Minor League Recap - 7/24/14: Zoilo Almonte hits three homeruns in Triple-A Scranton

Triple-A Scranton: 12-4 win vs Gwinnett Braves (continuation of Wednesday's suspended game)

LF Taylor Douglas: 2-for-5, R, BB
2B Rob Refsnyder: 2-for-5, 2 R, 2B, HR, RBI, BB, K -- 7th homerun in AAA
RF Zoilo Almonte: 4-for-6, 3 R, 3 HR, 7 RBI, 2 K -- up to 16 homeruns in AAA this season
CF Adonis Garcia: 1-for-5
1B Kyle Roller: 2-for-5, R, 2 K
C Austin Romine: 3-for-5, R
SS Carmen Angelini: 3-for-5, 2 R, 2 RBI

Nik Turley: 4 IP, 4 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 4 BB, 5 K, 1 HR
Matt Daley: 3 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 5 K, 1 HR

Game Two: 3-1 win vs Gwinnett

RF Jose Pirela: 0-for-2, 2 BB
DH Rob Refsnyder: 0-for-3, R, BB, K
C John Ryan Murphy: 2-for-4, RBI, K
3B Rob Segedin: 2-for-4, R, 2B
2B Corban Joseph: 2-for-4, R, 2B, K

Pat Venditte: 4 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 2 K
Jim Miller: 2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 K

Double-A Trenton: 6-5 win vs Binghamton Mets

DH Ben Gamel: 1-for-4, R, 2 RBI
LF Jake Cave: 1-for-3, R, 2B, BB, K
C Gary Sanchez: 2-for-4, 3 RBI, 2 K
1B Peter O'Brien: 0-for-4, 3 K
RF Tyler Austin: 1-for-4, R, HR, RBI, 2 K
CF Mason Williams: 1-for-4, R

Luis Severino: 4 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 7 K
Cesar Cabral: 1 IP, 1 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 1 K
Mark Montgomery: 1.1 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 0 K

High-A Tampa: 6-1 win vs Fort Myers Miracle

LF Jose Rosario: 3-for-4, R, RBI
1B Gregory Bird: 2-for-3, R, HR, 2 RBI, BB, K -- 7th homerun of the year
DH Dante Bichette Jr: 0-for-4, K
3B Eric Jagielo: 1-for-3, 2B, K
2B Angelo Gumbs: 0-for-4, 3 K
SS Cito Culver: 2-for-4, 2 R

Caleb Smith: 6 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 5 K

Low-A Charleston: 10-3 win vs Lexington Legends

CF Mark Payton: 1-for-4, 2 R,  2B, BB, K
DH Tyler Wade: 4-for-5, 3 R, 2B, 2 RBI, K
3B Miguel Andujar: 2-for-5, R, 3 RBI
LF Michael O'Neill: 0-for-5, 3 K
2B Gosuke Katoh: 0-for-4, 3 K

Andy Beresford: 4.2 IP, 3 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 2 BB, 2 K
Angel Rincon: 3.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 4 K

Short Season Staten Island: 14-0 loss vs Tri-City Valley Cats

CF Collin Slaybaugh: 1-for- 4, 2B
C Luis Torrens: 1-for-4, K -- hitting .366 over last 10 games
2B Ty McFarland: 1-for-3, BB, K
RF Austin Aune: 0-for-4, 4 K

Jordan Montgomery: 2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 3 K

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Yankees Minor League Recap: Zoilo Almonte, Mason Williams both go yard in losses

Triple-A Scranton: 5-4 loss vs Columbus Clipper

1B Jose Pirela: 1-for-4, K, SB
LF Zoilo Almonte: 2-for-4, HR, RBI, R, K -- 12-for-32 (.375) with three homers in eight games since being sent down last week when Carlos Beltran came back
DH Kyler Roller: 2-for-4, 2B, R, K
RF Zelous Wheeler: 0-for-4
3B Scott Sizemore: 1-for-4, HR, 2 RBI, R, 2 K -- two homeruns in his last three games
2B Rob Refsnyder: 0-for-4, 2 K -- broke a streak of eight straight multi-hit games
C Austin Romine: 1-for-3, R, K

Jeremy Bleich: 6 IP, 4 H, 4 R, 3 BB, 5 K 1 HR
Danny Burawa: 2 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 0 BB, 2 K

