Rochester Wrap

Columbus 10  Rochester 5  (29-43)

• The Red Wings lost a tough one last night as their pitching staff did not allow the offense to do anything against Columbus in a 10-5 loss to the Clippers in Rochester.  After being tied at five after three innings the Clippers went on to score five consecutive runs to put the Red Wings away.  Anthony Swarzak got the start for the Red Wings and had his worst start of the season.  Swarzak went five innings and gave up seven runs on 10 hits along with three strikeouts, but also allowed two homeruns.  With the seven runs allowed it made Swarzak’s era on the year balloon up to 5.71 and dropped his record down to 1-3.  I am a little bit disappointed in Anthony Swarzak as his career has taken a nosedive after doing so well with the Twins last year.  I don’t know if he doesn’t think he should be in AAA or what, but since he came back from his broken foot he has not been very good.  It is possible that he is just shaking off the rust after missing like six weeks of games, but he really needs to step it up if he wants to be a September call-up or even an injury replacement for one of the starters.  Brad Hennessey then came on and worked two innings and gave up two runs on three hits along with a walk to raise his era up to 6.10.  Pat Neshek then came in and pitched an inning and gave up an unearned run on a hit along with a strikeout to lower his era on the year to 1.80.  Rob Delaney then pitched a perfect ninth inning with a strikeout to lower his era down to 4.91.

• The Red Wings offense had a pretty good night, but you are not going to win very many times when your pitching staff gives up 10 runs.  Rochester scored five runs on just six hits along with drawing five walks and leaving six guys on base.  Allan De San Miguel committed his third error of the season in the loss for the Red Wings.  Rochester was led offensively by Dustin Martin who went 1-3 at the plate with his eighth homerun and three rbi’s to bring his season total up to 51.  Jacque Jones went 1-3 with his 12^th double of the year.  Brock Peterson went 1-4 at the plate with his 14^th double of the year.  Toby Gardenhire went 2-4 at the plate along with his ninth rbi of the year to bring his average up to .264.  Brian Dinkelman added a base hit in the losing cause for the Red Wings in this game against Columbus.

• Tonight, the Red Wings continue their series with Columbus as Glen Perkins gets the start for Rochester.  Gametime is at 6:05 at Frontier Field in Rochester as the Red Wings try to get back on track.

New Britain Business

Binghamton 13  New Britain 3  (18-52)

• The Rockcats had a really tough one last night as not only did they not pitch very good in this one, but they also did not get a whole lot going on offense in a blowout loss to Binghamton by the score of 13-3.  Tyler Robertson got the start and was decent before running out of gas in the seventh inning.  Robertson went into the seventh inning only allowing three runs which is not real bad, but he got drilled in the 7^th so his line will not look pretty.  Robertson went 6.1 innings and gave up six runs on 10 hits along with a walk and four strikeouts while giving up two homeruns.  With the six runs allowed it ballooned Robertson’s era on the year to 5.16 and dropped his record down to 0-7.  This has been Robertson’s problem all year long as he will be doing good and then will hit the wall and get drilled.  This probably means one of two things that either he does not have the stamina to pitch into the 7^th and 8^th innings or quite possibly he should be a reliever as teams figure him out the third and fourth times around.  Loek Van Mil then came on and went 2/3 of an inning and gave up three runs on two hits although only two were earned along with a strikeout to raise his era up to 3.24.  Michael Allen then came in and got shelled getting only one out and giving up four runs on only one hit along with two walks to raise his era up to a robust 8.68.  Matt Williams finished the game with a shutout inning on one hit to lower his era on the year to 6.85.

• The Rockcats really could not go much on offense and in a game where the pitchers struggled that is not a good sign.  New Britain scored three runs on seven hits along with drawing four walks and leaving nine guys on base.  Loek Van Mil committed his second error of the year in the loss.  The Rockcats were led offensively by Steve Singleton who went 2-4 at the plate with his 18^th double of the year and improved his average up to .257.  Chris Cates also went 2-4 to bring his average up to .218.  Erik Lis, Chris Parmelee, and Mark Dolenc each contributed a base hit in the losing cause.

• Tonight, the Rockcats continue their series with Binghamton as Carlos Gutierrez is scheduled to pitch for New Britain.  Gametime is at 5:35pm in Binghamton as the Rockcats try to end their four game losing streak and try to play some better baseball.

Fort Myers Minutes

Fort Myers 3  (27-41)  Palm Beach 0

Palm Beach 5  Fort Myers 0  (27-42)

• The Miracle are having their first half come to an end thankfully they only have one game left after finishing a suspended game and winning that while losing the regularly scheduled game.  In the suspended game Liam Hendriks had started the game and pitched five shutout innings on only three hits along with four strikeouts to lower his era to 1.62.  When they started last night Blake Martin got the start and went three innings and did not give up a run on a walk and three strikeouts to pick up the win and improve his record to 2-2 on the year and drop his era down to 4.68.  Billy Bulluck pitched a perfect ninth inning with a strikeout to pick up his 12^th save of the year and lower his era to 3.90.  In game 2 Dan Osterbrock got the start and was very good once again, but the offense could get nothing done in the 5-0 loss.  Osterbrock went seven innings and gave up two runs on six hits although only one of the runs was earned to take the loss and drop his record to 3-6 and his era down to 2.98.  Joe Testa then came on and was awful going one inning and gave up three runs on five hits along with two strikeouts to raise his robust era up to 6.52.

• The Miracle did not have a good offensive game in game 1, but got enough big hits to pull out the win.  Fort Myers scored three runs on seven hits along with drawing a walk and leaving four guys on base.  Blake Martin committed his first error of the year in the win for the Miracle.  The Miracle were led offensively by Esterlin De Los Santos who went 1-4 at the plate with his fourth double and seventh stolen base of the year.  Nick Romero, Chris Hermann, Angel Morales, Nathan Hanson, Deibinson Romero, and Jonathon Goncalves each contributed a base hit in the winning cause for the Miracle.  In game 2 the Miracle could not do anything against Palm Beach pitching.  Fort Myers did not score a run on only five hits along with drawing three walks and leaving nine guys on base.  The Miracle did not help themselves by committing three errors which led to an unearned run.  Nathan Hanson committed his third and fourth errors of the year while Deibinson Romero had his eighth.  The Miracle were led offensively by Brian Dozier who went 1-3 at the plate.  Nathan Hanson, Deibinson Romero, Evan Bigley, and Angel Morales each contributed a base hit in the losing cause for the Miracle.

• Today, the Miracle finish off their bad first half with a game with Palm Beach as Santos Arias gets the start for Fort Myers.  Gametime is at 11:30am in Palm Beach as the Miracle try to end the first half on a winning note.

Beloit Beat

·        The Snappers continue their All-Star Break and will not begin their second half until Friday.  Last night the Midwest League held their all-star game and the Snappers  had three  players involved.  Aaron Hicks went 1-3 at the plate with a double.  Anderson Hidalgo went 0-2 at the plate while Kane Holbrooks got both guys out that he was in charge of facing.  The Snappers begin their second half on Friday.

E-town Tidbits

Elizabethton 6  (1-0)  Bristol 1

·        The E-Town Twins got off to a very good start to their season last night as they got a very well pitched game by Adrian Salcedo and some key hits to get the season off on the right foot with a 6-1 win over Bristol.  Adrian Salcedo back from his time in Fort Myers got the start and was very good as was to be expected from the uber prospect.  Salcedo went the first seven innings and gave up a run on six hits along with two walks and four strikeouts to bring his era to 1.29.  Nelson Fuentes then came on and pitched a perfect inning of relief in striking out the side.  Zach See pitched a shutout ninth inning on one hit along with two strikeouts.

·        The Twins had a pretty good night offensively as they scored their runs in bunches last night.  E-Town scored six runs on nine hits along with drawing two walks and leaving just five guys on base.  The Twins were led offensively by Oswaldo Arcia who went 3-4 at the plate with his first homerun along with his first double and his first three rbi’s of the year.  Gunner Glad went 3-5 at the plate with his first and second doubles of the year.  Daniel Ortiz went 1-4 at the plate with his first double.  Hyeong-rok Choi went 1-3 at the plate with his first homerun of the year.  Jamaal Hawkins also contributed a base hit in the winning cause for the Twins.

·        Tonight, the Twins continue their series with Bristol as Blayne Weller gets the start for Elizabethton.  Gametime is at 6:05 in Bristol as the Twins try to make it two in a row to start the season.

