Friday, July 7th

Charlotte 16, Louisville 4 (Finished Saturday due to rain)

The Knights pummeled Tyler Mahle in this one, as the stud righty allowed 5 ER in just 1.1 IP, clearly his worst outing of the season. It didn’t top the outing by Kyle “Small Fries, Medium Coke, and a” McMyne, however, who got shelled for 9 ER while retiring just 1 batter. Yeesh. Robert Stephenson did chip in with 3 scoreless, 1-hit innings of relief (with 3 Ks against no walks), and Phil Ervin had a 3 for 4 night that included a double and a run scored. On the whole, though...yeesh.

Pensacola 3, Biloxi 1

Solo honkers from both Nick “No.2” Senzel and Gavin LaValley powered the Blue Wahoos past the Shuckers, as Pensacola used a bullpen-approach to pitching to pick up the win Friday. Austin “Scott” Ross started, but three pitchers threw multiple innings, with Robert “Chad” Stock actually picking up the W.

Lakeland 9, Daytona 3

The Tortugas’ rough go since the last significant round of call-ups continued, as the Flying Tigers scored the game’s first 8 runs in this rout. Vlad “Fela” Gutierrez yielded 5 ER and 3 dingers in his 6.2 IP, and the only offense of note came from Alfredo Rodriguez (2 for 4 with a double) and Garrett “Rubbermaid” Boulware (2 for 3 with 2 doubles and a walk).

South Bend 11, Dayton 4

The Dragons were the third affiliate to get their butts handed to them on Friday, as the baby Baby Bears cranked out 15 hits on the evening. Andrew “Petra” Jordan and Lucas Benenati bore the brunt of that force, allowing 8 ER in 7 combined innings, which was far too much for Dayton’s offense, which didn’t produce a single extra-base hit on the night.

Billings 9, Helena 2

Billings wasn’t about to fall victim to the organizational stomping on Friday, as they scored 4 in the 4th inning to break this win wide open. Mitch “Birch” Trees did much of the damage himself, going 4 for 4 with a double, a dinger, 2 runs scored, and 4 driven in, while Leandro Santana and Montrell Marshall combined for 5 walks and 3 runs scored between them. Walks, you see, do haunt.

Saturday, July 8th

Charlotte 1, Louisville 0 (F/7)

After Friday’s game was finished on Saturday, this one was only slated for 7 innings as part of a doubleheader. The Bats could’ve maybe used those extra 2 innings to find some offense, since the shutout featured just 2 hits from them on the night (both singles). At least we can take solace knowing it was stud prospect Lucas Giolito who was shutting down Louisville, though Lisalverto Bonilla (1 ER, 4 H, 3 BB, 6 K in 5.0 IP) was plenty serviceable.

Biloxi 11, Pensacola 6

The Shuckers stole this one from Pensacola late, scoring 7 runs in the Bottom of the 8th for the comeback win. Errors fueled much of that, however, as Zack “Wheat Beer” Weiss was on the mound during the comeback and allowed 6 of the runs to score - but only 1 was earned, as an error by 3B Josh Vanmeter on what would’ve been the innings’ 3rd out opened the floodgates. Keury “Numma Numma” Mella allowed 8 hits and 4 earned runs during his 5.0 IP, but he did plate 2 with a double, too.

Lakeland 4, Daytona 1

Chris Okey dokied his 2nd homer of the year to plate the Tortugas’ lone run, and it came as part of a 2 for 3 night that raised his season average up to .196. Jesus Reyes was largely solid on the mound, firing 6.2 innings of 1 ER, 1 BB, 5 K ball. However, he had an error of his own - as did Brantley “Ring My” Bell - which led to a pair of unearned runs that stuck him with the loss.

South Bend 7, Dayton 3

South Bend followed up their 15 hit Friday with another 16 hits on Saturday, with the top of their order combining to go 10 for 19 on the night (with 3 walks and a dinger). Not good. The bat of Taylor Trammell finally heated up, though, as he went 3 for 5 with 2 doubles and a ribbie, but that was pretty much it. Nary a Dragon walked in this one, either.

Great Falls 3, Billings 2

The Mustangs rallied for a lone run in the Top of the 9th, but couldn’t quite tie things up late. They did get 4 excellent innings of relief from Luis “Where’d the X in My Last Name Go” Alecis, who allowed no runs on 2 hits while striking out 3. Trees continued to rake with a 2 for 4 night (with a double), while Alejo Lopez did his part with a 3-hit night that featured his 3rd dinger of the season.

Sunday, July 9th

Louisville 5, Charlotte 4

The Bats scored 3 in the Bottom of the 9th for the comeback, walk-off victory, with main man Phil Ervin picking up the winning hit. Erv, for what it’s worth, has been rather damn hot of late, having hit .338/.393/.455 over his last 21 games, all of which is nice, nice, nice. Brandon “BD” Dixon went 3 for 5 with a double, Hernan Iribarren went 2 for 5 with a double and 2 runs scored, all of which was good enough to back Amir “Fleshwound” Garrett, who allowed just 2 ER i nhis 6.2 inning outing.

Chattanooga 5, Pensacola 1

The ARFs thumped the Blue Wahoos on Sunday, scoring only 5 runs on their 13 hits. Deck “Boughs of Holly” McGuire managed to scatter 9 of those hits in his 6 innings on the mound, allowing a repsectable 2 ER in the process. However, a triple by Shed “Don” Long was the lone extra-base hit from the quite offense, on a day when Senzel was playing 3B for Team USA in the All Star Futures Game (where he cranked an RBI single, FWIW).

Lakeland 7, Daytona 3

Lakeland wrapped up a weekend’s worth of thumping of the Tortugas with this cruncher, as they, too, pounded out 13 hits on the day. Wendolyn “Steal My Sunshine” Bautista was drubbed for 5 ER in his 7 IP, while at the plate only Luis Gonzalez (2 for 4, w runs scored, double) and James Vasquez (2 for 4, double, ribbie) made any sort of an impact.

South Bend 13, Dayton 5

15 hits Friday. 16 hits Saturday. 19 hits Sunday.

Good pitching there was not in Dayton this weekend.

Wennington “of hits allowed” Romero took one on the chin in this one, allowing 6 ER in 3.1 IP as the starter, but his bullpen mates weren’t much better. Offensively, the top of the order trio of Trammell, Jose “Yari” Siri, and Bruce “Siri” Yari combined to 5 for 13 with 3 runs scored (and a ribbie on Jose’s solo homer), while John “Sad Songs Say” Sansone bonked a 3-run blast, to boot.

Billings 19, Great Falls 2

The Mustangs waxed poetic, waxed on, waxed off, waxed early, and waxed often against the Voyagers on Sunday. Six players had multi-hit outings, highlighted by Leandro Santana’s 7 ribbie outing. He poked a grand slam and a triple, Jeter “Turnover on” Downs went 2 for 4 with a walk and 2 runs scored, while Stuart “Third Marquess of” Fairchild wnet 2 for 3 with 3 runs scored and a ribbie. And no, I could not overlook the 4 for 6, 3 ribbie, 2 run scored day from Andy “Shin-Soo” Sugilio. While the offense was spectacular, the 4 innings of 1 ER, BB, 3 K ball pitched by recent 5th round draftee Mac “10” Sceroler was pretty damn solid, too.