Tuesday, August 28, 2012

Game 66: Bluefield Blue Jays at Greeneville Astros

Listen live right here and check out the @BluefieldJays Twitter page for mid-game updates

For the final game of the 2012 season, I'd like to thank everyone that helped make this summer such a great experience. Interacting with fans and readers has been one of the great thrills besides calling the games.

ASTROS (35-32)

1 D'Andre Toney CF
2 Angel Ibanez LF
3 Brian Blasik 2B
4 Michael Martinez 1B
5 Rio Ruiz 3B
6 Ernesto Genoves C
7 Jose Fernandez SS
8 Ricky Gingras DH
9 Jose Monzon RF

RHP Michael Feliz (2-3, 6.08)

BLUE JAYS (29-36)

1 Dalton Pompey CF
2 Christian Frias 2B
3 Seth Conner DH
4 Nico Taylor LF
5 Matt Dean 3B
6 Emilio Guerrero SS
7 Jacob Anderson RF
8 Jordan Leyland 1B
9 Hector Alvarez C

RHP Justin James (0-1, 6.33)

FIRST-PITCH TIME: 7:00 P.M. 

BROADCAST INFO: Listen live right here for Blue Jays Pregame at 6:50. You can catch the game on local radio as well on WKEZ 1240 AM The Rooster Classic Country.

WEATHER: For the third straight day, the forecast has 82 degrees at game time

UMPIRES: PLATE: Jimmy Lott  FIELD: Andrew Freed

ABOUT LAST NIGHT...: Alberto Tirado made it three straight dazzling starts for the Baby Jays. After Alonzo Gonzalez and Deivy Estrada pitched six shutout innings the last two nights, the 17-year-old posted five scoreless frames to lead the Jays to a 5-2 win over the Greeneville Astros at Pioneer Park on Monday. Jays starters have put up 17 straight zeroes and Bluefield won its third straight game. Tirado (W, 2-0) retired the first eight hitters he faced and although he walked Jose Monzon, he immediately picked him off. Brian Blasik’s two-out single in the fourth inning was the only hit against the righty. He walked two and struck out three and won his second straight start. Bluefield rode a season-high three triples on offense, all three of which turned into runs. Matt Dean led off the second inning with a three-bagger and scored on Emilio Guerrero’s sacrifice fly against starter Francis Ramirez (L, 5-4). Dalton Pompey tripled in the fifth inning off of reliever Michael Dimock and came home on Seth Conner’s single. The third Jays run came in the seventh against former Bluefield pitcher Joe Musgrove. Musgrove was dealt to Houston in a ten-player trade in July and faced his former team. He pitched a perfect sixth inning, but gave up two runs before his night ended abruptly. Pompey doubled Christian Frias tripled him in. Musgrove uncorked a wild pitch and Frias scored on a close play at the plate. As Musgrove walked back to the mound, he was ejected by home plate umpire Andrew Freed. Tanner Bushue entered the game and allowed another run on Dean’s RBI single. Pompey had a game-high three hits and scored twice as he finished a homer short of the cycle. Les Williams pitched well in relief, tossing a scoreless sixth and seventh inning, but he Greeneville crept back in the game in the eighth. Two-out run-scoring singles by Brian Blasik and Michael Martinez cut the Bluefield lead to 5-2 and brought the tying run to the plate. Lefty Joe Spano came in and walked lefty Ariel Ovando, but he recovered to retire Jose Fernandez on a grounder to wriggle out of trouble. Spano (S, 1) worked around a one-out walk in the ninth to lock down his first career save. The Blue Jays secured a fourth-place finish in the East Division and avoided last place with the win. Bluefield has a chance to record their fourth consecutive win for the first time this season and their first series sweep by recording a victory on Tuesday night.

VS. THE ASTROS: Bluefield took two of three from the Astros at Bowen Field to close the month of July. The Astros won the opener 8-7 on a ninth-inning wild pitch. The Jays won the next game 8-3 before winning 5-1 behind Seth Conner’s four RBIs and Kevin Comer’s pitching. The Blue Jays and Astros split their six-game season series in 2011, with the road team taking two out of three twice.

- TONIGHT’S PITCHING PROBABLES -

RHP JUSTIN JAMES: Righty reliever Justin James makes his fifth straight start tonight. The Ponte Vedra, Florida native was tagged for five runs (three earned) on eight hits on Thursday against Kingsport. He did not make it through the third inning and took the loss. His last relief outing was against the Astros on July 31. He inherited a jam from starter Kevin Comer with two outs in the fifth inning facing the tying run. He retired Ernesto Genoves on a flyout then pitched a 1-2-3 sixth inning with two strikeouts to notch the victory. He was signed as an undrafted free agent out of Ave Maria University in Florida, where he was a Second Team All-Sun Conference selection as a senior after striking out 86 in 90.1 innings.

RHP MICHAEL FELIZ: 19-year-old Michael Feliz dominated the Gulf Coast League to start the season, but things have not gone as well since he made his Appy League debut in Bluefield on July 31. He has pitched to a 6.33 ERA in five starts. Although he strikes out more than one batter per inning, he has allowed more than one hit per frame and his BB/9 IP is hovering around six. The Azua, Dominican Republic native went 5-0 with a 1.64 ERA in 38.1 innings to earn a call-up on July 28. He was all over the GCL leaderboards, with his league-leading five wins and 38.1 innings, 1.64 ERA and 0.89 WHIP (2nd in the league), 35 strikeouts and .185 batting average against (3rd). Signed by Houston at 16 in 2010, Feliz made three starts in the Dominican Summer League that season, posting a 4.26 ERA. Last year he moved to the States and put up a 4.32 ERA in 50 innings of work in the GCL.

THE TERMINATOR: 2012 Bluefield team MVP Seth Conner is close to reaching the league qualifer (2.7 plate appearances per team game) for batting rate stats. The Rogersville, MO native needs four plate appearances today to reach the 179 PA plateau. He is batting .297, the ninth-highest among Appy Leaguers with at least 175 plate appearances. He ranks second with a .425 on base percentage and his .846 OPS is fifth. With a walk in 13.7 percent of his plate appearances, Conner ranks third in the league. At .297 (41-for-138), Conner can secure a .300 batting average for the season with a hit in either of his first two at bats tonight. If he starts 0-for-2, he or 0-for-3, he would need two hits to get over the .300 mark.

STUCK ON SINGLE DIGITS: Nico Taylor went -for-3 with a walk last night to end his hitting streak at nine games. It is his longest of the season and it’s tied for the longest by a Blue Jays this season. Christian Lopes also had a nine-gamer from July 29 to August 10. Hailing from McKinney, Texas, Taylor was 13-for-33 (.394) during the run.

WELL DESERVED: Two more Baby Jays earned call-ups to Short Season-A Vancouver. Left-hander Griffin Murphy and center fielder D.J. Davis were sent up to the Northwest League to help the Canadians in their playoff push. Murphy posted a 1.70 ERA in 37 innings, the second-lowest mark by any Appy Leaguer with at least 30 IP (Teammate Brandon Dorsett is third at 1.71). Murphy did not allow an earned run for 25.2 innings between July 11 and August 24. Davis, the 17th-overall first-round pick in June’s draft, put up a .340/.415./.511 slash line and stole six bases in 12 games for Bluefield. Both players are in Yakima for the final five games of the season as defending-champ Vancouver is a half-game ahead of Eugene for the final playoff spot.

PLAYOFF MATCHUPS ARE SET: All four Appalachian League playoff berths have been clinched and the semifinal pairings are set. The Burlington Royals (40-25) have won the East Division and the Elizabethton Twins (42-22) have won the West. The Wild Cards are the Danville Braves (36-27) in the East and the two-time defending champion Johnson City Cardinals (38-28) in the West. Burlington will play Johnson City and Danville will play Elizabethton. There will be two best-of-three sets starting on Wednesday, with the winners playing another best-of-three for the Appy League championship. The Wild Card will host the other division’s champion in game one before the division winner hosts the second and third games (if necessary). Burlington, the only new playoff team from last season, makes their first trip since 2010, when they were swept 2-0 by the Cardinals in the semis. Burlington and Johnson City also squared off in the 1987 Championship Series, when the Burlington Indians beat Ray Lankford and the Cards. Elizabethton and Danville have played for the title four times. Justin Morneau and the Twins beat Adam Wainwright’s Braves in 2000. The Twins won again in 2003 behind Denard Span and again in 2005 beating Elvis Andrus. Danville got revenge in 2009 and won the fourth matchup.


