May 27, 2012 at 10:02 AM
Cup of Coffee: Kalish returns, Cecchini shines, and Daisuke is efficient
5/27 Cup of Coffee: Pawtucket came from behind to defeat Toledo, Portland took two games from New Britain, Salem scored off of Dylan Bundy, and Greenville pounded out 18 hits to defeat Charleston.
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| Ryan Lavarnway (Dave Letizi) |
Pawtucket has had
a flair for the dramatic all season, and it was no different on Saturday night.
A seven-run eighth inning propelled them to a 8-5
win over the Toledo Mud Hens (DET). Daisuke Matsuzaka had by-far his most effective
start with Pawtucket, throwing 5.0 scoreless innings, allowing only 1 hit and 1
walk while striking out 2. Of the 56 pitches he threw, 38 were strikes. The PawSox gave him a one-run lead in the second, when Josh Kroeger hit his fifth home run of the
year. The score remained 1-0 until the seventh, when the Mud Hens got to
reliever Junichi Tazawa. Tazawa gave up an RBI single and
balked in a run to give the Mud Hens the lead. In the eighth, he gave up a
two-out three-run home run to put the PawSox down by four with six outs left. The PawSox came right back after losing the lead, as back-to-back doubles from Nate Spears and Pedro Ciriaco plated three runs, and then Ryan Lavarnway belted a go-ahead three-run home run to give the PawSox the lead. They plated one more for good measure, and Mark Melancon worked a perfect ninth to earn the save.
In the continuation of a suspended game
from Friday, the Sea Dogs squeaked past the New Britain Rock Cats (MIN), 4-3.
The game resumed with New Britain leading 1-0 in the top of the fifth. In the
bottom of the fifth, Shannon Wilkerson doubled home Heiker Meneses to tie the
game. Reynaldo Rodriguez then singled home Jeremy Hazelbaker in the seventh to
give the Sea Dogs a one-run lead. The Rock Cats scored two runs off of Aaron
Kurcz in the eighth, regaining the lead. Derrik Gibson started off the bottom of
the eighth with a double, and came in to score on a force out. With two outs
and a runner on first, the Sea Dogs used a little luck to stage a rally. Two
infield singles loaded the bases, and then Rodriguez drew a bases loaded walk
to push the go-ahead run across. Kurcz was able to hold down the Rock Cats in the
ninth and secure the exciting win.
Game two was arguably more exciting, as Portland
completed the rare seventh inning walk-off, beating the Rock Cats, 4-3. It was
a rough start to the game for Anthony Ranaudo, who gave up three runs in the
first. A walk, hit-by-pitch, and home run accounted for the damage. He would
settle down, and ultimately throw 6.0 innings, allowing the 3 runs on 2 hits,
walking 5 and striking out 4. Still down three runs in the fourth, the Sea Dogs
were threatening. Juan Carlos Linares singled, and moved to third on a Bryce
Brentz double. Zach Gentile walked to load the bases, and with two outs, Jayson
Hernandez cleared the bases with a double to deep left. The score remained tied
until the bottom of the seventh. Hernandez led off the inning with a walk, and Hazelbaker
was brought in as a pinch-runner. Gibson singled with one out to advance
Hazelbaker to second. Wilkerson popped out to bring the game within one out of
extra innings, but Linares roped a double to center field, easily scoring
Hazelbaker, and sending the Portland crowd home happy.
Facing Dylan Bundy in his Carolina
League debut, Salem fell to the Frederick Keys (BAL), 5-3. In a case of an
unstoppable force meeting an immovable object, Jackie Bradley, Jr. hit a
leadoff single to welcome Bundy to the league. He was erased on a caught
stealing and Bundy ultimately faced the minimum through two innings. Frederick
got a run off of Brandon Workman in the second with a double, single, and
sacrifice fly. In a shocking turn of events, that one run was not enough for
Bundy, who was touched for two runs in the fourth. Ryan Kalish, who was making
his first start on a rehab assignment, singled and was driven in on a Travis
Shaw home run. For more info on Kalish, read his pregame interview with our
Senior Columnist Jon Meoli. The one-run lead did not hold for Salem, as the
Keys scored three in the bottom of the fourth off of Workman with a home run
and two-run double. Workman went 4.0 innings allowing 4 runs on 7 hits, walking
1 and striking out 3. Salem had an equally tough time with the Keys bullpen as
they were unable to score until the ninth inning, when Kalish launched a home
run to deep center. Kalish, Bradley, and Matty Johnson each finished the game
with two hits.
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| Garin Cecchini (Dave Letizi) |
On a warm day, where the wind was
blowing out 15 miles-per-hour out to right field, the Drive were able to slug their way past the Charleston RiverDogs (NYY), 15-10. Six Drive players had
multi-hit games, led by Garin Cecchini, who went 5 for 6 with a double and 5
RBI, and Jose Garcia, who went 3 for 4 with 2 walks. Greenville scored three
runs in the first on RBI singles by Cecchini and Henry Ramos, and a run-scoring
ground out from Drew Turocy. The lead would not last long, as the RiverDogs got
to Drive starter Jason Garcia for one run in the first and three in the second.
This seemed to anger the Drive batters as they collected eight runs on eight
hits and two walks in the top of the third. Cecchini had two singles in the
inning while Boss Moanaroa had two walks. Seven different players drove in a
run in the inning, and the Drive stormed ahead 11-4. Each team tacked on one
more run to make it 12-5 heading into the bottom of the seventh. Justin Erasmus
came on to relieve Garcia and quickly gave up a single, walk, double, and a
home run to cut the lead to 3. The Drive responded again, scoring three more in
the ninth to put the game out of reach, with a Cecchini two-run single sealing
the victory. Moanaroa, Turocy, Ramos, Blake Swihart, and Jose Vinicio all had
two hits on the day.
Player of the Day: Garin Cecchini is the latest Red Sox prospect to collect five hits in a game this month, joining Bradley and Brentz. Cecchini, who turned 21-years-old a month ago, is now hitting .310 on the season with a .392 on-base percentage and .448 slugging percentage. In May, those numbers are .348/.435/.543. Currently ranked eleventh on our site rankings, he is pushing for a spot in the top ten, and with more performances like this, he may be there sooner rather than later.