IL1 International League

International League News & Notes

Published on April 15, 2010 under International League (IL1) News Release


BUFFALO BISONS www.Bisons.com

HOMERING HESSMAN WITH THE HERD: INF Mike Hessman has already found a comfort zone wearing Bisons' blue and orange. The minor league's active home run leader hit three homers in a four-game span with the Bisons, April 10-13. That ups his minor league career total to 314 blasts, 22 more than INF Scott McClain, who is on the disabled list in the Chicago Cubs chain. Fellow IL slugger INF Andy Tracy is the next closest with 258 career minor league home runs. Hessman, who is hitting .364 (8-22) with the Bisons, has an .818 slugging percentage - the second best mark in the League.

 

WE LIKE IKE: It's hard to imagine INF Ike Davis having a better start to his Triple-A career. The 23-year old prospect has reached base in every game and has gotten aboard safely twice in every game but one. Davis is hitting .348 (8-23) with three doubles, two home runs and two RBI in seven games. He leads the Bisons in runs and extra-base hits and is tied for the International League-lead with seven walks. All told, Davis has posted a .500 on-base percentage, a .739 slugging percentage and a 1.239 OPS.

 

R.A. IS A-OKAY: It hasn't been all hitting for the Bisons in 2010. The team also sports the International League's best ERA at 2.32. Yesterday, RHP R.A. Dickey tossed the league's first complete game of the season in an 8-2 victory over Pawtucket. Dickey scattered nine hits in his nine innings of work and struck out five. The knuckleballer was signed as a free agent this off season after throwing in 35 games and one start with Minnesota last season. Dickey was 1-1 with a 4.62 ERA for the Twins.

CHARLOTTE KNIGHTS www.CharlotteKnights.com

TORRES NAMED PITCHER OF THE WEEK: Charlotte Knights RHP Carlos Torres has been named the International League's Pitcher of the Week for the week of

April 8-11. Torres pitched the Knights to their first win of the season of Friday defeating Gwinnett 3-1. The native of Santa Cruz, California went 6.0 innings allowing no runs off of four hits. He also struck out eight Braves hitters. After his one start, Torres is tied for the League lead in ERA at 0.00 and is second in the IL in strikeouts. He finished the '09 season leading the IL in ERA at 2.39 after going 10-4 for the Knights. He also earned his first Major League promotion making eight appearances, five starts, for the White Sox going 1-2 with a 6.04 ERA. He was named to the IL mid and postseason All-Star teams. Torres becomes the first member of the Knights to win an IL weekly award since first baseman Brad Eldred and pitcher Lance Broadway swept the awards in May of 2008.

 

HOT STREAKS: Knights C Tyler Flowers has hit safely in all six games he has played in for the Knights this season going gone 9-23 (.391) with one home run and eight RBI... OF Jordan Danks' hitting streak ended at six yesterday after he went 0-3 with a walk against Norfolk.... INF Brent Lillibridge is off to a great start as well hitting .385 (10-26) with 4 RBI and 3 stolen bases.

 

SECOND OPENING DAY: Tonight's game will be the first game of the 2010 championship season that the Knights have played at home. The team did already get a chance to play at Knights Stadium this year. Two weeks ago the Knights hosted their parent club, the Chicago White Sox, in an exhibition game. The Knights were 3-2 winners in the game, as OF Stefan Gartrell and OF Josh Kroeger hit back to back home runs off of White Sox starter Jake Peavy to give the Knights the lead. The Knights also scrimmaged Advanced Class-A Winston-Salem and Low Class-A Kannapolis at Knights Stadium before the start of the season.

COLUMBUS CLIPPERS www.ClippersBaseball.com

OPENING DAY RECORDS: The Clippers started the 2010 campaign with a bang, defeating Indianapolis 17-4.  Columbus set franchise records for most runs scored on Opening Day and largest margin of victory in the season's first game.  They are now 21-13 (.618) all-time on Opening Day, including 1-0 at Huntington Park.

