Pillar Mashes: June 30 Minor League Report

Buffalo Bisons (42-40)

Kevin Pillar continues to make things look easy in Buffalo as the Bisons beat the Charlotte Knights 11-3 in a rain (slightly) shortened game on Sunday afternoon. Pillar went four for six with three runs scored, a stolen base, a home run, a double and three RBI to go along with an outfield assist in a monstrous game for the Bisons. Four other Bisons had multi-hit games in the fifteen-hit attack including Ryan Goins (two singles, a run, a walk and an RBI), Jim Negrych (single, double, two walks and two RBI), Eugenio Velez (single, double and two RBI) and Mike McCoy who had two singles, a walk and a stolen base. Justin Germano was solid through five and a third, giving up three runs on eight hits and three walks and the bullpen finished the game off by only allowing one walk.

Hitting:

Kevin Pillar – 4/6, 3 R, 2B, HR, 3 RBI, K, SB, OF Asst.
Ryan Goins – 2/4, R, RBI, BB
Mauro Gomez – 1/3, 2 R, 2 BB, K
Luis Jimenez – 0/4, R, BB, 2 K
Jim Negrych – 2/5, R, 2B, 2 RBI, 2 BB, CS
Eugenio Velez – 2/5, R, 2B, 2 RBI
Ramon Hernandez – 1/5, RBI, K, E
Anthony Gose – 1/5, R, 2B, 2 K
Mike McCoy – 2/3, R, BB

Pitching:

Justin Germano – W, 5 1/3 IP, 8 H, 3 R, 3 BB, 4 K
Tommy Hottovy – 1 2/3 IP, 1 BB, 1 K
Buddy Carlyle – 1 IP, 2 K
Claudio Vargas – 2/3 IP, 1 K

Jay Blue’s Player of the Game: Kevin Pillar

New Hampshire Fisher Cats (39-43)

The New Hampshire Fisher Cats lost their third in a row to the Portland Sea Dogs after a 13-5 defeat on Sunday afternoon. With scheduled starter Ryan Tepera scratched on game-day, lefty Matt Wright was pressed into service and got hit hard by the Sea Dogs, giving up four runs on six hits (including a home run) in his three innings. Reliever Randy Boone was the unfortunate victim of a six-run barrage by Portland in the fourth that included a grand slam by Travis Shaw although all six runs scored that inning were unearned. Boone gave up another three runs on a three-run blast by Tony Thomas in the fifth. Things settled down after that with the Fisher Cats getting four scoreless innings from Scott Gracey and Tyson Brummett. The offense was bolstered by strong games from Adam Loewen, Brad Glenn and Kevin Ahrens. Ahrens hit his first home run of the season, a monster blast out to the hotel that sits beyond the left field wall, in the second inning. Brad Glenn drove in two runs on his single and double and Adam Loewen came up just a home run short of the cycle, going three for five.

Mar. 9, 2013; Phoenix, AZ, USA: Canada outfielder

Michael Saunders

(right) is congratulated by Adam Loewen after scoring in the first inning against Mexico during the World Baseball Classic at Chase Field. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports

Hitting:

Adam Loewen – 3/5, R, 2B, 3B, K
Andy Burns – 1/5, R, 3 K, E
A.J. Jimenez – 1/3, 2 BB
Brad Glenn – 2/5, R, 2B, 2 RBI, 2 K, OF Asst.
Ryan Schimpf – 1/4, R, 2B
Kevin Nolan – 0/2, RBI, BB, K
Kevin Ahrens – 1/4, R, HR, 2 RBI, K
Jack Murphy – 0/4, K
Amadeo Zazueta – 1/4

Pitching:

Matt Wright – L, 3 IP, 6 H, 4 R, 1 BB, 1 K, 1 HR
Randy Boone – 2 IP, 7 H, 9 R (3 ER), 2 BB, 1 K, 2 HR
Scott Gracey – 2 IP, 3 H, 1 K
Tyson Brummett – 2 IP, 1 H, 1 BB, 3 K

Jay Blue’s Player of the Game: Adam Loewen

Dunedin Blue Jays (41-35)

Game suspended due to rain.

Lansing Lugnuts (34-45)

The Lansing Lugnuts showed patience but couldn’t match the Great Lakes Loons who beat them 8-5. Despite taking nine walks as a team, the Lugnuts only had five hits, including three by Christian Lopes. Dalton Pompey had a good game, going one for three with two walks and his twenty-fifth stolen base while Dwight Smith Jr. had two more walks and Kellen Sweeney went one for two with a pair of walks. Starter Alonzo Gonzalez and reliever Kramer Champlin gave up all of the Loons’ runs in the first six innings on a total of thirteen hits between them. Wil Browning pitched two good innings and Arik Sikula threw a scoreless ninth to finish the game.

