Game 17: Danville Braves at Bluefield Blue Jays

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BRAVES (11-6)

1 Eric Garcia SS

2 Levi Hyams 2B

3 Carlos Franco 3B

4 Edison Sanchez LF

5 Felix Marte RF

6 Aris Alcantara 1B

7 Nick DeSantiago C

8 Gerardo Reyes DH

9 Kurt Fleming CF

RHP Frank Lafreniere (1-0, 1.84)

BLUE JAYS (7-9)

1 Jorge Vega-Rosado 3B

2 Dwight Smith Jr. CF

3 Seth Conner C

4 Art Charles 1B

5 Christian Lopes 2B

6 Jacob Anderson DH

7 Eric Arce LF

8 Dickie Joe Thon SS

9 Nico Taylor RF

RHP Tom Robson (0-1, 3.38)

FIRST-PITCH TIME: 7:05 P.M.

BROADCAST INFO: We are on WHIS 1440/1470 AM and WKEZ 1240 AM The Rooster tonight. Listen live right here for to tune in online.

WEATHER: 90 and cloudy and humid.

UMPIRES: PLATE Jimmy Lott  FIELD Andrew Freed

ABOUT LAST NIGHT...: It was certainly not seventh heaven for the Bluefield Blue Jays on Thursday. They led 5-2 heading into the seventh inning, but the Danville Braves rallied for five runs in the frame before holding off a late comeback to beat the Jays 8-6 at Bowen Field. The nightmarish inning started innocently enough when Logan Robbins led off with an infield single off lefty Griffin Murphy, who pitched a scoreless inning of relief in the sixth. But the next four batters reached as well on a double, RBI single, walk and an error at third base by Matt Dean. Murphy then walked Trenton Moses to tie the game before Gerardo Reyes lifted a sacrifice fly to give Danville the lead. They tacked on another run on Kurt Fleming’s single to make it 7-5. Murphy took the loss, though only two of his five runs allowed were charged as earned. Bluefield made a late attempt at a comeback in the eighth inning when they loaded the bases with two outs. Art Charles worked a walk to bring in a run and cut the lead to 7-6. Bryam Garcia came in for Danville and struck out Christian Lopes looking to end the threat. Garcia struck out the side in the ninth to nail down the victory for the Braves and push them back into first place in the East Division by one game over Burlington and Princeton. Deivy Estrada started for the Jays and held the visitors to two runs, one earned, in five innings. He was on the hook for the loss trailing 2-0 until Bluefield rallied to tie it in the fifth. Nico Taylor and Jorge Vega-Rosado singled before Santiago Nessy stroked a double to bring them both home. Dickie Thon broke the tie in the sixth inning when he singled in Lopes to put the Jays up 3-2 and knock out starter Eduardo Castillo. Matt Talley walked the bases loaded before Vega-Rosado singled again to plate two more runs and increase the lead to three. Talley (W, 1-0) would get the win, however, once Danville broke out in the next frame.

VS. THE BRAVES: The Blue Jays lost the season series to Danville in 2011, but they got the last laugh when they won the East Division title by a game after a great pennant race. Bluefield was swept in three games in the Bowen Field-opening series from June 24-26, but took two of three at Danville from July 8-10. The two teams were tied atop the division at 38-27 heading into the final three games of the season at Danville. The Baby Jays routed the Braves 11-4 on August 28, then clinched the title the next night when five pitchers combined on a three-hitter in a 5-1 win. Danville won the inconsequential finale 19-4, but it was the Jays who playoff bound for the first time since 2002.


TONIGHT'S PROBABLE PITCHERS
RHP TOM ROBSON: A day before his 19th birthday, Canadian righty Tom Robson pitched four shutout innings of three-hit ball in Burlington on June 26. All of the three hits were singles and only one of them left the infield. Today against the Braves he’ll get the start and try to give the Jays a series win. The native of Delta, British Columbia was chosen in the fourth round of last year’s draft. In 2011 he was ranked by Baseball America as the 72nd-best high-school prospect during his senior year at Delta Secondary School.

RHP KEVIN COMER: Baseball America’s 17th-ranked Blue Jays prospect kept up the great beginning to his pro career. Against Pulaski on Sunday, he held the M’s to one run on three hits, all singles, in four innings of work. He struck out four without a walk and set down the last seven batters he faced. He was a supplemental first-round pick (57th overall) in 2011 after Miguel Olivo signed with Seattle. After the Shamong, NJ native pitched his Seneca HS team to the Group 3 state championship, the Blue Jays bought Comer out of his commitment to Vanderbilt with a $1.65 million signing bonus. Baseball America says the right-hander has “a clean arm action and delivery, and he gets good angle to his pitches.” They added that he has a “live fastball that generally sits around (91-93).” He also throws a curve that “some scouts think will be a plus pitch in time.”

RHP ROBERT LAFRENIERE: Six-foot-five righty Frank Lafreniere starts for Danville tonight. The 22-year-old is off to a good start in 2012, holding the opposition to one earned run in each of his three starts, all at home. He allowed three runs, only one earned, in four and two-thirds innings against Burlington on Sunday. The native of St. Bruno in Quebec was drafted by the Braves in the 47th round in 2010 out of St. Petersburg JC in Florida, the same school that produced Atlanta General Manager Frank Wren. Lafreniere had been drafted the previous two seasons as well (34th round in 2008 by the Giants and 43rd round in 2009 by the Phillies), but he did not sign.

REAL AMERICAN: Tucker Jensen celebrated the Fourth of July by coming in from the bullpen to the strains of Rick Derringer’s “Real American.” Inspired by Hulk Hogan’s old entrance music, the righty pitched two and two-thirds hitless innings to pick up the victory. In addition to getting his first win of 2012, he also lowered his ERA to 2.13, the ninth-lowest mark in the Appalachian League. His WHIP of 0.79 is the third-best in the circuit.

TAYLOR-MADE: After starting the season in an 0-for-13 funk, outfielder Nico Taylor has been swinging the bat very well, going 9-for-18 while notching a hit in six straight games. He notched three hits on Thursday to raise his average to .290.

CHARLES IN CHARGE: When Art Charles walked in the ninth inning last night, he not only forced in a run to cut the Braves lead to one, he also extended his on-base streak to 16 games, spanning every Blue Jays game this season. He’s the only Appy Leaguer to reach in every game so far in 2012. Art’s on-base streak dating back to last season is up to 24. The day before he began that streak on August 23, 2011, he had just had a 15-gamer snapped, so the Bakersfield native has reached in 39 of his last 40 games. His .456 on base percentage is fourth-best in the league, in part because his 16 walks also lead the loop.


Bluefield Blue Jays Game Notes 7-6

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