IL1 International League

International League News & Notes

Published on May 6, 2010 under International League (IL1) News Release


BUFFALO BISONS www.Bisons.com

R.A. NEAR PERFECT GAME: It wasn't a no-hitter, but it might have been better. R.A. Dickey wowed Bisons fans on April 29 by retiring the final 27 batters he faced in a 4-0 win over the Durham Bulls. After allowing a leadoff single to Fernando Perez on an 0-2 pitch, Dickey set down the next 27 hitters on six strikeouts, 12 ground outs and nine fly outs. The game took just an hour and 45 minutes as Dickey threw 68 of 90 pitches for strikes and had just one three-ball count. Dickey's start to the season has been amazing with statistics that include: No walks in 118 batters as a knuckleball pitcher, eight innings or more in five consecutive starts and an 18.2 IP scoreless streak spanning three games. Dickey ranks 4th in the International League with a 2.31 ERA.

C.C. THE HITS KEEP COMING: Bisons OF Chris Carter has been red-hot at the plate for the Bisons. The former Red Sox-prospect has hit in six straight games with a .500 (12-24) batting average. Carter also has eight multi-hit performances in his last 13 games to climb the International League charts. He is tied for 3rd in the IL with

32 hits and 7th with a .344 batting average. Carter is also 3rd in total bases (53) and 5th in slugging percentage (.591). On Sunday, Carter added a walk-off home run to his great start as he launched a two-run shot in the 10th inning of a 6-4 win over Louisville.

HARD-HITTIN HESS AT IT AGAIN: Former International League MVP Mike Hessman has adapted extremely well to the Bisons' blue and orange. Toledo's all-time Home Run King already has eight blasts with the Bisons and leads the International League with 28 RBI on the season. Only two of Hessman's blasts have been solo shots and the slugger hit the club's first grand slam in almost two years when he went deep on April 30 against Durham. Along with his RBI total, Hessman is 2nd in the IL in homers (8), total bases (58), extra-base hits (15) and slugging percentage (.611). Hessman has hit .284 (27-95) in his 25 games with the Bisons and is the reigning International League Batter of the Week.

CHARLOTTE KNIGHTS www.CharlotteKnights.com

MEET THE HUDSONS: RHP Daniel Hudson and INF Rob Hudson (no relation) each played well in Sunday's 4-0 win at Columbus.  Daniel Hudson had 7.0 shutout IP giving up just four hits and he had 10 strikeouts  The win was Daniel's third of the season.  Rob Hudson was 2-4 at the plate Sunday with a double and two runs scored.  Rob has hit safely in six of his last seven games going 11-25 (.440) with two home runs, two RBI and three doubles.  Rob also had four straight multi-hit games and is leading the team with a .340 (17-50) batting average.

WHAT A CATCH: C Donny Lucy was optioned to Charlotte from the White Sox on May 2.  Lucy, 27, hit .333 (5-15) with three doubles, one home run and two RBI in seven games (five starts) this season with the White Sox.  This is Lucy's fourth season with the Knights; he went 2-3 Tuesday night in Toledo.  Lucy joins Knights catcher Tyler Flowers to form one of the better catching duos in the IL.  Flowers enters tonight's series with Pawtucket hitting .284 (21-74) with four home runs and 21 RBI. 

TOUGH STRETCH: The Knights broke out of a slump in which they lost 11 of 12 games and put together a three game win streak with wins over Columbus and Toledo.  The Knights dropped the final two games of their 8-game road trip Tuesday against the Mud Hens.  The Knights look to piece together some victories as they begin an 8-game homestand against Pawtucket and Lehigh Valley.  Both opponents will be facing Charlotte for the first time this season.  The Knights will send four game winner

RHP Matt Zaleski and top pitching prospect RHP Daniel Hudson to the hill in their series against the PawSox.

