Portland Sea Dogs (Billy Buckner 3-3, 3.28) GAME 1
vs. Harrisburg Senators (N/A) @ 6:00 p.m.
Portland Sea Dogs (Stolmy Pimentel 1-1, 4.44) GAME 2
vs. Harrisburg Senators (N/A) @ 45 mins. after game one
New Britain Rock Cats (B.J. Hermsen 2-1, 2.83)
vs. New Hampshire Fisher Cats (Chad Jenkins 2-3, 5.03) @ 7:05 p.m.
Norfolk Tides (Brad Bergesen 2-2, 4.96)
vs. Pawtucket Red Sox (Justin Germano 4-3, 2.93) @ 7:05 p.m.
Binghamton (19-20) – 0
Portland (15-25) – 4
WP: Billy Buckner (2-3)
LP: Gonzalez Germen (1-2)
HIGHLIGHTS: Starter Billy Buckner had his best outing of the season, tossing 6 scoreless innings while allowing 3 hits and 3 runs to go with 3 strikeouts … Left fielder Jeremy Hazelbaker went 2 for 4 with a double and 2 RBIs … Derrik Gibson went 0 for 3 and was the only Sea Dogs player without a hit. His hit streak was halted at nine games, but his on-base streak extended to ten games with a walk … With the win the Sea Dogs move to 3-6 on the season against the BMets.
Trenton (20-18) – 7
New Hampshire (16-23) – 1
WP: Michael O’Brien (1-0)
LP: Yohan Pino (3-1)
HR: Trenton – Corban Joseph (2), Cody Johnson (10)
New Hampshire – Brian Van Kirk (2)
HIGHLIGHTS: Starter Yohan Pino lasted 5 innings, but allowed 6 earned runs on 7 hits and 4 walks … Brian Van Kirk went 1 for 4 with a solo home run and has run his hit streak to six games … Catcher Sean Ochinko played in his first AA game since being called up from Class-A Dunedin and was 0 for 3 at the plate. Ochinko was promoted to replace A.J. Jimenez who looks to be headed for Tommy John surgery after tearing the ulnar collateral ligament in his throwing arm. Jimenez, considered to be a top defensive talent behind the dish, was ranked as the Blue Jays No. 12 prospect by Baseball America coming into the season … Trenton evened up the season series at 6 wins apiece.
New Britain (24-16) – 5
Reading (23-16) – 3
WP: B.J. Hermsen (2-1)
LP: David Buchanan (1-5)
S: Daniel Turpen (4)
HR: New Britain – Matt Rizzotti (1), Joe Benson (1), Aaron Hicks (5), Chris Colabello (6)
HIGHLIGHTS: Starter B.J. Hermsen went 7 2/3 innings, his longest outing to-date, and allowed 2 runs on 6 hits with 3 strikeouts … Batting in the leadoff spot Joe Benson homered on the first pitch of the game. He had 2 homers in 28 games with Rochester …Matt Rizzotti went 3 for 4 with a home run … Third baseman Nathan Hanson was the only New Britain player without a hit … With the win the Rock Cats improve to 3-2 against Reading this season and take a ½ game lead over the RPhils for first place in the Eastern League’s Eastern Division.
Pawtucket (27-16) – 5
Durham (17-26) – 6
WP: Romulo Sanchez (1-1)
LP: Junichi Tazawa (0-1)
S: Brandon Gomes (3)
HIGHLIGHTS: Reliever Junichi Tazawa was saddled for his first loss of the season despite not allowing one earned run. Two unlikely errors from Jose Iglesias in the bottom of the eighth inning opened the door for the Bulls to put up 4 runs and come back from a 5-2 deficit … Iglesias went 4 for 6 on the day, his first four-hit game of the season … Che-Hsuan Lin stole 2 bases, giving him 5 on 6 attempts this year … The PawSox still maintain a one-game lead over the Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs who have won five straight games.
The Sea Dogs return to Hadlock Field for a brief three-game homestand against the BMets. Billy Buckner will hit the hill for Portland in his eighth start of the season. He has only faced three teams all season; New Britain twice, Binghamton twice and Trenton three times. Of his prior two outings against the Mets, Buckner has gone 0-1 over 10 innings, allowing 5 runs, 10 hits and 2 walks, with 10 strikeouts.
Ross Ohlendorf gets his eighth start of the year for Pawtucket, in search of his first win since April 21st, which happened to come against the same Durham Bulls that he will face tonight. In that game Ohlendorf scattered 6 hits and a walk for 4 runs over 5 2/3 innings. He will be opposed by Chris Archer, the reigning International League Pitcher of the Week and third-ranked prospect in the Tampa Bay Rays system according to Baseball America.
New Hampshire’s Yohan Pino will be looking to notch his fourth win over his last five starts. He has allowed only 5 runs over his last 26 1/3 innings, striking out 24 in the process. He did not factor into the decision when he started against the Thunder back on May 6th. In that game he allowed 2 runs on 6 hits and a walk.
