woes continued as they dropped to an unbelievable 7-18 away from the friendly confines of the Metrodome. Really this was the same as the other 2 games in this series as the Twins wasted opprotunity after opprotunity. In this one the Twins left an astounding 12 men on base in this one. For the series the Twins left a crazy 31 men on base in the 3 games. That is the biggest difference between last year and this year is they are not getting runners in when they have opprotunities. Last year they hit an unbelievable .313 with runners in scoring position and this year they are not doing nearly as well. In this one Denard Span was the only one with more than 1 hit as he went 2-4 to bring his average back up to .300 on the year. Joe Mauer hit his 9th double of the year and Brendan Harris hit his 9th double of the year and extended his career long hitting streak to 12 games. Mauer is now hitting .410 and Harris is hitting .284. Justin Morneau and Joe Crede each drove in runs in the game. For Morneau it was his 52nd of the year which is 3rd best in the American League and for Crede it was his 24th runs batted in. Michael Cuddyer and Carlos Gomez also contributed hits for the Twins in the losing cause.
- Kevin Slowey had his roughest start in quite a while yesterday as he was only able to last 4.2 innings and gave up 4 runs on 10 hits along with 2 walks and 2 strikeouts to raise his era to 4.21 on the year. You have to give him a break because going into this start Slowey had 5 consecutive quality starts and even though he was off in this one he still only gave up 4 runs which is not great, but also not terrible. He has been so good for the Twins this year that he deserves a free pass from Twins fans. If he has another one like this then it is ok to question what is going on with him, but it is way too early to worry about Slowey he will be just fine. RA Dickey continues to do the job in long relief as he went 2.1 innings of shutout relief of Slowey to bring his era down to 2.86 on the year. It took 3 relievers to get through the 8th inning as Jesse Crain got the first 2 outs, but gave up a hit and a walk, then Jose Mijeras came in for one batter which he walked, and Luis Ayala came on and got the last out to give the Twins to win it in the ninth inning.
- Tonight, the Twins begin a 4 game series down the coast in Oakland with rookie Anthony Swarzak getting the start for the Twins.
Rochester Wrap
Syracuse 11 Rochester 4
- The Red Wings continued their bad play as of late as the Red Wings dropped their 5th game this one to Syracuse 11-4. Philip Humber got the start in this one and was once again awful only lasting 5 innings and giving up 6 runs on 6 hits along with 5 walks and 5 strikeouts to raise his era to 6.37 and lower his record to 1-3. Ben Hendrickson came in relief and was no better than Humber in this one giving up 2 runs on 4 hits in only 2 innings of work along with 2 strikouts to raise his era to 6.48 on the season. I was expecting more out of Hendrickson when he was activated from the disabled list because he has big league experience and has thrown some quality innings. Hopefully, he get rebound and get it going because the Red Wings need some better pitching. Reid Santos then came on and got pummelled for 2 runs on 4 hits in his 1 inning of work. Santos era is now a very bad 5.91 on the season. Tim Lahey finished the game by doing what he always does and that is give up runs as he gave up a solo homerun to end the scoring.
- The Red Wings offense put some hits up, but far from enough to match the hitting Syracuse had against the Wings pitching. David Winfree and Jason Pridie led the Wings attack with 3 hits apiece. Pridie added his 9th double of the year and his 16th rbi. Winfree went 3-3 at the plate to bring his average up to .277 and added his 28th rbi of the year. Steve Tolleson contributed once again going 2-5 with his 4th double and his 3rd rbi to bring his season average up to .400. Tolleson has been a pleasant surprise since his callup as he has much better since his callup than he did at New Britain. Jose Morales, Justin Huber, Tommy Watkins, and Drew Butera each contributed hits for the Red Wings in the losing cause.
- Tonight, the Red Wings continue their series with Syracuse as Brian Duensing gets the start for Rochester.
New Britain Business
New Britain 11 Harrisburg 7
- The Rockcats broke out of a 2 game losing streak in a big way as they defeated Harrisburg yesterday 11-7 to salvage a game out of the three game series. The Rockcats were led by Wilson Ramos and Whit Robbins in this one as they had 3 hits apiece. Ramos went 3-5 with his 7th and 8th doubles of the year and 2 rbi's to bring his season total up to 14. With the 3 hits Ramos' average is up to a very good .292 on the year. Whit Robbins went 3-4 with his 14th double of the year and 2 rbi's to bring his total up to 29 on the year. With the 3 hits Robbins is now hitting a very good .337 which is the highest on the team. I was so not expecting this out of Robbins this year as he did ok last year at Fort Myers by hitting .268 with 6 homeruns and 42 rbi's. He has already surpassed his homerun total of all of last year and is closing in on the rbi's all the while hitting much better. I really can't explain the change, but it is a good thing. Juan Portes also had a big game going 2-5 to bring his average up to .309 on the year. Danny Valencia finally broke out of a 0-19 streak by getting his 11th double and driving in his 26th rbi of the year. Valencia is still only hitting .139 in his last 10 games, but hopefully that late double is the start of Valencia breaking out of this slump because he is too good of a hitter to continue to hit like this.
