Check out the @BluefieldJays Twitter page for mid-game updates
UPDATE: 6:40 P.M.: The game hasn't started on time...we've got rain here at Bowen Field...we'll see what we have at around 7 and make a decision.
UPDATE: 7:10 P.M.: The game has been postponed...we'll have two seven-inning games here at Bowen Field tomorrow at 5 p.m.
LHP Todd Kibby (2-4, 3.68)
UPDATE: 6:40 P.M.: The game hasn't started on time...we've got rain here at Bowen Field...we'll see what we have at around 7 and make a decision.
UPDATE: 7:10 P.M.: The game has been postponed...we'll have two seven-inning games here at Bowen Field tomorrow at 5 p.m.
WHITE SOX (10-28)
1 Kale Kiser LF
2 Jake Brown 2B
3 Eric Grabe 3B
4 Keon Barnum 1B
5 Nick Basto SS
6 Alex Williams DH
7 Zach Stoner C
8 Cory Farris RF
9 Thurman Hall CFLHP Todd Kibby (2-4, 3.68)
BLUE JAYS (19-21)
1 Jorge Vega-Rosado 2B
2 Dickie Joe Thon SS
3 Dwight Smith Jr. DH
4 Seth Conner 3B
5 Santiago Nessy C
6 Nico Taylor LF
7 Jacob Anderson RF
8 Jordan Leyland 1B
9 D.J. Jones CF
RHP Kevin Comer (3-1, 3.74)
FIRST-PITCH TIME: 6:05 P.M.
BROADCAST
INFO: Sorry folks, none of the three home games with Bristol will be
broadcast. We'll be back on the air for the final three Mercer Cup games
in Princeton on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.
WEATHER: High 70s today in Bluefield...the rain that was supposed to hit this morning hasn't gotten here yet, but the radar still looks ugly.
UMPIRES: PLATE Troy Hodack FIELD Nick Garvey
ABOUT LAST NIGHT...: Down to their last out, the Bluefield Blue Jays beat the Bristol White Sox 8-7 when D.J. Jones came through with a bases-loaded two-out double to right field that scored the tying and winning runs at Bowen Field on Saturday. The Jays trailed 7-4, but scored one run in the fifth inning, one in the eighth and two in the ninth as the bullpen threw five and two-thirds scoreless frames. The winning rally against closer James Hudelson started with one out in the ninth when Santiago Nessy singled and Nico Taylor doubled him to third. Pinch-hitter Eric Arce lifted a flyout to left field that wasn’t deep enough to send home Nessy. Christian Frias worked a walk to load the bases and set the stage for Jones, who drove a fly to deep right over the head of Juan Ramirez for a hit to score Nessy and Taylor and set off a wild celebration. It was Bluefield’s second walk-off win, the first since Jacob Anderson’s game-ending double on June 23 against Johnson City. The Baby Jays set a new season high with 15 hits thanks to two-hit games from Jones, Nessy, Taylor, Jorge-Vega Rosado, Dickie Thon, Seth Conner and Jordan Leyland. The well-rounded offensive output should not overshadow the brilliant job by the Bluefield bullpen. Tucker Jensen, Griffin Murphy and Brandon Dorsett combined to shut out the White Sox on four hits for the final five and two-thirds innings. Daniel Norris allowed seven runs before Jensen relieved him and recorded the final two outs of the fourth inning. Down 7-4, Jensen worked through the fifth and sixth before handing the game to Griffin Murphy. The southpaw followed Jensen’s zeroes with one of his own in the seventh inning. Murphy extended his scoreless innings streak to 11 and one-third innings and he hasn’t allowed an earned run in 14 frames over his last six outings. Dorsett, who notched the win in Bluefield’s other walk-off victory, picked up another as he set down six of seven to finish the game. Bristol plated single runs off of Norris in each of the first two innings. Bluefield came back with four in the bottom of the third on three straight run-scoring hits off starter Jefferson Olacio. Dwight Smith Jr. knocked an RBI double before the hot-hitting Conner stroked a two-run single and Nessy hit an RBI single. The White Sox roared back in the next half-inning as the first seven batters reached against Norris. That knocked the highly-touted prospect out of the game. The lefty allowed seven runs on nine hits with one walk and two strikeouts. Bristol catcher Jose Barraza drove in three runs and both Kale Kiser and Nick Basto led the team with three hits. Bluefield crept back in the game when Conner drove in his third run of the game on a fifth-inning single. They pulled within one run in the eighth on Thon’s bases-loaded walk, but Smith grounded out to end the threat.