Bluefield Blue Jays Game Notes 8-28

Check out the @BluefieldJays Twitter page for mid-game updates

Monday, August 27, 2012

Game 65: Bluefield Blue Jays at Greeneville Astros

Listen live right here and check out the @BluefieldJays Twitter page for mid-game updates


ASTROS (35-31)

1 Marc Wik RF
2 Angel Ibanez 3B
3 Brian Blasik 2B
4 Michael Martinez 1B
5 Ariel Ovando DH
6 Jose Fernandez SS
7 Ernesto Genoves C
8 D'Andre Toney CF
9 Jose Monzon RF

RHP Francis Ramirez (5-3, 4.20)

BLUE JAYS (28-36)

1 Jorge Vega-Rosado DH
2 Dalton Pompey CF
3 Justin Atkinson 2B
4 Seth Conner 1B
5 Nico Taylor LF
6 Matt Dean 3B
7 Emilio Guerrero SS
8 Jacob Anderson RF
9 Hector Alvarez C

RHP Alberto Tirado (1-0, 4.50)

FIRST-PITCH TIME: 7:00 P.M. 

BROADCAST INFO: Listen live right here for Blue Jays Pregame at 6:50. You can catch the game on local radio as well on WKEZ 1240 AM The Rooster Classic Country.

WEATHER: For the second straight day, a very pleasant 82 degrees at beautiful Pioneer Park

UMPIRES: PLATE: Andrew Freed  FIELD: Jimmy Lott

ABOUT LAST NIGHT...: Deivy Estrada picked up right where Alonzo Gonzalez and Brandon Dorsett left off. After Saturday’s three-hit shutout, Estrada pitched six scoreless innings of two-hit ball with a career-high and Bluefield season-high 11 strikeouts in the Blue Jays’ 3-2 win over the Greeneville Astros at Pioneer Park on Sunday. The win eliminates the Astros from the playoff race. Estrada (W, 3-6) worked around a first-inning single and walk to strike out the side. Ariel Ovando doubled off of him in the second, but that would the last hit he allowed. The Venezuelan lefty struck out the first batter in each of the first five frames and he struck out the side again in a perfect fourth inning. Estrada faced only three over the minimum. It was the second straight night that Bluefield’s starter posted six zeroes; Alonzo Gonzalez allowed only one hit in six innings in a win over Kingsport on Saturday. The Baby Jays got on the scoreboard in the top of the third inning against Greeneville starter Frederick Tiburcio. Emilio Guerrero knocked a two-out single and Justin Atkinson followed with a fly ball to right center field. D’Andre Toney raced into the gap from center field and the ball glanced off of his glove as Guerrero scored from first. The play was originally scored an RBI double, but it was later changed to a two-base error. Jordan Leyland led off the top of the fifth inning with an opposite-field home run to right field for his first Bluefield homer and a 2-0 lead. The visitors added another run in the sixth. Nico Taylor doubled to extend his hitting streak to nine games and after Dalton Pompey singled him to third, Matt Dean drove him home with a groundout. Tiburcio (L, 3-5) allowed three runs, two earned, on four hits in six innings of work. Recent call-up Erick Gonzalez impressed in two scoreless innings in his Greeneville debut. Mike Hauschild struck out all three batters in the ninth to keep the game close. Tucker Jensen allowed a run in the seventh on Ariel Ovando’s RBI groundout to end a string of 18 consecutive scoreless innings by Bluefield pitching. He dealt a 1-2-3 eighth before the Astros threatened in the ninth. Michael Martinez doubled with one out and scored on Rio Ruiz’s single. Jensen struck out Terrell Joyce for the second out, but Ruiz stole second to put the tying run in scoring position. Jensen (S, 1) buckled down to retire Ovando on a grounder to second and lock down the nine-out save.

VS. THE ASTROS: Bluefield took two of three from the Astros at Bowen Field to close the month of July. The Astros won the opener 8-7 on a ninth-inning wild pitch. The Jays won the next game 8-3 before winning 5-1 behind Seth Conner’s four RBIs and Kevin Comer’s pitching. The Blue Jays and Astros split their six-game season series in 2011, with the road team taking two out of three twice.

- TONIGHT’S PITCHING PROBABLES -
RHP ALBERTO TIRADO: 17-year-old Alberto Tirado cruised through five innings on Wednesday to earn his first Appalachian League win. He held Pulaski to one run on two singles. Tirado was called up from the Gulf Coast League on August 15 and in a GCL-leading 11 starts, the wiry righty posted a 2.68 ERA and held opponents to a .214 batting average. He dominated in his last two outings there, allowing one hit and striking out nine in eight innings combined. Hailing from Nagua, Dominican Republic, Alberto signed with Toronto on July 7 last year for $300,000 as an IFA.

RHP FRANCIS RAMIREZ: Six-foot-five righty Francis Ramirez will make his 13th start of the season tonight, pulling himself into a tie with Hudson Boyd of Elizabethton and Pulaski’s Rigoberto Garcia and Charles Kaalekahi for the most in the league. With 55 strikeouts in 49.1 innings, his 10.03 K/9 ratio is the third-best mark among Appy Leaguers with at least 40 IP. However, he is tied for fourth in the circuit with teammate and last night’s starter Frederick Tiburcio with 27 walks. Ramirez last pitched on Tuesday against Elizabethton, allowing three runs on three hits in three innings. Signed by Houston in 2008 out of Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic, Ramirez debuted in the DSL in 2009, moved up to the GCL in 2010 and split last season between the GCL and Greeneville.

POISON DE-IVY: Blue Jays southpaw Deivy Estrada was outstanding in six shutout innings last night. He struck out a career-high 11 batters, the most in a single game by a Bluefield Blue Jay. The last double-digit strikeout game by a Bluefield pitcher was July 27, 2010, when Bluefield Oriole Jacob Pettit struck 11 Pulaski Mariners in a loss at Bowen Field. Estrada began each of the first five innings with a strikeout and he struck out the side in the first and fourth innings. Pitching four days after his 20th birthday, the Venezuelan retired the last ten Astros he faced. It is one of six 11-strikeout games in the Appalachian League this year. Jake Cose of Bristol struck out 11 Burlington Royals in a win last night.

CHECKING IN ON THE PENNANT RACES: Bluefield’s win last night knocked the Astros out of playoff contention and clinched the West Division Wild Card for the two-time defending champion Johnson City Cardinals. The Burlington Royals clinched the East Division title and locked in the Danville Braves as the East Wild Card as well. In the Appy League semifinals, Burlington will play Johnson City and Danville will play the West Division champion Elizabethton Twins. Burlington is the only team of the four that did not make it to the playoffs last season. Its their first trip since 2010, when they were swept 2-0 by the Cardinals in the semis. The two cities also squared off in the 1987 Championship Series, when the Burlington Indians beat Ray Lankford and Johnson City. Elizabethton and Danville have played for the title four times. Justin Morneau and the Twins beat Adam Wainwright’s Braves in 2000. The Twins won again in 2003 behind Denard Span and again in 2005 beating Elvis Andrus. Danville got revenge in 2009 and won the fourth matchup.

NINE IS FINE: Nico Taylor doubled last night to extend his hitting streak to eight games, his longest of the season. The McKinney, Texas native is 13-for-33 (.394) during the run and has raised his average to .280. The streak is the second nine-gamer for Bluefield this season, Christian Lopes had one from July 29 to August 10.