Rochester Wrap

Rochester 2  (29-42)  Columbus 1

• The Red Wings broke a four game losing streak with a very well pitched game by Ryan Mullins and good bullpen work along with a run scoring single by Jose Morales in the bottom of the 10^th inning to score Dustin Martin for the winning run.  Ryan Mullins got the start for the Red Wings and was very good in this one and broke out of a little slump he had been on.  In his previous three starts he had given up 14 earned runs so it was a nice change of pace.  Mullins went seven innings and only gave up a run on five hits along with two walks and four strikeouts to lower his era on the year to 4.95.  Anthony Slama then came on and pitched awesome throwing two shutout innings on one hit along with a walk and two strikeouts to lower his era on the year to 1.52.  Kyle Waldrop then pitched a scoreless 10^th inning to pick up his third win of the year without a loss along with a walk to lower his era on the year to 1.11.  Waldrop and Slama have developed into quite a pair at the end of the Red Wings bullpen this year and one of the only things that is worth talking about.  In 90 innings of work between the two of them they have only given up 13 earned runs and that is utterly amazing to have two guys at the end of the bullpen to be that dominant.  Imagine if Alex Burnett was there like he was supposed to before Clay Condrey got hurt.  The game would have been a six inning game.  However, it is amazing what those two have accomplished and I can’t imagine it will be long before the Twins will be forced to call up one if not both of them.

• The Red Wings could not get much going against Columbus pitching in this one, but got the big hits in the 10^th to win it.  Rochester scored just two runs on seven hits along with drawing a walk and leaving just four guys on base so it definitely was a pitchers duel.  The Red Wings were led offensively by Dustin Martin who went 2-4 at the plate with his seventh homerun and 48^th rbi of the year along with his 16^th double and scoring the winning run.  With the two hits it brought his average up to .288.  Jose Morales also went 2-4 with his 12^th rbi of the year and driving in the winning run along with bringing his average up to .246.  Brian Dinkelman went 2-3 at the plate with a walk to bring his average up to .283.  Jason Repko also contributed a base hit in the winning cause for the Red Wings last night.

• Tonight, the Red Wings continue their series with Columbus as Anthony Swarzak gets the start for Rochester.  Gametime is at 6:05 at Frontier Field in Rochester as the Red Wings try to win back to back games against the first place Clippers from Columbus.

New Britain Business

• The Rockcats had yesterday off and will begin a series in Binghamton as Tyler Robertson gets the start for New Britain.  Gametime is at 5:35pm in Binghamton as the Rockcats try to break their three game losing streak tonight against the Mets from Binghamton.

Fort Myers Minutes

Palm Beach 1  Fort Myers 0  (26-40)

Palm Beach 12 Fort Myers 1  (26-41)

• The Miracle are counting the days until the end of the dreadful first half of play as they lost another doubleheader to Palm Beach and are now 0-9 against Palm Beach this year.  With the two losses that increases the Miracle’s losing streak up to a season high eight games.  In game one the Miracle got a great pitching performance from staff ace Liam Hendriks, but wasted it in a 1-0 loss.  Hendriks went the whole way giving up a run in the bottom of the seventh to take the loss and drop his record on the year with the Miracle to 4-2.  Hendriks ended up going 6.1 innings and gave up an unearned run on eight hits along with seven strikeouts.  Hendriks has been awesome this year and has really elevated his stock in the Twins eyes.  His walk to strikeout rate is unbelievable and if you count his time in Beloit he has walked just nine batters in 84.2 innings while striking out a very impressive 83 batters.  I admit I didn’t think he could be this good going into the year and now he is a boneafied top pitching prospect and he is only 21 years old so the sky is the limit.  In game two the offense still did not get anything going, but this time the defense let them down and the pitching staff could not pitch around it in a 12-1 loss in the nightcap.  Bruce Pugh came off the disabled list and got the start for the Miracle and was not great, but his defense did not help him either.  Pugh only lasted 1.1 innings and gave up seven runs on five hits although only three of the runs were earned along with three strikeouts to take the loss and drop his record on the year to 2-5 and see his era rise to 3.95.  Bruce Pugh was pitching as good as anybody in the system before his injury and I expect it is going to take him some time to get back in the groove again so just be patient with him.  Steve Blevins then came on and got the last two outs of the second, but also gave up a run on two hits along with a walk and a strikeout to raise his era on the year to 7.71.  Bobby Lanigan also returned from the disabled list and pitched two innings and gave up two unearned runs on one hit along with a walk to lower his era down to 2.51.  Jose Gonzalez then came on and finished the game and went the last two innings and gave up two runs on three hits along with a walk and two strikeouts to raise his era on the year to 1.29.

• In game one the Miracle offense really could do nothing against Palm Beach pitching.  Fort Myers did not score a run on only two measly hits along with drawing two walks and leaving eight guys on base.  In a game this close you can’t leave eight guys on base as there is only so long the pitching staff can hold down an offense like Palm Beach possesses.  Nick Romero committed his sixth error of the year in the loss  The Miracle were led offensively by Nathan Hanson who went 1-3 at the plate.  Nick Romero also went 1-3 at the plate in the loss for the Miracle.  In game 2 the Miracle atleast got a run off Palm Beach pitching, but could not get much more than that.  Fort Myers scored one run on seven hits along with drawing three walks and leaving eight guys on base.  Esterlin De Los Santos had a tough night in the field as he committed three errors and now on the year he has nine in only 29 games with the Miracle.  The Miracle were led offensively by Nick Romero who went 3-3 at the plate with his 17^th rbi of the year and brought his average up to .221.  Brian Dozier, Nathan Hanson, Deibinson Romero, and Drew Thompson each contributed a base hit in the losing cause for the Miracle.

• Tonight, the Miracle first finish off a suspended game with Palm Beach and then have their regularly scheduled game with the Cardinals.  In the regularly scheduled game Dan Osterbrock gets the start for the Miracle.  The festivities begin at 5:35pm in Palm Beach as the Miracle try to break their eight game losing streak and get ready for the second half.

Beloit Business

• The Snappers are currently in their all-star break and will play in the Midwest All Star Game tonight.  The Snappers begin the second half of their season Friday Night.

Rochester Wrap

Charlotte 6  Rochester  (28-42)

• The Red Wings lost their fourth consecutive game yesterday to complete a three game sweep by Charlotte in the Rochester 6-2 defeat by Charlotte yesterday.  Jose Lugo made a spot start with Jeff Manship up with the Twins and he did about what you expected out of him.  Lugo went the first three innings and gave up three runs on four hits along with two walks and three strikeouts to raise his era on the year to 7.09 and dropped his record on the year to 0-4.  Tim Lahey then came on and pitched wonderful going three shutout innings along with two walks and two strikeouts to lower his era on the year to 5.60.  Rob Delaney then came in and got hammered.  Delaney went two innings and gave up three runs on three hits along with two homeruns and two strikeouts to raise his era to a level that we haven’t seen in Rob Delaney’s career of 5.03.  Kyle Waldrop finished the game pitching a scoreless inning of relief on two hits along with two strikeouts to lower his era on the year to 1.13. 

• The Red Wings offense really did not do much as White Sox top pitching prospect Dan Hudson shut the Red Wings down pretty good.  Rochester scored two runs on only five hits along with drawing five walks and leaving seven guys on base.  The Red Wings were led offensively by Trevor Plouffe who went 1-4 at the plate with his seventh homerun and 31^st rbi.  Brock Peterson went 1-2 at the plate with his third triple of the year along with drawing two walks and driving his 38^th run of the year.  Jason Repko, Dustin Martin, and Matt Macri each contributed base hits in the losing cause for the Red Wings that are in a little bit of a slump right now offensively.

• Tonight, the Red Wings begin a series at home against first place Columbus as Ryan Mullins gets the start for Rochester.  Gametime is at 6:05 at Frontier Field in Rochester as the Red Wings try to break their four game losing streak and get out of last place.

New Britain Business

Reading 7  New Britain 4  (18-51)

• The Rockcats lost their third consecutive game to Reading as they had another poor performance by the bullpen and a no show by the offense in a 7-4 loss to Reading yesterday.  Deolis Guerra got the start and rebounded very nicely from a rough start his last start.  Guerra went six innings in this start and only gave up one earned run on six hits along with two walks and five strikeouts while also giving up a homerun.  With the one run allowed Guerra saw his era on the year drop to 2.88.  Chris Province then came in and pitched an inning and gave up an unearned run on a  hit along with a walk and strikeout to lower his era on the year to 5.53.  Province has really come on lately after a terrible start to the season.  The walk total is still too high, but it is baby steps and hopefully in the second half he will become a reliable reliever.  Tony Davis then came on and was not very effective as he gave up the go ahead runs to Reading even though the runs were unearned.  Davis faced three batters and walked two of them and the other reached on an error by the Rockcats that allowed Reading to score two unearned runs.  Davis took the loss to drop his record to 0-1 in his short time with the Rockcats.  Cole Devries then came on and put gas on the fire as he allowed both inherited runners to score and two more of his own..  Devries went one innings and gave up two runs on two hits along with a walk and a strikeout with a homerun to turn a 4-2 New Britain lead into a 7-4 Reading victory all in the 8^th inning.