VS. THE WHITE SOX: Bristol has struggled this year, but two of their ten victories have come against the Baby Jays. Bluefield opened up the 2012 season in Bristol and rolled to a 7-2 Opening Day win behind four perfect innings from Daniel Norris in his pro debut. These inter-division rivals split the six-game season series in 2011 with the home team winning two out of three in both sets. The Baby Birds hosted Bristol from June 27-29 and won two of three. It was a series of comebacks, some unfulfilled. Bluefield nearly blew a 10-0 lead in the opener, but hung on to win 10-6. The middle game saw an 8-0 Jays comeback fall short 8-7. Art Charles made an error in the ninth inning of the rubber game that put Bristol ahead, but in the bottom of the ninth, he launched a walk-off three-run homer to win it 9-7. The two clubs played in Virginia fom July 12-14. Bluefield won the first game 3-2, but the White Sox bounced back to win 9-6 and 5-4. Bluefield played the White Sox in the 2002 Appy League Championship Series, with Bristol beating the then-Baltimore affiliate two games to one.
- TONIGHT’S PITCHING PROBABLES -
VS. THE WHITE SOX: Bristol has struggled this year, but two of their ten victories have come against the Baby Jays. Bluefield opened up the 2012 season in Bristol and rolled to a 7-2 Opening Day win behind four perfect innings from Daniel Norris in his pro debut. These inter-division rivals split the six-game season series in 2011 with the home team winning two out of three in both sets. The Baby Birds hosted Bristol from June 27-29 and won two of three. It was a series of comebacks, some unfulfilled. Bluefield nearly blew a 10-0 lead in the opener, but hung on to win 10-6. The middle game saw an 8-0 Jays comeback fall short 8-7. Art Charles made an error in the ninth inning of the rubber game that put Bristol ahead, but in the bottom of the ninth, he launched a walk-off three-run homer to win it 9-7. The two clubs played in Virginia fom July 12-14. Bluefield won the first game 3-2, but the White Sox bounced back to win 9-6 and 5-4. Bluefield played the White Sox in the 2002 Appy League Championship Series, with Bristol beating the then-Baltimore affiliate two games to one.
- TONIGHT’S PITCHING PROBABLES -
RHP KEVIN COMER: Baseball America’s 17th-ranked Blue Jays prospect, righty Kevin Comer, came up one out short of the win on Tuesday against Greeneville. He set down 13 of the first 18 men he faced and cruised through four and two-thirds innings, but three straight two-out hits put the Astros on the board and sent the tying run to the plate. Comer was replaced by Justin James, who got the last out on one pitch and picked up the win. Kevin 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.”
LHP TODD KIBBY: Six-foot-four southpaw Todd Kibby starts the middle game of the series for Bristol. He was touched for six runs, two earned, in four and two-thirds innings in a loss at Kingsport last Saturday. The start before that, he pitched seven innings of four-hit shutout ball with eight strikeouts and no walks in a win at Pulaski to nab Appy League Pitcher of the Week honors. The 20-year-old from New Middleton, Ohio was a 37th-round draft pick last year out of St. Petersburg JC in Florida and is in his second season in Bristol. He was 2-0 with a 3.38 ERA in 17 games (five starts) for the BriSox in 2011. Last year against the Jays, he did not allow an earned run in three innings spanning two relief appearances.
SEEING DOUBLE: The Blue Jays knocked a season-high 15 hits and seven Bluefield hitters notched a single and a double. The Jays set a new high with eight two-baggers, the last being D.J. Jones’s two-run game-winning hit. That’s the most hit by Bluefield since July 11, 2007 when they also stroked eight as a Baltimore affiliate in a 13-3 rout over Greeneville.
