Thunder Sweep SeaDogs

The Trenton Thunder finished off the rival Portland SeaDogs, 5-4 tonight, to complete a three game sweep in the first round of the Eastern League playoffs. Colin Curtis drew a bases loaded walk to snap a 4-4 tie in the top of the ninth as the Thunder won their third straight game. In addition to his walk, Curtis had two singles, a double, triple, and two RBI.

The Thunder tied the game in the eighth when Francisco Cervelli was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded. Mike Dunn retired the SeaDogs in order in the bottom of the ninth to preserve the win for Kevin Whelan. Whelan struck out five of the six hitters he faced.

It was the second straight come from behind win in the series for Trenton. Thursday night the Thunder trailed Clay Buchholz and the SeaDogs 3-0 in the sixth inning when Austin Jackson hit a game tying 3-run home run. It would stay that way until the eighth when P.J. Pillitere's third hit of the game drove in what proved to be the game winner. Wil Arias picked up the win while Jose Valdez recorded the final two outs for a save.

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Minor League Recap - 7/11

Games of 7/10

Dan McCutchen is getting the hang of Triple-A. He put together his 4th straight good start last night in a 7-3 Scranton win over the Columbus Clippers. McCutchen allowed 2 runs on 7 hits in 6 innings pitched. He walked just 1 and struck out 6. McCutchen is 3-6, 3.32 since his promotion to Scranton, but is 2-1, 1.95 over his last four starts, with a 5:1 strikeout to walk ratio.

McCutchen got plenty of offensive support last night as Yankees Cody Ransom, Juan Miranda, and Matt Carson each went deep against former Yankees Tyler Clippard. Miranda is quietly making a bid for a shot at the bigs next season, specifically against right-handed pitching. Overall, he's hitting .296-5-29 and has posted an .826 OPS. He's hitting .350 against right-handers, as opposed to .151 against lefties.

	July 10, 2008
	Final 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E Scranton/WB 0 0 0 2 0 2 0 3 0 7 8 0 Columbus 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 3 9 1 Recap | Box | W: D. McCutchen (3-6, 3.32); L: T. Clippard (5-7, 4.52) HR: SWB: C. Ransom (15), J. Miranda (5), M. Carson (4).

Eric Hacker wasn't at his best (3 earned runs in 5.1 IP), but he was good enough in Trenton's 5-3 win over the Altoona Curve. Hacker improved to 5-1, 2.37 as a member of the Thunder, after posting a 2-2, 1.87 mark for Tampa. Colin Curtis had a big night with the bat, banging out three doubles and drove in 3 runs. Anthony Claggett struck out 4 in the final 2 innings for his 7th save.

	July 10, 2008
	Final 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E Altoona 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 0 3 10 1 Trenton 0 0 2 0 3 0 0 0 X 5 5 0 Recap | Box | W: E. Hacker (5-1, 2.37); L: J. Hughes (0-1, 9.00); SV: A. Claggett (7) HR: None.

The Tampa Yankees losing streak was extended to 10 games after losing a pair of 7 inning games to the St. Lucie Mets on Thursday. The Mets scored 2 runs off of Josh Schmidt in the 7th for a 3-1 win in the opener. Former Yankees prospect Elvys Quezeda picked up the win.

The Mets won the nightcap 6-3 as Yankees starter Jason Stephens had his worst start of the season. Stephens, who was an All-Star at Charleston prior to his promotion to Tampa, allowed 6 runs in just 3.2 innings pitched. He had allowed just 2 earned runs in his previous 17 innings. Tim Battle, who drove in the lone Tampa run in game one, homered in the nightcap. The Yankees will try to snap their streak tonight when they start a 4-game series with Vero Beach.

July 10, 2008
	Final 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E St. Lucie 0 0 0 0 1 0 2 3 4 0 Tampa 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 7 0 Recap | Box W: E. Quezada (2-0, 2.92); L: J. Schmidt (0-2, 3.50); SV: G. Marte (4) HR: None.

	July 10, 2008 Game 2
	Final 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E St. Lucie 1 1 1 3 0 0 0 6 13 1 Tampa 0 1 2 0 0 0 0 3 6 0 Recap | Box W: M. Antonini (3-0, 1.95); L: J. Stephens (2-2, 3.48); SV: S. Clyne (2) HR: TAM: T. Battle (8).

The Charleston River Dogs game with the Lexington Legends was rained out, but they start a new series tonight with the West Virginia Power.

Staten Island blew a 3-0 lead, but then beat the Oneonta Tigers 5-3. Mike Lyons' single in the 7th put the Yankees ahead for good, and Jahdiel Santamaria added an insurance RBI single for the Baby Bombers in the 8th. Drew Shetrone picked up the win after a very good start by Brandon Braboy. Pat Venditte earned his 6th save with a scoreless 9th, and has not been scored upon in 10.2 innings this season.

	July 10, 2008
	Final 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E Oneonta 0 0 2 0 0 1 0 0 0 3 10 1 Staten Island 3 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 X 5 9 2 Recap | Box W: D. Shetrone (1-1, 3.24); L: A. Fuhrman (2-2, 6.59); SV: P. Venditte (6) HR: ONE: B. Nowlin (1).