• The Rockcats offense had a decent day at the plate as some of the guys that have returned to New Britain are continuing the hot streak they got on in Fort Myers.  New Britain scored four runs on 12 hits along with leaving seven guys on base in the loss.  It was a bad day defensively for Juan Portes who committed his seventh and eighth errors of the year that led to four unearned runs for Reading.  The Rockcats were led offensively by Joe Benson who went 2-5 at the plate with his eighth homerun of the year for the Rockcats and 12^th overall along with his 16^th rbi and brought his average up to .250.  Benson has been very hot in the month of June hitting .370 with an OPS of 1.171 which should tell you how good he has been.  Chris Parmelee went 2-4 at the plate with his fourth homerun with New Britain and sixth overall and his 14^th and 15^th rbi’s to bring his average up to .224.  Jair Fernandez went 2-4 at the plate to bring his average up to .299.  Erik Lis went 1-4 at the plate with his seventh double and 26^th rbi.  Juan Portes went 2-4 at the plate with his third triple of the year to bring his average up to .194.  Danny Lehman also went 3-4 at the plate to bring his average up to .247.

• The Rockcats have today off before beginning a series in Binghamton as they try to stop their three game losing streak and try to do something positive as they get ready for the second half of the season.

Fort Myers Minutes

• The Miracle had yesterday off and will begin a series in Palm Beach tonight as Liam Hendriks is scheduled to pitch for Fort Myers.  Gametime is at 6:05 in Palm Beach as the Miracle try to put an end to a 6 game losing streak and build some confidence for the second half.

Beloit Beat

Beloit 4  (37-32)  Clinton 3

• The Snappers finished off their first half on a flurry as they won 9 of their last 11 games to get close to Quad Cities for the last playoff spot, but not quite enough as they finshed a couple games behind them.  The Snappers had a great first half and now they get some rest before they come out and try to win the second half title behind good pitching and good hitting.  Yesterday, the Snappers finished strong with a good pitching performance from Miguel Munoz and some timely hitting to pull out a 4-3 win in Beloit.  Miguel Munoz got the start and was pretty good for the Snappers.  Munoz went the first six innings and gave up three runs on seven hits along with a walk and six strikeouts to pick up his fourth win of the year and lower his era on the year to 5.56.  Chris Armstrong came on and pitched a scoreless 7^th inning on a hit along with a walk to lower his era to 16.88 in only three appearances.  Peter Kennelly then came on and pitched a scoreless eighth with a strikeout to lower his era to 5.45.  Matt Tone got the last three outs with two strikeouts to pick up his second save of the year and lower his era to 3.57.

• The Snappers did not get a lot of offense in this game, but got some key hits that let them overcome a 3-2 deficit in the fourth to pick up the win.  Beloit scored four runs on nine hits along with drawing three walks and leaving eight guys on base.  The Snappers committed two errors as Reggie Williams committed his 10^th and Michael Gonzalez committed his seventh.  The Snappers were led offensively by James Beresford who went 2-4 at the plate with his 27^th rbi and brought his average up to .276.  Josmil Pinto went 2-4 at the plate with his 29^th rbi and his average went up to .236.  Michael Gonzalez went 2-4 at the plate to bring his average up to .195.  Aaron Hicks went 1-3 with his first triple of the year and 22^nd rbi.  Reggie Williams went 1-4 at the plate with his seventh double of the year.  Anderson Hidalgo also contributed a base hit in the winning cause for the Snappers on their last game of the first half.

• The Snappers now begin their all-star break and will not begin the second half until Friday. 

Rochester Wrap

Charlotte 9  Rochester 2  (28-39)

• The Red Wings continued their inconsistency by following up a good game the day before with a bad one last night.  In this one they got back relief pitching along with not hitting in a 9-2 loss to Charlotte.  Anthony Swarzak got the start and was ok in this one.  Swarzak went 6.2 innings and gave up three runs although only one of them was earned on five hits along with five strikeouts to drop his record on the year to 1-2 and lower his era on the season to 4.75.  Kyle Waldrop then came in and went 1.1 innings and gave up two unearned runs on two hits along with a strikeout to lower his era on the year to a team low 1.16 on the year.  Jose Lugo then came in and put gas on the fire as usual.  In this one Lugo went one inning and gave up four runs on four hits along with a strikeout and a homerun allowed to raise his era on the year to 6.95.  I am all about giving guys a chance to turn things around, but Lugo has been awful the last two years and there are guys out there that deserve the opportunity, but with Lugo on the roster that can’t happen.  I don’t think that is going to happen so here is to hoping that Lugo can get things figured out and have a better second half of the year because if they don’t there is no way they can get back in playoff contention.

• The Red Wings just could not get anything going against Charlotte pitching as they were in the game for most of the game so they should not be pressing too much.  In this game Rochester scored just two runs on just six hits along with drawing four walks and leaving nine guys on base.  The big difference in the game was the Red Wings had two errors that led to four unearned runs.  Matt Macri committed his fourth error, while Yancarlos Ortiz committed his second.  The Red Wings were led offensively by Brock Peterson who continued his recent hot streak by going 2-3 at the plate with his 12^th homerun and 13^th double of the year along with two rbi’s to bring his season total up to 37 and his average up to .271.  Brian Dinkelman went 1-4 at the plate with his 18^th double of the year.  Jacque Jones went 1-4 at the plate with his 10^th double of the year.  Matt Macri went 1-4 at the plate with his 14^th double of the season.  Yancarlos Ortiz went 1-4 at the plate with his first triple of the year. 

• Tonight, the Red Wings continue their series with Charlotte as Glen Perkins gets the start for Rochester.  Gametime is at 6:05 at Frontier Field in Rochester as the Red Wings try to get back on track.

New Britain Business

New Britain 6  (18-48)  Harrisburg 3

• The Rockcats had a nice game last night as they defeated Harrisburg to salvage the last game of the series by winning last night by the score of 6-3 to win one of the three games.  David Bromberg got the start for the Rockcats and was pretty good once again.  Bromberg went the first six innings and gave up three runs on four hits along with three walks and two strikeouts along with a homerun to lower his era on the year to 3.62.  Bromberg has been pretty good lately as he is still only 22 years old so 3.62 is very good for his age and the level he is at.  If he can get his walks down he will be very good.  Chris Province then came on and probably had his best game of the season.  Province went three perfect innings along with five strikeouts in the nine batters he faced.  With the three perfect innings he lowered his era on the year to 5.66 and improve his record to 2-1. 

• The Rockcats had a nice night offensively and it was good enough to get the win because they got a well pitched game by David Bromberg and Chris Province.  New Britain scored six runs on nine hits along with drawing three walks and left seven guys on base.  The Rockcats were led offensively by Jair Fernandez who continued his recent hot streak by going 2-3 at the plate with his fifth double of the year and brought his average up to .327.  Chris Parmelee went 2-4 at the plate to bring his average up to .213.  Joe Benson  went 1-4 at the plate with his sixth double and 11^th rbi.  Erik Lis went 1-4 at the plate with his sixth double and 24^th rbi.  Juan Portes, Steve Singleton, and Danny Lehman each contributed a base hit in the winning cause for New Britian.

• Tonight, the Rockcats begin a series in Reading as Deolis Guerra gets the start for New Britain.  Gametime is at 6:05 in Reading as the Rockcats try to build on their win last night with more of the same.

Fort Myers Minutes

Charlotte 2  Fort Myers 0  (26-37)

• The Miracle lost their fourth consecutive game last night as they got good pitching from Dan Osterbrock, but could not do anything against Port Charlotte pitching in a 2-0 loss to the Stone Crabs.  Dan Osterbrock got the start and was very good again as he continued his recent trend of great starts.  Osterbrock went 4.1 innings as he struggled a little bit of the pitch count and gave up two runs on six hits along with two walks and three strikeouts to lower his era on the year to a very good 3.23, but due to no run support he took the loss and dropped his record to 3-5 on the year.  Jose Gonzalez then came on and was very good pitching 3.2 scoreless innings on three hits and a strikeout and now has pitched 12 consecutive scoreless innings.

• The Miracle could do nothing offensively in this game as they were shutout once again.  Fort Myers did not score a run on only six hits along with drawing three walks and leaving six guys on base.  The Miracle were led offensively by Nick Romero who went 1-4 at the plate with his fourth stolen base of the year.  The Miracle got single hits from Esterlin De Los Santos, Chris Hermann, Nathan Hanson, Drew Thompson, and Jonathan Goncalves in the losing cause for the Miracle.

• Tonight, the Miracle continue their series with Charlotte as Santos Arias makes his first start of the year for the Miracle.  Gametime is at 6:05 in Charlotte as the Miracle try to break out of their four game losing streak and end the first half on a better note.

