Farm Report: Kernels bang out eleven runs in victory

Triple-A: Durham Bulls 6, Rochester Red Wings 3

Errrr... how about that RF Niko Goodrum? Goodrum went 3-for-4 yesterday with a double and two RBI. He clearly had the best day at the plate for the Red Wings, who scored all three of their runs in the top of the eighth inning. Unfortunately, though, it wasn’t enough for the win.

That’s because SP Nik Turley didn’t have his best day, giving up five earned runs over 6.1 innings. He did strike out nine batters though. RP Alan Busenitz pitched the other 1.2 innings of the game, giving up another run in the process. He’s still sporting a 2.31 ERA on the year in Triple-A, though.

The struggling 1B Byung Ho Park went 0-for-3 with a walk and two strikeouts.

[Box Score]

Double-A: Birmingham Barons 3, Chattanooga Lookouts 1

The Lookouts hit five doubles in this game, yet only scored one run and still lost. What the heck? Anyway, the those two-baggers came from 3B T.J. White, 2B Levi Michael, CF Ryan Strausborger, 1B Dan Gamache, and DH Travis Harrison.

Overall Strausborger had the best day at the plate for the Lookouts, going 2-for-3 with the double, but he had a less-than-stellar day on the base paths. Though he stole one base, he was also caught stealing once and picked off once. Ugh.

SP Matt Tracy had a nice start, but it wasn’t nice enough. He gave up only two earned runs, both on solo home runs, over his seven innings of work. RP Mason Melotakis pitched one inning of relief, but also gave a run.

[Box Score]

High-A: Bradenton Marauders 5, Fort Myers Miracle 1

Wow, did anyone want to win yesterday? The Miracle coughed up this game early, with SP Brady Anderson giving up a two-run dinger in the first inning to Marauder 1B Will Craig and another two runs in the second inning. Anderson settled down after that and pitched another three scoreless innings for a total of five, but the damage was done.

The Miracle offense got runners on base in every inning, but failed to get much done. At least LF Daniel Kihle had a nice day at the plate, though, going 2-for-3 with a double (the Miracle’s only extra-base hit) and a walk.

[Box Score]

Low-A: Cedar Rapids Kernels 11, Quad Cities River Bandits 1

Thank you Kernels! The runs here came fast in furious, with all nine Kernels batters reaching base in the game.

Still, no one contributed more than 3B Travis Blankenhorn, who hit a solo home run in the second inning and went 2-for-4 with a triple and three RBI as well. CF Aaron Whitefield also hit a dong and SS Jermaine Palacios showed off his speed, legging out a triple and stealing two bases. Palacios is hitting .318 now on the year.

SP Sean Poppen got things poppin’ on the mound too, throwing 6.1 scoreless innings with five strikeouts. Perhaps most impressive, though, was RP Logan Lombana, who pitched the rest of the 2.2 innings but also had five strikeouts!

[Box Score]