=== Daily Dugout Chatter - Sunday, August 15th === (Games from Saturday, August 14th)
From The My Sportsbook
TOURISTS SPILL BLOOD
Randy Blood doubled and knocked in four runs and Chris Iannetta homered and drove in three more runs to power the Ashville Tourists past the Delmarva Shorebirds 17-9 in South Atlantic League action Saturday. Blood went 3-for-6 and scored one run and Iannetta added a run for the Tourists. Jason Diangelo (1-7) picked up his first win of the season after he gave up one earned run in two innings of relief work. He allowed three hits and struck out two in his outing. Jeffrey Montani (1-3) was rocked for four earned runs in just 1 2/3rd innings of work to take the loss for Delmarva. Montani gave up six hits and struck out three. Ian Stewart chipped in a double and three RBI and Luis Guance and Christian Colonel added two RBI apiece. Guance went 4-for-4 and scored five runs in the win. Evel Bastida led the Shorebirds offense as he went 2-for-3 with a double and three RBI. Ashville broke an 8-8 tie with nine runs in the seventh inning to break the game wide open.
HOLY TOLEDO!
Brant Ust singled home the tying run and scored the winning run in a two-run ninth inning as the Toledo Mudhens made a furious late-inning rally to defeat the Richmond Braves 4-3 Saturday night. Ust finished 2-for-4 with one RBI and one run scored to pace the Toledo offense. Jason Karnuth (4-1) picked up the victory with one perfect inning in relief. Karnuth struck out one batter in his outing. Matt Whiteside (2-4) gave up two earned runs on three hits in just 1/3rds of an innings of work to take the loss for Richmond. Whiteside walked one and struck out one in his short outing. Jorge Toca contributed his first home run and finished 2-for-4 in the win for Toledo. Bill McCarthy gave Richmond a 3-2 lead with a two-run, sixth inning homer. He went 1-for-4 on the day with two RBI.
BOWIE CAN'T BEAT THE FERRARI
Michael Hinckley and Anthony Ferrari combined on a six-hit shutout as the Harrisburg Senators edged the Bowie Baysox, 1-0, in an Eastern League Southern Division game Saturday night. On a four-game winning streak, Harrisburg improved to 44-75 while Bowie, which has lost four straight, slipped to 60-60. Hinckley (5-1) gave up five hits and struck out eight in seven shutout innings to earn the win. Ferrari came out of the bullpen and recorded his second save with two scoreless innings of work. Harrisburg plated the game's only run in the third inning when Larry Broadway drove in Josh Labandeira with a single. Losing pitcher Dave Crouthers (7-8) was touched for one run on three hits in six innings.
TRI-CITY COMEBACK
Ben Zobrist crushed a two-out, two-run homer in the top of the 13th inning to lead the Tri-City ValleyCats over the Lowell Spinners 7-6 in New York-Penn League action Saturday night. Zobrist went 3-for-6 with three RBI and two runs scored to lead the Tri-City offense. The home run was his fourth. Rodrigo Escobar (7-0) remained unbeaten with four scoreless innings in relief. He gave up two hits, walked one, and struck out three in the win. Garrett Murdy pitched the final frame to record his first save. Mike James (0-4) gave up two earned runs in three innings of work to take the loss for Lowell. James gave up three hits, walked one, and struck out two. Hunter Pence added three hits, including a double, and scored two runs for the ValleyCats. Matt Van Der Bosch led the Spinners at the plate as he went 4-for-7 with a double, home run, two RBI, and two runs scored.
SMOKED
Brad Cresse hit a three-run home run in the bottom of the tenth giving the Tennessee Smokies a 10-7 win over the Jacksonville Suns in the Southern League Saturday night. Tennessee upped its record to 21-27 while Jacksonville fell to 19-27. Skip Schumaker started the Jacksonville rally in the bottom of the tenth with a one out single then advanced to second on a throwing error by Jacksonville's catcher. Papo Bolivar reached base on an intentional walk setting up Cresse's game-winning home run. Milko Jaramillo finished the night 3-for-4 with two RBI and a home run, his fourth of the season. Sergio Garcia sent the game to extra innings with a two-run home run, his fourth, in the top of the ninth. Shane Victorino chipped in with three runs scored for the Suns. Nick Stocks picked up the win out of the bullpen and improved his record to 3-2. Stocks gave up one run on one hit and struck out three over 1 2/3rd innings. Jacksonville's Luis Gonzalez served up the gopher ball to Cresse and fell to 0-3 with the loss.
COREY LEE, CAN'T BUST'EM
Corey Lee kept batters guessing tonight pitching seven shutout innings and earning his second win of the season for the Arkansas Travelers as they defeat the Tulsa Drillers, 2-0. Lee (2-3) allowed only four hits and no walks while striking out four. Jon Rouwenhorst earned his tenth save of the season pitching the final two innings to complete the shutout for the Travelers. Rouwenhorst allowed only one hit and struck out two batters. Chris Narveson (0-1) picked up the loss in his first start for the Drillers. He pitched seven innings allowing two runs on six hits and struck out five batters. Jason Aspito got the Travelers on the board in the fourth inning knocking in a Alberto Callaspo on a fielder's choice. Cristian Guerrero bases loaded walk scored Tommy Murphy in the fifth to complete the scoring for the Travelers. The Drillers were completely shut down tonight only threatening once when Drillers star Ryan Shealy singled and Sean Barker doubled in the second inning. They were the only baserunners that past first base in the game.
HERE COME THE BIG LEAGUES
Jeff Francis continued his trek towards the big leagues as he tossed six innings of one-hit baseball and Erick Almonte drove in three runs to lead the Colorado Springs Sky Sox to a 5-0 victory over the Omaha Royals Saturday. Francis (3-2) walked three batters and struck out seven to raise his record above .500 since being promoted to Colorado Springs. He now boasts an amazing 1.66 ERA for the Sky Sox. Almonte smacked a three-run homer in the eighth inning that broke open a close game and capped the scoring. He finished 1- for-4 and scored one run. Doug Linton (2-8) allowed two earned runs in seven innings of work to take the loss for Omaha. Linton allowed five hits and struck out eight batters in the loss. Brad Hawpe chipped in his 24th home run of the year and scored two runs for Colorado Springs.
THE TRAVIS AND JEFF SHOW
Travis Phelps hurled seven innings of four-hit ball and Jeff Liefer provided all the offense with a first inning two-run homer as the Indianapolis Indians defeated the Louisville Bats 2-0 Saturday. Indianapolis returned the favor today after they were blanked yesterday, 8-0. Phelps (8-5) was spectacular on the mound for Indianapolis. Along with allowing just four hits, he struck out 10 and did not issue a single walk. Pedro Liriano gave up just two hits over the final two innings to record his first save. Liefer stroked his 16th homer of the year and finished 1-for-3 on the day to lead the offense. Juan Cerros (2-4) gave up tow earned runs in 5 2/3rd innings of work to take the loss for Louisville. Cerros gave up four hits, walked four, and struck out two batters in the loss. His one big mistake was the homer to Liefer. Dave Krynzel chipped in a 1-for-3 effort and scored one run in the win for Indianapolis. Anderson Machado and Jermaine Clark both doubled for the Bats.