Beloit Beat

Beloit 4  (35-31)  Cedar Rapids 0

• The Snappers continued their hot streak with a nice 4-0 victory over Cedar Rapids last night as they completed the three game sweep over the Kernels in Cedar Rapids.  In this one Snappers starter BJ Hermsen got the start for the Snappers only 35 minutes from home and was awesome taking a no-hitter into the eighth inning and picking up the win.  BJ Hermsen was awesome for the Snappers in this one and had to feel good pitching so well in front of friends and family.  Hermsen pitched all nine innings and only gave up one hit along with a walk and three strikeouts to lower his era on the year to a very good 3.43 and improved his record on the year to 4-1.  BJ Hermsen has been very good since his promotion to Beloit and I think he probably will stay in Beloit instead of going to Elizabethton as I feel he is ready for this competition and will be interesting to see if he can build off this start going into the second half.

• The Snappers offense did not do a lot in this game, but it was enough thanks to the great performance by Hermsen.  Beloit scored four runs on 11 hits along with drawing three walks and leaving nine guys on base.  The Snappers were led offensively in this one by Anderson Hidalgo who continued his hot streak by going 3-4 at the plate with his 17^th rbi of the year and brought his average up to .313.  Daniel Santana went 2-2 at the plate with his third double and fifth rbi of the year to bring his season average up to .233.  Aaron Hicks went 2-5 at the plate with his 18^th double of the year and brought his average up to .262.  Derek Mccallum went 1-4 at the plate with his fourth double of the year.  James Beresford, Wang Wei Lin, and Tobias Streich each contributed a base hit in the winning cause for the Snappers.

• Tonight, the Snappers start their final series of the first half as they welcome in Clinton as Michael Tonkin gets the start for Beloit.  Gametime is at 7:00pm in Beloit as the Snappers try to finish off the first half on a good note and just keep on winning.

Rochester Wrap

• The Red Wings had yesterday off and will begin a series in Charlotte as Anthony Swarzak gets the start for Rochester.  Gametime is at 6:05 in Charlotte as the Red Wings try to get back on winning side of things tonight.

New Britain Business

Harrisburg 4  New Britain 1  (17-47)

Harrisburg 11  New Britain 6  (17-48)

• The Rockcats lost a couple games to Harrisburg last night with one of them being a close hard fought game and the other being a complete blowout.  The Rockcats lost the first game 4-1 behind a well pitched game by Tyler Robertson, but just could not solve Harrisburg pitching.  Robertson went the first six innings of the seven inning game and gave up three runs on seven hits along with a walk and a strikeout while giving up two homeruns to drop his record on the year and lower his era on the year to 4.80.  Loek Van Mil pitched the last inning and gave up an unearned run on two hits along with a strikeout to lower his era on the year to a very good 1.59.  In game two of the doubleheader the Rockcats got another bad performance from Kyle Gibson.  This is the third rough start in a row from the first round pick in 2009.  His innings are up to 84 on the year after missing significant time last year due to injury so I am wondering if he is going through a dead arm period because he has been so good that this is uncharacteristic for the righty.  I think maybe the best thing would be to have him skip a start then bring him back to see if it rejuvenates him.  In this one Gibson lasted just four innings and gave up seven runs on 10 hits along with two walks and two strikeouts to drop his record on the year with the Rockcats to 3-3 and raise his era up to 4.83.  Cole Devries then came on pitched a perfect inning of relief with a strikeout to lower his era on the year to 6.10.  New Rockcat Tony Davis then came on and pitched a scoreless inning of relief along with a walk.  Matt Williams then came on and got demolished as he only was able to get two outs and gave up four runs on three hits along with two walks to raise his era up to 5.91.  Michael Allen got the last out to lower his era down to 7.04.

• The Rockcats could do nothing against former Rochester Red Wing pitcher Jason Jones in this one.  New Britain scored just one run on just six hits along with drawing two walks and leaving 10 men on base.  Like I have said many times with the Rockcats is they get guys on base, but have been unable to bring them home and that has led to many close losses and this was just one of them.  Juan Portes committed his sixth error of the year, while Loek Van Mil committed his first of the season.  The Rockcats were led offensively by Chris Parmelee who went 2-4 at the plate to bring his average up to .209 on the season.  The Rockcats got single hits from Joe Benson, Erik Lis, Steve Singleton, and Mark Dolenc in the loss.  In game two the Rockcats got more offense, but it was not enough as the pitching staff could not hold Harrisburg down to allow the Rockcats to score runs.  New Britain scored six runs on nine hits along with leaving three guys on base in this one.  Brandon Roberts committed his first error of the year for the Rockcats in the loss.  The Rockcats were led offensively by Joe Benson making his return to New Britain in this one.  Benson went 3-4 at the plate with his sixth homerun, fifth double, and 10^th rbi of the year to bring his average up to .239.  Jair Fernandez continued his hot streak going 2-3 at the plate to bring his average up to .308 on the year.  Juan Portes went 1-2 at the plate with his eighth double of the year and four rbi’s to bring his season total up to 18.  Brandon Roberts, Mark Dolenc, and Chris Cates each contributed a base hit in the losing cause for the Rockcats.

• Tonight, the Rockcats continue their series with Harrisburg as David Bromberg gets the start for New Britain.  Gametime is at 5:35pm in New Britain as the Rockcats try to bounce back from yesterday.

Fort Myers Minutes

Fort Myers 0 

• The Miracle had their game with Palm Beach suspended after five innings.  Due to the fact the first half is almost over it will not be made up I don’t believe.  Liam Hendriks started and went five innings and gave up just three hits along with five strikeouts.  On Offense the Miracle got single hits from Nick Romero and Nathan Hanson along with a double from Esterlin De Los Santos. 

• Tonight, the Miracle begin a series with first place Charlotte as Dan Osterbrock gets the start for Fort Myers.  Gametime is at 6:05pm in Port Charlotte as the Miracle try to end the first half on a good note.

Beloit Beat

Beloit 11 (34-31)  Cedar Rapids 2

• The Snappers are playing their best baseball of the season, but there is one problem they are to far behind first place Cedar Rapids and second place Quad Cities to catch them before the end of the first half.  However, I do look at this as a positive sign going forward to the second half as they try to punch their playoff ticket in the second half.  In this on Brad Stillings got the start and was sharp for the Snappers.  Stillings went 5.1 innings and gave up just one run on three hits along with four walks and three strikeouts to improve his record on the year to 6-3 and drop his era down to 4.15.  Peter Kennelly then came on and went 1.2 innings and gave up one run on three hits along with two walks and two strikeouts to raise his era on the year to 5.61.  Matt Tone then pitched the last two innings and did not give up a run or a hit along with two walks and a strikeout to lower his era on the year to 3.67. 

• It was a good day offensively by the Snappers as they put the Kernels away early and packed it away early.  Beloit scored 11 runs on 14 hits along with drawing eight walks and leaving 10 guys on base.  The Snappers were led offensively by Anderson Hidalgo who went 3-4 at the plate with his second homerun of the year and his 16^th rbi to bring his average up to .303.  James Beresford went 2-5 at the plate with his 25^th rbi and brought his average up to .274.  Josmil Pinto went 3-4 at the plate with his 11^th double and two rbi’s to bring his season total up to 26 and his average up to .235.  Danny Rams went 2-5 at the plate with his 16^th double and 6^th homerun and 4 rbi’s to bring his season total up to 23 and his average up to .223.  Michael Gonzalez went 2-5 at the plate with his fourth and fifth doubles of the year and his 21^st rbi and brought his average up to .181.  Aaron Hicks and Wang Wei Lin each contributed a base hit in the winning cause for the Snappers.

• Tonight, the Snappers finish off their series with Cedar Rapids as BJ Hermsen gets the start for Beloit.  Gametime is at 6:35pm in Cedar Rapids as the Snappers go for the three game sweep over the Kernels.

Rochester Wrap

Toledo 7  Rochester 5  (27-38) Monday

Rochester 12  (28-38)  Toledo 6  Tuesday

• The Red Wings split a couple games the last couple days with Toledo as they continued their hot streak at the plate as they scored 17 runs in the two games and continued their hot streak as they have now won four of their last five games.  On Monday night the Red Wings blew a 4-2 lead going into the 5^th inning as they went down 7-5 to Toledo.  Jeff Manship got the start on Monday night and was not very good in this one.  Manship went five innings and gave up six runs on 10 hits along with a walk and a strikeout and two homeruns allowed to raise his era on the year to 4.43 and drop his record on the year to 3-3.  Pat Neshek then came on and pitched two innings and gave up a unearned run on one hit along with a walk and two strikeouts to lower his era on the year to 3.00.  Kyle Waldrop pitched a perfect inning of relief on one strikeout to lower his team leading era down to 1.19.  On Tuesday night the Red Wings got great offense and just enough pitching to bounce back with a 12-6 victory over the Mud Hens.  Ryan Mullins got the start for the Red Wings and he was ok as he kept the Wings in the game.  Mullins went five innings and gave up four runs on six hits along with a  walk and a strikeout to improve his record on the year to 4-5 and drop his era to 5.37.  Brad Hennessey then came on and worked two innings and gave up two runs on two hits along with a strikeout to lower his era on the year to 5.40.  Anthony Slama pitched two scoreless innings of relief with two walks and four strikeouts to lower his era on the year to 1.64.