APPY LEAGUE HONOR: Bluefield right-hander Jeremy Gabryszwski was named to the 2012 Appalachian League All-Star Team, which was voted on by opposing managers, executives and media and announced on Wednesday. The honor is more impressive considering there are only three pitchers on the squad. The 19-year-old was the league’s choice for right-handed starter and Princeton’s Blake Snell was the team’s lefty starter. Jeremy is 3-0 with a 2.35 ERA in 11 games (nine starts). He’s only allowed 44 hits in 46 innings of work. ”Gabby” is just short of the league qualifier, but his 2.35 ERA would lead the league and is fourth among Appy Leaguers with at least 45 IP. The Crosby, Texas native has the third-lowest WHIP (1.04) despite striking out only 4.3 batters per nine innings (second-lowest among 40 IP pitchers). That success is due to his ability to pound the strike zone, as he’s only walked four batters in 46 innings (0.78 BB/9). That includes a streak from July 14 to August 12 in which he went 24.2 innings without issuing a free pass.


Bluefield Blue Jays Game Notes 8-27

Check out the @BluefieldJays Twitter page for mid-game updates

Sunday, August 26, 2012

Game 64: Bluefield Blue Jays at Greeneville Astros

Listen live right here and check out the @BluefieldJays Twitter page for mid-game updates


ASTROS (35-30)

1 D'Andre Toney CF
2 Carlos Correa SS
3 Brian Blasik 2B
4 Michael Martinez 1B
5 Rio Ruiz 3B
6 Terrell Joyce LF
7 Ariel Ovando DH
8 Ricky Gingras C
9 Jose Monzon RF

RHP Frederick Tiburcio (3-4, 4.64)

BLUE JAYS (27-36)

1 DJ Davis CF
2 Emilio Guerrero SS
3 Justin Atkinson 2B
4 Seth Conner DH
5 Nico Taylor LF
6 Dalton Pompey RF
7 Matt Dean 3B
8 Jordan Leyland 1B
9 Hector Alvarez C

LHP Deivy Estrada (2-6, 4.80)

FIRST-PITCH TIME: 6:00 P.M. 

BROADCAST INFO: Listen live right here for Blue Jays Pregame at 5:50. You can catch the game on local radio as well on WKEZ 1240 AM The Rooster Classic Country.

WEATHER:A very pleasant 82 degrees at beautiful Pioneer Park

UMPIRES: PLATE: Jimmy Lott  FIELD: Andrew Freed

ABOUT LAST NIGHT...: The Bluefield Blue Jays ended the 2012 home slate on a high note. Alonzo Gonzalez pitched six shutout innings for the second straight start and Brandon Dorsett finished the three-hitter as the Baby Jays beat the Kingsport Mets 7-0 on Saturday in the final game of the season at Bowen Field. The two newest Blue Jays keyed a first-inning rally that gave Bluefield the lead for good. Second baseman Justin Atkinson and right fielder Dalton Pompey joined the Blue Jays from Florida. Atkinson is up from the Gulf Coast League. Pompey started the season in Vancouver, but missed two months with a wrist injury and saw his first action tonight. Atkinson’s two-out double in the bottom of the first brought home Jorge Vega-Rosado with the game’s first run. Two batters later, Pompey singled in Atkinson for a 2-0 lead and also stole a base. That would be all the scoring Gonzalez (W, 2-0) needed. The lefty pitched six shutout innings of two-hit ball in a win over Pulaski in his Bluefield debut on Monday. He followed that up with six more zeroes and allowed only one hit, walking one and striking out four. Gonzalez retired the first ten batters he faced and 18 of 20 overall. Nico Taylor provided more offense in the third inning with a two-run double off of starter John Gant (L, 3-3). The Jays added single tallies in the fourth, sixth and seventh innings on an Anthony Chavez fielding error, an Emilio Guerrero sacrifice fly and Jordan Leyland’s RBI groundout. Atkinson, Taylor, Vega-Rosado and D.J. Davis led Bluefield’s 12-hit attack with two apiece. Guerrero was the only Jays starter without a hit, but he did contribute the RBI and a stolen base. Brandon Dorsett (S, 4) picked up the game in the seventh inning and posted three scoreless frames to finish the Jays’ sixth shutout of the season. Bluefield has been involved in 11 shutouts this season, tied with Greeneville for the most in the league.

VS. THE ASTROS: Bluefield took two of three from the Astros at Bowen Field to close the month of July. The Astros won the opener 8-7 on a ninth-inning wild pitch. The Jays won the next game 8-3 before winning 5-1 behind Seth Conner’s four RBIs and Kevin Comer’s pitching. The Blue Jays and Astros split their six-game season series in 2011, with the road team taking two out of three twice. In Bluefield on August 3, the Jays scored two in the ninth to force extra innings, but Chase Davidson’s 11th-inning single won it for Greeneville. Bluefield won the middle game before the Astros won the rubber game. In Greeneville from August 22-24, the two teams split the first two contests and the Jays won the third game to win the series and earn a season split.

- TONIGHT’S PITCHING PROBABLES -

LHP DEIVY ESTRADA: A native of Valencia, Venezuela, lefty Deivy Estrada goes for the Jays to open the final series of the season. He last pitched on Tuesday against Pulaski, allowing four runs and getting knocked out in the fourth inning. He posted a 2.25 ERA in the GCL in 2011, but he had an ERA of 6.94 in Bluefield upon his promotion. He did contribute the clinching victory in the Mercer Cup last year, turning in five shutout innings on August 10. He allowed only four hits, striking out six without walking a man. He took a tough loss in the final game of the Appy League Championship Series when he gave up one earned run in five innings, but was charged with the defeat. He spent the 2010 season in the Gulf Coast League and was in the Dominican Summer League in 2009 when he K’d more than one batter per inning (48 in 44 IP).

RHP FREDERICK TIBURCIO: Six-foot-three Dominican right-hander Frederick Tiburcio faces Bluefield for the first time this season. He allowed four runs in four innings in a no decision at Elizabethton on Monday. He dealt seven shutout innings of four-hit ball with seven strikeouts in a win over Bristol in the start before that on August 14. The 21-year-old was signed by Houston in 2008 and after two seasons in the Dominican Summer League, he went to the Gulf Coast League last season and went 3-5 with a 4.47 ERA in 54.1 innings.

CHECKING IN ON THE PENNANT RACES: All four Appalachian League playoff spots and seedings could be locked down tonight. The Burlington Royals are postseason-bound and can clinch the East Division with a win at Bristol or a Danville loss at Johnson City. The Braves will make the playoffs as well and will likely be the East wild card and face the West Division champion Elizabethton Twins in the first round. The West wild card will either be Johnson City or Greeneville. The Blue Jays can play spoiler and eliminate the Astros and put Johnson City in the playoffs with a win tonight.

CRAZY EIGHT: Bluefield OF Nico Taylor ran up his second eight-game hitting streak of the season with two more hits last night. The McKinney, Texas native also had an eight-gamer from June 29 to July 7. This streak began with two hits in a twinbill opener at Danville last Sunday and he is 12-for-29 (.414) during the run, raising his average to .281.

QUICKLY MAKING AN IMPACT: Two new players joined the Blue Jays yesterday and played a big role in the win. Second baseman Justin Atkinson went 2-for-5 with an RBI double and two runs scored in the cleanup spot. Outfielder Dalton Pompey hit an RBI single and stole a base in the first inning. Pompey was hitting .294 with a .442 OBP for Short Season-A Vancouver before a broken hamate bone in his left wrist put him on the DL only 11 games into the season. The Mississauga, Ontario native was a 16th-round pick in 2010 and split last season between the GCL and Bluefield. He hit .357 and scored four runs in five Appy League playoff games last year. Atkinson, also Canadian, moved up from the GCL after hitting .259 in 52 games this season. Hailing from Surrey, British Columbia, Atkinson was taken in the 26th round of last year’s draft. He hit .279 in 12 games for the GCL Jays in 2012 in his first professional action.