- Twins super prospect Carlos Gutierrez made his debut with the Rockcats and it could of been better, but it also could of been much worse. He really made one bad pitch that made his start look worse than it was. The good news is he picked up his first win with the Rockcats in this one. Gutierrez went 5 innings and gave up 5 runs on 7 hits, including a tough 3 run homerun with 2 outs in the 5th, along with 2 walks and 3 strikeouts. It was not a perfect first start, but sometimes it takes time to make the adjustment to a new set of hitters who you have not seen before and a new set of teammates that you have not played with before. In the end he is too talented and I really believe he will be just fine and will do good things for the Rockcats. Jose Lugo then came on and gave a run on 2 hits in 1.2 innings to raise his era to 5.46. Alex Burnett then came on and did a great job like usual going 2 innings and giving up a run on 2 hits to raise his era to a great 1.80 since the callup. Frank Mata then came on and finished it by getting an out to pick up his 2nd save of the year.
- The Rockcats are off today before they begin a series tommorrow at home against Altoona.
Fort Myers Minutes
Fort Myers 2 Lakeland 1
- The Miracle continued their climb to a first half division championship with a big 2-1 victory over Lakeland yesterday. With the win the Miracle's magic number to clinch the first half title is down to 5. Mike Mccardell was the story in this one as he continued the Miracles recent run of great pitching as he went 6 innings and only gave a run on only 4 hits along with 2 walks and 3 strikeouts to lower his very good era to 3.73 on the year. Mccardell has really come on after a slow start to be one of the most reliable starters for the Miracle all year. Just as impressive was the outing of Loek Van Mil who came in for Mccardell and pitched 2 perfect innings along with 2 strikeouts. Van Mil has not given up a run in 3 outings since his activation from the disabled list. Kyle Waldrop came in the 9th and picked up his 2nd save of the year by pitching a clean 9th inning for the Miracle.
- The Miracle continue their struggles as of late as they scored 2 runs in the first and were not able to add that after. Deibinson Romero hit a 2 run homerun in the bottom of the first to give the Miracle all the offense that they would need in this one. It was Romero's 1st homerun as a Miracle and drove in his 26th and 27th rbi's of the year. Romero is now hitting .219 on the year for the Miracle after a 1-35 stretch got his average down to .201. Deibinson Romero is too talented of a hitter to hit so badly so I am looking for a good 2nd half out of Romero to have a big year. Chris Parmalee added his 8th double of the year and Chris Cates added a single in the limited Miracle attack in this one.
- Tonight, the Miracle continue their series with Lakeland as Steve Hirschfeld is expected to get the start to replace Carlos Gutierrez who was promoted to New Britain.
Beloit Beat
Wisconsin 2 Beloit 1
Beloit 4 Wisconsin 1
- The Snappers finally got off the schnide as they broke a very tough 8 game losing streak as they were able to get a win in the night cap against Wisconsin. In the First game Dan Berlind pitched a very good game going the 7 inning complete game and only giving up 2 runs on 4 hits along with 3 walks and 5 strikeouts to be the tough luck loser. With the 2 runs allowed Berlind lowered his era to 3.94 on the year. In the 2nd game Dan Osterbrock continued his up and down season with a phenomenal start going all 7 innings for the complete game and giving up only a run on 4 hits with no walks and 6 strikeouts to pick up his 3rd win of the year. With the 1 run allowed Osterbrock's era is down to 5.55 on the year.
- In the 2 game series the Snappers continue to struggle with the bats as they were only able to muster 14 hits combined in the 2 games. In the first game the Snappers were led by Drew Thompson who had 2 hits along with 8th rbi on the year. Michael Harrington and Jeff Lanning added hits in the tough loss. In the 2nd game the Miracle did much better with the bats and were led by Ozzie Lewis who went 3-3 with his 9th double to bring his average up to .284. James Beresford and Ramon Santana also added 2 hits apiece. Santana also added his 10th double in the game. The Snappers had 5 doubles in the game by Santana his 10th, Lewis his 9th, Alex Soto his 5th, Jon Waltenbury his 9th, and doubles machine Michael Harrington with his organization high 19th double of the year. Harrington has really turned it on after a horrible April to bring his average up to .242 on the year. I really look for Harrington to have a big second half after struggling so much early on as he is showing now how good of a hitter he is. Angel Morales added his team high 23rd rbi to lead the Snappers to a big victory.
- Today, the Snappers finish off their series with Wisconsin as Bobby Lanigan is scheduled to pitch for Beloit.
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