COLUMBUS CLIPPERS www.ClippersBaseball.com

PIGGING OUT: Columbus starts a four game set with Lehigh Valley tonight (10-6 all time vs. the Iron Pigs), and brings some hot bats against the Pigs as well as the League's best record.  Individually against Lehigh Valley, Jordan Brown is a career .361 (26-72) hitter with a HR and 10 RBI in 20 games.  Shelley Duncan has batted .321 (25-78) with 5 HR and 25 RBI in 20 games and Chris Gimenez has hit .324 (12-37) with 2 HR and 5 RBI in 10 games.

 

MULTI-MEN: Shelley Duncan joined Brian Bixler (4/24 at Toledo) and Carlos Santana (4/8 vs. Indianapolis) as Clippers with 2-homer games this season.  Duncan's 2-homer game came on Tuesday with a 2-run HR in the 1st inning and a 3-run shot in the 7th (both homers gave Columbus the lead). Of Duncan's 5 HR on the season, three of them have come in the 1st inning.

 

HITTING THE GYM-ENEZ: Chris Gimenez kept his seven game hitting streak alive Tuesday and is now hitting .458 (11-24) during the stretch.  He has 3 HR on the streak and leads the team with 6 HR this season, hitting one long ball every 10.5 at bats.  Starting with his walk-off HR on 4/13 vs. Louisville, he is hitting .373 (19-51) with 5 HR and 11 RBI to boost his batting average 234 points to .317.

 

SERIES-OUSLY: The Clippers finished their longest homestand of the year by winning a four game series against both Charlotte and Syracuse.  They are now 5-1-3 in series this season, after going 8-19-14 last year.

DURHAM BULLS www.DurhamBulls.com

GOING DEEP: Durham hit four homers on Tuesday in its last game, a 10-7 win over Rochester.  Three of the homers came in the third inning.  The Bulls now lead the IL with 37 homers , ten more than anyone else in the League.  Dan Johnson leads the IL and the Bulls with nine homers. Hank Blalock and Joe Dillon hit back-to-back homers in the third inning on Tuesday in the 10-7 win.  It was the first time that's happened this season.  Dillon now has homered in back-to-back games.  He's the fourth different Bull to do so, joining Johnson, Chris Richard and Justin Ruggiano.

WORTH THE WAIT: Durham has played 27 games, and 13 have taken more than three hours to complete.  The average time of game for the Bulls has been 2:55 to this point. 

DOUBLE TROUBLE: Durham now has scored at least ten runs in six different games this year.  The Bulls have scored 169 runs, or 6.26 per game.  That leads the IL.

HOME SWEET HOME, HOME AWAY FROM HOME: Durham begins an eight-game home stand tonight.  After Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, the Bulls will play four games against Toledo.  Monday's game against Toledo will be played at the now-renovated Durham Athletic Park, the site of the movie Bull Durham, and the home of the Bulls for more than a half-century.  It's the first Bulls game that will be played in the park since 1994.  Lawn tickets and standing room only passes for the game remain, at www.DurhamBulls.com. 

GWINNETT BRAVES www.GwinnettBraves.com

RECORD-SETTING DAY: On May 2, Gwinnett beat Pawtucket 11-2. During the game, the G-Braves scored their highest amount of runs in a game this season, as every G-Brave in the lineup except for two players had at least 1 RBI. Braves third baseman Wes Timmons tied the team-high for hits in a game this season with 4. Also on that day, Gwinnett went over .500 for the first time since April 10.

G-BRAVES STREAKING: With their 4-2 victory on May 3, the G-Braves won their fifth consecutive game for the first time this season. The win matched the G-Braves longest winning streak since 8/14/09-8/18/09 when the squad last won five straight - four of those against Pawtucket. Gwinnett scored a blistering 33 runs during the five-game winning streak, the most they've tallied during a five-game span this season. During their most recent homestand (8 games), the G-Braves totaled 45 runs. The team tallied a total of 20 runs in their season-opening homestand, which was 7 games long.

