Minor League Stop, 6/14

Written by Travis Aune | 14 June 2010

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.