• The Red Wings had a nice game offensively on Monday night, but were unable to get the big hits when they needed them.  Rochester scored five runs on 12 hits along with drawing two walks and leaving 10 guys on base in the loss.  Yancarlos Ortiz committed his first error since his promotion in the loss.  The Red Wings were led offensively in this game by Brian Dinkelman who went 2-5 at the plate with his 15^th double of the year and brought his average up to .286.  Jose Morales went 2-4 at the plate to bring his average up to .262.  Matt Macri continued his hot streak by going 2-4 at the plate to bring his average up to .302.  Brock Peterson went 2-4 at the plate along with 33^rd rbi of the year and brought his average up to .260.  Dustin Martin went 1-5 at the plate with his 13^th double of the year.  Jason Repko, Wilson Ramos, and Toby Gardenhire each contributed a base hit in the loss for the Red Wings.  Last night the Red Wings offense continued their hot string and this time it was too much for Toledo to overcome.  Rochester had 12 runs on 14 hits along with drawing six walks and leaving nine guys on base.  Brian Dinkelman committed his fifth error of the year in the winning cause.  The Red Wings were led offensively by Brian Dinkelman who went 3-6 at the plate with two doubles to bring his season total up to 17 and also had three rbi’s to bring his season total up to 29 and his average up to .291.  Dustin Martin went 2-5 at the plate with his 14^th double and fourth triple of the year along with his 47^th rbi to bring his average up to .294.  Brock Peterson went 2-4 at the plate with his 34^th and 35^th rbi’s of the year and brought his average up to .265.  Jose Morales went 1-5 at the plate with his sixth double and 10^th rbi of the year.  Yancarlos Ortiz went 1-5 at the plate with his first double and also scored three runs.  Jason Repko, Wilson Ramos, and Matt Macri each contributed a base hit in the winning cause for the Red Wings.

• Tonight, the Red Wings begin a home stand with a series against Charlotte as Anthony Swarzak gets the start for Rochester.  Gametime is at 6:05 at Frontier Field in Rochester.

New Britain Business

Harrisburg 5  New Britain 1  (17-46)

·        For the first six innings of this one it looked like a pitchers duel as they were tied at one and Deolis Guerra was pitching a gem.  However by the end of the 7^th inning the Rockcats were behind 5-1 and Deolis Guerra was out of the game trying to figure out what went wrong in the Harrisburg 5-1 win over the Rockcats.  Deolis Guerra got the start and even though his line does not look great he pitched way better than his line would indicate.  In all Guerra went 6.2 innings and gave up five runs on eight hits along with two walks and five strikeouts to raise his era on the year to 3.07 and dropped his record with the Rockcats to 1-3.  Mike Mccardell made a rare relief appearance and went 1.1 innings and gave up just one hit along with a strikeout to lower his era on the year to 4.50.  Chris Province then came on and pitched the last inning with a walk to lower his era to 6.10.

·        The Rockcats offense could not do anything against Harrisburg pitching in a game that must of seemed like many others.  New Britain scored just one run on eight hits along with drawing a walk and leaving six guys on base.  The Rockcats were led offensively by Brandon Roberts who continued his hot streak by going 2-3 at the plate along with a walk to raise his average on the year to .330.  Juan Portes went 2-4 at the plate with his seventh double of the year to bring his average up to .187.  Jair Fernandez went 1-4 at the plate with his fourth double of the year and his fifth rbi.  Ben Revere went 1-1 a the plate with his 21^st stolen base of the year and improved his average on the year to .307.  Chris Cates and Mark Dolenc each contributed base hits in the losing cause for the Rockcats.

·        Tonight, the Rockcats take on Harrisburg in a double header with Tyler Robertson getting the start in game one and Kyle Gibson getting the ball for game two.  First pitch is at 4:05 with the second game about a half an hour after the first.

Fort Myers Minutes

Palm Beach 8  Fort Myers 5  (26-35)

Palm Beach 11  Fort Myers 9  (26-36)

• The Miracle got off to a bad start to the unofficial second half of the season even though they still got about 8-9 games officially in the first half.  They got two bad pitching performances as the offense did their job, but when you get bad pitching performances it is hard to win.  On Monday night the Miracle battled back to take a 5-4 lead before Miracle closer Billy Bulluck gave up a grand slam in the bottom of the 9^th to lose the game.  Adrian Salcedo got the start for the Miracle and was ok in this one.  Salcedo went the first 6.1 and gave up three earned runs on 10 hits along with a walk and three strikeouts to lower his era on the year to 6.26.  Blake Martin then came in and went 1.2 innings of scoreless ball along with two walks and three strikeouts to lower his era on the year to 5.03.  Billy Bulluck then came on and was not very good in this outing.  Bulluck went one inning and gave up four runs on three hits along with a walk to raise his era on the year to 4.02 and drop his record  to 0-4.  On Tuesday night the Miracle got a terrible pitching performance out of Shooter Hunt before battling back to tie the scored and losing 11-9.  Shooter Hunt got the start and was not very good in this one as he didn’t even get out of the first inning.  Hunt went 0.2 innings and gave up six runs on six hits along with two walks and two strikeouts to raise his era on the year to 6.07.  Andrei Lobanov then came on and worked 3.1 innings and gave up a run on three hits along with a walk and two strikeouts to lower his era on the year 2.29.  Joe Testa then came on and went three innings and gave up two runs on four hits along with two walks and four strikeouts to lower his era to 4.05.  Steve Blevins then worked the last two innings and gave up two runs on three hits along with three strikeouts to take the loss and move his record to 1-2 and raise his era on the year to 6.64.     

• The Miracle offense had a good series of games, but the pitching would not allow them to win any of those games.  On Monday, Fort Myers scored five runs on 10 hits along with drawing seven walks and leaving 11 guys on base.  Nick Romero committed his fifth error of the year in the loss for the Miracle.  The Miracle were led offensively by Esterlin De Los Santos who went 3-4 at the plate with his fourth and fifth rbi’s of the year to bring his average up to .304.  Dan Rohlfing went 2-4 with two runs scored and a walk to raise his average on the year to .247.  Evan Bigley went 1-4 at the plate with his 15^th double of the year.  Brian Dozier, Nathan Hanson, Nick Romero, and Jonathan Goncalves each contributed a base hit in the losing cause.  On Tuesday night the Miracle had a big night offensively, but it was not quite enough to get the job done.  Fort Myers scored nine runs on 14 hits along with drawing six walks and leaving 10 guys on base.  The Miracle were led offensively by Joe Benson who went 4-4 at the plate with three doubles to bring his season total up to 11 with the Miracle and brought his average up to .294 on the year.  Esterlin De Los Santos had another big game going 3-5 at the plate and 6-9 in the last two games.  He also had his third double and his sixth rbi to bring his average up to .321.  Chris Hermann went 2-2 at the plate along with three walks and his 11^th double and three rbi’s to bring his season total up to 17 and his average up to .233.  Brian Dozier went 2-3 at the plate with three rbi’s to bring his total up to 12 and his average up to .225.  Jonathan Goncalves went 2-5 at the plate to bring his average up to .303.  Nick Romero also contributed a base hit in the losing cause for the Miracle.

• Tonight, the Miracle continue their series with Palm Beach as Liam Hendriks gets the start for Fort Myers.  Gametime is at 6:05 as the Miracle try to bring their three game losing streak to an end.

Beloit Beat

Beloit 8  (33-31)  Cedar Rapids 6

• Say what you want about the Beloit Snappers, but they are not going quietly into the night as they won once again this time over first place Cedar Rapids by a score of 8-6 as they won their sixth game in their last seven.  Miguel Munoz got the start for the Snappers and was pretty good in this one.  Munoz went five innings and gave up two runs on seven hits along with two walks and five strikeouts to lower his era on the year to 5.65.  Chris Armstrong then came on and was not very good in this one.  Armstrong only got two outs and gave up three runs on four hits along with a strikeout to raise his hefty era from 18.00 to an even higher 27.00.  Eliecer Cardenas then came on and put out the fire going 2.2 innings and giving up a run on no hits along with two walks and three strikeouts to lower his era on the year to 2.55.  Kane Holbrooks came on and got the last two outs along with two walks to pick up his ninth save of the year and lower his era to 1.72.

• The Snappers continued their hotstreak at the plate as they beat up on some good Kernel pitching.  Beloit scored eight runs on 11 hits along with drawing five walks and leaving seven guys on base.  Miguel Munoz committed his second error of the year while Chris Armstrong committed his first as a Snapper.  The Snappers were led by James Beresford who continued his phenomenal month of June by going 3-4 at the plate with his eighth double and eighth stolen base and drove in two runs to bring his season total up to 24 and his average up to .271.  Aaron Hicks went 3-5 at the plate with his 16^th and 17^th doubles of the year to bring his average up to .257.  Angel Morales went 1-4 at the plate with his seventh triple of the year and his 36^th rbi.  Wang Wei Lin went 1-4 at the plate with his sixth stolen base of the year.  Reggie Williams, Anderson Hidalgo, and Michael Gonzalez each contributed a hit in the winning cause for the Snappers in this one.