JONESING FOR HOMERS: Mitch Jones, last season's Minor League home run leader (35), became the first Gwinnett Brave ever to homer in three straight games, from April 29 - May 1. Jones was 4-for-12 during the three game span, including 6 RBI. He has 4 home runs overall this season.

CLOSED BOOK: Closer Craig Kimbrel has been nearly untouchable for the G-Braves in 2010. He has allowed just 2 R/ER this season, and that came in a non-save situation on 4/24 in an 8-7 win at Durham. He is now 6-for-6 in save opportunities in 2010 and 34-for-35 in his ML career, with his only blown save coming on 7/25/08 for the Danville Braves (Rookie). Kimbrel is tied for 3rd place in the International League with 6 saves and has held batters to a .143 AVG against.

INDIANAPOLIS INDIANS www.IndyIndians.com

ALVAREZ COMES ALIVE: 3B Pedro Alvarez has driven in at least one run in each of the Indians last five games (April 30 to May 4), while also posting three multi-hit and three multi-RBI efforts during that stretch. Overall, Alvarez is batting .421 (8-for-19) with two home runs and 10 total RBI during his five-game offensive outburst. The third baseman's RBI total ranks second to Rochester's Dustin Martin for the most in the International League during the five-game stretch. The Pittsburgh Pirates' No. 1 overall prospect (according to Baseball America) also continues to come through in the clutch for the Tribe this season as he is batting .421 (8-for-19) with three home runs and 14 RBI with runners on and two outs, and is batting a ridiculous .521 (6-for-11) with 3 home runs and 13 RBI with runners in scoring position and two outs.

ROAD WARRIORS: The Indians recently completed a 10-game road trip during which time they posted a 7-3 record. The seven wins were the most for the Tribe since they went 7-5 on a 12-game road trip from May 17 to May 28 in 2005. Overall the Indians are 10-8 on the road this season with their 10 wins tied with Durham and Oklahoma City for the most road wins in all of Triple-A Baseball and tied for third with several teams for the most road victories in all of Minor League Baseball.

LEADING THE WAY: Tribe CF Jose Tabata has reach base and scored to lead-off the game in each of the last five contests in which he has played and is now batting .382 (13-for-34) when he leads off an inning. Before his five-game lead-off streak, Tabata struggled in the first inning as he went just 1-for-14 with two walks in the 16 games in which he led-off the game for the Indians. Overall the Indians as a team have scored in the first inning in six of their last seven games after having only scored two times in the 19 games prior. Indianapolis also scored eight of their 12 total first inning tallies during their recent 7-3 road trip and are now 5-3 when they score in the first inning and 12-7 when they score first.

SCINTILLATING SOUTHPAWS: Since the season began, the Indians have added three left-handed relievers to their bullpen: Wil Ledezma, Corey Hamman and Justin Thomas. The trio has combined for a 1-1 record, four saves, a 1.90 ERA (5 ER in 23.2 IP), six walks and 25 strikeouts over 17 appearances. Ledezma has earned a save in three of the Tribe's last four victories and has yet to allow a run over his 5.2 innings of work out of the Indians' bullpen this season. Including a four inning, one hit, six strikeout save against Pawtucket on April 27, Thomas continues to lead the Tribe with an 11-to-1 strikeout to walk ratio, while Hamman, who has posted a 2.57 ERA on the season, also turned in a four inning relief appearance of his own on April 26 at Louisville.

LEHIGH VALLEY IRONPIGS www.IronPigsBaseball.com

WHO'S HOT: C Dane Sardinha has hit safely in 7 of his 8 G (12-33, .364-2-8, 2 2B, 8 R)...... 2B Luis Maza has hit in 7 of his last 8 G (13-23, .394-0-3, 6 R)......

OF John Mayberry has hit in 5 of his last 7 G (8-24, .333-1-3, 2 2B)...... INF Melvin Dorta has hit safely in 8 of his 10 games (11-30, .367-0-3, 7 R, 2 BB)...... 3B Cody Ransom has hit in 11 of his last 12 G (14-48, .292-3-10, 4 2B)...... Chris Duffy has hit in 14 of 19 G and is batting 8-17 (.471) with RISP.