APPY LEAGUE HONOR: Bluefield right-hander Jeremy Gabryszwski was named to the 2012 Appalachian League All-Star Team, which was voted on by opposing managers, executives and media and announced on Wednesday. The honor is more impressive considering there are only three pitchers on the squad. The 19-year-old was the league’s choice for right-handed starter and Princeton’s Blake Snell was the team’s lefty starter. Jeremy is 3-0 with a 2.35 ERA in 11 games (nine starts). He’s only allowed 44 hits in 46 innings of work. ”Gabby” is just short of the league qualifier, but his 2.35 ERA would lead the league and is fourth among Appy Leaguers with at least 45 IP. The Crosby, Texas native has the third-lowest WHIP (1.04) despite striking out only 4.3 batters per nine innings (second-lowest among 40 IP pitchers). That success is due to his ability to pound the strike zone, as he’s only walked four batters in 46 innings (0.78 BB/9). That includes a streak from July 14 to August 12 in which he went 24.2 innings without issuing a free pass.


Bluefield Blue Jays Game Notes 8-26

Check out the @BluefieldJays Twitter page for mid-game updates

Saturday, August 25, 2012

Game 63: Kingsport Mets at Bluefield Blue Jays

Sorry folks, no radio tonight, but the final three games of the season in Greeneville will be on the air. Check out the @BluefieldJays Twitter page for mid-game updates


METS (23-39)

1 Yeixon Ruiz 2B
2 Gavin Cecchini DH
3 Jorge Rivero RF
4 Maikis De La Cruz CF
5 Jon Leroux 1B
6 Anthony Chavez SS
7 Jeyckol De LeonC
8 Kevin Weijgertse 3B
9 Joe Tuschak LF

RHP John Gant (3-2, 4.47)

BLUE JAYS (26-36)

1 DJ Davis CF
2 Emilio Guerrero SS
3 Jorge Vega-Rosado DH
4 Justin Atkinson 2B
5 Nico Taylor LF
6 Dalton Pompey RF
7 Matt Dean 3B
8 Jordan Leyland 1B
9 Hector Alvarez C

LHP Alonzo Gonzalez (1-0, 0.00)

FIRST-PITCH TIME: 7:05 P.M. 

BROADCAST INFO: Today's home finale will not be on the air. You can catch all three games of the series in Greeneville on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday on BluefieldJays.com and The Rooster Classic Country WKEZ 1240 AM

WEATHER: 71 and partly cloudy

UMPIRES: PLATE: Travis Godec  FIELD: Chase Eade

ABOUT LAST NIGHT...: The Bluefield Blue Jays battled back twice, but could not do it a third time. The Jays came back from a pair of two-run deficits, but the Kingsport Mets pulled ahead with three unanswered runs to win 7-4 at Bowen Field on Friday. Bluefield starter Griffin Murphy made his second straight start and allowed a two-out, two-run homer to Tomas Nido in the top of the first. Those were the first earned runs against Murphy since July 5. The Jays rallied in the second against starter Andrew Massie with RBI singles by Matt Dean and D.J. Davis that tied the game. Kingsport took the lead again in the third on Jorge Rivero’s sacrifice fly that knocked out Murphy. He allowed three runs on three hits in two and two-thirds innings. Colby Broussard got out of the third inning, but allowed a homer to Jon Leroux that made it a two-run game again. Bluefield evened the score again in the bottom of the fourth on Emilio Guerrero’s two-out, two-run double as Davis came all the way around from first with the tying run. The Mets took the lead for good against Broussard in the next frame. Two hit by pitches and a walk loaded the bases and he followed that with a wild pitch that sent home Nido with the go-ahead run. With one out in the bottom of the fifth, rain caused a stoppage of the game for 51 minutes. Juan Urbina faced one batter before the delay, but came back out and breezed through the Bluefield order, striking out five in three hitless innings to get through the seventh. The visitors knocked two insurance runs home against Joe Spano in the seventh, but the lefty set down seven of the last eight batters he faced. Julio Carmona struck out two in a 1-2-3 ninth. Matt Budgell posted zeroes in the eighth and ninth to lock down the six-out save. Bluefield has struggled against the two worst teams in the Appy League. The Mets are 19-38 against the rest of the league but have won four of five against Bluefield. Bristol is in the basement at 17-43, but has a 4-2 record against the Jays.

VS. THE METS: The Mets have struggled mightily in 2012, but they lead the season series four games to one after winning a set in Kingsport June 28-30 and taking two games this week. Bluefield was held hitless by John Gant for five innings in the first game. The Jays rallied for three runs in the sixth to take the lead, but the Mets came back to win. The Jays evened the series with a 12-3 rout behind Dwight Smith Jr.’s first pro homer. Kingsport made six errors in the rubber game, but still won 13-9. The Blue Jays dominated the Mets in 2011, especially at Bowen Field. Bluefield won five of six meetings, including a three-game home sweep from July 15-17 by a combined score of 17-3. Two weeks later in Kingsport, the Jays won two out of three.

- TONIGHT’S PITCHING PROBABLES -
LHP ALONZO GONZALEZ: Six-foot-five left-hander Alonzo Gonzalez wowed in his Appalachian League debut on Monday against Pulaski. He shut out the Mariners for six innings, allowing only two hits and striking out five. The 20-year-old was called up from the Gulf Coast League last Wednesday and he started the season 3-3 with a 5.15 ERA in 36.2 innings for the GCL Jays. Alonzo hails from Santa Monica and was chosen by Toronto in the 18th round of this June’s draft out of Glendale Community College.

RHP JOHN GANT: 19-year-old righty John Gant looks to earn the sweep for the Mets. He was roughed up in his first five starts (7.94 ERA), but his last five outings have been much better (1.63 ERA). On Monday at Burlington, Gant held the Royals to one run in five and one-third innings and did not get a decision. On June 28, he held the Jays without a hit for five innings, but was tagged for three runs in the sixth. He was a 21st-round pick in last year’s draft coming out of Wiregrass Ranch High School in Wesley Chapel, FL. In his senior season, he went 6-0 with a 1.90 ERA and two no-hitters and was named All-North Suncoast Pitcher of the Year. He allowed six runs in 8.1 innings in four appearances in the GCL last year. He had committed to Long Island University prior to signing with the Mets.

ALL GOOD THINGS MUST COME TO AN END: When Tomas Nido hit a two-run homer off of Bluefield southpaw Griffin Murphy in the first inning yesterday, it snapped Murphy’s string of 25.2 innings without allowing an earned run. It was the first time an earned run came across against him since July 5. The streak spanned 11 appearances and he ran it up against eight of the other nine teams in the league (he did not face Johnson City this year).

THE TERMINATOR: Seth Conner is close to reaching the league qualifer (2.7 plate appearances per team game) for batting rate stats. The Rogersville, MO native needs 13 plate appearances in the final four games to reach the 179 PA plateau. He is batting .303, the tenth-highest among Appy Leaguers with at least 160 plate appearances. He ranks third with a .424 on base percentage and his .856 OPS is fifth.

WELCOME ABOARD: Two new players join the Blue Jays today. Outfielder Dalton Pompey was hitting .294 with a .442 OBP for Short Season-A Vancouver before a broken hamate bone in his left wrist put him on the DL only 11 games into the season. The Mississauga, Ontario native was a 16th-round pick in 2010 and split last season between the GCL and Bluefield. He hit .357 and scored four runs in five Appy League playoff games last year. Another Canadian, second baseman Justin Atkinson, moves up from the GCL after hitting .259 in 52 games this season. Hailing from Surrey, British Columbia, Atkinson was taken in the 26th round of last year’s draft. He hit .279 in 12 games for the GCL Jays in 2012 in his first professional action. Both of the new arrivals are in tonight’s starting lineup. Atkinson will play second base and bat cleanup and Pompey will bat sixth in right field.