• Today, the Snappers continue their series with first place Cedar Rapids as Brad Stillings gets the start for Beloit.  Gametime is at 12:00 in Cedar Rapids as the Snappers try to continue the ride.

After missing a week I am back with another edition of the Twins Minor League Pitcher and Hitter of the week at every level.  Every Monday or Tuesday I will look at each of the affiliates and who has been good the last week to 10 days.  I welcome your comments and you can leave a comment in the comment box or shoot me an email at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Rochester Red Wings

• Hitter of the Week: Matt Macri- The grizzled veteran had quite the week for the Red Wings as the Red Wings won three games in a row this week and Macri was the catalyst as he hit .389 on 14 for 36 along with five doubles and a homerun with four rbi’s.  Macri had two walks while striking out nine times.  Macri had a very good .421 on base percentage with a very good .611 slugging percentage for a 1.032 OPS.  Matt Macri started the season the disabled list, but has been very good since coming off the DL to get his average above .300 on the year.  The 27 year old from Des Moines, Iowa is so versatile as he can play anywhere on the infield and the outfield to help the team.  He probably won’t see the field with the Twins after they took him off the 40 man roster last year, but he is a very good AAA player and every organization needs a guy like Matt Macri.

• Pitcher of the Week: Kyle Waldrop- Kyle Waldrop continued his miraculous season on the mound with another stellar week.  In his last 10 ball games Waldrop is 2-0 with a miniscule 0.47 era in 19.1 innings of work.  In those 19.1 innings Waldrop has only given up one run on only 11 hits.  In that stretch he has walked only four batters while striking out 12.  The most impressive thing about Waldrop is he had a 5.29 groundball to fly out rate the last 10 days.  I know I could go on and on about how impressed I am with Waldrop, but he really deserves it after coming off of shoulder surgery in 2008 he has come all the way back and is now one of the top relief prospects in the Twins organization.  The 24 year old out of Knoxville, Tennessee is someone all Twins fans should keep an eye on because he will be with the Twins sometime this season.

New Britain Rockcats

• Hitter of the Week: Brandon Roberts- The 25 year old out of Bakersfield, California had a nice stretch for the Rockcats.  I am sure he is disappointed that he is spending his 4^th straight year in New Britain, but he is not showing it on the field.  In his last 10 games Roberts is hitting .14 for his last 34 for a .412 batting average along with three doubles and drove in five runs.  He walked six times while only striking out five times.  He also stole three bases the last 10 games in three attempts.  Most impressively Roberts has a .524 on base percentage in this stretch along with a very nice .500 slugging percentage for a great 1.024 OPS.  Roberts has really gotten it going in a time the Rockcats were missing Ben Revere and Rene Tosoni so he kept them in some games with his strong offensive output.  Roberts needs to get to AAA soon if he wants to get a cup of coffee with the Twins and if that is not what the Twins are thinking they should do whats best for the both of them and give him his release so he can look for a job with another team.

• Pitcher of the Week: David Bromberg- After getting off to a little bit of a rough start to begin the year Bromberg has been pretty good lately.  The 32^nd round draft pick by the Twins in the 2005 draft out of Santa Monica, California came into the season with much pub after winning the Twins minor league pitcher of the year in 2009.  He has improved as the season has gone on and the 22 year old righty has hit his stride the last three starts.  In those starts Bromberg has gone 2-1 with a 2.95 era in those starts.  He has worked 18.1 innings which is a little over 6 innings a start for the big righty.  In those starts he has six walks and 10 strikeouts.  The main reason for concern for Bromberg is that he is walking to many batters this year as he has walked 31 batters in 68.2 innings of work in 2010.  That is the main thing that will keep him from pitching with the Twins, but I have no doubt that he will work through it because he has too much god given talent and he works too hard for him not to work it out.

Fort Myers Miracle

• Hitter of the Week: Esterlin De Los Santos- It is pretty obvious that De Los Santos was not quite ready to move up to AA and he is only 22 years old he is fine to be in Fort Myers.  He struggled in AA hitting only .170 in 29 games, but was then demoted back down to Fort Myers and has been very good since his demotion.  De Los Santos the last 10 games has been especially hot for the Miracle.  In his last 10 games he is hitting .343 on 12 for his last 35 along with a double and triple and four rbi’s.  He drew six walks while striking out seven times and stole two bases.  He had a very good .429 on base percentage along with a .429 slugging percentage for a .857 OPS.  I don’t think it will be long before De Los Santos is back up in New Britain after spending some time in New Britain.  He quite possibly could be the shortstop of the future for the Twins as he is a young guy that reminds some of a young Christian Guzman so the future is very bright for Esterlin De Los Santos.

• Pitcher of the Week: Liam Hendriks- Liam Hendriks continued his unbelievable season this week by continuing his dominance on the mound.  In his last three starts he has been even better as he went 2-0 with a ridiculious 0.38 era in 24 innings he only gave up one earned run.  He held opponents to a .226 opponents batting average.  Hendriks has really been awesome this year and he kept it up lately.  He has a good future in the Twins organization and it will be interesting to see how he does as he goes forward in the organization.

Beloit Snappers

• Hitter of the Week: Angel Morales- Angel Morales was good pretty much the whole first half but the last 10 games he was red hot.  He is that type of hitter as he will go in stretches where he is awful and then he will go on stretches where you can’t get him out.  In his last 10 games Morales is 18 for his last 37 a .486 average along with five doubles, two triples, and a homerun with 12 rbi’s.  Morales walked 10 times while striking out 10 times and stole four bases.  Morales had a .596 on base percentage along with a incredible .811 slugging percentage for a 1.407 OPS.  Angel Morales had done everything that is possible to do in Beloit I believe it is time for the Twins to move Morales up to Fort Myers as he is definitely ready for the move.

• Pitcher of the Week: Michael Tonkin- There was some doubt how Tonkin would do when he got up to Beloit as he was in the GCL last season and the thought was he would just move up to Elizabethton.  He was pushed and so far he has done great.  In his last three starts he is 0-3 with a very good 2.04 era, he has three losses because the Snappers have not scored any runs.  In 17.2 innings he has given up only four earned runs on 11 hits.  He has walked 6 while striking out 10.  Tonkin held opponents to a .229 batting average.  Michael Tonkin has earned the right to stay in Beloit even though there are some that think he should go back to Elizabethton, but I think he should stay in Beloit.

Toledo 8, Rochester 3  (27-37)

• The Red Wings had their season high three game winning streak come to an end with a bad loss to Toledo last night by the score of 8-3 in Toledo as the Red Wings got a bad pitching performance from Matt Fox and not enough hitting.  Fox got the start and was not very good in this one only lasting 4.2 innings and gave up six runs on eight hits including an incredible seven walks and six strikeouts.  It was just a bad inning for Fox as he gave up a five run 2nd inning to the Mud Hens that put the game away.  The thing that concerns me about this start from Fox as he is a strike thrower as he only had 14 walks in just over 48 innings of work so it was a shock seeing him walk 7 guys.  Hopefully, this was just a one start thing and he will go back to putting zero’s on the board next time out.  With the six runs allowed it raised his era on the year to 3.52 and dropped his record on the year to 4-4.  Jose Lugo then came on and really was not that bad  for the Red Wings.  Lugo gave them some innings though going the last 3.1 innings and giving up two solo homeruns along with a walk and five strikeouts.  With the two runs allowed Lugo’s era dropped to 6.28 on the year.  It was only a baby step, but hopefully this is the start of a better second half for the Red Wings lefty.

• The Red Wings offense just really could not get anything going against Toledo pitching.  Rochester scored three runs on eight hits along with drawing two walks and leaving seven guys on base.  Jose Morales committed his third error of the year on a bad throw.  The Red Wings were led offensively by Jason Repko who continued his strong season for the Wings by going 2-4 at the plate along with a walk to raise his average on the year to .301.  Matt Macri went 2-4 at the plate to bring his average up to .296.  Brian Dinkelman went 1-4 at the plate with his fourth homerun of the year and his 25th and 26th rbi’s of the year.  Jose Morales went 1-3 at the plate with his first triple of the year along with a walk.  Yancarlos Ortiz and Toby Gardenhire each contributed a base hit in the loss for the Red Wings.

• Tonight, the Red Wings continue their series with Toledo as Jeff Manship gets the start for Rochester.  Gametime is at 6:00pm in Toledo as the Red Wings try to get back on track after their loss last night.