THE NUMBERS DON'T ADD UP: Lehigh Valley is now 11-14 despite being 5th in AVG (.270), 3rd in R (125), and 5th in ERA (3.93). Also...

- LHV has outscored their opponents this season, 125-107.

- LHV is batting .291 with Runners in Scoring Position (opponents are at .254).

- LHV has scored first in 16 of the 25 games (64%), going just 9-7 in those games.

- LHV has lost 14 games by a total of 30 R (8, 1-run G; 1, 2-run G; 2, 3-run G; 3, 4+). LHV is just 2-8 in 1-run G.

DO THE MATH: RHP Scott Mathieson started this season with 7.0 scoreless innings in 4 G (1-0, SV, 0.00) and has allowed just 1 R in his first 10 G (12.2 IP, 4-4 in SV opportunities). On 4/15 vs. Rochester, the hard-throwing prospect earned the first LHV save of 2010 after the pen collectively blew the first 4 opportunities. Mathieson also notched the first LHV win (4/11 @ SYR).

LOUISVILLE BATS www.BatsBaseball.com

IT'S MILLER TIME: Bats catcher Corky Miller has been spectacular at the plate to start the 2010 season.  Monday night's 3-5 performance raised his average to .306, making him one of only two players on the team to be above the .300 mark (Valaika .341). Miller tied a career high in his last game with 5 RBI, matching a total he set on 8/18/04 while with the Bats against Columbus.  On the season, he leads all current Bats players in RBI (12) and is second in home runs (3).  On the  road trip that ended Tuesday, Miller batted .389 (7-18) with two homers and eight runs driven in.   

MAKING HISTORY: On Monday night the Louisville offense pounded out a franchise record 24 hits including 13 for extra bases.  The previous record of 23 was accomplished three times in franchise history with the last time coming on 8/25/05 vs. Columbus.  The other two occurrences were 5/31/98 vs. Buffalo and 7/28/93 vs. Omaha.  The Bats currently rank 13th in the IL in average (.238), hits (210), and runs scored (99).

ONE-RUN STRUGGLES: Going back to their 15-inning loss to Indianapolis on April 26, the Bats have dropped seven of their past nine games all by one run. They are now 1-8 this year in one-run games. Louisville was 22-18 last year in one-run games.

STREAK IS OVER: Monday's win ended Louisville's season long nine-game losing streak.  It was the longest losing streak since the 2000 season in which the Bats lost 11 straight from 8/3-8/13.  That year, Louisville endured losing streaks of six, seven, eight, and 11 games.  The 2000 RiverBats finished 71-73 and in third place in the IL West, 10 games behind division winner Indianapolis.  Currently the Bats sit 10 games under .500 which ties the lowest mark they have reached this season (5/2).  Prior to this season, the last time the Bats were this far under .500 was 2006 when they reached the ten-under mark on 5/14 at 13-23 and hit a season-low 11 games under .500 on 5/15 at 13-24. They finished the 2006 season at 75-68, third in the IL West.

NORFOLK TIDES www.NorfolkTides.com

TWO IN ONE: In Tuesday's victory over Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, shortstop Robert Andino slugged two home runs to become the first Tides player to hit two homers in a game this year. Andino's multi-homer game was the second in his career, as he also accomplished the feat on July 2, 2007 while with the Albuquerque Isotopes. Norfolk had three multi-homer games a year ago, the last of which was a two-homer performance by Michael Aubrey on July 10 vs. Durham.

FOUR SCORE: With Tuesday's win, Norfolk is now 10-2 this season when scoring at least four runs in a game. The Tides have won just one game thus far when scoring less than four, a 2-1 victory over Scranton/Wilkes-Barre on Saturday night. Norfolk is 1-14 when scoring three runs or less.

