4/10: The Rundown

Norfolk Tides 6, Durham Bulls 4
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Notes: Durham fell to 1-1... Heath Phillips started and went 4.2 innings, allowing 3 earned runs. He walked 3 and struck out 2... Heath Rollins got the loss in relief, allowing 2 runs in 2.1 innings... Joe Bateman allowed a run in his inning of work... Dan Johnson was 3-4 including a solo home run... Rashad Eldridge and Ryan Shealy picked up two hits apiece... Matt Joyce was 1-5 with an RBI and a stolen base... Justin Ruggiano drew two walks but was ejected in the 6th inning following a called third strike...
The Leftovers: The one weakness Durham has is a lack of depth in the rotation. After Jeremy Hellickson there's no real prospects, although Carlos Hernandez had a nice season for the Bulls last season... Much like the Rays with Brian Matusz, the Bulls let Jake Arrieta off the hook: He allowed no runs despite 4 walks in 5 innings... I was surprised to see Hank Blalock get the day off, but the Bulls have a ton of corner types(3B/1B/DH)...

Mobile BayBears 9, Montgomery Biscuits 4 (13 innings)
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Notes: Montgomery opens the season 0-2 with two extra-inning losses... Aneury Rodriguez gave up 4 runs on 6 hits in 4 innings of work, striking out 2 and walking 1... Darin Downs was excellent in relief, striking out 5 and allowing only one baserunner in 4 innings... Eduardo Morlan and Ryan Reid combined for 4 innings of scoreless relief... Justin Garcia allowed 7 hits and 5 runs in the top of the 13th inning... The Biscuits managed only 7 hits... Matt Fields had two of them, including a homerun and two RBIs... Cody Cipriano was 1-4 but drove in two runs and walked twice...
The Leftovers: The biggest story of the game is obviously Darin Downs taking the mound months after taking a line drive off the head in his second appearance with the Biscuits. And not only did he pitch, three of his innings went 1-2-3. A great story for sure... Through two games, it appears runs will be at a premium for the Biscuits offense...

Charlotte Stone Crabs 6, Palm Beach Cardinals 3
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Notes: Charlotte begins the year 2-0... Nick Barnese got the win with a quality outing. He allowed only 2 hits and 2 runs over 6.1 innings. He shut out Palm Beach through 6 innings before allowing a walk and a homerun in the 7th. He struck out 5 and walked 1... Michael Jarman and Thomas Rafferty finished the game for the Crabs... Matt Sweeney hit his second homerun in as many games, a 2-run shot in the 3rd inning. He finished 1-3 with a walk... Reid Fronk got things started in the 2nd inning with a 3-run blast. Fronk was 2-3 on the night... Kyeong Kang was 1-3 with a walk...
The Leftovers: Matt Sweeney's shown some impressive power early, and might be promoted to Montgomery sooner rather than later. He was the designated hitter last night after playing 3B in the opener. He also figures to see some time at 1B... Nice to see Barnese get so deep into the game for his first start, especially considering he was at extended spring training with a tender shoulder at this time last season...

Fort Wayne TinCaps 5, Bowling Green Hot Rods 4
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Notes: Bowling Green dropped to 0-2... The Hot Rods scored two runs in the 9th inning but the rally fell short... Jason McEachern wasn't his sharpest, allowing 5 hits and 2 walks in 4.2 innings. He allowed 3 earned runs, but he did strike out 4... Jairo De La Rosa allowed 2 runs in relief... Former U of Tampa closer Alex Koronis struck out 4 in 2 scoreless relief innings... Chris Murrill, Julio Cedeno, and Brett Nommensen each had 2 hits. Murrill and Nommensen doubled, while Cedeno had a triple... Ty Morrison went 0-4 with 3 strikeouts...
The Leftovers: Kyle Lobstein was widely reported as the starting pitcher, but McEachern got the nod. Lobstein will start on Tuesday... A bit of a rough outing for McEachern, but I'm not too concerned. Like Colome the night before, McEachern allowed a fair number of extra-base hits, but what was more surprising was the fact that both of the walks issued led off an inning. Like Colome, expect a better second start... Ty Morrison having a tough time adjusting to full-season ball. He's 0 for 8 with 5 strikeouts so far....