The GCL Yankees rallied from a 3-run deficit to beat the GCL Braves 6-5 in 11 innings. The Yankees trailed 5-2 in the 9th, but Alvaro Ramirez hit a 2-run home run and Tom Baldridge singled in the tying run. In the 11th, Zoilo Almonte singled, moved to 2nd base on a wild pitch, and scored on a single by Neall French for the game winner. Mike O'Bradovich tossed 3 scoreless innings for the win.

	July 10, 2008
	Final 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 R H E GCL Braves 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 0 5 10 1 GCL Yankees 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 3 0 1 6 14 0 Recap | Box W: M. Obradovich (1-0, 0.00); L: C. Hung (1-1, 2.45) HR: YAN: A. Ramirez (1).

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Minor League Recap - 6/26

Games of 6/25

Dan McCutchen had a decent outing for the Scranton Yankees last night, but saw his record fall to 1-6 as the Columbus Clippers took a 5-1 decision. McCutchen allowed 3 earned runs in 6.2 innings pitched. He allowed 7 hits, walked 3, and struck out 4. Shelley Duncan's sacrifice fly brought home the only run and gave the Yankees a temporary 1-0 lead. Matt Carson had 3 hits, falling a home run shy of a cycle.

	June 25, 2008
	Final 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E Columbus 0 0 0 1 1 1 2 0 0 5 11 0 Scranton/WB 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 6 2 Recap | Box | W: M. Bacsik (6-3, 4.40); L: D. McCutchen (1-6, 4.30) HR: None.

Eric Hacker and the Trenton Thunder bullpen were dynamite last night, shutting out the Erie SeaWolves 7-0. Hacker (2-1, 1.97) allowed 4 hits in 6.2 IP, walked 2, and struck out 5. Between Tampa and Trenton, he's 4-3, 1.91 in 15 starts, with just 64 hits allowed in 85 innings.

Colin Curtis (4 hits) and Jose Tabata (3 hits) enjoyed big nights at the plate, driving in 2 runs apiece. Austin Jackson has hit a bit of a skid, going 2 for his last 16.

	June 25, 2008
	Final 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E Erie 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 1 Trenton 3 1 0 3 0 0 0 0 X 7 12 0 Recap | Box | W: E. Hacker (2-1, 1.97); L: B. Fritz (2-3, 5.63) HR: None.

The Tampa Yankees game with the Daytona Cubs was postponed due to rain.

It was a tough night for starter Wil Heredia and reliever Gabe Medina as the two allowed 6 runs in 8 innings pitched, in the Charleston RiverDogs 6-1 loss to the Columbus Catfish. Brad Suttle stopped the RiverDogs from being shutout in the 9th with his 5th home run of the year.

	June 25, 2008
	Final 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E Columbus 0 0 0 2 0 3 0 1 0 6 8 0 Charleston 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 4 1 Recap | Box | W: J. Hall (2-1, 3.40); L: J. Heredia (2-2, 3.40) HR: COL: R. Fronk (8). CHA: B. Suttle (5).

The Staten Island Yankees dropped a 7-6 scoring fest to the Aberdeen IronBirds, who scored the game winner in the bottom of the 9th. The Baby Bombers had rallied back from a 6-0 deficit. Shortsop Addison Maruszak lead the offense with 3 hits and an RBI.

	June 25, 2008
	Final 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E Staten Island 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 4 0 6 13 3 Aberdeen 2 3 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 7 11 3 Recap | Box W: F. Deza (1-0, 0.00); L: J. Gonell (1-1, 3.00) HR: ABE: J. Julius (2).

The Gulf Coast Yankees improved to 5-2 on the season with a 4-2 win over the GCL Phillies. Ryan Pope got the start as part of a rehab session, throwing 3 scoreless innings. Manny Banuelos threw 3 shutout innings of his own to earn his 2nd win.

	June 25, 2008
	Final 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E GCL Phillies 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 2 6 0 GCL Yankees 0 0 0 0 0 4 0 0 X 4 8 2 Recap | Box W: M. Banuelos (2-0, 0.00); L: R. Simon (1-1, 4.22); SV: D. Kapala (1) HR: None.

News and Notes

Chad Jennings reports that Al Aceves should be getting his first start for Scranton on Saturday against the Buffalo Bison. Scott Patterson has been placed on the DL due to some kind of bug he's been fighting.

The Binghamton Mets and Altoona Curve of the Eastern League had a huge brawl Tuesday night, with the two opposing managers going at it first. You can read about it here.

Charleston always has some interesting promotions. Last night was "Go Back to Ohio Night at The Joe". There's been a large influx of Ohioans moving to Charleston. We suppose it was done tongue in cheek, although... And in case you don't know, the RiverDogs park is "Joseph P. Riley, Jr. Park" or "The Joe".

The Journal Gazette in Illinois has a story on Tampa outfielder Mitch Hilligoss, the former Big Ten Conference batting champion.

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