SYRACUSE | It was the third game of the year, but there were more firsts for the Syracuse Chiefs on Saturday.
Seth Bynum lifted the first home run of the season for the Nationals' Triple-A affiliate, Bryce Harper was in right field for the first time, and the Chiefs led for the first time in 2012 as they shutout the Scranton Wilkes-Barre/Empire State Yankees, 4-0, at Alliance Bank Stadium.
Audio highlights from SyracuseChiefs.com
Bynum played in six games and homered last season for the Auburn Doubledays.
For the third-straight game, a Chiefs starter delivered a quality outing as Yunesky Maya went six shutout innings giving up only four hits and striking out four. Maya only threw 76 pitches with 54 strikes and set down 11 Yankees in order at one point.
Maya's start coupled with Tanner Roark (6 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 3 BB, 3 K) and Mitch Atkins (5 IP, 1 R, 6 K, 5 BB) has set the table for MLB veterans Zach Duke (Monday vs. Adam Warren) and John Lannan (Sunday vs. D.J. Mitchell).
"They give us a chance to win," Chiefs manager Tony Beasley said. "It makes you feel good about your chances every day."
"They were headlines for everyone else, but not us," Beasley said about the two name starters coming in over the next two days. "We feel like all five guys are quality starters. The rotation was in flux until the last week of spring and it has fallen into place nicely."
With a first inning RBI from Tyler Moore (3-4, K), the Chiefs played in front for the first time this season after back-to-back losses to Rochester to start the year.
The first five Chiefs reached base to start the third, but with a pair of runs in, no outs, and the bases still loaded, Syracuse failed to score again. Syracuse has scored 4, 1, and 4 runs in the first three games this season.
Overall, the Chiefs had 11 hits in three plus innings against Yankees' top prospect Manny Banuelos.
"It was good to let the other team play catch-up," Beasley said. "We missed a chance to really open it up. Everybody got a hit today and Moore came alive. It was a good day to see him get some confidence and something he can build off of. We made some really nice plays defensively too. It all came together for us today."
Austin Bibens-Dirkx came on with three shutout innings and struck out four for the save.
Next Game: vs. Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, April 8, 5 p.m.
Line of the Day: Tyler Moore, 1B – 4 AB, 3 H, 1 R, 1 RBI
After an 0-for-8 start to the season, Moore came to life with three-straight hits to start the third game of the season.
"I felt like I was part of the game today instead of just being out there and having my at-bats," Moore said. "I was relieved. I knew (getting hits) was going to happen, but it was good to see it happen."
"I can't say enough about our pitching staff. It was good to come out and score some runs for them," Moore said. "Today was awesome."
Harper-watch: Playing right field for the first time this season, the top prospect was tested a little bit early on as the first two Yankees of the game flied out to right.
The Francisco Cervelli's pop up forced Harper to fight the wind and the sun some, but he made the catch without issue.
Harper came up with a diving grab on a soft Steve Pearce pop-up in no-man's-land to end the Yankees' third inning.
At the plate, he was 1-for-4 with a first inning single. Harper has a hit in all three of his Triple-A starts (4-for-11 overall), but he is 1-for-7 with 3 Ks and a walk against left handed pitching so far.
His third inning walk was his first of the season. Harper has yet to score or drive in a run through three games, but he has only come to the plate with runners in scoring position four times.
"He is going to play center and right," Beasley said. "We are going to switch him off in both spots. That is the plan from the top and we are going to follow that."
Ben Meyers can be reached at 282-2557, ben.meyers@lee.net, or on Twitter @CitizenMeyers
This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read the FAQ at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php#publishers. Five Filters recommends: Donate to Wikileaks.
0 comments:
Post a Comment