 

TOP OF THE HEAP: Heading into today's game, the Clippers lead all of Minor League Baseball in runs (53), average (.326), HR (11) and slugging (.556), while placing 2nd in on-base percentage (.407).  As a result of having so many players reach base, Columbus also leads all of MiLB in hitting into double plays, with 13.

 

COMEBACK KIDS: The Clippers have won each of the last two games in their last at bat, starting on Tuesday night with Chris Gimenez hitting the first walk-off homer for Columbus since 9/1/06.  Last night, an RBI single by Brian Bixler in the bottom of the 8th snapped a 2-2 tie and Frank Herrmann came in to notch Columbus' first save of the season.  Last night's win was the first of the year in which Columbus did not have to come from behind, as they had trailed by at least one run in their previous four wins.

 

GOODBYE, COLUMBUS: Through seven games in 2010, Huntington Park has seen 19 balls hit over the fence (11 HR by Columbus).  Friday night, Indianapolis (4) and Columbus (5) combined for the most homers in a game in Huntington Park history, shattering the previous record of five (happened three times in 2009, last on 8/22---Toledo-4, Columbus-1).  Columbus' 5 HR also set the record for most by one team (previous was 4 HR by Durham on 6/30/09 and Toledo on 8/22/09).  Huntington Park ranked 2nd in the IL in HR per game last season (1.83 to Toledo's 1.93), a 17% increase from Cooper Stadium in 2008.

DURHAM BULLS www.DurhamBulls.com

CLOSE CALL: Durham completed its opening road trip last night with a 3-1, 10-inning victory over Gwinnett. The Bulls have won four straight after sweeping the three-game series from the Braves. Durham (5-2) has played one or two-run games in all but one of its seven contests. Durham is 5-1 in those games, with last night the only extra-inning contest.

THAT'S QUALITY: Heath Phillips pitched 7.2 innings last night, allowing just a run on four hits. It was Durham's second straight quality start (six innings or more, three earned runs or less). One of Durham's two losses was a 12-3 loss to Norfolk on Saturday. All of the runs in that game were earned. In the other six games, Durham has allowed a total of only 14 earned runs.

CHAMPIONSHIP NIGHT: Durham will play its home opener tonight against Norfolk, and champions will be honored. Before the game, manager Charlie Montoyo will be presented with his Minor League Manager of the Year Award from Baseball America. The Duke men's basketball team will be honored on the field for the Blue Devils' National Championship win over Butler. Seniors Jon Scheyer, Lance Thomas, and Brian Zoubek will throw out first pitches.

GWINNETT BRAVES www.GwinnettBraves.com

FACING THE KNIGHTS: The G-Braves hosted the Knights to open the 2010 Minor League season, marking the first time the team started the season at home in Coolray Field. The International League South rivals split the four-game series, which was marked by fairly one-sided games. The Knights outscored the Braves 18-16 overall in the four-game set. There will be three sets of pitchers that face off in this series that already dueled in the season-opening set - tonight's matchup, Ryne Reynoso vs. Matt Zaleski, and James Parr vs. Lucas Harrell.

CLEVLEN AND SAMMONS: Braves OF Brent Clevlen and C Clint Sammons torched Knights pitching in the first series matchup between the teams. Clevlen went 5-11 with two doubles at the dish, good for a .455 AVG and a .636 slugging percentage. Sammons hit the first G-Braves homer of the season off tonight's Charlotte starter Jeff Marquez, and finished the series 2-5 (.400 AVG) with 3 RBI and 3 runs scored.

RESOP'S FABLES: Yesterday, G-Braves starting pitcher Chris Resop began the game striking out the first 5 batters he faced. He finished with 10 strikeouts in 6.0 IP, which is a personal- and team-high for this season.

THURSTON SHINES: Braves second baseman Joe Thurston hit his first home run as a G-Brave in the bottom of the eighth inning. It was his first HR in a regular season game since May 1, 2009 when he hit one against the Washington Nationals as a member of the St. Louis Cardinals. His HR tied the game for the G-Braves.

