AAA: Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees
Russell Branyan came out swinging for the Yankees and was responsible for bringing home half of their runs in a 12-8 victory over Durham. Overall, Branyan was 2-for-4 on the evening with two home runs and six RBI. However, the offense was not as a result of Branyan alone. Kevin Russo, Ronnier Mustelier, Colin Curtis, and Ramiro Pena also offered multi-hit games to power the Yankees offense. It’s a good thing that the Scranton offense was so good tonight though, because D.J. Mitchell couldn’t have pitched much worse. In 5.2 innings on the mound, Mitchell allowed eight runs on 12 hits, and managed to strike out just two batters. Despite this, Mitchell still managed to secure the victory, moving him to 5-2 on the year. Chase Whitley tossed 2.1 scoreless innings to earn his fourth hold of the season.
AA: Trenton Thunder
Brett Marshall turned in a decent start yesterday, but it simply wasn’t enough as Trenton showed a lack of thunder in their offense. As a team, they scrapped together just four hits, and were 0-for-5 with runners in scoring position. Only Jose Pirela (2), Zoilo Almonte, and Jeff Farnham managed hits tonight for the Thunder. As for Marshall, he took the loss while pitching six innings tonight. He would give up four runs on nine hits as he dropped to 6-3 on the season.
High-A: Tampa Yankees
Tonight’s game was rained out. A doubleheader will be played today.
Class A: Charleston RiverDogs
At this point, I’ve just plain run out of things to say about Tyler Austin’s performance for Charleston this season. He continued the phenomenal season tonight with a 2-for-5 performance, including a double, an RBI, and three runs scored as he led Charleston to a 10-3 victory over Hickory. Dante Bichette also had himself a nice game, going 3-for-5 with two RBI, a double, and a run scored. Then there was Gary Sanchez. He went just 1-for-5 with a run and an RBI, but it was how the run was scored that made this interesting. With Casey Stevenson at the plate, Sanchez was able to steal home as part of a double steal with Angelo Gumbs. Pitching-wise, the RiverDogs got a good start out of Evan Rutckyj, who threw five innings of one-run (unearned) ball. Rutckyj allowed just four hits and struck out two batters to move his record to 2-2 on the season.
