Fish Farm Report: April 28th

Triple-A

Pacific Coast League

New Orleans Baby Cakes 1, Nashville Sounds 4

New Orleans (8-14) lost their third game in a row, dropping a 4-1 decision to the Nashville Sounds (8-11) in front of 7,853 at First Tennessee Park. Here’s the Baby Cakes’ recap.

Stephen Fife earned a GameScore of 44, taking the loss after allowing three earned runs on seven hits and a walk. He struck out five, getting 61-of-95 pitches into the strikezone, and now has a 1-1 record with a 5.03 ERA.

Nashville’s Paul Blackburn (1-2, 1.64) earned the win, throwing five shutout two-hit innings and striking out two batters. Sounds’ pitching held the Cakes to five hits in total.

Nashville got onto the board first in the third inning, on a two-run shot by Mark Canha (3). They added another run later in the inning on a Renato Nunez RBI-double. Matt Olsen made it 4-0 in the sixth with his third round-tripper of the season. New Orleans avoided the shutout with a Steve Lombardozzi RBI-double in the eighth inning.

Lombardozzi and Brandon Barnes both collected a single and a double, with Moises Sierra getting New Orlean’s other hit. Brian Ellington struck out three in 1.1 innings of relief, and Hunter Cervenka threw a scoreless eighth.

Tomorrow night at 7:35, the Cakes will play game three of their five game series against the Sounds. Vance Worley (1-2, 1.66) will start against Chris Smith (0-1, 3.07).

Double-A

Southern League

Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp 4, Mobile Bay Bears 0

7,341 were on hand to witness Matt Tomshaw (3-1, 2.28) and Ryan Beckman (S, 1, 11.25) throw a combined shutout, earning a 4-0 victory over the Mobile Bay Bears (11-11) at the Baseball Grounds of Jacksonville. The win broke a three-game losing streak for the Shrimp.

Tomshaw threw seven innings for the Shrimp (8-14), striking out four and allowing five hits. He earned a 74 GameScore by getting 60-of-84 pitches into the strikezone. Beckman struck out four in two innings for his first save at any level for three seasons. He missed the plate on only eight-of-32 pitches.

The game was a scoreless affair until the bottom of the sixth, when David Vidal busted it open with a two-run shot to center field, his second longball of the season. Jacksonville doubled their lead in the eighth, when Isaac Galloway drew a bases loaded walk and Yefri Perez hit an RBI groundout.

Isaac Galloway was the only Shrimp to finish the game with more than one hit. Alex Klonowski threw five shutout three hit innings for the Bears, but Justin Anderson took the loss for Mobile, allowing two earned runs on three hits and three walks over just 1.2 innings.

Omar Bencomo (3-0, 1.16) will start against Grayson Long (0-0, 0.00) at 6:05 tonight as Jacksonville hosts Mobile for game three of this five game series. Long has allowed one hit over six innings in his only double-A start.

Advanced-A

Florida State League

Jupiter Hammerheads 4, Palm Beach Cardinals 1

Cody Poteet had another impressive outing for the Jupiter Hammerheads (11-11) on Friday, earning a win in front of 1,405 friendly faces at Roger Dean Stadium.

Poteet (2-0, 1.33) went six innings against the Cardinals (11-10), giving up one earned run on a walk and four hits. He struck out four, getting 50-of-81 pitches over the plate and posting a 67 GameScore. Jose Quijada had his first hold of the season, striking out three over two innings, and Jeff Kinley earned his second save of the campaign despite allowing two hits over his inning of work.

The Hammerheads struck early, dropping two on the Cards in the opening inning on a two-run single from Dexter Kjerstad. They added a run in the third and in the fourth, on a Kjerstad RBI-single and a Kyle Barrett bunt single, respectively. The Cards scored their run on a Casey Turgeon RBI-single in the sixth.

Kyle Barrett and Stone Garrett each had two hits in the win for Jupiter, who have six wins in their last nine games.

Scott Squier (0-3, 8.44) will start opposite Ryan Helsley (0-1, 5.14) in game two of this three-game series, at 5:30 this afternoon.

Single-A

South Atlantic League

Greensboro Grasshoppers 3, Asheville Tourists 2, 10 innings

The Grasshoppers (10-12) pitched a combined no-hitter through nine innings before allowing the first Asheville (11-12) hit with two outs in the bottom of the 10th.

With 2,713 in attendance at McCormick Field, Jordan Holloway started and allowed an unearned run on three walks over five innings. He struck out three. Ben Meyer struck out six over three perfect innings of relief, and Michael Mertz earned the win after striking out four and allowing a solo shot to Max George.

Asheville’s Antonio Santos actually earned a higher GameScore than Holloway by striking out 11 over six shutout three-hit innings. Santos racked up an 81, and Holloway earned 64.

Despite not getting their first hit until extra innings, Asheville led for most of the game. Taylor Snyder reached base in the second on an error, and after stealing second and third, scored on a Holloway wild pitch. Greensboro tied it in the seventh on a Luis Pintor groundout.

Greensboro took a 3-1 lead in the top of the 10th on a Colby Lusignan two-run single, and George got one back on the first Ashville hit of the ballgame, a deep shot to left with two out in the 10th. Mertz struck out Cole Anderson one batter later to end the game. The two clubs combined for six errors.

L.J. Brewster (1-2, 3.94) will start for the Grasshoppers tonight at 6:05 against Ty Culbreath (1-0, 2.87) in game three of this four game series.

Prospect Watch

#3 Brian Anderson hit a single in four at bats with a whiff and a walk for Jacksonville.

#8 Stone Garett raised his average to .207 by going two-for-four and scoring twice for the Hammerheads.

#9 Drew Steckenrider faced two batters for the Cakes, striking out one and walking the other.

#10 James Nelson went two-for-five with two singles to raise his average to .231 for Greensboro.

#12 J.T. Riddle went 0-for-4 with a strikeout for New Orleans, and is hitting .297 this year.

#14 Cody Poteet earned a win and dropped his ERA to 1.33 by allowing one earned run on four hits and a walk over six innings for the Hammerheads.

#16 Jordan Holloway gave up three walks over five hitless innings for Greensboro.

#27 John Norwood went 1-for-3 with a walk and a run, and is at .225 for Jacksonville.

#28 Tomas Telis struck out twice and went 0-for-4 for the Baby Cakes, and has a .271 average.

#30 Yefri Perez drew a bases loaded walk to drive in a run, but otherwise went 0-for-4 and is hitting just .116 for the Shrimp.

Transactions

The Hammerheads assigned catcher Corey Bass to extended spring training and placed fellow catcher Roy Morales on the seven-day DL on Tuesday. They assigned right-hander Garrett Cortright to Batavia and activated righty Esmerling De La Rosa from the DL on Wednesday. On Thursday, they called Cortright back and assigned righty Steven Farnworth in his place.

Yesterday, the Grasshoppers put shortstop Garvis Lara on the DL and activated second baseman Justin Twine.