MURPHY LAYS DOWN THE LAW: Lefty reliever Griffin Murphy has been dominant for Bluefield in 2012. With a scoreless seventh inning last night, he lowered his ERA to 1.54, the fourth-lowest in the Appy League among pitchers with at least 20 IP. The 2010 second-round pick is working on an 11 1/3 inning scoreless streak, including three outings of three shutout frames. He hasn’t allowed an earned run in 14 innings (six appearances), dating back to July 5.
1,298 DOWN, TWO TO GO: Blue Jays manager Dennis Holmberg moved one win closer to his 1,300th in professional baseball last night. Over 25 seasons as a minor leagueskipper, he has a career record of 1,298-1,203 (.519). He managed his 2,500th professional game on Thursday. After eight seasons as a third baseman/outfielder in the Milwaukee system he began his managerial career at age 25 in 1977 with the Newark Co-Pilots, the Brewers’ farm team in the New York-Penn League. He then joined the Blue Jays in 1978 as a minor league instructor and has been with the organization ever since. He has spent 24 seasons as a manager and eight as a coach in the Toronto system. He also spent the 1994 and 1995 seasons as the bullpen coach for the big league club. Holmberg has piloted ten playoff teams, including last year’s Appy League runner-up in Bluefield. It was Bluefield’s first postseason trip since 2002. From 2002 to 2007 his Auburn Doubledays made six straight postseasons, including a New York-Penn League championship run in ‘07.
LHP TODD KIBBY: Six-foot-four southpaw Todd Kibby starts the middle game of the series for Bristol. He was touched for six runs, two earned, in four and two-thirds innings in a loss at Kingsport last Saturday. The start before that, he pitched seven innings of four-hit shutout ball with eight strikeouts and no walks in a win at Pulaski to nab Appy League Pitcher of the Week honors. The 20-year-old from New Middleton, Ohio was a 37th-round draft pick last year out of St. Petersburg JC in Florida and is in his second season in Bristol. He was 2-0 with a 3.38 ERA in 17 games (five starts) for the BriSox in 2011. Last year against the Jays, he did not allow an earned run in three innings spanning two relief appearances.
SEEING DOUBLE: The Blue Jays knocked a season-high 15 hits and seven Bluefield hitters notched a single and a double. The Jays set a new high with eight two-baggers, the last being D.J. Jones’s two-run game-winning hit. That’s the most hit by Bluefield since July 11, 2007 when they also stroked eight as a Baltimore affiliate in a 13-3 rout over Greeneville.
MURPHY LAYS DOWN THE LAW: Lefty reliever Griffin Murphy has been dominant for Bluefield in 2012. With a scoreless seventh inning last night, he lowered his ERA to 1.54, the fourth-lowest in the Appy League among pitchers with at least 20 IP. The 2010 second-round pick is working on an 11 1/3 inning scoreless streak, including three outings of three shutout frames. He hasn’t allowed an earned run in 14 innings (six appearances), dating back to July 5.
1,298 DOWN, TWO TO GO: Blue Jays manager Dennis Holmberg moved one win closer to his 1,300th in professional baseball last night. Over 25 seasons as a minor leagueskipper, he has a career record of 1,298-1,203 (.519). He managed his 2,500th professional game on Thursday. After eight seasons as a third baseman/outfielder in the Milwaukee system he began his managerial career at age 25 in 1977 with the Newark Co-Pilots, the Brewers’ farm team in the New York-Penn League. He then joined the Blue Jays in 1978 as a minor league instructor and has been with the organization ever since. He has spent 24 seasons as a manager and eight as a coach in the Toronto system. He also spent the 1994 and 1995 seasons as the bullpen coach for the big league club. Holmberg has piloted ten playoff teams, including last year’s Appy League runner-up in Bluefield. It was Bluefield’s first postseason trip since 2002. From 2002 to 2007 his Auburn Doubledays made six straight postseasons, including a New York-Penn League championship run in ‘07.
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