Trenton’s playoff hopes fading

Zach McAllister was In The Team Photo of this week’s Prospect Hot Sheet for the second time in three weeks.

Triple-A Scranton (7-3 win over Rochester)
Brett Gardner: 0 for 3, 1 R, 1 BB, 1 SB – played six innings in the field
Freddy Guzman: 1 for 1, 1 R, 1 SB – took over for Gardy
Kevin Russo: 0 for 5, 2 K – 0 for his last 15 … wtf?
Austin Jackson: 2 for 5, 1 RBI, 2 K
Shelley Duncan & Juan Miranda: both 1 for 5, 1 R – SHELLEY SOLO HOMER … Miranda doubled & K’ed
Cody Ransom & Colin Curtis: both 1 for 4 – Ransom doubled, drove in a run & scored another
Reegie Corona: 2 for 3, 2 R, 1 2B, 1 HR, 2 RBI, 1 K – 7 for his last 17 (.412)
Chris Stewart: 2 for 4
Ivan Nova: 6 IP, 8 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 2 BB, 4 K, 1 WP, 4-10 GB/FB – 60 of 101 pitches were strikes
Humberto Sanchez: 2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 1 K, 2-2 GB/FB – 17 of 31 pitches were strikes (54.8%) … he’s been really, really good for about a month now
Eric Wordekemper: 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 2 K, 0-1 GB/FB – 9 of 15 pitches were strikes (60%)

Double-A Trenton (8-7 loss to New Britain, walk-off style) Trenton now has to win all three games left on it’s schedule to make the postseason, so you know how people say games are must wins when they really aren’t? yeah … these really are
Austin Krum & Eduardo Nunez: both 0 for 5  – Krum K’ed twice, Nunez once
Matt Cusick: 2 for 5, 1 R, 1 RBI, 1 K
Chris Malec: 1 for 4
Richie Robnett: 1 for 3, 2 R, 1 2B, 1 3B, 1 BB
Edwar Gonzalez & PJ Pilittere: both 2 for 4, 1 R – Edwar drove in a run & K’ed
Marcos Vechionacci & James Cooper: both 0 for 2 – Vech drew two walks, drove in a run, scored another & committed a throwing error
Noah Hall: 2 for 2, 1 R, 1 2B, 3 RBI
Jeremy Bleich: 3 IP, 7 H, 6 R, 4 ER, 2 BB, 5 K, 1 WP, 2-2 GB/FB
Phil Bartlewski: 3 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 3 K, 2-4 GB/FB
Wilkins Arias: 2 IP, zeroes, 3-3 GB/FB
Kanekoa Texeira: 0 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 0 K – a leadoff walk and a double did him in

High-A Tampa was rained out. They’re going to play two tomorrow. Tampa has already clinched a postseason berth and will take on Brevard County in Round One (best-of-three series) of the playoffs when they start on Sept. 8th.

Low-A Charleston (3-2 win over Savannah, walk-off style)
Jose Pirela: 0 for 2, 2 R, 2 BB
Abe Almonte: 2 for 3, 1 BB – 15 for his last 41 (.367)
Corban Joseph: 1 for 4, 1 RBI
Melky Mesa: 0 for 4, 2 K – AVG down to .231
Taylor Grote, Garrison Lassiter & Neall French: all 0 for 3 – Grote drew a walk, drove in a run & K’ed … Lassiter K’ed thrice, French once … French was at the plate when the pitcher made a pickoff throw to first, resulting in walk-off throwing error
Addison Maruszak: 2 for 4, 1 R, 1 3B
Jeff Farnham: 1 for 3, 1 K
Alan Horne: 6.2 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 6 K, 2 WP, 9-5 GB/FB – second straight strong start … it’s something
Gabriel Tatis: 2.1 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 1 K, 5-1 GB/FB

Short Season Staten Island (5-2 loss to Vermont)
Jimmy Paredes: 1 for 4, 1 2B, 1 K
Kyle Higashioka: 2 for 4, 1 R, 1 2B, 1 RBI – picked a runner off first with a snap throw … 9 for his last 20 (.450)
Everyone Else: combined 1 for 24, 1 R, 1 RBI, 1 BB, 8 K – Carmen Angelini singled for the only other hit
Caleb Cotham: 3 IP, 3 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 2 BB, 4 K, 2-3 GB/FB
Ronny Marte: 1 IP, zeroes, 2 K, 0-1 GB/FB
Graham Stoneburner: 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 2 K, 0-1 GB/FB – pro debut … he’ll be a nice little weapon out of the pen for them in the playoffs
Ben Watkins: zeroes across the board – he left the game with a hand/wrist injury during the first batter he faced
Griffin Bailey: 1 IP, zeroes, 1 K, 0-2 GB/FB
Dan Miller: 2 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 2 K, 1 HB, 1-2 GB/FB
Gavin Brooks: 1 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 2 K, 1-0 GB/FB – the walk was intentional

Staten Island has already clinched a playoff spot, and it looks like they’ll face Lowell in Round One (best-of-three) of the playoffs when they start on Sept. 8th.

The Rookie GCL Yanks season is over after they lost to the GCL Marlins in Round One of the playoffs. The GCL Nats won the league championship.