APPY LEAGUE HONOR: Bluefield right-hander Jeremy Gabryszwski was named to the 2012 Appalachian League All-Star Team, which was voted on by opposing managers, executives and media and announced on Wednesday. The honor is more impressive considering there are only three pitchers on the squad. The 19-year-old was the league’s choice for right-handed starter and Princeton’s Blake Snell was the team’s lefty starter. Jeremy is 3-0 with a 2.35 ERA in 11 games (nine starts). He’s only allowed 44 hits in 46 innings of work. ”Gabby” is just short of the league qualifier, but his 2.35 ERA would lead the league and is fourth among Appy Leaguers with at least 45 IP. The Crosby, Texas native has the third-lowest WHIP (1.04) despite striking out only 4.3 batters per nine innings (second-lowest among 40 IP pitchers). That success is due to his ability to pound the strike zone, as he’s only walked four batters in 46 innings (0.78 BB/9). That includes a streak from July 14 to August 12 in which he went 24.2 innings without issuing a free pass.


Bluefield Blue Jays Game Notes 8-25

Check out the @BluefieldJays Twitter page for mid-game updates

Friday, August 24, 2012

Game 62: Kingsport Mets at Bluefield Blue Jays

Listen live right here and check out the @BluefieldJays Twitter page for mid-game updates


METS (22-39)

1 Yeixon Ruiz 3B
2 Gavin Cecchini DH
3 Jorge Rivero RF
4 Tomas Nido C
5 Maikis De La Cruz CF
6 Anthony Chavez SS
7 Jeyckol De Leon 1B
8 Jon Leroux LF
9 Brandon Kaupe 2B

RHP Andrew Massie (0-2, 5.68)

BLUE JAYS (26-35)

1 DJ Davis CF
2 Emilio Guerrero SS
3 Jorge Vega-Rosado2B
4 Seth ConnerC
5 Nico Taylor LF
6 Jacob Anderson RF
7 Eric Arce DH
8 Matt Dean 3B
9 Jordan Leyland 1B

LHP Griffin Murphy (1-2, 1.05)

FIRST-PITCH TIME: 3:00 P.M. 

BROADCAST INFO: Listen live right here for Blue Jays Pregame at 2:50. You can catch the game on local radio as well on WHIS 1440 AM.

WEATHER: It is absolutely perfect outside now...a little bit of rain might come through during the game.

UMPIRES: PLATE: Travis Godec  FIELD: Chase Eade

ABOUT LAST NIGHT...: The Kingsport Mets have struggled mightily this season, but they beat the Bluefield Blue Jays again. Miller Diaz allowed two infield singles in six shutout innings and Gavin Cecchini had three hits and two runs batted in in the Mets’ 7-1 win at Bowen Field on Thursday. The Mets are 19-38 against the rest of the league but have won three of four against Bluefield. A burst of early offense gave the Mets a big lead quickly against Jays starter Justin James (L, 2-3). Yeixon Ruiz led off the game with a single and Cecchini followed with a double to plate the game’s first run. James made an error before Maikis De La Cruz’s sacrifice fly made it 2-0. Kingsport brought home three more runs on consecutive plate appearances in the second as their lead ballooned to five. Diaz made quick work of the Baby Jays in his six-inning start. He allowed an infield single to D.J. Davis to start the game but immediately erased him on a double play. Nico Taylor was the only other Bluefield hitter to reach base against the righty, hitting another infield single in the second inning. Diaz (W, 2-1) retired the last 13 batters he faced and 17 of 18 after Davis’ opening hit. He struck out six before handing the ball off to Akeel Morris. Morris (S, 2) blew away the Jays, striking out six in a row at one point. With one out in the ninth inning, Davis homered to break up the strikeout streak and snap the shutout. It was his first home run since his call-up from the Gulf Coast League last week. Les Williams was a bright spot for Bluefield out of the bullpen. He set down nine of 11 in three and one-third innings of scoreless two-hit relief. Denny Valdez allowed two runs, one earned, after Williams left and Brandon Kaye finished the game with an impressive four-out stint.

VS. THE METS: The Mets have struggled mightily in 2012, but they lead the season series three games to one after winning a set in Kingsport June 28-30 and taking last night’s opener. Bluefield was held hitless by John Gant for five innings in the first game. The Jays rallied for three runs in the sixth to take the lead, but the Mets came back to win. The Jays evened the series with a 12-3 rout behind Dwight Smith Jr.’s first pro homer. Kingsport made six errors in the rubber game, but still won 13-9. The Blue Jays dominated the Mets in 2011, especially at Bowen Field. Bluefield won five of six meetings, including a three-game home sweep from July 15-17 by a combined score of 17-3. Two weeks later in Kingsport, the Jays won two out of three.

- TONIGHT’S PITCHING PROBABLES -
LHP GRIFFIN MURPHY: After 13 relief appearances to open the season, lights-out southpaw Griffin Murphy made his first start of the season on Sunday in Danville and kept up his stellar pitching. In a doubleheader finale, he pitched four and one-third innings, allowing an unearned run on only one hit. He struck out seven and walked three and although he did not qualify for the win, the Jays locked down the win. The Highland, CA native and 2010 second-round pick has been sensational for the Jays, riding a streak of 25 innings without allowing an earned run. The streak dates back to July 11 and covers his last ten outings, during which he’s lowered his ERA to 1.05, the lowest in the league among pitchers with 30 IP. His only win of the season came in Kingsport on June 29 when he held the Mets to one run in three innings of relief. Among those with 30 IP under their belt, Murphy ranks third in opponent batting average (.172), fourth in WHIP (0.99) and fourth in K % (28.3%).

RHP ANDREW MASSIE: 19-year-old right-hander Andrew Massie starts the middle game of the series for the Mets. After five relief outings to begin his professional career, the 2012 24th-round draft pick moved into the Kingsport rotation. He was blasted for seven runs in four innings in his first start, but the last two have been much better. He allowed one earned run in four innings against Johnson City on August 14 and on Sunday in Elizabethton, he shut down the league’s best offense. In a season-high five innings, he allowed one run on four hits, walking two and striking out four. The Dyersburg, TN native won a 2009 state title at Dyer County HS in 2009 and became the Choctaws player from that school to get drafted.

APPY LEAGUE HONOR: Bluefield right-hander Jeremy Gabryszwski was named to the 2012 Appalachian League All-Star Team, which was voted on by opposing managers, executives and media and announced today. The honor is more impressive considering there are only three pitchers on the squad. The 19-year-old was the league’s choice for right-handed starter and Princeton’s Blake Snell was the team’s lefty starter. Jeremy is 3-0 with a 2.35 ERA in 11 games (nine starts). He’s only allowed 44 hits in 46 innings of work. ”Gabby” is two innings short of the league qualifier, but his 2.35 ERA would rank second in the league and is fourth among Appy Leaguers with at least 45 IP. The Crosby, Texas native has the second-lowest WHIP (1.04) despite striking out only 4.3 batters per nine innings (second-lowest among 40 IP pitchers). That success is due to his ability to pound the strike zone, as he’s only walked four batters in 46 innings (0.78 BB/9). That includes a streak from July 14 to August 12 in which he went 24.2 innings without issuing a free pass.

LES IS MORE: Righty reliever Les Williams had another great outing last night. He tossed three and one-third innings of two-hit ball with three strikeouts and no walks. Over his last four games, the Toronto native has allowed two runs in nine and two-thirds innings (1.86 ERA), striking out eight and walking only one batter.

MOVE ON UP: Three Bluefield Blue Jays were promoted to the Short Season-A Vancouver Canadians on Tuesday. Catcher Santiago Nessy was one of the top backstops in the Appy League, slugging .456 and leading the Jays with eight homers. With a homer every 20 plate appearances, he had the fifth-highest HR rate. He got it done on the other side as well, throwing out 33.3 percent of would-be base stealers. Second baseman Christian Lopes came into the season rated as the 29th-best prospect in the Toronto system and he backed it up in Bluefield. He homered in his first professional at bat on Opening Day and ranked second in the league in triples (five), third in doubles (16) and fourth in extra base hits (25). Nessy homered in his first Vancouver at bat and Lopes is 5-for-9 with a stolen base in his first two Northwest League games. The fourth-rated prospect on the Jays’ farm, Daniel Norris, struggled in Bluefield to the tune of a 7.97 ERA, but he struck out 38 in 35 innings of work and posted a Fielding Independent Pitching of 3.80. The four-run difference between his ERA and FIP is the second-highest in the league and his Batting Average on Balls In Play is .367 (third-highest in the league), signifying some bad luck. Norris will make his Vancouver debut on Saturday. The trio should helpe energize the Canadians in their push for a second straight Northwest League crown.