INDIANAPOLIS INDIANS www.IndyIndians.com

PEARCE CONTINUES TO POUND: Indians 1B Steve Pearce has hit safely in all seven of the team's contests so far this season. Pearce extended the streak after he went 1-4 with a double in the first game of a short two-game series with Louisville yesterday. With the double, the right-handed slugger has now recorded an extra-base hit in six of the seven games during his hitting streak and has also collected four multi-hit efforts during that span. The Florida native currently leads the IL with 12 hits and 6 doubles, while ranking 2nd in the League with 23 total bases and 4th with a .414 batting average. During the 2009 season, Pearce had two separate seven-game hitting streaks with the Tribe, the first coming April 25-May 2 during which he hit .330 (8-25) with one home run and five RBI and the second occurring July 10-18 during which he hit an astounding .423 (11-26) with one home run, seven doubles, and nine RBI.

TABATA TAKES IT TO THE COMPETITION: Also putting together an impressive hitting streak to begin the season for the Tribe is OF Jose Tabata, who with an RBI-single against Louisville yesterday extended his hitting streak to six games. During his streak, the Indians' outfielder has posted three multi-hit efforts, a .310 batting average (9-29), and has sped his way to a team-best four stolen bases, ranking 2nd in the IL in that category. Last season, Tabata's longest hitting streak with the Tribe was a seven-game streak from August 3-10, during which he hit .387 (12-31) with one homer, four RBI, and six runs scored.

DOUBLE THREAT: Despite being tied for 2nd in the International League with seven home runs and ranking 2nd in the League with a team batting average of .443 through the first seven games of the season, the Indians are also making a name for themselves on the basepaths. The Tribe's nine stolen bases are tied for the best total in the IL, with OF Jose Tabata leading the way with four steals to rank 2nd in the League, and INF Brian Friday and UTIL Neil Walker tied for 4th with two steals apiece.

STUPENDOUS SHUTOUT: Indians RHP Brad Lincoln and RHP Kevin Hart allowed just four hits and struck out six in a nine-inning shutout of Louisville yesterday. It was the Tribe's first shutout of the season and their first since RHP Yoslan Herrera, RHP Jeff Sues, and current Tribe reliever Jean Machi combined for a nine-inning 3-0 shutout of Toledo on September 1, 2009. During the 2009 season both Hart and Lincoln also played their part in multiple shutouts. On August 29, as a member of the Indians, Lincoln allowed just three hits over six innings as part of a combined 12-0 shutout of Toledo and earlier in the year with Double-A Altoona, he tossed a complete game two-hit shutout of Bowie on May 21. Hart was part of three shutout efforts during the 2009 season, all coming with Triple-A Iowa. Most recently, Hart started and tossed four innings of a four-pitcher shutout against Sacramento on May 27, while he also came on in relief in shutouts of Nashville on April 26 and Albuquerque on

April 23.

LEHIGH VALLEY IRONPIGS www.IronPigsBaseball.com

STREAKING START: With a double in the 3rd inning Wednesday, 'Pigs leadoff man Chris Duffy extended his hit streak to seven games to start the season. Duffy is hitting .344 with a home run and a League-leading 10 RBI in the early going, including a stretch of four games where he had multiple RBI performances.

WHO'S HOT: OF John Mayberry, Jr. has a hit in the last 5 games (8-20)... C Paul Hoover has reached safely in all five of his games (6-20)... RHP Scott Mathieson recorded the team's first win and has not been scored upon in his first two games (4.0 IP)... LHP Brian Mazone went 5.0 scoreless innings Tuesday to earn the club's first win by a starter (4 H, BB, 4 SO).

VALDEZ TO THE PHILS: The IronPigs lost a valuable part of their offensive attack when the Phillies purchased the contract of Wilson Valdez to take the roster spot of Jimmy Rollins (placed on the 15-day DL Wednesday). Valdez left the IronPigs as the IL's leading hitter with a .455 average through the first six games. INF Melvin Dorta has been promoted to Lehigh Valley from Reading. Dorta hit .176 in his first five games with the R-Phils. Dorta appeared in 94 games in the IL a year ago, hitting .252-2-23 with Norfolk. He logged 35 days of ML Service with Washington in 2006, and is a career .261 Minor League hitter.

