AAA: Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees
Ramon Ortiz posted another solid outing tonight for the Yankees as they defeated the Durham Bulls 9-4 tonight. Ortiz went seven innings, allowing three runs on six hits and a walk. He struck out two hitters as he advanced to 4-3 on the year and brought his ERA to 3.52. Offensively, Scranton/Wilkes-Barre appears to finally be back at full strength. With Chris Dickerson activated off the disabled list earlier today, he stepped right in with a 1-for-3 performance that included a double and two runs scored out of the leadoff slot. Russell Branyan hit another home run tonight, his third of the season. Brandon Laird also homered for the Yankees, and just missed a second shot in his final at-bat of the night. Francisco Cervelli had a big night for the Yankees as well, going 1-for-4 but producing three RBI.
AA: Trenton Thunder
Abe Almonte had a monster night out of the leadoff spot for the Thunder as he led them to a 7-4 victory over the Erie Seawolves. Almonte went 4-for-5 on the night, while also scoring a run and knocking a run in. He also stole his 22nd base of the season. Melky Mesa, DHing tonight, went 1-for-3, but also knocked in two runs and scored twice himself. On the mound, Vidal Nuno was lights out yet again. Over six innings tonight, Nuno allowed just one run on five hits while striking out four. His ERA now stands at 0.41 after allowing his first earned run in four starts since his Trenton debut on May 22nd. The win moves Nuno to 1-1 with Trenton this season.
High-A: Tampa Yankees
Tampa was slated to play two today, but again only got in one game due to the weather. In that first game, Sean Black got the start for the Yankees, and despite his best start of the season, saw his record drop to 1-3 as Tampa lost to Fort Myers by a score of 3-0. Black went five innings tonight, allowing just two runs (one earned) on four hits while striking out five. Offensively, the Yankees didn’t do much all day. As a team, they were 0-for-8 with runners in scoring position, and no one managed an extra-base hit on the day. Worse yet, of 29 total batters for Tampa, 12 were strikeout victims, including Anderson Feliz and Neil Medchill three times a piece.
Class A: Charleston RiverDogs
When we’ve discussed the long ball regarding the RiverDogs this year, it’s consistently been Tyler Austin and Gary Sanchez as the main power hitters. Instead today, it was the middle infielders, as Angelo Gumbs (7) and Cito Culver (1) both homered to help lead Charleston to a 9-5 victory over the Hickory Crawdads. Dante Bichette and Mason Williams both had multi-hit games tonight, and Austin had his 49th RBI of the season. Mariel Checo came on in relief of Wilton Rodriguez and earned the win, his sixth of the season, and Philip Wetherell got the last six outs to record his fifth save of the season.