Double-A Trenton: 4-3 win vs Richmond Flying Squirrels

CF Mason Williams: 1-for-3, HR, RBI, R, BB
C Francisco Cervelli: 1-for-4, R, K -- Joe Girardi made it seem like Cervelli, who is eligible to come off of the DL on Friday, might wait until the Yankees come back from the west coast to be activated
LF Ben Gamel: 0-for-4
1B: Peter O'Brien: 2-for-3, R, RBI, BB
RF Taylor Douglas: 2-for-4, 2B, RBI

Matt Tracy: 6.2 IP, 9 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 5 K

High-A Tampa (Game 1 of scheduled double-header): 8-5 loss vs Clearwater in seven innings

CF Jake Cave: 2-for-4
SS Cito Culver: 1-for-4, HR, RBI, R K
DH Greg Bird: 1-for-3, 2B, R, BB
3B Dante Bichette Jr: 2-for-4, R, K
1B Matt Snyder: 2-for-4, RBI, R
RF Yeicok Calderon: 2-for-3, 2B, 3B, RBI, R, BB

Rafael De Paula: 2 IP, 4 H, 7 R, 3 BB, 3 K, HR
Brett Gerritse: 3 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 0 BB, 1 K
Chris Smith:  2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 2 K

High-A Tampa (Game 2): 3-0 loss vs Clearwater Theshers

CF Jake Cave: 1-for-3, BB, K
1B Greg Bird: 0-for-2, BB
3B Dante Bichette Jr: 0-for-3, 2 K
RF Cody Grice: 2-for-3, K

Jaron Long: 5 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 0 BB, 3 K
Nick Rumbelow: 1 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K

Low-A Charleston: 6-4 loss vs Lexington Legends

LF Michael O’Neill: 1-for-5, 2 R, 1 K, 1 SB
SS Tyler Wade: 2-for-3, 1 R, 2 BB, 1 K, 2 E -- throwing, fielding errors
RF Aaron Judge: 2-for-4, 1 2B, 2 RBI, 1 K — 14-for-35 (.400) with six doubles, one triple, and two homers in his last ten games. His time in Charleston is almost over.
3B Miguel Andujar: 0-for-3
CF Dustin Fowler: 0-for-4
2B Gosuke Katoh: 1-for-3, 1 BB, 2 K, 2 E -- fielding, throwing errors

Brady Lail: 6 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 6 K
Rony Bautista: 0.0 IP, 3 H, 4 R, 1 BB, 0 K, 1 HR

Who was your Baby Bombers performer of the night, you guys? Comment below.

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Zoilo Almonte's 9th inning homer helps Yankees tie the Tigers

By: Gavin Ewbank | Lead Writer

With a runner on first base in the bottom of the 9th, Zoilo Almonte clubbed a long two-run homerun to right field off of Jose Ortega to the game at 7-7, completing the Yankees comeback in a game they would tie with the Detroit Tiger, 7-7, Wednesday afternoon at The Boss in Tampa.

Hiroki Kuroda got the call of the Yankees, and was hit hard right from the start. He gave up back-to-back singles to start the game; Ian Kinsler scored on the second single by Don Kelly when Carlos Beltran's throw from right field short-hopped past Kelly Johnson at third base.

That wasn't the end, because Kuroda would end up allowing three more runs in the innings.

A sac-fly by Victor Martinez brought home Kelly from third, then a few batters later with a pair of runners on base, Nick Castellanos hit a flyball to right-center field that dropped between Beltran and center fielder Mason Williams, making it a 4-0 game.

Heis control was one of his biggest problems. He was leaving a lot of pitches up in the zone during the first inning, giving up a lot of hard hits. He gave up a total of six runs on 10 hits in 3.1 innings.

The Tigers added two more runs off of Kuroda in the 3rd inning on a one-out double by Trevor Crowe.

If there was one high note on the day it was Francisco Cervelli, who really helped his trade value a little bit by hitting a pair of homeruns, both solo shots, for his 2nd and 3rd homeruns of the spring.

Cervelli, who has been drawing quite a bit of interest from teams this spring, has been playing very well over the plat couple of weeks, and it would take a lot at this point for him to not be the Yankees' backup catcher on Opening Day.

The Yankees began their late comeback in the 8th inning, scoring three runs to bring them within one run.

Almonte, Yangervis Solarte and Adonis Garcia all collected one-out hits to load the bases, then John Ryan Murphy groundout to score Almonte while making the second out of the inning ahead of Zelous Wheeler, who would hit a ground-rule double down the left field line to bring in two more runs.

Kuroda was not very good today, but the Yankees' bullpen was, combining for 4.1 scoreless innings from Shawn Kelley, Jose Campos, Fred Lewis, Danny Burawa and Chase Whitley before Robert Coello gave up a run in the 9th inning.