FINALLY, A LAUGHER: After playing in a franchise-record 5-straight one-run games, Lehigh Valley cruised to a 12-0 victory yesterday. The win marked the 'Pigs first shutout of 2010 (and first since the final game of 2009 vs. Buffalo); tied the franchise record for largest margin of victory (also defeated Pawtucket 12-0 on July 8, 2009 at Coca-Cola Park); put Brian Mazone at 1-0 and gave him a franchise-high 12 career wins (1 more than Drew Carpenter). Lehigh Valley started 2010 by losing 3 consecutive games in walk-off fashion (they lost only seven times by walk-off in 2009, and had never had two in a row). Then the Pigs scored 2 in the 9th on Sunday to take the finale, 6-5. Two of the games went into extras (5-4 in 10 on Friday; 8-7 in 12 on Saturday). Lehigh Valley has blown 8 leads in the first 6 games.

LOUISVILLE BATS www.BatsBaseball.com

CHAPMAN HITS 100 MPH: LHP Aroldis Chapman, who signed with the Cincinnati Reds as a free agent in January, made his American professional debut on Sunday afternoon in Toledo. Though he did not receive a decision, Chapman struck out nine Mud Hens, allowed five hits and gave up an unearned run in 4.2 innings. He was also clocked at 100 miles per hour on five of his pitches. He will make his Louisville Slugger Field debut on Friday night against Columbus.

CASTILLO FOR THREE: C Wilkin Castillo topped his entire 2009 total for triples after collecting his second in as many nights with a 5th inning three-bagger on Sunday afternoon at Toledo. Castillo also belted a 9th inning triple on Saturday night against the Mud Hens. Incidentally, that was his first triple since April 15, 2009, which occurred against Toledo at Louisville Slugger Field.

DORN OFF TO THE RACES: INF/OF Danny Dorn has started the season with plenty of power. Through seven games, Dorn has hit three home runs, including long balls in back-to-back games against Columbus on Monday and Tuesday. On the season, he is batting .320 with four runs and six RBI.

BRING ON THE THUNDER: The Bats Saturday afternoon contest against Columbus will be played in conjunction with the city of Louisville's Thunder Over Louisville festivities. Nearly one million people are expected along the Ohio River to enjoy the day's game, air show, and the largest annual fireworks show in North America. The event officially kicks off the Kentucky Derby Festival, which culminates with the 136th running of the Kentucky Derby on May 1.

NORFOLK TIDES www.NorfolkTides.com

MAKING HIS PITCH: Tides hurler Jake Arrieta has had an excellent start to the 2010 campaign, as the 24-year-old right-hander has allowed just six hits while striking out seven in 12.0 shutout innings. Arrieta earned his first victory of the season yesterday afternoon as he needed just 79 pitches to navigate his way through seven scoreless frames in a 9-0 win over Charlotte. He entered the season rated as the number four prospect in the Orioles system according to Baseball America.

GOING STREAKING: With two hits Wednesday afternoon, outfielder Rhyne Hughes has now hit safely in each of the six games he's played in this season, batting .381 (8-21) with a home run and six RBI. After playing exclusively at first base over the first five seasons of his pro career, the 26-year-old has made five appearances in the outfield this season. Hughes' .381 average is tied for 10th in the International League.

STRONG START AT THE GATE: 10,056 fans attended Norfolk's opening night contest against Durham, the largest home opening crowd at Harbor Park since 10,069 fans saw the 1995 home opener.

LOVING IT LATE: The Tides have plated 19 of their 36 runs this season in the seventh inning or later, as they've pushed across eight runs in the 7th, seven runs in the 8th and four runs in the 9th. Norfolk has outscored its opponents 19-5 over the final three frames.

