Hoppers In! Cakes Complete! Muckdogs Not So Great! Shrimp In!

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The Marlins activated LHP Wei-Yin Chen from the 10-day DL.

6’8” RHP Brady Puckett and LHP Manuel Rodriguez were promoted from the GCL Marlins to the Batavia Muckdogs. RHP Taylor Braley was sent from Batavia back to GCL.

Triple-A

Pacific Coast League

New Orleans Baby Cakes 0, Nashville Sounds 3

The Baby Cakes (55-83) outhit the Sounds (OAK, 68-71), 5-to-4, but were shut out in the PCL season finale by a 3-0 final with 5,409 in attendance at Shrine on Airline.

Victor Payano whiffed seven and allowed just one hit in four innings for no-decision. William Cuevas (2-7, 5.43) allowed one earned run on a hit and three walks in two innings, earning the loss despite whiffing four Nashville batters. Hunter Cervenka struck out two in an inning of work, and Tayron Guerrero allowed two earned runs in the ninth inning.

Joey Wendle brought Jaff Decker home with a sacrifice fly off of Cuevas to open the scoring in the sixth inning, then Beau Taylor (3) went deep to right center for a two-run tater off Guerrero in the ninth.

The Cakes were held scoreless despite the efforts of Christian Colon, who finished the season with a .302 average by adding a single and a double to his totals. Steve Lombardozzi, Grant Green, and Austin Nola added singles for New Orleans. It was the 13th time that the Baby Cakes were shut out this season.

Sounds blank Baby Cakes in season finale

Double-A

Southern League

Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp 1, Pensacola Blue Wahoos 5

The Jumbo Shrimp (69-71) left 10 runners on base, and scored just once despite collecting 13 hits with 3,987 on hand at the Baseball Grounds of Jacksonville. The loss was Jacksonville’s third straight to close the regular season against the Blue Wahoos (CIN, 74-66). The two will face off in a best three-of-five starting in Pensacola on Wednesday.

The Wahoos got on the board in the top of the first on a Gavin LaValley RBI-single and an Aristedes Aquino (17) two-run homer. It would be all the offense they would need for the day, but they added two more in the fourth for good measure anyway on a Jonathan Reynoso sacrifice fly and a Joe Hudson RBI-double. All of Pensacola’s runs were scored off Jacksonville starter James Needy (0-1, 4.50).

The Shrimp got one of the runs back in the bottom of the fourth, when David Vidal crossed the plate on a Rodrigo Vigil double-play grounder. Needy surrendered the five runs on six hits in four frames, striking out four without giving up any walks, although he was guilty of one balk. Jeff Kinley allowed two hits in two scoreless innings, Andy Beltre tossed a perfect seventh, Daniel Schlereth gave up one hit in a scoreless eighth, and Tyler Kinley whiffed one in a perfect ninth.

Four Jumbo Shrimp hitters finished with two hits. Braxton Lee led with a single and a double, while Justin Four, Vidal, and Alex Yarbrough each collected a pair of singles.

Aquino Smacks 17th Homer in, 5-1, Win Over Jacksonville

Single-A

South Atlantic League

Greensboro Grasshoppers 2, Hickory Crawdads 1

With 2,150 in the house at L.P. Frans Stadium, Dustin Beggs (10-6, 3.86) earned the last win of Greensboro’s (75-61) regular season over the Hickory Crawdads (TEX, 64-76).

Beggs struck out four and allowed four walks and seven hits in five innings, although he only surrendered one run due to solid defensive work behind him. He picked off a batter, erased two runners on double play balls, stranded four runners on third, one on second, one on first, and watched a runner get wiped out trying to score from second on a Blaine Prescott fourth-inning single. He was followed by Kyle Keller, who got six batters to wave in three hitless and scoreless innings of relief. Michael Mertz earned his fourth save of the season to go with his sparkling 9-1 record, despite letting two of the five batters he faced to get base hits. He didn’t allow anyone to score either.

After Beggs allowed Charles LeBlanc to score on an Andretty Cordero second-inning triple, the Grasshoppers held the line at one run. Greensboro tied it up in the fifth on a Luis Pintor RBI-groundout, and took the lead for good on an Eric Gutierrez (7) solo shot to left-center in the sixth.

The win for the Hoppers eliminated the West Virginia Power (PIT, 69-67) and clinched a spot in the South Atlantic League Northern Division playoff against the Kannapolis Intimidators (CWS, 68-69).

Offensively, the Hoppers won despite getting outhit by the Dads, 9-to-7. James Nelson led the bunch with a pair of singles. Gutierrez’ homer was the only extra-base hit collected by Greensboro’s hitters.

They were thrilled. I stopped and bought 36 bottles of champagne on my way out of town. They earned it, no matter how things turned out today. ... It was fun to see them celebrate and enjoy what they had worked for all year long. - Hoppers president Donald Moore, perJeff Mills at greensboro.com.

Gutierrez's homer leads Greensboro to 2-1 win over Hickory

Short-Season-A

New York-Penn League

The Muckdogs (30-42) were swept by the Scrappers (CLE, 42-49) with 714 fans present at Dwyer Stadium.

Batavia Muckdogs 3, Mahoning Valley Scrappers 4

In the first game of the scheduled seven-inning twin-bill, Remey Reed started and earned no-decision, surrendering two earned runs on six hits and a walk in three innings. He struck out three. After a scoreless frame by Travis Neubeck, Colton Hock (1-3, 6.62) took the loss by surrendering two more runs on three hits and a walk in 2 1⁄3 innings. He also struck out three.

The Dogs were outhit by the Scrappers by a 10-to-7 margin, led by Harrison White’s two singles and a Sean Reynolds (3) sixth inning homer. Demetrius Sims and Lazaro Alonso each added doubles.

Gonzalez, Jones lead Mahoning Valley to 4-3 win over Batavia

Batavia Muckdogs 2, Mahoning Valley Scrappers 6

The Scrappers again collected 10 hits off of Muckdog’s pitching in the bottom half of the doubleheader, versus eight for Batavia. Osman Gutierrez (1-1, 3.18) absorbed the loss, surrendering four earned runs on seven hits in five innings. He also struck out four. Alberto Guerrero got one to wave in an inning of scoreless work, and Manuel Rodriguez surrendered two runs in the seventh.

Mathew Brooks collected three singles for Batavia, Tyler Curtis hit two, and David Gauntt had the only extra base hit, with a double.

Benson, Jones lead Mahoning Valley to 6-2 win over Batavia

Later

Tomorrow, the Muckdogs will host the Scrappers to close out their three-game set at 7:05PM. Sean Guenther (1-3, 3.57) gets the nod. After that, Batavia will play a home-and-home series against the Auburn Doubledays to close out the season.

On Wednesday, the Blue Wahoos will host the Jumbo Shrimp starting at 7:35PM in the first game of the best-of-five series. Somewhat ominously, the Wahoos are 13-7 this season against the Shrimp.

Also Wednesday, the Grasshoppers will host the Intimidators in the first game of their five-game series, probably starting at 7:05PM.

On This Date

In 1901:

The National Association of Professional Baseball Leagues, now known as Minor League Baseball, was organized when presidents of seven Minor Leagues met in Chicago on Sept. 5 and established rules of operation that generally remained through history. The NAPBL began play with 14 leagues and 96 teams in 1902.