Altoona 6,  New Britain 5 (17-45)

• The Rockcats suffered another tough loss to Altoona last night as they let another game slip away.  The Rockcats could not finish the game as they left the tying run on base in the loss.  Carlos Gutierrez got the start for the Rockcats and wasn’t really very good in this one.  Gutierrez went 7.2 innings and gave up six runs on 10 hits along with two walks and a strikeout to raise his era on the year to 4.67 and drop his record on the year to 2-5.  I am sure there had to be some rust after being skipped his last start in order to keep his innings down, but he needs to pitch better than this.  Loek Van Mil then came on for the Rockcats and got one batter out along with a hit and a strikeout to lower his era on the year to 1.93.

• The Rockcats had a good day offensively in this one, but it was not quite enough to pick up the victory.  New Britain scored five runs on 13 hits which should be good enough to win most days.  They also drew one walk by Ben Revere and left 10 guys on base and that is the main reason they lost as you can’t afford to leave that many guys on base in a close game and expect to win.  The Rockcats were led offensively by Jair Fernandez who continued his hot streak by going 3-5 at the plate to bring his average up to .295 on the year.  In his last three full games Fernandez is 8 for his last 14 with two doubles a .571 average.  Mark Dolenc went 3-4 at the plate with his sixth double of the year and 2 rbi’s to bring his season total up to 15 and his average up to .267.  Yangervis Solarte went 2-5 at the plate with his 9th double of the year and his 19th rbi to bring his average up to .282.  Chris Parmelee went 2-5 at the plate to bring his average above the Mendoza line to .207 on the year.  Juan Portes went 1-3 at plate with his sixth double of the year to raise his average on the year to .180.  Chris Cates and Ben Revere each contributed a base hit in the losing cause for the Rockcats.

• The Rockcats have today off before beginning a series with Harrisburg in New Britain as the Rockcats will try to continue their recent success against Harrisburg when they start their series on Tuesday night.

• The Miracle finished off their all-star break and will begin the second half of their schedule tonight as they welcome in Palm Beach into Hammond Stadium in Fort Myers.  Gametime is at 6:05 as Bruce Pugh is scheduled to pitch for the Miracle tonight.

• The Snappers saw their season high four game losing streak come to an end last night in a well pitched game to Bowling Green by the score of 3-1.  Both pitchers pitched very well, but Bowling Green’s was just a little bit better.  Michael Tonkin was very good in this one except he was a little wild so that limited his innings.  Tonkin went 5 innings and gave up only two runs on five hits along with a season high five walks and three strikeouts.  With the two runs allowed Tonkin’s era on the year is now 2.77 and lowered his record on the year to 0-5.  The 0-5 record should not fool you as Tonkin has pitched very well for the Snappers.  Dakota Watts then came on and pitched one inning and gave up a run on a hit along with a walk and a strikeout to raise his era on the year to 2.54.  Jhon Garcia then came on and pitched two shutout innings on one hit along with a strikeout to lower his era to 3.28.  Kane Holbrooks then pitched a scoreless inning of relief on one hit along with a strikeout to lower his era on the year to 1.75.

• The Snappers could not do anything offensively against Bowling Green pitching in the loss for the Snappers.  Beloit scored only one run on only two hits along with drawing three walks and leaving three guys on base.  Angel Morales committed his third error of the year while Michael Tonkin committed his first in the losing cause.  The only offense the Snappers could muster was out of Angel Morales who went 2-3 at the plate with his 13th double and 6th triple of the year to bring his average up to .290.  Angel Morales has been on quite the hot streak as of late as he has hit .486 in his last 10 games with an OPS of 1.407 in those games for the Snappers.

• The Snappers have today off before making their last stand as they travel to Cedar Rapids to take on the Kernels.  The Snappers trail second place Quad Cities by 6 games with 7 games to play so they need to sweep the series.

Rochester Wrap

Rochester 10 (27-36), Toledo 6

The Red Wings won their third straight game as they attempt to get back into playoff contention after a terrible start to the season. Last night they beat Toledo 10-6 as they put on one of their most complete offensive games of the season and got some good relief pitching to help Glen Perkins in the Red Wings’ victory.

Perkins had been very good as of late, but in this one he was not very solid. It is possible the extra day that he got in between starts messed up his timing, but for whatever reason he couldn’t get guys out as easily as he could in the past. Perkins only lasted 4.1 innings and gave up six runs on eight hits along with two walks and two strikeouts while giving up three homeruns in his 4.1 innings. With the six runs allowed it increased Perkins ERA on the year to 7.76.

Rob Delaney then came on and had a great outing in relief. Delaney had really been struggling as of late as he had given up 10 runs in his last 9 innings of work. However, in this one Delaney was awesome, pitching 3.2 scoreless innings on only one hit along with an impressive six strikeouts. With the 3.2 scoreless innings Delaney had his ERA on the year drop to 4.79 along with picking up the win to move his record on the year to 7-3.

Anthony Slama then came in and pitched a scoreless 9th inning on one hit to lower his ERA on the year to 1.73.

The Red Wings were all over Toledo pitching in this game and that is the main reason they got the win. Rochester scored ten runs on an awesome 15 hits along with drawing four walks and leaving a much-too-many 11 men on base in this game.

The Red Wings were led offensively in this one by Brock Peterson who went 3-5 at the plate with his 11th homerun along with his 12th double and drove in his 32nd RBI of the year. With the three hits he improved his average on the year to .260.

Yancarlos Ortiz went 2-4 at the plate with 4 RBI to bring his total since his promotion to six and brought his average up to .444. Dustin Martin went 2-4 at the plate with his 11th and 12th doubles of the year and his 45th RBI of the year and his average up to an even .300. Toby Gardenhire went 2-4 at the plate along with three runs scored to bring his average on the year to .227. Jose Morales went 2-5 at the plate along with his ninth RBI and his two hits brought his average on the year up to .250. Wilson Ramos went 2-5 at the plate with his 17th RBI and brought his average up to .234. Matt Macri went 1-5 at the plate with his 13th double of the year. Jason Repko also contributed a base hit in the winning cause for the Red Wings.

Tonight, the Red Wings continue their series with Toledo as Matt Fox gets the start for Rochester. Game time is at 5:30 p.m. in Toledo as the Red Wings try to extend their winning streak to four games.

New Britain Business

New Britain 8 (17-44), Altoona 7

The Rockcats nearly had an historic collapse in this game against first-place Altoona. For eight innings they had a great game before everything fell apart in the 9th. The Rockcats had an 8-1 lead going into the bottom of the 9th thanks to good hitting and a great pitching performance from David Bromberg.

However, as been the case all year long, if something bad can happen to the Rockcats it usually does.

The Rockcats’ bullpen gave up six runs in the 9th inning and had the tying run on third base before Matt Williams recorded a strikeout to put the game away. It should not take away from the wonderful pitching performance from Bromberg, who had it all working last night. Bromberg went seven innings and gave up one run on only five hits along with two walks and three strikeouts to lower his ERA on the season to 3.54 and improve his record to 4-4.

This year has not been easy on Bromberg, the reigning minor league pitcher-of-the-year, as he has not lived up to expectations, which might have been a little bit unrealistic for the big righty. However, by most standards he has had a good year and I expect a big second half from Bromberg.

Cole DeVries then came on and was not very good again for the Rockcats. DeVries went 1+ inning and gave up three runs on four hits along with a strikeout to raise his ERA on the year to 6.30.

Matt Williams finished the game, and nearly lost the game for New Britain. Williams also went 1+ innings and gave up three runs on three hits although only one of them was earned along with a strikeout to raise his ERA on the year to 4.35.

The Rockcats' offense had their best offensive day of the season and it turned out they needed every run. New Britain scored eight runs on a season high 18 hits along with leaving eight guys on base. Chris Parmelee committed his fourth error of the year in the victory. The Rockcats were led offensively by Jair Fernandez who went 3-5 at the plate with his 2nd and 3rd doubles of the year and three RBI to bring his season total to four and his average up to .256.

Parmelee went 3-5 at the plate to bring his average up to .198. Mark Dolenc went 2-4 at the plate with his 4th and 5th doubles of the year to bring his average up to .253. Brandon Roberts went 2-5 at the plate with his fourth double of the year and his 10th RBI to bring his average up to .338. Yangervis Solarte went 2-5 at the plate with his eighth double of the year to bring his season average up to .277.

Erik Lis went 2-2 at the plate before leaving the game due to injury to bring his average up to .301. Juan Portes went 2-4 at the plate to bring his average up to .177. Ben Revere and Steve Singleton each contributed a base hit in the winning cause for the Rockcats.

Tonight, the Rockcats finish off their series with Altoona as Carlos Gutierrez is scheduled to take the hill for New Britain. Game time is at 5 p.m. in Altoona as the Rockcats try to follow a good win with another tonight.

Fort Myers Minutes

The Miracle continued their All Star Break this week. Even though the team was inactive, Fort Myers had a couple players participate in the annual North vs. South All Star Game in the Florida State League. Chris Hermann went 0-1 at the plate. Billy Bulluck pitched an inning and gave up two runs on three hits in his outing.

