Opening Night For Minor Leaguers As Well

Of course the main focus of today was the big win the Tigers pulled off in the ninth inning against the Boston Red Sox, however, three of the four full season Tigers minor league affiliates got started today as well. Toledo gets it’s start tomorrow, while Erie, Lakeland, and West Michigan all got under way.

There were some mixed results, but let’s check out how our minor leaguers did today.

Altoona 7 Erie 4

Erie got off to the rough start, as starting pitcher Jay Voss was roughed up by the Pittsburgh Pirates affiliate. Voss went 4.2 innings and gave up 5 runs while striking out only 2.

Offensive stars:

CF Jamie Johnson went 2-5 with a double and a run scored.

1B Rawley Bishop went 2-3 with a double, walk, and RBI.

C Rob Brantly went 1-4 with a home run.

Lakeland 8 Tampa 5

As mentioned when I looked at the rosters of the minor league clubs the other day, the real excitement should be focused on Lakeland. The offense didn’t disappoint in the first night. All but 2 starters had at least one hit in the game, and starting pitcher Alex Burgos was very solid in getting the win. Burgos went 6 innings for the Flying Tigers, giving up 2 runs and striking out 5.  Zach Samuels and Matt Little finished out the game, each giving up an unearned run, and Little gave up an earned one in his two innings of work as well.

Offensive stars:

Daniel Fields went 2-4 with 2 RBI and a walk. He was thrown out attempting a couple of steals as well though.

Tyler Collins went 3-4 from the cleanup spot, scoring a couple of runs as well.

Avisail Garcia went 3-5 and also scored a couple of runs himself.

James Robbins went 2-5 with a double and an RBI

James McCann went 2-4 with a pair of RBI as well.

Dixon Machado was 1-3 with a walk and a couple of RBI.

Dayton 3 West Michigan 0

West Michigan couldn’t get anything going tonight offensively, getting shut down by the Reds affiliate Dayton and their starting pitcher Justice French. While 3 runs given up isn’t a lot, it wasn’t a good start for ‘Caps pitcher Josue Carreno, who only went 3.1 innings and gave up all 3 runs. Organizational vet Luis Sanz took over for Carreno and did well, going 3.2 innings without allowing a run.

Offensive stars:

There really wasn’t any for the Whitecaps. 4 players each got a hit including; Eugenio Suarez, Dean Green, Aaron Westlake, and Steven Moya. These guys will be a big part of the offense, so no surprise it was them getting the hits, but the youngsters are going to have to string them together better.