Triple-A: Durham Bulls (Rays) 6, Norfolk Tides 4 – Game 1
One bad inning sunk the Tides in this one. The top of the third inning saw the Bulls send 11 batters to the plate and score all six of their runs for the game off of five hits (including a two-run homer), two walks, and a hit by pitch. All six of the runs were charged to starter Trace Bright, but two of them came in after José Espada came on to try to quiet things down.
Anthony Nunez had a nice night. He tossed two shutout innings and struck out four. Josh Walker and Kyle Nicolas combined for a scoreless
seventh inning as well.
Norfolk’ lineup outhit Durham’s 7-to-4, but they lacked much pop. Heston Kjerstad went 1-for-4 with their lone extra-base hit, a double, and three strikeouts. A rehabbing Dylan Beavers made his first appearance at Triple-A, going 0-for-3 with a walk and a strikeout. José Barrero collected three hits, a run, and an RBI. Bryan Ramos had a hit, two walks, and two RBI.
Triple-A: Durham Bulls (Rays) 5, Norfolk Tides 3 – Game 2
The second game of the double header was a sloppy one for Norfolk. Their pitchers issued nine walks, and the defense made a pair of errors behind them. That meant that only three of the five runs allowed were earned by the pitching staff.
Yaqui Rivera started and gave up two runs on five walks and five strikeouts over 2.1 innings. Dietrich Enns followed and gave up three runs (only one earned) on a hit, two walks, and three strikeouts in his 2.2 frames. Andrew Magno and Cameron Weston worked one shutout inning apiece.
The first five hitters in the Tides lineup had one hit each, going 5-for-17 with three walks and four strikeouts as a group. The final four hitters went a combined 0-for-9 with two walks and two strikeouts. Kjerstad had one of those hits and drove in two of the team’s runs with a fifth-inning single. Jud Fabian had the other RBI on a sac fly. Beavers did not play in the night cap.
Double-A: Harrisburg Senators (Nationals) 3, Chesapeake Baysox 2
This was a standout performance for Baysox starter Juaron Watts-Brown, even though he was saddled with the loss. Over six innings the righty allowed just one run on five hits (one home run), one walk, and eight strikeouts. Cohen Achen came on for the seventh and would allow one unearned run due to an error by Anderson De Los Santos at third base. Juan Rojas was charged with a run in the ninth inning after walking the lead-off hitter, which came around to score after he was pulled in favor of Alex Pham.
Both of Chesapeake’s runs scored on solo homers in the ninth inning. Ethan Anderson hit his 14th of the year, and Aron Estrada smacked his 12th to bring the home team within one run. But there were few chances to score other than that. The team had only three at-bats with runners in scoring position and left a measly four runners stranded.
High-A: Frederick Keys 2, Wilmington Blue Rocks (Nationals) 0
The Keys came out swinging, scoring two runs in the top of the first inning, which would prove to be all they would need to earn the win. RJ Austin led off with a single and quickly scored on an Ike Irish double. A wild pitch moved Irish to third base, and he then scored on a Victor Figueroa sac fly. The Keys would have just three more hits and zero runs for the remainder of the game.
Luckily, the Frederick pitching staff was on top of its game. Caden Hunter set the tone with five shutout innings in which he allowed one run, three walks, and eight strikeouts to lower his season ERA to 2.11. Richard Guasch worked a perfect sixth inning. And it was Riley Cooper to close out the final three innings, striking out five in the process.
Low-A: Fayettville Woodpeckers (Astros) 6, Delmarva Shorebirds 2
There were some positives in the latest Delmarva loss. For example, Jaiden Lo Re had two hits, a walk, an RBI, and a stolen base. The 19-year-old has a .918 OPS since being promoted to Low-A. Braylon Whitaker had a three-hit game. Raylin Ramos hit his fourth home run of the season.
On the pitching side of things, starter Christian Rodriguez looked good. Over seven innings he gave up two runs on seven hits, two walks, and two strikeouts. Kenny Leiner had a tougher day, coughing up four runs and only recording two outs. Zac Lampton did get the final out of the eighth inning, but not before allowing one of his inherited runners to score on a single.
Thursday’s Schedule
Norfolk: vs Durham, 12:05. Starter: Chris Kachmar (1-0, 5.17 ERA)
Chesapeake: vs Harrisburg, 6:35 pm. Starter: Evan Yates (4-3, 5.14 ERA)
Frederick: at Wilmington, 6:35 pm. Starter: J.T. Quinn (3-0, 3.30 ERA)
Delmarva: at Fayetteville, 6:35 pm. Starter: Esteban Mejia (0-4, 8.17 ERA)