The Yankees will have their first split-squad games of the spring tomorrow, with Michael Pineda in Tampa to face the Baltimore Orioles as he makes his first start of the spring, and Ivan Nova will go on the road to Clearwater to face the Philadelphia Phillies.

Both games will start at 1:05pm ET and the game against the Orioles can be seen on YES, and the Phillies matchup will be on MLB.TV.

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Yankees winter league stats update

Things have been pretty slow over the past couple of weeks with team executives taking some time off to be with their families during the holidays, and because of that, we haven't had much to talk about here.

This year's Hall of Fame announcement will happen on Wednesday, giving us some actual news to talk about. Mike Mussina and Don Mattingly are trying to get in this year, we have some former Yankees to watch for in that.

Right now, we're still waiting on news about Alex Rodriguez, like we have been all winter. Arbitrator Frederick Horowitz is expected to announce his decision within the next couple of weeks, possibly this Friday at the earliest, and the bidding war for Masahiro Tanaka is expected to pick up this week with his agent coming back from vacation.

Instead of waiting around for any of that to happen, I though we could take some time to look at some of the notable winter league performances from some Yankees minor leaguers this winter.

* Zoilo Almonte: Batting .316 with 4 homeruns, 20 RBIs, .343 on-base percentage and a .797 OPS in 43 games.

Almonte should some promise in his short stint in the Bronx last season before injuring his ankle in late-July. Obviously there isn't any room for him in the Yankees' outfield with six outfielders already on the roster, but with the possibility of the Yanks not having Brett Gardner, Alfonso Soriano, Ichiro Suzuki and Vernon Wells after this, we could see Almonte regularly in 2015.

* Adonis Garcia: He hit .325 with 8 homeruns, 39 RBIs, and a .49 OPS in 53 games this winter.

Again, like Almonte, being an outfielder doesn't help him very much, but with the possible losses in the future, we could see him compete in Spring Training down the road of he is still with the club. Played mostly in Triple-A last season, and will likely do the same thing in 2014.

* Ronnier Mustelier: Hit .276 with 2 homeruns, 27 RBIs, a .392 OBP and .755 OPS in 55 games.

Musty had a great year in 2012, hitting .314, but saw his batting average drop last season. Another outfielder, but isn't on the 40-man roster. Everyone likes watching him play, and I can't wait to see him get into some action during the spring.

* Jose Pirela: hit .332 with 6 homeruns, 44 RBIs, a .415 OBP and a .929 OPS in 63 games this winter.

After tweeting out his stats on Sunday, I had someone ask me if he could compete for the second base job in Spring Training this year. I said no, because he spent just about all of hid season in Double-A Trenton, and will likely be playing in Triple-A Scranton this season. Not this spring, but possibly in 2015 could we see him in big league camp, and couple compete for a starting job in the majors in just a couple years. Still a little ways to go.

Okay, now we can get back to talking about just about nothing. Pitchers and catchers report to Spring Training in 38 days, so was have that to look forward to. If you'd like, you can use the comment section below as an open thread to talk about the minor leaguers above, the upcoming Hall of Fame announce, or how good this past weekend's football games were.

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Pre-Game Notes: Jeter, A-Rod and The Rotation

Starting tonight in Baltimore, the Yankees open up a very important four-game series against the Orioles, whom the Yanks are chasing in the Wild Card standings. Coming off a wild weekend in the Bronx against the Boston Red Sox, there's been a lot of injury news to report on for the Yanks, as well as some other little nuggets.

First pitch at Camden Yards is scheduled for 7:05 pm EST, and until then, here's what is happening around the team as they enter play tonight.

A-Rod in the two-hole: That's right, according to the Yankees lineup at just after 3:40 pm this afternoon, Alex Rodriguez will be batting second for the Bombers tonight, slotted right between Brett Gardner and Robinson Cano.

The last time that A-Rod was listed as hitting second in the lineup was on August 26th, 2006 against the Los Angeles Angels. In his career, he has batted second 497 times, hitting a combined .320 with 118 homers and a .948 OPS.

Almonte back in uniform: Zoilo Almonte is finally back with the Yankees after being out for several weeks due to a sprained left ankle he suffered in a Yankees loss to the Red Sox back in mid-July. Almonte had began his rehab assignment with Double-A Trenton last Thursday, playing a few games on New Jersey before heading out to Baltimore to rejoin the Bombers.

Is it Huff, Hughes or someone else? When the Yankees lineup card was posted, even more noticeable than A-Rod batting second was the fact that David Huff was listed as just another reliever for the Yanks, along with Phil Hughes, suggesting the Yanks currently have a four-man rotation.