HIGH FIVE: With two more hits Tuesday, Corey Patterson has now hit safely in each of his last five games, hitting .500 (10-for-20) with two stolen bases, an RBI and a run scored over that span. In eight games with the Tides thus far, the 30-year-old has hit .344 (11-for-32) with three steals while playing five games in center field and three games in right field.

NINE WAS FINE: Norfolk set a season-high with nine runs scored and nine hits in the 4th inning of Tuesday's win vs. Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. The Tides had not plated nine runs in an inning in nearly five years, as Norfolk rallied for nine 9th-inning runs in a 10-8 win at Indianapolis on August 4, 2005.

PAWTUCKET RED SOX www.PawSox.com

TRYING TO GET ON TRACK: The PawSox have won back-to-back games just twice this season - April 8 & 10 and April 18 & 19. They will try to accomplish that modest feat again tonight when they open a 4-game series in Charlotte. The Sox have not won three straight since last September 5 & 6 vs. Syracuse. The Sox are 0-3-5 in their first eight series this season - no wins, three losses, and five splits thus far. Furthermore, the PawSox won just 2 of their final 23 series last year dating back to late-June, so since that point the Sox have won only 2 of their last 31 series.

RANKINGS: Pawtucket is presently 14th and last in the International League with a Team ERA of 5.42 (it was 5.52 on Sunday which is their season-high). The club has allowed the most hits (250), walks (118), and runs (148) in the League. The PawSox are 12th in Team Batting at .247.

CHARLOTTE'S WEB: The PawSox - who open a 4-game series in Charlotte tonight - have finished 4-4 vs. the Knights both last season and in 2008 as the teams went 2-2 against each other in their respective ballparks each of the last two years. Furthermore, the PawSox and Knights each scored 27 runs in a very even season-series last year while the combined score in the eight games in 2008 was very close that year as well with the PawSox edging the Knights 36-35 during the '08 season-series.

LARS ARRIVES: The Red Sox promoted one of their top prospects - 1B Lars Anderson - from Portland to Pawtucket last Thursday. Anderson, 22, was dominating the Double-A Eastern League this season hitting .355 in 17 games as he ranked 3rd in the EL in batting and was tied for 2nd in both HR (5) and RBI (16). He also led the League with a .677 slugging pct. and was T-2nd in total bases with 42 at the time of his promotion to Pawtucket. Anderson, who is ranked as Boston's #4 prospect by Baseball America after earning the #1 ranking prior to the 2009 season, belted his first Triple-A HR on Tuesday night to help the PawSox beat Gwinnett, 6-5.

ROCHESTER RED WINGS www.RedWingsBaseball.com

TAKING A WALK ON THE WILD SIDE: The Red Wings pitching staff has struggled throwing strikes the last eight games walking 32 batters including 17 walks in the last three games.  Prior to these eight games Rochester led the IL with the fewest walks allowed (54) through the first 18 games this season (currently Rochester ranks 7th in fewest walks allowed with 86).

WAS DORTHY WRONG?: The Red Wings have gotten off to a slow start at Frontier Field this season going 7-7.  The Red Wings have played well at Frontier Field since they changed affiliations to the Twins in 2003 (288-228 record/.558).  The last time Rochester had a losing record at Frontier Field was 2002 when the Red Wings had a

30-41 record.

HOT WING: Third baseman Danny Valencia has an 11-game hitting streak batting .386 (18-for-48) with six doubles and seven RBI.  Valencia has five-multi hit games during this 11-game hitting streak.   Valencia has seen his batting average climb from .152 to .266 during this 11-game streak.

SCRANTON/WILKES-BARRE YANKEES www.SWBYankees.com

TURNING IT ON: Heading into the Yankees final game of a road series at Buffalo on 4/20, Kevin Russo was in a 2-26 slump which dragged his average down to a season low .154. After starting that game against the Bisons 0-3, Russo finished his last two at bats with a pair of hits. Since beginning the season hitting in just five of his first 11 games, Russo has hit in 13 of 14, including seven in a row. Russo is 22-57 (.386) since April 19 with 12 runs scored and seven batted in with the Yankees winning nine of their last 14 played.