B.J. Hermsen will get the nod for New Britain in Reading. Fresh off his first win of the year, Hermsen beat these very RPhils last Saturday after allowing 2 runs and 7 hits over 7 innings. He has gone 6 1/3 innings or more in each of his three starts with New Britain since being called up from Ft. Myers.
Binghamton Mets (Gonzalez Germen 1-1, 5.54)
vs. Portland Sea Dogs (Billy Bucker 1-3, 4.10) @ 6:00 p.m.
Pawtucket Red Sox (Ross Ohlendorf 3-3, 4.91)
vs. Durham Bulls (Chris Archer 3-4, 4.71) @ 7:05 p.m.
Trenton Thunder (N/A)
vs. New Hampshire Fisher Cats (Yohan Pino 3-0, 2.16) @ 7:05 p.m.
New Britain Rock Cats (B.J. Hermsen 1-1, 2.66)
vs. Reading Phillies (David Buchanan 1-4, 5.26) @ 7:05 p.m.
With the first Sunday of May comes some actual May-like weather, as the clouds begin to dissipate and what better way to take advantage of it than with some baseball.
Down in Trenton, Yohan Pino looks to continue to get stronger in his fourth start of the season. Last time out he threw eight solid innings against Reading, allowing 1 run on 5 hits and a walk. He did face Trenton back on April 5th in his only relief appearance of the season, blanking the Thunder in the one inning he worked.
The Sea Dogs are 1-5 over their last six games and will look to the winless Billy Buckner to try and turn things around. Bucker will be making his sixth start for Portland and he has pitched five or more innings in every start thus far. Countering for New Britain will be B.J. Hermsen who was magnificent in his first start after being called up from Ft. Myers. The 27th ranked prospect in the Twins system (per Baseball America) pitched seven innings against Harrisburg, allowing 1 run while scattering 4 hits and a walk.
The PawSox game versus Scranton/Wilkes-Barre was moved from Batavia to Rochester, presumably because of the pandemonium that Doug Mathis causes wherever he pitches. In his previous four starts Mathis’ has allowed 16 runs in 16 1/3 innings. The Yankees will be pitching some old journeyman named Pettitte against him…tough luck for those fans hoping to see two good pitchers today!
New Hampshire Fisher Cats (Yohan Pino 2-0, 2.57)
vs. Trenton Thunder (Cory Arbiso 0-0, 2.55) @ 1:05 p.m.
Portland Sea Dogs (Billy Buckner 0-2, 4.50)
vs. New Britain Rock Cats (B.J. Hermsen 0-0, 1.29) @1:35 p.m.
Pawtucket Red Sox (Doug Mathis 0-2, 7.17)
vs. Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees (Andy Pettitte NR) @ 2:05 p.m.
Reading (16-8) – 4
New Hampshire (11-13) – 8
WP: Yohan Pino (2-0)
LP: David Buchanan (1-2)
HR: Reading – Tim Kennelly (1)
HIGHLIGHTS: Starter Yohan Pino went 8 innings allowing only 1 earned run on 5 hits and a walk to go with 5 strikeouts. Reliever Ronald Uviedo worked a perfect ninth, striking out two of three batters he faced … John Tolisano stole his fifth base of the season and was caught stealing for the second time. As a team the Fisher Cats have 35 stolen bases, second most in the Eastern League … Ryan Goins, Mike McDade, Mark Sobolewski and A.J. Jimenez all had 2 hits on the night, with Sobolewski getting the only extra-base (double) for New Hampshire … The Fisher Cats won on May 1st for the third straight season. Last year they were 23-8 in the month of May.
New Britain (16-9) – 6
Harrisburg (14-11) – 1
WP: Caleb Thielbar (1-0)
LP: Hector Nelo (1-2)
HIGHLIGHTS: In his first AA start B.J. Hermsen went 7 innings and allowed 1 earned run on 4 hits and a walk, with 5 strikeouts … The Rock Cats bullpen combined for five scoreless inning and 5 strikeouts. Over the last four games the pen has tossed 16 1/3 straight scoreless innings with 16 Ks … Wilkin Ramirez went 1 for 6 with a run and 3 RBIs in his first game with the Rock Cats … Left fielder Mark Dolenc went 0 for 3 and is now batting .164 on the year.
Pawtucket (16-10) – 3
Toledo (15-9) - 8
WP: Adam Wilk (2-0)
LP: Doug Mathis (0-2)
S: Chris Bootcheck (4)
HIGHLIGHTS: Andrew Miller made his eighth relief appearance for Pawtucket, twirling 2 scoreless innings in which he walked 2 and struck out 5 … Will Middlebrooks went 0 for 4 and is 2 for his last 19 with 8 strikeouts … Tony Thomas stole his first base of the season on his first attempt … The PawSox have a league-high 121 runs-batted-in this season, one more than Toledo.
Trenton (11-12) -
Portland (7-18) – PPD