PAWTUCKET RED SOX www.PawSox.com

ROLL OF THE DICE: Boston Red Sox RHP Daisuke Matsuzaka will make his second rehab start for the PawSox this afternoon in Buffalo. Dice-K was the winner this past Saturday in Game 1 of a doubleheader vs. Rochester at McCoy Stadium as he tossed 5 scoreless innings to earn a 1-0 victory - 5 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 3 SO, 2 HB - throwing 73 pitches (43 for strikes). He is expected to throw between 80-85 pitches today. Matsuzaka, who made four rehab starts for the PawSox last season (0-1, 2.25 -

4 ER in 16 IP) and another in 2008 (1-0, 3.60 - 2 ER in 5 IP), was placed on Boston's disabled list this April 3 with a neck strain. A 15-game winner for the Red Sox in 2007 and an 18-game winner in 2008, Dice-K was limited to just 12 starts for Boston last season going 4-6 with a 5.76 ERA in between two stints on the DL (April 15 - May 22 and again from June 20 - September 15) with a right shoulder strain. He had two rehab stints with the PawSox from May 5-15 and again on September 4.

A HALL OF FAME LIST OF REHABBERS: RHP Boof Bonser, Pawtucket's Opening Night starter (and Daisuke Matsuzaka once again this April), have joined an illustrious group of Major League stars who have spent time with the PawSox on an injury rehab assignment over the years. The impressive list includes (in part): Rocco Baldelli (2009), Marty Barrett (1989), Ellis Burks (1989), Jose Canseco (1995 & '96), Sean Casey (2008), Roger Clemens (1993 & '95), Dennis Eckersley (1998), Nomar Garciaparra (2001), Mike Greenwell (1995 & '96), Mark Kotsay (2009), Mike Lowell (2008), Ramon Martinez (1999), Daisuke Matsuzaka (2008, 2009, and now again in 2010), Willie McGee (1995), Kevin Mitchell (1996), Trot Nixon (2004), David Ortiz (2008), Manny Ramirez (2002), Bret Saberhagen (1997 & 2000), Curt Schilling (2005 & '07), John Smoltz (2009), Bob Stanley (1988), Mike Timlin (2007 & '08), John Valentin (2001), Tim Wakefield (2009), and Kevin Youkilis (2009).

ONE HOMESTAND IN THE BOOKS: The PawSox concluded their first of 12 homestands this season earlier this week at McCoy Stadium and had to settle for a split finishing 3-3 on the homestand. It began with a 4-game split vs. Rochester last week and this weekend and ended with another split of a 2-game set vs. Lehigh Valley. Both times the Sox dropped the finale of the series and thus had to settle for splits. Pawtucket's last winning homestand came almost a full year ago when they went 6-2 during an 8-game homestand last April 30 - May 7. During their final 9 homestands last year the PawSox had 4 losing homestands and saw 5 others end in a split.

ROCHESTER RED WINGS www.RedWingsBaseball.com

NAIL BITTERS: Tuesday night's one-run loss at Scranton/Wilkes-Barre was the fourth one-run game Rochester has played in this season (seven games).  Rochester has a 1-3 record in those four games and holds just a 42-48 record in one-run games since 2008.  Since the Red Wings changed affiliations to the Minnesota Twins in 2003 Rochester holds just a 156-158 record in one-run games.

DADDY'S HOME: The Red Wings will open their home schedule with a six-game homestand starting Saturday when the Pawtucket Red Sox visit Frontier Field at

4:05 p.m.  Rochester will be the last team in the International League to open their home schedule.

DUCKS ON A POND: Through the first seven games of the season the Red Wings are batting just .237 (14-59) with runners in scoring position.  Rochester has just a 1-2 record in their last three games despite hitting .313 (10-32) with runners in scoring position.

SCRANTON/WILKES-BARRE YANKEES www.SWBYankees.com

MORE HITS EQUALS A WIN (FINALLY): The Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees were an amazing 60-10 when out-hitting the opposition in 2009 but had not had similar success in 2010 when picking up more hits than their opponents this season, posting a 0-2 record.  The tide finally turned for the Yanks who out-hit Rochester nine to eight in the final game of the quick two game series on Tuesday night picking up a come from behind 4-3 win.  Scranton/Wilkes-Barre is a perfect 2-0 on the 2010 season when getting out-hit by the opposition.

