Minors Notes

[weams]

Ian Locke

 

Chris Lee turned in six strong innings, but the Charlotte Knights plated a pair of late runs to knock off Norfolk 3-1 Friday night at Harbor Park.

 

After yielding a first inning run, Lee rebounded to spin five scoreless frames as he turned in his third Quality Start of the season. The 24-year-old southpaw – rated as the #7 prospect in the Orioles system according to MiLB.com – yielded four hits and three walks while matching his season-high with six strikeouts. He threw 61 of his 99 pitches for strikes as he lowered his ERA to 3.17 (12 ER, 34.0 IP) over his last seven starts.

 

With Lee’s effort, Norfolk’s starters have now posted a 2.81 ERA (10 ER, 32.0 IP) with three Quality Starts over the first five games of the current homestand.

 

Lee departed the contest with the game tied 1-1, but the Knights rallied in the seventh frame against Vidal Nuño (1-2). Charlotte plated two runs on four hits in the inning, with Everth Cabrera and Ryan Raburn registering RBI singles to give the Knights the lead.

 

Juan Minaya (1-0) earned the win with two shutout innings of relief for the Knights, while Brad Goldberg worked the final two innings to earn his fourth save of the season.

 

Paul Janish paced Norfolk’s offense with two hits, including a run-scoring single off Charlotte starter Tyler Danish in the fourth frame. Chance Sisco added a single and a double in the setback, as Norfolk saw its two-game winning streak snapped.

Joseph Fitzhenry

 

The Bowie Baysox (21-20) dropped a 9-2 decision to the Binghamton Rumble Ponies (21-14) in the series opener on Friday night at Prince George’s Stadium in Bowie.

 

Binghamton jumped out to an early 2-0 lead with a pair of runs in the first as a walk and a single started the inning before both runners scored later in the frame on RBI singles from Tomas Nido and Kevin Kaczmarski.

 

Nido’s two-run shot off of Baysox starter Matthew Grimes in the top of the third extended the lead for the Rumble Ponies to 4-0.

 

Grimes (0-4) allowed five runs (four earned) on eight hits while walking one and fanning four in 4.2 IP.

 

The Baysox loaded the bases with two outs in the fifth, but DJ Stewart flied out to deep center to end the inning.

 

In the top of the fifth, Bowie LHP Tim Berry (1.1 IP, H, 1 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, K) came on in relief of Grimes with a runner at first and two outs and walked the first two batters he faced to load the bases. A pair of runs scored on an error charged to 1B Aderlin Rodriguez to give the Rumble Ponies a 6-0 advantage.

 

Bowie got on the board with a run in the seventh as Yermin Mercedes (2-4, 2B, R) led off with a double, advanced to third on a groundout and later scored onSharlon Schoop’s two-out RBI single to cut the lead to 6-1.

 

Binghamton starter Donovan Hand (2-1) gave up the one run on seven hits to go along with three walks and two strikeouts in 6.0 IP.

 

A three-run eighth for the Rumble Ponies opened up a 9-1 advantage for the visitors.

 

In the home half of the eighth, Randolph Gassaway drew a one-out walk, advanced to third on Erick Salcedo’s double and scored on Schoop’s RBI single to bring the Baysox within 9-2.

 

Salcedo’s double extended his hitting streak to eight games.

 

RHP Jefri Hernandez (1.2 IP, 2 K) had a scoreless outing in relief for the Baysox.

 

Austin Wynns (2-3, 2B, 2 BB) also had a multi-hit game for manager Gary Kendall’s squad.

 

Geoff Arnold

 

oster Griffin delivered 7.2 scoreless innings to lead the Wilmington Blue Rocks (20-21) to a 2-0 shutout victory over the Frederick Keys (21-20) on Friday night at Nymeo Field. It was Wilmington’s fourth straight victory over the Keys.

 

Griffin (4-2) turned in his second-longest start of the year, scattering six hits over 7.2 frames to go with seven strikeouts. He walked two. The left-hander defeated the Keys last Sunday in Wilmington.

 

His counterpart, Cristian Alvarado, also turned in a quality start but was tagged with the loss. Over 6.1 innings, the Keys righty gave up two runs (one earned) on eight hits. Alvarado (2-4) struck out six and walked one.

 

Wilmington plated its first marker in the initial inning. Nicky Lopez began the game with a double and advanced to third on a Cody Jones groundout. Two batters later, Lopez scored on a passed ball.

 

The Blue Rocks only other run scored in the fourth, following a Chris DeVito double, Chase Vallot singled and Roman Collins added a sacrifice fly.

 

Frederick put runners in scoring position in four separate innings but could not break through against Griffin. The left-hander was relieved by Yunior Marte in the eighth, who struck out Ryan Mountcastle, before Richard Lovelady worked a scoreless ninth to record his first save. 

Will DeBoer

The Greensboro Grasshoppers used six unanswered runs from the second through fifth innings to soar past the Delmarva Shorebirds 6-3 on Friday night at First National Bank Field. Delmarva has now lost seven of its last eight.

Dylan Lee (3-3) earned the win for the Grasshoppers (23-17) after six innings of three-run four hit ball. He walked one and struck out four. Matthias Dietz (0-4) took the loss or the Shorebirds (16-23) after only lasting four-plus innings, allowing six runs (three earned) on five hits. It was his shortest start in over a month. Ryley MacEachern picked up his first save with a perfect ninth.

Collin Woody laced a two-out double in the top of the first inning. Gerrion Grim followed by bashing a two-run homer to the picnic area in left center. It was Grim’s sixth home run of the year, a new career high, and put the Shorebirds up 2-0.

Greensboro responded to tie it in the second. Colby Lusignan was hit by a pitch to start the inning, then after a flyout, Justin Twine rocked a line drive that one-hopped the wall in center. Lusignan scored on the double to make it 2-1, and Twine moved up to third on a throwing error. A Jarett Rindfleisch groundout brought home Twine to tie the game.

The Grasshoppers took the lead in the bottom of the third on a walk, single, and James Nelson RBI single. In the bottom of the fifth Luis Pintor walked, Aaron Knapp reached on an error, and Corey Bird bunted his way aboard to load the bases with nobody out. It was Nelson who came through again at the plate, tagging a two-run single into center to make it 5-2 and knock Dietz out of the game. A Boo Vasquez sac fly to right brought home a third run in the frame two batters later.

Grim had an answer for the Shorebirds in the top of the sixth, unleashing a two-out solo home run to the construction zone in right center. Grim now has seven home runs on the year, tied with Jake Ring for the team lead and tied for fourth in the South Atlantic League.

The bullpen settled in from there for Greensboro as L.J. Brewster and MacEachern combined for three perfect innings to seal the deal.

Woody and Grim combined for all four hits for the Shorebirds, each going 2-for-4. Alejandro Juvier drew a walk against Lee as the only other Shorebird baserunner. Frank Crinella snapped a seven-game hitting streak with an 0-for-3 night.

Nelson finished 3-for-4 with three RBIs to lead the way for the Grasshoppers, while Bird went 2-for-4 with a run and stolen base, and Aaron Knapp scored twice.

Jhon Peluffo and Matt Trowbridge combined for four scoreless innings out of the ‘pen for Delmarva.

The Shorebirds now have three multi-home run games this season (Ryan McKenna, Jake Ring), losing all three times.