Bluefield Blue Jays Game Notes 8-24

Check out the @BluefieldJays Twitter page for mid-game updates

Thursday, August 23, 2012

Game 61: Kingsport Mets at Bluefield Blue Jays

Sorry folks, no radio tonight, but the Friday afternoon game will be on the air. Check out the @BluefieldJays Twitter page for mid-game updates


METS (21-39)

1 Yeixon Ruiz 2B
2 Gavin Cecchini DH
3 Jorge Rivero RF
4 Tomas Nido C
5 Maikis De La Cruz CF
6 Anthony Chavez SS
7 Jeyckol De Leon 1B
8 Kevin Weijgertse 3B
9 Joe Tuschak LF

RHP Miller Diaz (4-1, 4.14)

BLUE JAYS (26-34)

1 DJ Davis CF
2 Jacob Anderson RF
3 Jorge Vega-Rosado SS
4 Seth Conner 1B
5 Eric ArceDH
6 Nico Taylor LF
7 Emilio Guerrero 3B
8 Christian Frias 2B
9 Hector Alvarez C

RHP Justin James (2-2, 5.57)

FIRST-PITCH TIME: 7:05 P.M. 

BROADCAST INFO: The only radio game of this series will be on Friday at 2:50. You can catch the game on WHIS 1440 AM and BluefieldJays.com

WEATHER: 76 with sunny skies...a beautiful day for baseball

UMPIRES: PLATE: Chase Eade  FIELD: Travis Godec

ABOUT LAST NIGHT...: The visitors made things interesting late, but Brandon Dorsett provided a sigh of relief at the end. The righty recorded a perfect five-out save to stem a Pulaski Mariners comeback and the Bluefield Blue Jays hung on to win 7-6 at Bowen Field on Wednesday. Emilio Guerrero knocked a two-run triple to give the Jays the lead for good and Eric Arce added a three-run homer. The Mariners struck first against Alberto Tirado in the top of the first when Gilmer Lampe led off the game with a walk, moved up on a stolen base and wild pitch, then scored on Dario Pizzano’s groundout. That would be all Pulaski would get off of the 17-year-old righty. Tirado (W, 1-0) earned his first Appy League win with five innings of two-hit ball. He faced only two over the minimum and set down 13 of 16 to finish his night. Bluefield jumped ahead in the second inning on Guerrero’s three-bagger that scored Arce and Nico Taylor. After knocking starter Blake Holovach (L, 1-5) out of the game in the fourth, they added another run on a Christian Frias RBI single. Arce broke It open to a 6-1 lead in the fifth with a long three-run blast off of Domingo Brazoban. Pulaski chipped away with three unearned runs over the next two frames against Julio Carmona. Seth Conner’s RBI single in the sixth inning gave the Jays an insurance run they would eventually need. Two walks issued by Shane Davis came around to score in the eighth on Reggie Lawson’s third hit of the game and a wild pitch. Dorsett (S, 3) came in from the bullpen and struck out both batters he faced to strand the tying run at second. Dorsett fired a 1-2-3 ninth inning, capping it by retiring the league’s leading hitter Pizzano on a flyout to left field. Bluefield took two out of three from the Mariners this week and won the season series 5-3.

VS. THE METS: The Mets have struggled mightily in 2012, but they lead the season series two games to one after winning a set in Kingsport June 28-30. Bluefield was held hitless by John Gant for five innings in the first game. The Jays rallied for three runs in the sixth to take the lead, but the Mets came back to win. The Jays evened the series with a 12-3 rout behind Dwight Smith Jr.’s first pro homer. Kingsport made six errors in the rubber game, but still won 13-9. The Blue Jays dominated the Mets in 2011, especially at Bowen Field. Bluefield won five of six meetings, including a three-game home sweep from July 15-17 by a combined score of 17-3. Two weeks later in Kingsport, the Jays won two out of three.

- TONIGHT’S PITCHING PROBABLES -

RHP JUSTIN JAMES: Righty reliever Justin James makes his fourth straight start tonight. The Ponte Vedra, Florida native pitched well in Danville on Friday, but he took the tough loss due to one rocky inning and no run support. His first two and last two innings were perfect, but the Braves scored three runs on four hits in the third inning as the Jays were shut out 3-0. He was signed as an undrafted free agent out of Ave Maria University in Florida, where he was a Second Team All-Sun Conference selection as a senior after striking out 86 in 90.1 innings.

RHP MILLER DIAZ: Venezuelan righty Miller Diaz starts for the Mets in the series opener. After six up-and-down relief outings to start the season (6.00 ERA), the 2009 international free agent signing has pitched well in four starts, allowing three earned runs in his first 17 and two-thirds innings in the rotation. His Saturday start in Elizabethton did not go as well. He allowed four runs on five hits in four and one-third innings, walking five and striking out three. He split time last season between the Gulf Coast League and Kingsport. His first two professional seasons were in the Venzuelan Summer League (2009) and the Dominican Summer League (2010).

APPY LEAGUE HONOR: Bluefield right-hander Jeremy Gabryszwski was named to the 2012 Appalachian League All-Star Team, which was voted on by opposing managers, executive and media and announced today. The honor is more impressive considering there are only three pitchers on the squad. The 19-year-old was the league’s choice for right-handed starter and Princeton’s Blake Snell was the team’s lefty starter. Jeremy is 3-0 with a 2.35 ERA in 11 games (nine starts). He’s only allowed 44 hits in 46 innings of work. ”Gabby” is two innings short of the league qualifier, but his 2.35 ERA would rank second in the league and is fourth among Appy Leaguers with at least 45 IP. The Crosby, Texas native has the second-lowest WHIP (1.04) despite striking out only 4.3 batters per nine innings (second-lowest among 40 IP pitchers). That success is due to his ability to pound the strike zone, as he’s only walked four batters in 46 innings (0.78 BB/9). That includes a streak from July 14 to August 12 in which he went 24.2 innings without issuing a free pass.

THE TERMINATOR: Seth Conner had another productive night in the Jays’ win on Wednesday. He reached in four out of five plate appearances (nine of ten over last two games). Conner raised his average to .317, the seventh-highest among Appy Leaguers with at least 140 plate appearances. He ranks third with a .429 on base percentage and his .882 OPS is sixth. Conner needs 22 plate appearances in the final six games to reach the league qualifier.

MOVE ON UP: Three Bluefield Blue Jays were promoted to the Short Season-A Vancouver Canadians on Tuesday. Catcher Santiago Nessy was one of the top backstops in the Appy League, slugging .456 and leading the Jays with eight homers. With a homer every 20 plate appearances, he had the fifth-highest HR rate. He got it done on the other side as well, throwing out 33.3 percent of would-be base stealers. Second baseman Christian Lopes came into the season rated as the 29th-best prospect in the Toronto system and he backed it up in Bluefield. He homered in his first professional at bat on Opening Day and now ranks second in triples (five), third in doubles (16) and fourth in extra base hits (25). They both made their Vancouver debut last night. Nessy caught and batted seventh and he slugged a two-run homer in his first at bat. Lopes played second base and went 2-for-4 out of the ninth spot of the order. The fourth-rated prospect on the Jays’ farm, Daniel Norris, struggled to the tune of a 7.97 ERA, but he struck out 38 in 35 innings of work and posted a Fielding Independent Pitching of 3.80. The four-run difference between his ERA and FIP is the second-highest in the league and his Batting Average on Balls In Play is .367 (third-highest in the league), signifying some bad luck. The trio should helpe energize the Canadians in their push for a second straight Northwest League crown.