Manager Joe Girardi told reporters that Huff could be used out of the bullpen tonight, but he also said that no changes have been made in the rotation. So as of right now, who will be starting for the Yankees on Thursday is currently unknown.

“We’re going to get through these three days and see where we're at," Girardi said. “I'm not saying I’m changing anything, but if we need Huff (out of the bullpen), we need Huff."

Still no baseball for Jeter: Girardi also announced before the game that Derek Jeter, who's currently nursing a sore left ankle, would not be taking part in any baseball related activities today. He also said that he's unsure if Jeter would be able to play on Tuesday.

When he asked about Jeter playing tomorrow, Girardi responded, "To play? I don't know. We'll go a day at a time with him. We'll just try to keep him off it from doing a lot of baseball activities; see how it is tomorrow."

"I might use him in an emergency if I had to use him tonight," Girardi added. "That's kind of the situation we're in. It's not like I have a number of shortstops lying around."

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Yanks And O's Open Big Three-Game Set In Baltimore

Coming off one of the craziest Yankees/Red Sox series in recent memory, the New York Yankees managed to not lose any ground to the Tampa Bay Rays in the Wild Card standings, still floating just 2.5 games back entering play on Monday.

And after finishing up a 10-game home stand with a 4-3 win over the Boston Red Sox on Sunday -- thanks to a wild pitch by Brandon Workman in the home half of the 9th, scoring Ichiro from third base to win the game -- the Yankees hit the road to start a 10-game road trip that could easily decide the fate of their season.

The first stop on the three-city tour is a four-game set at Camden Yards to face off against the Baltimore Orioles, whom the Yankees are currently chasing in the standings. Baltimore is coming off a successful series against the Chicago White Sox this past weekend, having won three of four games.

These two teams met with each other just last week in the Bronx, with the Yanks taking two of the three games. As the O's sit a half-game ahead of the Yankees on the standings entering play, the next four-games could prove to be extremely important to the Bombers in their bid to play in October.

Tonight's Lineup vs Baltimore:

Gardner CF
Rodriguez 3B
Cano 2B
Soriano LF
Granderson DH
Nunez SS
Overbay 1B
Suzuki RF
Romine C
Sabathia LHP

For starters, yes, Alex Rodriguez is batting second. Second, Zoilo Almonte is in Baltimore to rejoin the Yankees. He was recently rehabbing in Double-A Trenton. Third, Derek Jeter is still out of the lineup with a sore left ankle.

Pitching Preview:

Leading the Yankees into tonight's series opener is a man who's put up big numbers against the Orioles in the past, CC Sabathia, who's 18-5 with a 3.33 ERA in 29 career starts against Baltimore. Although this season, he's 2-1 with a 4.67 ERA in four starts.

Sabathia has been going through a ton of ups and down all season, and he earned the win in his last start against the White Sox, although he didn't pitch that great, giving up three runs on five hits over 7 1/3 innings last Wednesday.

"I feel like I'm getting better," Sabathia said. "Like I've said, I'll keep building, keep working and try to help the team win."

Taking the mound for the Orioles Monday night, also trying to lead his team to victory, is Baltimore right-hander Chris Tillman. Tillman is coming off a sloppy loss to the Cleveland Indians, struggling with his control, walking five in 5.1 innings, while giving up four-runs on five hits.

"I need to be better than that," Tillman said. "It's coming down to the wire here and I think I expect better from myself. It was close. I was a couple pitches from getting through there."

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Kuroda Faces Lackey In Saturday Showdown

BOSTON -- Friday was not the best of days to be a Yankee. After placing Derek Jeter on the DL to start the day, the Yanks couldn't put much together to against the Red Sox, losing 4-2 in the series opener, then as if it weren't enough, Zoilo Almonte became the latest player to hit the DL when be was placed after the game with a left ankle sprain.

Now the Yankees are seven games back of first place, closer to the last place Blue Jays than first place Red Sox, and have lost six of their last nine games.With a load of tough games still ahead, the last two games in Boston can mean a lot for how this season will shape out.

"We know we're in fourth place, and we want to get back the pieces that we're missing in the lineup. We want to get our guys back," second baseman Robinson Cano said. "It's going to make a big difference. We know those guys have been here a long time."

