Jesus Sanchez has been hitting well lately. He didn’t have any multi-hit games in his final 23 games of the regular season, but he has two in the postseason. He closed the regular season on a four-game hitting streak and has a 1.396 OPS in four playoff games.
Triple-A Durham Bulls (3-1)
With a 3-2 win over Toledo, Durham advanced to the International League Championship for the second straight season. The Bulls were outhit 9-6, but in the sixth, they scored twice to take the lead for good. Jason Coats led off the inning by reaching on an error, and he later scored on Brandon Snyder’s RBI single. Nate Lowe then followed with a sacrifice fly to score Austin Meadows. Andrew Moore allowed a run in four innings.
CF Austin Meadows: 1-for-4, 1 R, 1 K
LF Joe McCarthy: 0-for-3, 1 BB, 1 K
1B Nate Lowe: 0-for-2, 1 RBI, 1 K
SS Jake Cronenworth: 1-for-3, 1 RBI
RHP Andrew Moore: 4 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 0 K
Durham’s site offers this recap.
Double-A Montgomery Biscuits (2-2)
Montgomery forced a decisive Game 5 with a 10-7 win over Jackson. The Biscuits slugged eight extra-base hits, including four home runs. In the third inning, three of them came in a span of four batters. Michael Brosseau and Jesus Sanchez went back-to-back, and David Rodriguez homered two batters later. Brett Sullivan also went deep later in the game. Benton Moss allowed five runs in seven innings.
2B Nick Solak: 0-for-5
RF Jesus Sanchez: 3-for-5, 2 R, 1 2B, 1 HR, 1 RBI, 1 K
SS Lucius Fox: 2-for-4, 1 R, 1 2B, 1 3B, 2 RBI
1B Dalton Kelly: 2-for-3, 1 R, 1 RBI, 2 BB
C Brett Sullivan: 2-for-4, 2 R, 1 HR, 2 RBI, 1 BB
3B Michael Brosseau: 3-for-5, 1 R, 1 HR, 2 RBI, 1 SB
DH David Rodriguez: 3-for-4, 1 R, 1 2B, 1 HR, 2 RBI, 1 SB
RHP Benton Moss: 7 IP, 10 H, 5 ER, 2 BB, 5 K
RHP Curtis Taylor: 1 1⁄3 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 K
Class-A Bowling Green Hot Rods (3-0)
Bowling Green held on for a series-opening, 6-5 win over West Michigan. Resly Linares was effective in 5 2⁄3 innings, striking out five and allowing two runs. In the third, Jim Haley tripled in two runs and scored on Ronaldo Hernandez’s sacrifice fly. However, the Whitecaps stayed in the game and scored three unanswered runs. They even had the tying run on third base with two outs in the ninth, but Matt Seelinger recorded the final out to preserve the win.
2B Vidal Brujan: 0-for-5
SS Taylor Walls: 1-for-4, 1 R, 1 BB, 1 K
C Ronaldo Hernandez: 1-for-3, 1 R, 1 RBI
1B Jim Haley: 2-for-3, 2 R, 1 3B, 2 RBI, 2 BB
LHP Resly Linares: 5 2⁄3 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 5 K
Short-Season Hudson Valley Renegades (2-1)
Hudson Valley needed some offense in its Game 1, 3-0 loss to Tri-City. Tanner Dodson led off the top of the first with a double but didn’t score, and the ValleyCats got a leadoff homer in the bottom half of the first to score the only run they needed. The Renegades drew eight walks but struck out 17 times and went 0-for-10 with runners in scoring position. Starter Zack Trageton allowed two runs in three innings.
CF Tanner Dodson: 1-for-3, 1 2B, 1 BB, 2 K
SS Ford Proctor: 0-for-4, 1 BB, 3 K
PH Tyler Frank: 0-for-1
RHP Zack Trageton: 3 IP, 5 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 2 K
Sunday’s games (probables courtesy of milb.com)
Durham is off.
Montgomery vs. Jackson 6:05 p.m. ET (MiLB.TV, radio stream)
TBA vs. TBA
Best-of-five semifinal (Series tied, 2-2)
Bowling Green vs. West Michigan 7:35 p.m. ET (MiLB.TV, radio stream)
TBA vs. TBA
Best-of-three semifinal (Bowling Green leads, 1-0)
Hudson Valley vs. Tri-City 4:05 p.m. ET (MiLB.TV, radio stream)
TBA vs. TBA
Best-of-three championship (Hudson Valley trails, 1-0)
*Listed as TBA on milb.com
Scouting the opposition
Jackson Generals (Arizona)
2-2
Offense: 627 R (3rd) .719 OPS (4th)
Pitching: 3.76 ERA (4th) 1.25 WHIP (1st)
Top-30 prospects: RHP Jon Duplantier (1), IF Domingo Leyba (11), LHP Jared Miller (17)
West Michigan Whitecaps (Detroit)
2-1
Offense: 525 R (16th) .653 OPS (16th)
Pitching: 3.46 ERA (5th) 1.32 WHIP (7th)
Top-30 prospects: RHP Wilkel Hernandez (20), SS Wenceel Perez (24), C Joey Morgan (31)
Tri-City ValleyCats (Houston)
3-0
Offense: 328 R (6th) .703 OPS (2nd)
Pitching: 3.30 ERA (3rd) 1.27 WHIP (5th)
Top-30 prospects: OF Granden Goetzman
Daily news and links
Watch Brosseau, Sanchez and Rodriguez all go yard in the 3rd inning! Biscuits lead the Generals 6-4 as we go to the 5th! pic.twitter.com/y9nM4Ep5Jd
— Montgomery Biscuits (@BiscuitBaseball) September 9, 2018
Let’s go win another fellas. #BULLieve pic.twitter.com/53aeEFrOME
— Durham Bulls (@DurhamBulls) September 9, 2018