Bluefield Blue Jays Game Notes 8-23

Check out the @BluefieldJays Twitter page for mid-game updates

Wednesday, August 22, 2012

Game 60: Pulaski Mariners at Bluefield Blue Jays

Sorry folks, no radio games until Friday afternoon. Check out the @BluefieldJays Twitter page for mid-game updates

MARINERS (25-35)

1 Gilmer Lampe 1B
2 Martin Peguero 2B
3 Dario Pizzano RF
4 Jordy Lara 3B
5 Jabari Henry CF
6 Tyler Marlette C
7 Reggie Lawson LF
8 Phillips Castillo DH
9 Bryan Brito SS

LHP Blake Holovach (1-4, 3.51)

BLUE JAYS (25-34)

1 DJ Davis CF
2 Matt Dean 3B
3 Jorge Vega-Rosado 2B
4 Seth Conner 1B
5 Eric Arce 1B
6 Nico Taylor LF
7 Jacob Anderson RF
8 Emilio Guerrero SS
9 Christian Frias DH

RHP Alberto Tirado (0-0, 18.00)

FIRST-PITCH TIME: 7:05 P.M. 

BROADCAST INFO: The three games of this series will not be broadcast. The next radio game will be on Friday at 2:50 against the Kingsport Mets. You can catch the game on WHIS 1440 AM and BluefieldJays.com

WEATHER: 74 and a little overcast

UMPIRES: PLATE: Ryan Wills  FIELD: Evan Barger

ABOUT LAST NIGHT...: The Bluefield Blue Jays kept bidding for comebacks, but the Pulaski Mariners showed too much power. The M’s struck four home runs, one from each of their fourth through seventh hitters, and hung on to beat the Jays 9-6 at Bowen Field on Tuesday. Jabari Henry hit one of the long balls and drove in four in a three-hit night. Seth Conner went 3-for-3 in defeat for Bluefield. Henry’s blast set the tone in the top of the first inning. With two on and two out, the visiting center fielder hit a three-run shot off of Deivy Estrada (L, 2-6) for an early lead that would stand for the entire game. Conner tripled home the first Bluefield tally in the third, but Pulaski got the run right back in the next frame on a Reggie Lawson solo homer. The Jays opened the bottom of the fourth with three walks and plated two runs on productive outs from hector Alvarez and D.J. Davis. Davis had another two-hit night, his fifth in seven Appy League games, as he raised his average to .393 (11-for-28) and extended his hit streak to six. Both sides traded three runs in a busy fifth inning. Jordy Lara and Tyler Marlette both homered off of Tucker Jensen for a 7-3 lead, but the Jays answered back and cut the lead to one again on Matt Dean’s RBI single, a wild pitch and Jacob Anderson’s sacrifice fly. That would be as close as the home team would get. Pulaski tacked one on in the sixth when Dario Pizzano reached on a Christian Frias fielding error at second base. The final run came in the ninth against Joe Spano on Henry’s RBI single. Bluefield was shut out for the final four innings by Lars Huijer (W, 1-2) and David Holman (S, 8), who both turned in two zeroes in relief.

VS. THE MARINERS: The Blue Jays and Mariners opened the month of July with a rain-shortened two-game split at Bowen Field before the Jays took two of three in Pulaski. The Mariners were down to their final strike in the July 1 contest trailing 3-2, but Brock Hebert and Martin Peguero stroked RBI singles off Colby Broussard to give the M’s the shocking win. The Jays responded the next night with a thrilling 2-1 victory. Jorge Vega-Rosado and Seth Conner had RBI singles, but it was the stellar pitching of Jeremy Gabryszwski (4 IP, 0 R, 3 H), Roberto Osuna (3 IP, 1 R, 3 H) and Julio Carmona (six-out save) that won the day. The July 3 rubber game was rained out. From July 11-13, Bluefield visited Calfee Park and notched one of its two road series wins. The Jays won the opener 4-2 behind six shutout innings from Deivy Estrada. Pulaski handed the Jays another stunning defeat the following night, scoring two runs in the bottom of the tenth. It was Bluefield’s fourth loss in 12 days in a game that they were one strike away from winning. The Jays rocked the M’s in the rubber game 12-3. Bluefield won the 2011 season series against the Mariners 6-3, including wins in the final four head-to-head contests. Pulaski won two of three at home from July 21-23, taking the rubber game on Bryan Brito’s walk-off single in the tenth. From August 12-14, the Jays evened the season set by winning another road series. The final three games were at Bowen Field from August 19-21, with the Jays taking all of them by a combined score of 27-11.

- TONIGHT’S PITCHING PROBABLES -

RHP ALBERTO TIRADO: 17-year-old Alberto Tirado has been terrific for the Gulf Coast League Blue Jays in his first pro season and will make his Appalachian League debut tonight. In a GCL-leading 11 starts, the wiry righty posted a 2.68 ERA and held opponents to a .214 batting average. He dominated in his last two outings, allowing one hit and striking out nine in eight innings combined. Hailing from Nagua, Dominican Republic, Alberto signed with Toronto on July 7 last year for $300,000 as an international free agent.

LHP BLAKE HOLOVACH: Six-foot-five lefty Blake Holovach will face Bluefield for the first time this season. The 21-year-old was selected in the 27th round of this June’s draft out of the University of Missouri. Holovach (Hollow-votch) hails from Overland Park, KS, the same town that produced former Kansas City Chiefs great Will Shields, New York Giants kicker Lawrence Tynes and the comic acting trio of Paul Rudd, Jason Sudeikis and Rob Riggle. Blake did not start pitching until the summer before his senior year at Overland Park West HS. He was an NJCCA Academic All-American in 2011 at Coffeyville CC before transferring to Mizzou, where he went 7-5 with a 5.08 ERA this spring. Holovach began his first professional season with five scoreless innings of relief before moving into the Pulaski rotation. He’s put up a 4.00 ERA as a starter and is 0-3 with a 6.38 mark in his last four outings.

FIRST ROUNDER’S BIG DEBUT: The 2012 17th-overall draft pick, center fielder D.J. Davis, has had a scintillating debut with the Baby Jays. Davis was called up from the Gulf Coast League on Friday and in seven games he’s 11-for-28 (.393) with two doubles, a triple, four RBIs, five runs scored and three stolen bases. The Wiggins, MS native has batted leadoff and played center field in all seven games for Bluefield. Davis was tied for the GCL lead in steals (18) and was fifth in the circuit in runs (30) and strikeouts (54). D.J.’s father Wayne played four seasons in the Toronto farm system, including 1988 for the Dunedin Blue Jays, where one of his coaches was current Bluefield manager Dennis Holmberg.

MOVE ON UP: Three Bluefield Blue Jays were promoted to the Short Season-A Vancouver Canadians on Tuesday. Catcher Santiago Nessy was one of the top backstops in the Appy League, slugging .456 and leading the Jays with eight homers. With a homer every 20 plate appearances, he had the fifth-highest HR rate. He got it done on the other side as well, throwing out 33.3 percent of would-be base stealers. Second baseman Christian Lopes came into the season rated as the 29th-best prospect in the Toronto system and he backed it up in Bluefield. He homered in his first professional at bat on Opening Day and now ranks second in triples (five), third in doubles (16) and fourth in extra base hits (25). The fourth-rated prospect on the Jays’ farm, Norris, struggled to the tune of a 7.97 ERA, but he struck out 38 in 35 innings of work and posted a Fielding Independent Pitching of 3.80. The four-run difference between his ERA and FIP is the second-highest in the league and his Batting Average on Balls In Play is .367 (third-highest in the league), signifying some bad luck. The trio should helpe energize the Canadians in their push for a second straight Northwest League crown.

THE TERMINATOR: Seth Conner had a big game last night in the Jays’ 9-6 loss. He reached in all five plate appearances, hitting an RBI triple and two singles with two walks and a run scored. Conner raised his average to .313, the tenth-highest among Appy Leaguers with at least 120 plate appearances. He ranks fifth with a .417 on base percentage. Conner needs 27 plate appearances in the final seven games to reach the league qualifier.