RINGING UP EVERYBODY: Royce Ring has been nearly unhittable coming out of the Yankees bullpen this season. In 10 appearances, Ring has not been scored upon pitching 9.2 innings of shutout baseball. The southpaw, who signed with the Yankees as a minor league free agent in January, has allowed just four hits with 10 SO, five walks, and a hit batsman. Ring's specialty has been getting out left-handers, holding them to a .050 average (1-20). Right-handers are 3-12 (.250) against the former number one selection of the White Sox (2002 - 18th overall) out of San Diego State.

COMEBACK PLAYER OF THE MONTH: Zack Segovia wasn't very good in his first four appearances of the season allowing 10 earned runs in his first 6.0 innings of the year for an ERA of 15.00. The right-hander had allowed 16 hits over that stretch and the League was hitting a robust .485 against him. Over his last four appearances the right-hander, signed as a free agent in the off season by the Yankees, has seemingly turned it around with a 1-0 record and an ERA of 0.00 in his last 5.2 innings pitched. In those last four games the batting average against him has dropped from .485 to .340 and he has recorded nine of his 11 strikeouts on the year.

WE LIKE IT CLOSE: Through 25 games in 2010 the Yankees stand at 15-10 and sit one half game behind the Buffalo Bisons in the International League North. Out of the 25 games played by the Yanks, 17 have been decided by three runs or less. SWB is 10-3 in one run games, 0-1 in two run games and 2-0 in three run games. In games decided by four or more runs, the Yankees are 3-5, with the opposition scoring 54 runs in those seven games and SWB 39.

SYRACUSE CHIEFS www.SyracuseChiefs.com

STRASBURG TO START FOR CHIEFS: Stephen Strasburg is slated to make his Triple-A debut on Friday when the Chiefs host the Gwinnett Braves at Alliance Bank Stadium. The first-overall selection in the 2009 First-Year Player Draft went 3-1 with a 1.64 ERA in five starts with Harrisburg of the Double-A Eastern League. With 27 strikeouts and just six walks in 22.0 innings pitched, Strasburg posted a 4.5/1 strikeout-to-walk ratio and 11.05 strikeouts per 9.0 innings (tops in Eastern League). Strasburg, 21, ranks among the Eastern League's top pitchers in several categories: 27 strikeouts (first), 0.86 WHIP (second), 8.18 baserunners per 9.0 innings (second), .165 batting average against (third) and 1.64 ERA (fourth).

GAME, SET, MATCH: Until the Chiefs lost three of four in their recent series at Columbus, Syracuse had not lost a series all season.

TOLEDO MUD HENS www.MudHens.com

LEADING THE PACK: Toledo leads the International League with a 2.99 ERA. The next-closest mark belongs to Louisville at 3.46 - nearly a half run higher. Closer Jay Sborz is tied for the International League lead with eight saves. His ERA is an unblemished 0.00. RHP Armando Galarraga (2.30) and RHP Alfredo Figaro (2.76) are third and tied for ninth, respectively, in the IL in ERA.

TWO-DAY ATTACK: The Mud Hens are a combined 8-0 on Mondays and Tuesdays (4-0 each day). The rest of the week, Toledo has gone 7-12, including 0-3 on Wednesdays.

HIT THE ROAD, JACK: Four weeks into the season, Toledo has an unusual home-road split. At Fifth Third Field, the Mud Hens have played just under .500 ball (8-9), while they boast a 7-3 record on the road. Against IL West leader Columbus, the Hens have a 1-2 record in Toledo and are 3-1 at the Clippers' Huntington Park.

Check out the International League Statistics

Share: Facebook | Twitter/X | LinkedIn | Reddit | Email



International League Stories from May 6, 2010


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.


Sports Statistics from the Stats Crew
OurSports Central