Greenville, GCL, and DSL win late

6/11 Cup of Coffee: The drenched masses left Fenway disappointed after the Lowell game was called off early and the Salem game was cancelled, but a slate full of tight games elsewhere provided plenty of entertainment Saturday.

On a night when offense was at a premium, Tommy Hottovy gave up a sacrifice fly that scored the game's only run in the eighth as Pawtucket lost 1-0 to Rochester (MIN). Fabio Castro, Randor Bierd, and Hottovy each allowed just 1 hit, with Castro striking out 6 in 5.0 innings and Bierd fanning 4 and walking 2 in 2.0 innings of relief. Argenis Reyes had 3 of the PawSox' 5 hits, while Bubba Bell was 1 for 3 with a walk. Hottovy pitched the final two frames to take the loss.

After falling behind 5-0 in the first, Portland clawed back ahead before losing 7-6 to New Britiain (MIN). Nate Spears hit a two-run home run in the third, Anthony Rizzo went yard in the fifth and Yamaico Navarro went yard to briefly give the Sea Dogs the lead in the seventh. Matt Sheely as 2 for 4 with a double, triple, and RBI, while Luis Exposito was 3 for 4 with a walk and a run scored. Kyle Weiland gave up five runs in the first inning but settled down to retire the next 13 batters in order, finished with 4 strikeouts in 5.0 innings. Eammon Portice struck out 5 in 2.2 innings but took the loss after allowing 2 runs, and Jason Rice recorded the last 4 outs of the game.

In Greenville, the Drive overcame 3 costly errors and scored for in the bottom of the eighth to score an 8-6 victory over Hagerstown (BAL). Jeremy Hazelbaker was 3 for 4 with a home run and 2 RBI, and Shannon Wilkerson had 3 hits and an RBI of his own. Ronald Bermudez drove in 2, while Dan Butler and Reymond Fuentes had 1 batter in apiece. Manny Rivera gave up 5 runs, 2 earned and struck out 4 in 5.0 innings, and Jeremiah Bayer fanned 5 in 4.0 innings of one-run relief to get the win.

Lowell was only able to get five and a half innings in before the rain came at Fenway, but didn't get very good results in a 7-2 loss to Jamestown (FLA). Madison Younginer was haunted by control problems, as the Jammers scored 4 runs after a pair of two-out walks in the second. Younginer was done after 3.0 innings, having allowed 5 runs, 4 earned on 6 hits. Charle Rosario gave up a pair of runs on 4 hits in 2.2 innings before the rain came. James Kang had an RBI double, and Felix Sanchez scored on a wild pitch to account for the Spinner's offense.

For the second straight day, the GCL squad beat their cross-town rivals, this time topping the Twins 4-3. Jose Vinicio slapped a two-out, two-run single in the first that was bookended by a pair of runs in the ninth, with Wilfred Pichardo scoring on a wild pitch and Luke Yoder on a passed ball during the same batter. Eric Curtis and Michael Gleason each threw 3.0 solid innings, as Curtis was charged with an unearned run on 1 hit and Gleason allowed no runs on 2 hits. Matt Phillips struck out the side in the seventh before Sven Hujier gave up a pair in the eight, but Justin Erasmus recorded his fifth save of the season. Six different players singled for the Red Sox.

The boys down in the Dominican collected more runs than they had hits in Saturday's 3-2 win over the DSL Rangers. Raul Alcantara yielded just 1 run on 6 hits in 5.0 innings, and Nefi Ogando struck out 4 in 3.0 innings of one-run ball. Alexander Mateo retired the side in the ninth to get the win after Jesus Loya singled in Curtney Doran to win it. Jair Bogaerts doubled to provide the only other hit of the game, while Roberto Duncan and Juan Ugas drove in a run each via a walk and a sacrifice, respectively.

Player of the Night: Matt Sheely went 2 for 4 with a double, triple, and an RBI in Portland's loss to New Britain. He's batting .361 with 3 triples in his last 10 games.

Tweet