Tonight's Lineup, 4:05 EST @ Fenway Park:

Gardner 8
Suzuki 9
Cano 4
Overbay 3
Wells 7
Hafner DH
Nunez 6
Stewart 2
Cruz 5
Kuroda 1

Pitching Preview:

Hiroki Kuroda will be the next Yankee tabbed with stopping the skid. He's been the most consistent pitcher on the teams and he been the most ace-like for the Yankees this season. Though being snubbed for an All-Star spot, Kuroda's ERA ranks second in the American League.

His low ERA has been helped by the fact that Kuroda hasn't permitted a single run in 12 innings pitched thus far in July, but it can't be sitting well in his mind that he is 0-2 with a 6.75 ERA against the Red Sox this season.

Boston will counter with their own right-hander, in John Lackey. Lackey has been having a season much better than many expected. He's posted a 7-6 record and a solid 2.78 ERA after missing all of last year due Tommy John surgery.

Lackey's last start before the break came in Oakland against the Athletics, when held the A's to three hits and two runs over seven innings.

Although he's pitched well this season, Lackey hasn't been very successful in his career against the Yankees, holding a 4.68 ERA against them, his third-highest mark he has against any team he's faced more than three times.

Yankee Notes:

* After Friday night's game, the Yankees placed rookie outfield Zoilo Almonte on the disabled list with a left ankle sprain. X-Rays came back negative, but Almonte was in a walking boot and on crutches after the game.

Almonte initially hurt the ankle while trying to beat out a double play ball in the second inning, when he came up limping when returning to the dugout. He stayed in the game for a couple more inning, then left during the 5th inning.

Melky Mesa and Thomas Neal have been called up to replace the injured Almonte, with Alberto Gonzalez getting canned to make room for the second call-up.

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Gardner Gets Ejected, Yanks Lose 4-2

BOSTON -- Andy Pettitte wasn't happy with the way he's been pitching lately. After tonight, I don't think he came any closer to happiness. Pettitte allowed at least four runs for the seventh straight outing, giving up a pair of homeruns to Jacoby Ellsbury and Johnny Gomes in a 4-2 loss to the Red Sox.

"This ain't easy," said Pettitte. "It's a tough lineup. Those guys are good over there. They can hit the ball. You're trying to battle as best you can."

Ellsbury kicked off his second half of the season with a homerun to right field on the second pitch he saw from Pettitte in the first inning. Gomes added to the lead in the second inning with a two-run blast over the monster to put Boston up 3-0.

Facing Felix Doubront, who's had success against the Yankees in his career, the Yanks' bats weren't doing much through the first five innings, not joining the hit-column until Lyle Overbay doubled off the monster to open the 5th.

Chris Stewart brought Overbay around to score a couple batter later when he he, too, doubled off the monster to pull the Yankees within one, making it a 3-2 game.

After allowing the homerun to Gomes in the second, Pettitte settled down nicely to continue on through the game until running into some trouble in the 7th inning. Gomes double to lead off, then Pettitte induced a groundout from Jarrod Saltalamacchia, leading Girardi to make the move to the pen.

Pettitte, like I said, didn't have his best stuff early on in the game, but settled down to give up only one run after the second inning, permitting four runs on six hits, while walking one and striking out four in 6 1/3.

"It's got to change," Pettitte said. "I can't keep going out there and giving up two, three, four runs in the first inning and second inning. I feel too good."

Unlucky for Girardi and the Yankees, the bullpen was to sharp. Shawn Kelley retired Brock Holt on a grounder back at him, then threw a wild pitch to the backstop, advancing Gomes to third. Then after battling off a few pitches, Jose Iglesias bloopped a single into right field to put the Six up by two.

The lead would be big enough for Boston as they went on the shutdown the Yankees quietly in the 9th to close out the 4-2 victory. With the win, they extended their lead over the Yankees in the AL East to seven games.

"It's one night. You can't make too much of it, but obviously this is an important stretch for us that we're in, and we understand that," Girardi said. "The next three teams we play are all in front of us, and that's really important, so we need to play well."

Brett Gardner, who scored the Yankees first run in the 4th inning after stealing second and third, leading to a ball thrown into left field that lead him to score, was ejected from the game from slamming his helmet to the ground in anger after being called out on strikes.

"This is a big game, it's the middle of the game, it's a one-run game, and I've got do a better job of keeping my emotions in check," Gardner said. "But today I didn't. I wish I had done things differently and stayed in the ballgame."

Zoilo Almonte left the game in the 5th inning with a right ankle sprain that he suffered while trying to beat out a double play ball in the 2nd inning. X-Rays came back negative, but Girardi announced after the game that Almonte would be placed on the DL and corresponding move would be made on Sunday.

"It started hurting right away after the play, but I did try to run on it to see if it would get better," Almonte said.

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