SYRACUSE 7, BUFFALO 1: In front of a packed house at Coca-Cola Field, Syracuse Chiefs starting pitcher Stephen Strasburg showed Buffalo why he was worthy of being the No. 1 draft pick in the 2009 draft. Strasburg pitched five masterful innings, allowing only three hits and no runs in his final minor league start. Strasburg flashes his fastball early and often. Topping out at 99 mph, Strasburg was able to blow his fastball by the Herd for five strikeouts. He was also able to keep the International League's leader in home runs and RBI, third baseman Mike Hessman, in check. Strasburg was able to keep him at bay by striking out Hessman and getting him to fly out in the two at-bats they faced each other. Hessman eventually went 0-for-4 on the day. Strasburg was able to get run support from his teammates early, when second baseman Pete Orr hit a two-run homer in the second inning. Orr hit his seventh long ball on a 3-2 pitch from Bisons starting pitcher Dillon Gee over the right-field wall to give the Chiefs a 2-0 early lead. Strasburg was even able to help out his own cause when he singled to center off of Gee in the fifth inning. He was then driven home when ex-Met farmhand Chase Lambin grounded back to the pitcher, allowing Strasburg to score. Gee, the Bisons’ leader in wins and strikeouts, pitched six innings and allowed seven hits in the losing effort. In his six innings of work the Chiefs were able to score five runs on Gee. Due to two errors by Bisons first baseman Mike Jacobs, only two runs were earned. Gee had a great command of the strike zone however. He struck out seven batters and improved on his total for strikeouts to 61 for the season. Strasburg left the game after the fifth inning. He threw 89 pitches (54 strikes). Strasburg ended his tour through the minors with a 4-1 record and a 1.08 ERA in his six starts in Triple-A. After Strasburg left the game, the Herd was still unable to produce any offense. The only run the Bisons scored came in the eighth inning, after center fielder Jesus Feliciano hit a two-out double to extend the inning. Feliciano was then driven in with a single from second baseman Justin Turner, a recent waiver claim from the Baltimore Orioles. Feliciano provided the majority of the offense for the Herd on the day. He collected two of the five hits the Bisons had as a team. He improved his league-leading batting average to .388. The loss dropped the Herd to 30-24. Buffalo now trails the Chiefs by 2½ games for the division lead. Boxscore
BINGHAMTON 3, BOWIE 2: Jonathan Malo delivered in the clutch for Binghamton with a game-winning, two-run homer off Eddie Gamboa in the eighth. Malo’s second homer of the season snapped Binghamton’s three-game slide. Starters Mike Antonini and Ryohei Tanaka were terrific for their respective teams, dueling to a 1-1 deadlock through six innings. Antonini ran into trouble, however, in the seventh, allowing singles to Robbie Widlansky and Tyler Henson opening the frame. After forcing the lead runner at third on a poor bunt from Matt Tucker, Antonini departed. Manuel Alvarez spelled him and retired the next two hitters, stranding two men on base and preserving the tie. Antonini tied a season-high with seven strikeouts over 6 1/3 innings and allowed just a run on six hits for his fourth quality start of the season. Binghamton (25-28) mounted its charge in the eighth with Tanaka out of the game. The Bowie starter fired a season-high seven innings of one-run work before passing the ball to the bullpen. Gamboa entered in relief and walked the leadoff hitter, Eric Campbell, on five pitches. Jose Coronado attempted to bunt him into scoring position, but the spry Gamboa hopped off the mound, fielded the bunt and fired to second to force Campbell. Malo followed and pounced on an inside fastball, powering it over the left-field wall to propel the B-Mets into the lead, 3-1. Gamboa’s struggles continued. The righty allowed three of the next four hitters to reach on a pair of walks and a hit, loading the bases. However, Gamboa settled down to strike out Marshall Hubbard, stranding the bases full. In the eighth, Alvarez walked Jonathan Tucker and Caleb Joseph singled to knock the righty out of the game. Roy Merritt was summoned from the bullpen to extinguish the fire. Joel Guzman stepped in with two on and flied out to right for the first out. Merritt then walked Brandon Waring to load the bases. Widlansky closed the gap to a run with a fielder’s choice to shortstop, but that was all that Bowie would get as Tyler Henson flied out to center to end the threat. Merritt made easy work of the Baysox in the ninth with a 1-2-3 inning, striking out Danny Figueroa to nail down his fourth save in five chances. The B-Mets cracked the scoreboard first in the third. Coronado singled to left-center and was sacrificed to second by Malo. Kirk Nieuwenhuis plated Coronado with a single to center to pit Binghamton a 1-0 lead. Nieuwenhuis was the lone B-Mets player with two hits. Bowie (28-26) answered in the fifth with a two-out rally off Antonini. Henson, Tucker and Carlos Rojas strung together three straight singles to tie the score. Boxscore
TAMPA AT ST. LUCIE (PPD.)
SAVANNAH 2, ASHEVILLE 1 (11 INNINGS): Wilmer Flores doubled to left field to drive in catcher Dock Doyle with the winning run. The Gnats (31-24) remain three games behind the Augusta Greenjackets, who won in Rome, for first place in the South Atlantic League Southern Division with 15 games to play in the first half of the South Atlantic League season. Flores finished 2-for-5 with a pair of doubles. Doyle led off the 11th by drawing a walk from Asheville reliever Chad Rose. Second baseman Alonzo Harris bunted Doyle to second. Flores brought him home after center fielder Pedro Zapata’s infield hit. Alonzo Harris led off the Savannah first inning with a line drive homer over the left-field wall, his second long ball of the year, to give the Gnats a 1-0 lead. Asheville tied the score at 1 with a run in the top of the sixth against Jimmy Fuller. DH Eliezer Mesa led off the frame with a single, stole second and advanced to third on a throwing error on Doyle. With one out, and the Gnats’ infield drawn in to prevent the tying run from scoring, Asheville third baseman Nolan Arenado bounced a single just beyond the reach of a leaping Jefry Marte at third base to drive home Mesa with the tying run. Marte had his hitting streak snapped at eight games with an 0-4 game. Savannah starter Jimmy Fuller threw seven solid innings, giving up just one unearned run on four hits. He struck out seven and walked one. On the other side, Rockies top prospect Tyler Matzek was Fuller’s equal, holding the Gnats to one run on four hits in six innings with eight strikeouts. Boxscore
Compiled from team reports