Hitting:

Dalton Pompey – 1/3, R, 2 BB, K, SB
Dwight Smith, Jr. – 0/3, 2 R, RBI, 2 BB
Christian Lopes – 3/4, R, 2 2B, RBI, BB, K
Kevin Patterson – 0/4, 2 RBI, 2 K, SF
Carlos Ramirez – 0/4, 3 K, SB
Santiago Nessy – 0/4, 3 K
Jorge Flores – 0/3, BB, K, CS
Kellen Sweeney – 1/2, R, 2 BB
Emilio Guerrero – 0/3, BB, K

Pitching:

Alonzo Gonzalez – L, 2 2/3 IP, 7 H, 5 R (2 ER), 3 BB, 3 K, 1 HR
Kramer Champlin – 3 1/3 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 2 BB, 3 K
Wil Browning – 2 IP, 1 H, 2 BB, 4 K
Arik Sikula – 1 IP, 1 H, 1 BB, 1 K

Jay Blue’s Player of the Game: Christian Lopes

Vancouver Canadians (10-7)

June 29 Game:

Thunder Bay native Eric Brown starred again for the Vancouver Canadians as they defeated the Tri-City Dust Devils 5-2 on Saturday night. Brown threw five shutout innings, lowering his ERA to 0.76 while Joe Spano gave up the two Tri-City runs and Matt Johnson followed with two innings of scoreless relief. Chuck Ghysels picked up the save, striking out the side in the ninth. The Canadians got contributions up and down their lineup as eight of the nine starters had hits in an eleven-hit effort from the offense. There was somewhat of a power outage, though, as all of the hits were singles but the team added seven walks to that total in producing the five runs. Dickie Thon and a pair of 2013 draftees — L.B. Dantzler and Brenden Kalfus — had two-hit nights while Jorge Vega-Rosado (the only player who didn’t get a hit) took a pair of walks ans stole a base. The C’s ran wild on the base paths on Saturday, stealing five bases off of the Dust-Devils with Ian Parmley swiping two, catcher Michael Reeves, right fielder Kalfus and second baseman Vega-Rosado each stealing one.

Hitting:

Ian Parmley – 1/4, BB, 2 SB
Dickie Thon – 2/4, R, BB, 2 K
L.B. Dantzler -2/5, R, E
Jordan Leyland – 1/5, K
Brenden Kalfus – 2/4, R, RBI, BB, SB
Michael Reeves – 1/4, R, RBI, BB, SB
Jorge Vega-Rosado – 0/2, R, 2 BB, 2 K, SB
Nico Taylor – 1/3, RBI, BB
David Harris – 1/4, RBI, 2 K

Pitching:

Eric Brown – W, 5 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K
Joe Spano – 1 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 0 BB, 1 K
Matt Johnson – 2 IP, 1 BB, 2 K
Chuck Ghysels – S, 1 IP, 1 H, 3 K

Jay Blue’s Player of the Game: Eric Brown

June 30 Game:

Vancouver hit the double-digit win mark with a 7-3 victory over the Tri-City Dust Devils. Starter Scott Silverstein, making his first start since his promotion to Vancouver (and second start of his pro career), gave up three runs on five hits and three walks in his three innings, but Justin James stepped up with four shutout innings, giving up only one hit. On the offensive side, the top two hitters, Ian Parmley and Dickie Thon each went two for four while every other starter ended up with at least one hit except for catcher Matt Hitt. DH Daniel Klein hit his first home run of the season, a solo blast in the fifth.

Hitting:

Ian Parmley – 2/4, R, RBI, K
Dickie Thon – 2/4, 2 R, 2B, 2 RBI, 2 K
L.B. Dantzler – 1/4, K
Jordan Leyland – 1/4, 2B, 2 K, E
Brendan Kalfus – 1/3, RBI, BB, CS
Daniel Klein – 1/3, R, HR, RBI, BB, K
Justin Atkinson – 1/4, R
Andy Fermin – 1/3, R, SB, CS
Matt Hitt – 0/3, R, 2 K

Pitching:

Scott Silverstein – 3 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 3 BB
Justin James – W, 4 IP, 1 H, 2 K
Markus Brisker – 1 IP, 2 BB
Brandon Dorsett – 1 IP, 1 BB

Jay Blue’s Player of the Game: Dickie Thon

Late night game summaries for the Vancouver Canadians will appear two days after the game day.

Bluefield Blue Jays (8-3)

The Bluefield Blue Jays got some outstanding pitching performances and wielded mighty bats in a 6-3 win over the Danville Braves. While starter Chase DeJong gave up three runs over his three innings on five hits and one walk (with four strikeouts) both Brett Barber and Shane Dawson absolutely dominated the Braves. Barber struck out four in his two innings and Dawson struck out six in his four innings and neither faced any more batters than the minimum. Mitch Nay had quite a day with the bat, going three for four with three singles and three runs batted in while Angel Rojas hit a home run and Jorge Saez, Garrett Custons and D.J. Davis each had two hits. Davis hit a triple and stole a base while Saez smacked two doubles and Custons had two singles and an RBI.

Hitting:

D.J. Davis –2/5, 2 R, 1 3B, SB
Tim Locastro – 1/5, R
Dawel Lugo – 1/5, R, 2B, RBI, K
Mitch Nay – 3/4, R, 3 RBI, BB, K
Jorge Saez – 2/5, 2 2B, K
Jonathan Davis – 0/3, 2 BB, SB
Garrett Custons – 2/4, RBI, 2 K, CS
Angel Rojas – 1/4, R, HR, RBI, K
D.J. Jones – 0/2, 2 K, SB
Derrick Loveless – 0/1, BB

Pitching:

Chase DeJong – 3 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 1 BB, 4 K
Brett Barber – W, 2 IP, 4 K
Shane Dawson – S, 4 IP, 6 K

Jay Blue’s Player of the Game: Brett Barber and Shane Dawson

Gulf Coast League Blue Jays (4-4)

Scheduled Off Day

If you like what you’ve seen by Jay Blue, read his work and listen to his podcast on Blue Jays from Away and follow him on Twitter: @Jaysfromaway.

Schedule