The Miracle will begin the second half of their season Monday night at home against Palm Beach as they try to improve on a disappointing first half, where they went 26-33 and finished in fifth place in the FSL South division.

Beloit Beat

Beloit 14 (32-30), Bowling Green 1

The Snappers continue their late run at possibly making the playoffs as they won their fourth straight game against Bowling Green in a blowout of 14-1 in Beloit last night. It is probably too late for the Snappers to make the playoffs as they trail Quad Cities by 5 games with 7 games to play for the final playoff spot. However, it is a good thing going into the 2nd half as the Snappers have played very well except a couple week slump that took them out of contention.

In this matchup Edgar Ibarra got the start for the Snappers and was excellent. Ibarra went seven innings and only gave up an unearned run on five hits along with two walks and 10 strikeouts to lower his ERA on the year to 4.50 and improved his record on the year to 4-6.

Eliecer Cardenas then came on and pitched a scoreless inning of relief on a hit along with a walk and two strikeouts to lower his ERA on the year to 2.45. Matt Tone then came on and pitched a perfect ninth along with a strikeout to lower his ERA on the year to 3.90 on the year.

The Snappers went crazy offensively in this one as they put up season highs in both runs and hits. Beloit scored a season high 14 runs on 15 hits along while drawing seven walks and leaving six guys on base.

Danny Rams had his second passed ball of the year in the win. The Snappers were led offensively by James Beresford who went 3-5 at the plate with his 21st and 22nd RBI of the year and brought his average up to .267. Aaron Hicks went 2-4 at the plate with his 14th and 15th doubles of the year along with 2 RBI to bring his season total up to 20 and his average up to .252.

Angel Morales went 2-3 at the plate with his 12th double and 5th triple of the year along with 4 RBI’s to bring his season total up to 35 and brought his average up to .284. Steve Liddle went 2-3 at the plate with his 24th and 25th RBI of the year and his average went up to .237. Danny Rams went 2-5 at the plate to bring his average up to .228.

Reggie Williams went 2-3 at the plate with his third homerun of the year and three RBI’s to bring his season total up to 21 along with scoring three runs. With the two hits Williams is now hitting .226 on the year. Michael Gonzalez and Daniel Santana each contributed a base hit in the winning cause for the Snappers.

Tonight, the Snappers finish off their series with Bowling Green as Michael Tonkin gets the start for Beloit. Game time is at 4 p.m. in Beloit as the Snappers try to extend their winning streak to five games and attempt to close in on Quad Cities in the playoff race.

Rochester Wrap

• The Red Wings had another tough outing against Columbas last night, as they not only could not get Matt Laporta out for Columbus, but they also could not hit the ball. Ryan Mullins got the start in this one and, quite frankly, was not very good. Mullins only lasted five innings and gave up six runs on eight hits along with a walk and a strikeout. He gave up three homeruns. By giving up five earned runs Mullins raised his ERA to 5.20 on the year and saw his record drop to 3-5. Mullins has been pretty solid so far this year and I feel like this start was an anomaly. Next time out he will give the Red Wings a better chance to win. Jose Lugo then came on and pitched the last three innings and gave up two runs on three hits along with a walk and an impressive five strikeouts. With the two runs allowed Lugo raised his ERA on the year to 6.35. I am very surprised how poor of a start to the season that Lugo has had as I was expecting some impressive pitching. He really has not lived up to expectations. Hopefully, Lugo can improve and help the Red Wings in the second half of the year.
  
  
• The Red Wings' offense did nothing at the plate in this game against the Carlos Carrasco, a super pitching prospect for Cleveland. Rochester did not score a run and tallied just four hits along with one walk and left four guys on base. Brock Peterson committed his fifth error of the year in the loss for the Red Wings. Trevor Plouffe led the offense by going 1-4 at the plate. Brian Dinkelman, Jacque Jones, and Matt Macri each contributed base hits in the losing cause for the Red Wings.
  
  
• Tonight, the Red Wings continue their series with Columbus as Anthony Swarzak takes the hill for Rochester. Gametime is at 6:05 p.m. in Columbus as Rochester tries to win the series.

• The Rockcats suffered their second consecutive loss to Richmond last night. They got a great pitching performance out of Deolis Guerra, but just could not do anything against Richmond pitching. Guerra got the start for New Britain and was excellent. Hurling a complete eight-inning game for the Rockcats, Guerra gave up two unearned runs on three hits along with four walks and three strikeouts to lower his ERA on the year to 2.41 and drop his record to 1-2. After spending a couple weeks in Rochester, Guerra returned to New Britain and really got back on track. I don’t expect Guerra to spend the rest of the year for New Britain as I think he will be back in Rochester before the end of the year.

• Although the pitching was steller, New Britain's offense could not do anything in this game as Richmond pitchers really shut them down. The Rockcats only scored one run on nine hits. They left six guys on base. Erik Lis committed his 6th and 7th errors of the year in the loss for the Rockcats. New Britain was led offensively by Brandon Roberts, who went 3-4 at the plate with his third double of the year to bring his average up to .319. Yangervis Solarte went 1-4 at the plate with his 17th RBI of the year. Mark Dolenc, Lis, Steve Singleton, Yancarlos Ortiz, and Chris Cates each contributed a base hit in the losing cause for the Rockcats.

• Tonight, the Rockcats continue their series with Richmond as Tyler Robertson gets the start for New Britain. Gametime is at 6:05 p.m. in Richmond as the Rockcats try to snap out of their two-game losing streak to Richmond.

Fort Myers Minutes

Fort Myers 3 (26-33), Bradenton 2

• By throwing together a few hits behind a good pitching performance by Shooter Hunt, the Miracle defeated Bradenton last night by the score of 3-2. The big hit was an RBI single by Nick Romero. Hunt got the start for Fort Myers and was much better than his last start. Going six innings and giving up two runs on six hits, Hunt gave up a homerun while tallying three walks and five strikeouts. With the two runs allowed Hunt lowered his ERA on the year to 4.89. Twins fans need to be patient with Hunt as he has tons of talent, but right now he is going to be inconsistent on the mound and you can only hope that he has more good starts than bad starts. Jose Gonzalez then came on and pitched two shutout innings to pick up his first win of the year. In his two innings of work Gonzalez did not give up a hit along and struck out one batter. Billy Bulluck pitched a perfect ninth to pick up his 11th save of the year along with a strikeout to lower his ERA on the year to 2.97.

• The Miracle were not able to do much on offense in this game, but did just enough to pick up the win. The Miracle scored three runs on just six hits along with three walks, but left five guys on base. The Miracle were led offensively by Nick Romero who went 1-3 at the plate with a go-ahead RBI single. Deibinson Romero, Evan Bigley, Nathan Hanson, Allan De San Miguel, and Dan Rohlfing each contributed base hits in the Miracle's victory over Bradenton last night.

• Tonight, Fort Myers continues their series with Bradenton and finish the first half of the season. Michael Tarsi will take the hill for Fort Myers. Gametime is at 6:05 p.m. at Hammond Stadium in Fort Myers as the Miracle try to end the first half on a winning note after having a disappointing first half.

Beloit 8 (29-30), Dayton 4

• The Snappers picked up a big win over Dayton last night, ending their disappointment about how their first half ended. Miguel Munoz got the start for the Snappers and was mediocre. Going six innings and giving up four runs on seven hits, Munoz allowed a walk and struck out three to lower his ERA on the year to 5.83 and improved his record to 2-5. Eliecar Cardenas then came on and worked two innings and gave up two hits along with a walk and a strikeout to lower his ERA on the year to 2.57. Matt Tone then came on and pitched a scoreless inning along with a strikeout to lower his ERA to 4.02.

• Beloit had a good night offensively in this game that was dominated by the offense. The Snappers scored eight runs on 12 hits along with drawing two walks and leaving 12 guys on base. Anderson Hidalgo committed his 9th error of the year in the win for the Snappers. Beloit was led offensively by James Beresford who went 2-4 at the plate with his second triple of the year along with his 17th and 18th RBI and his 6th stolen base. With the two hits Beresford is now hitting .254 on the year. Angel Morales went 2-3 at the plate with his fourth homerun of the year along with his 11th double and 2 RBI to bring his season total up to 27 and his season average up to .269. Michael Gonzalez went 2-4 at the plate with his third double of the year and brought his average up to .173. Wei-Wang Lin went 2-5 at the plate with his 10th RBI and is now hitting .197 on the year. Josmil Pinto went 1-4 at the plate with his 10th double of the year. Anderson Hidalgo and Reggie Williams each contributed base hits in the winning cause for the Snappers.

• Tonight, the Snappers continue their series with Dayton as Brad Stillings gets the start. Gametime is at 7 p.m. in Beloit as the Snappers try to keep the momentum rolling against Dayton.