Bluefield Blue Jays Game Notes 8-22

Check out the @BluefieldJays Twitter page for mid-game updates

Tuesday, August 21, 2012

Game 59: Pulaski Mariners at Bluefield Blue Jays

Check out the @BluefieldJays Twitter page for mid-game updates

MARINERS (24-35)

1 Gilmer Lampe 1B
2 Felipe Burin 2B
3 Dario Pizzano RF
4 Jordy Lara 3B
5 Jabari Henry CF
6 Tyler Marlette C
7 Reggie Lawson LF
8 Phillips Castillo DH
9 Keith Werman SS

RHP Min-Sih Chen (2-0, 6.56)

BLUE JAYS (25-33)

1 DJ Davis CF
2 Dickie Joe Thon SS
3 Jorge Vega-Rosado DH
4 Seth Conner 1B
5 Nico Taylor LF
6 Matt Dean 3B
7 Jacob Anderson RF
8 Christian Frias 2B
9 Hector Alvarez C

LHP Deivy Estrada (2-5, 4.40)

FIRST-PITCH TIME: 7:05 P.M. 

BROADCAST INFO: The three games of this series will not be broadcast. The next radio game will be on Friday at 2:50 against the Kingsport Mets. You can catch the game on WHIS 1440 AM and BluefieldJays.com

WEATHER: 75 and a beautiful day

UMPIRES: PLATE: Evan Barger  FIELD: Ryan Wills

ABOUT LAST NIGHT...: Everyone pitched in for the Bluefield Blue Jays, from the newcomers to those that have been here all season. D.J. Davis doubled, tripled and stole home and Alonzo Gonzalez pitched six shutout innings in his Bluefield debut as the Jays shelled the Pulaski Mariners 10-2 at Bowen Field on Monday. Santiago Nessy and Eric Arce both knocked in three runs as well. Gonzalez a lefty called up from the Gulf Coast League on Wednesday, wowed in his first Appy League start. In six scoreless frames, the Santa Monica native retired eight straight after walking the first batter of the game. The 2012 18th-round pick finished strong in setting down the last eight men he faced. He held the Mariners to two hits, walking two and striking out five. The Jays scored in the bottom of the first against Levi Dean in exciting fashion. Davis, the 2012 first-round pick doubled and moved up on Jorge Vega-Rosado’s single. With Seth Conner at the plate, Vega-Rosado broke for second and once the throw went down, Davis scooted home and beat the throw back for a perfectly-executed delayed double steal. Nico Taylor and Matt Dean pulled the same trick the night before in Danville. Bluefield added two more runs in the fifth on Nessy’s bases-loaded two-run single, but they really piled on in the sixth with seven runs. Davis worked a solid at bat and hit an opposite-field triple into the left field corner to plate two. A sacrifice fly by Vega-Rosado made it a 6-0 game but the Jays weren’t done. Christian Lopes and Conner reached base and Nessy knocked an RBI single before Arce cleared the bases again with a three-run blast for a 10-0 lead. The seven-run, seven-hit outburst set new Bluefield season highs for runs and hits in a single frame. Taylor had a game-high three hits for Bluefield with two doubles. Jabari Henry matched that for for Pulaski as he had half of his team’s six hits in the loss. Davis is now 9-for-23 (.391) in six games with Bluefield and he extended his hitting streak to five with his fourth multi-hit game. Colby Broussard allowed two runs and struck out five in the final three innings to close it out.

VS. THE MARINERS: The Blue Jays and Mariners opened the month of July with a rain-shortened two-game split at Bowen Field before the Jays took two of three in Pulaski. The Mariners were down to their final strike in the July 1 contest trailing 3-2, but Brock Hebert and Martin Peguero stroked RBI singles off Colby Broussard to give the M’s the shocking win. The Jays responded the next night with a thrilling 2-1 victory. Jorge Vega-Rosado and Seth Conner had RBI singles, but it was the stellar pitching of Jeremy Gabryszwski (4 IP, 0 R, 3 H), Roberto Osuna (3 IP, 1 R, 3 H) and Julio Carmona (six-out save) that won the day. The July 3 rubber game was rained out. From July 11-13, Bluefield visited Calfee Park and notched one of its two road series wins. The Jays won the opener 4-2 behind six shutout innings from Deivy Estrada. Pulaski handed the Jays another stunning defeat the following night, scoring two runs in the bottom of the tenth. It was Bluefield’s fourth loss in 12 days in a game that they were one strike away from winning. The Jays rocked the M’s in the rubber game 12-3. Bluefield won the 2011 season series against the Mariners 6-3, including wins in the final four head-to-head contests. Pulaski won two of three at home from July 21-23, taking the rubber game on Bryan Brito’s walk-off single in the tenth. From August 12-14, the Jays evened the season set by winning another road series. The final three games were at Bowen Field from August 19-21, with the Jays taking all of them by a combined score of 27-11.

- TONIGHT’S PITCHING PROBABLES -
LHP DEIVY ESTRADA: A native of Valencia, Venezuela, lefty Deivy Estrada goes for the Jays tonight trying to even the series. He has been let down by his defense time and again in 2012. In 47 innings, the southpaw has allowed 23 earned runs and 21 unearned runs. He last pitched on Thursday against Elizabethton and took the loss when he allowed six runs, five earned, and was knocked out in the fifth inning. Deivy was superb in six shutout innings in Pulaski on July 11, his only start against the Mariners. He posted a 2.25 ERA in the GCL in 2011, but he had an ERA of 6.94 in Bluefield upon his promotion. He did contribute the clinching victory in the Mercer Cup last year, turning in five shutout innings on August 10. He allowed only four hits, striking out six without walking a man. He took a tough loss in the final game of the Appy League Championship Series when he gave up one earned run in five innings, but was charged with the defeat. He spent the 2010 season in the Gulf Coast League and was in the Dominican Summer League in 2009 when he K’d more than one batter per inning (48 in 44 IP).

RHP MIN-SIH CHEN: Taiwanese righty Min-Sih Chen makes his third start of the season tonight after spending most of the year in the bullpen. In his two most recent appearances, Chen has allowed 11 runs, seven earned, over his last five innings of work. He started on Friday in Bristol, allowing five runs (three earned) in two and two-thirds innings. He earned the win in his Appy League debut on June 23 at Princeton, holding the Rays to one run on four hits in five and two-thirds innings. The 22-year-old went 5-4 in 53.1 innings in the Arizona League in 2011.

FIRST ROUNDER’S BIG DEBUT: The 2012 17th-overall draft pick, center fielder D.J. Davis, has had a scintillating debut with the Baby Jays. Davis was called up from the Gulf Coast League on Friday and in six games he’s 9-for-23 (.391) with two doubles, a triple, three RBIs, five runs scored and three stolen bases. The Wiggins, MS native has batted leadoff and played center field in all six games for Bluefield. Davis was tied for the GCL lead in steals (18) and was fifth in the circuit in runs (30) and strikeouts (54). D.J.’s father Wayne played four seasons in the Toronto farm system, including 1988 for the Dunedin Blue Jays, where one of his coaches was current Bluefield manager Dennis Holmberg.

MOVE ON UP: Three Bluefield Blue Jays were promoted to the Short Season-A Vancouver Canadians today. Catcher Santiago Nessy was one of the top backstops in the Appy League, slugging .456 and leading the Jays with eight homers. With a homer every 20 plate appearances, he had the fifth-highest HR rate. He got it done on the other side as well, throwing out 33.3 percent of would-be base stealers. Second baseman Christian Lopes came into the season rated as the 29th-best prospect in the Toronto system and he backed it up in Bluefield. He homered in his first professional at bat on Opening Day and now ranks second in triples (five), third in doubles (16) and fourth in extra base hits (25). The fourth-rated prospect on the Jays’ farm, Norris, struggled to the tune of a 7.97 ERA, but he struck out 38 in 35 innings of work and posted a Fielding Independent Pitching of 3.80. The four-run difference between his ERA and FIP is the second-highest in the league and his Batting Average on Balls In Play is .367 (third-highest in the league), signifying some bad luck. The trio should helpe energize the Canadians in their push for a second straight Northwest League crown.


Bluefield Blue Jays Game Notes 8-21

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