 

LAST AT BAT HEROICS: In back-to-back games, the Yankees picked up wins in their final at-bat in sweeping the Rochester Red Wings in the Yankees most recent two game series.  On Monday night, Juan Miranda slugged a two run homer to tie things up at five a side in the bottom of the ninth before Robby Hammock's RBI single proved to be the game winner in the bottom of the 11th inning.  Monday's 4-3 win over the Wings was not of the walk off variety but was dramatic none the less.  After taking a 2-1 lead to the top of the eighth inning and falling behind after Trevor Plouffe's two run homer made it 3-2, Jesus Montero's two RBI single with two outs in the bottom of the eighth proved to be the game winner. 

 

SAFE IN SEVEN & SIX: Jesus Montero has hit safely in every SWB Yankees game thus far in 2010. Montero picked up single hits in the first six games of the streak before getting three last night vs. Syracuse. David Winfree is currently riding a six game hitting streak after picking up a single hit against his former team - Rochester -Tuesday.  His average sitting at .333, tops amongst the SWB regulars.

 

VOICE TURNS 1500: The public address voice of Scranton/Wilkes-Barre baseball for the past 22 seasons - John Davies - is announcing his 1,500th regular season game tonight. He began his career on April 26, 1989 with the first ever game at Lackawanna County Stadium when the Red Barons lost to the Tidewater Tides. His career has also covered more than 20 home playoff games, an International League All-Star Game, three Major League Baseball exhibition games and one Governors' Cup Championship.

What exactly does 1,500 games translate to? Well, John has witnessed over 13,000 innings, approximately 450,000 pitches and has announced 100,000 names. Some of the names he has announced over the years include Derek Jeter, Mariano Rivera, Ryan Howard, Chase Utley, Jim Thome, Manny Ramirez, Mike Mussina, Roger Clemens, and many, many more. Congratulations John on a great 1,500 games and here's to another 1,500!

SYRACUSE CHIEFS www.SyracuseChiefs.com

BY A NOSE: The Chiefs have played one-run games in six of their first seven contests and have finished 4-2 in those games.  Syracuse was 22-15 in one-run games last season, accounting for more than a quarter (25.6%) of the team games.

BACK IN THE DAY: The Chiefs entered Thursday's action with the best record in the IL.  The best record in all of Triple-A belongs to Nashville and Las Vegas at 6-1.  The Sounds' pitching coach is former Chiefs pitching coach Rich Gale while ex-Chief Chad Mottola is the 51s hitting coach and former Chief outfielder Jorge Padilla plays for the 51s and '09 Chief Marco Estrada pitches for Nashville.

ROAD WARRIORS: The Chiefs began the season with a six-game homestand and are now in the midst of an intra-division seven-game road trip.  Syracuse finished last season with a .500 or better record away from Alliance Bank Stadium against every team in the North Division.  That includes a record of 6-2 against division champ Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.

TOLEDO MUD HENS www.MudHens.com

MR. 500: Manager Larry Parrish won his 500th game as manager of the Mud Hens on Friday against the Louisville Bats. He is 502-481 and is now 38 wins shy of Cal Ermer, the winningest manager in Toledo Mud Hens history. Ermer won 540 games from 1978 to 1984.

NOTABLE FIRSTS: In the season's first homestand, both Brennan Boesch and Ryan Strieby went deep for the first time at the Triple-A level, while Alfredo Figaro collected his first Triple-A win and Jay Sborz recorded his first Triple-A save.

LEADING THE WAY: Brennan Boesch and Clete Thomas are driving in runs and stealing bases like there is no tomorrow. Boesch's nine RBI is tied for 10th in all of the minors, and Thomas has five stolen bases, tied for 4th in all of the minors.

NO JINX HERE: The Mud Hens were featured in the April 12 edition of Sports Illustrated. In the "Go Figure" section, SI writes that the 15-scoop, Fantastic Freeze ice cream sundae served at Fifth Third Field contains 3,800 calories.

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International League Stories from April 15, 2010


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