Yankees’ Minor League Roundup for June 7th: Kelley Makes Rehab Appearance And Zoilo Goes Yard

Mandatory Credit: Anthony Gruppuso-USA TODAY Sports

Saturday night around the New York Yankees’ minor league system was not the night for the bats. In the four games that were played, the affiliates combined for only eight runs in four games. That being said, despite a 2-2 record and the Charleston Riverdogs being shut out, there were some highlights to the night. Shawn Kelley made a rehab appearance in Trenton as he gets one step closer to returning while the Tampa Yankees went up against Jeremy Hellickson. In Scranton, a pair of home runs were all that the RailRiders needed to get the win. Read all about the night’s action below:

TRIPLE-A 

Scranton Wilkes-Barre Railriders (31-30) defeated the Toledo Mudhens (29-34) 3-1 

The Railriders picked up the win in the opening game of this three-game series behind a solid outing from starting pitcher Brian Gordon. Gordon gave up just one run on four hits and walked one in six innings of work to improve to 4-3 on the season. Even though Gordon did not have many strikeouts in this game (three), it was his ability to throw strikes that got the job done (60 of his 101 pitches went for strikes).

Scranton got the scoring started in the bottom of the first inning when left fielder Zoilo Almonte hit a solo home run to right field for his team-leading eighth home run of the season. In the following inning, shortstop Carmen Angelini hit a RBI double to left to score second baseman Corban Joseph and extend the lead to 2-0. To add insurance in the bottom of the eighth inning, right fielder Adonis Garcia hit a solo home run to left center, his fifth of the season.

Preston Claiborne gave up just one hit in the ninth inning to pick up his first save of the season. The two teams will continue their series tomorrow afternoon at 1:05 PM ET with Zach Nuding getting the start for Scranton against the Mudhens’ Duane Below.

BOX SCORE!!!

DOUBLE-A 

Trenton Thunder (33-30) defeated the Altoona Curve (23-38) 4-1 

Trenton’s Saturday night win started off with a rehab appearance by Yankees’ reliever Shawn Kelley. Kelley went 2/3 of an inning, giving up no hits while striking out two batters and walking one on 19 pitches. Now, the team will wait to see how Kelley feels before deciding if he needs another rehab game or if he can come back to the big club in the next couple of days.

Once Kelley came out of the game, Matt Tracy took over and put up a very solid outing. In 6.1 innings, Tracy gave up one run on seven hits, struck out two, and walked one to improve to 7-2 on the season. Tracy’s seventh win puts him in a three-way tie for the most wins in the Eastern League. Tyler Webb came on in the ninth inning to strike out the side, giving up only one hit, to pick up his fourth save of the year.

Trenton’s offense was similar to Scranton in that they scored three of their four runs in the first two innings of the game. It started when first baseman Rob Segedin grounded into a double play in the bottom of the first that scored Mason Williams. After a wild pitch in the bottom of the second, shortstop Dan Fiorito hit a single to left that scored second baseman Rob Refsnyder to make it a 3-o Thunder lead. Segedin would later add a RBI via a sacrifice fly in the fifth to account for Trenton’s fourth run. While the team managed eight hits, Williams, Refsnyder, and Ben Gamel all had two-hit performances in the win. With two hits in the game, Refsnyder improved his regular season average to a mammoth .339.

The two teams will play the rubber game in this series on Sunday afternoon at 1:05 PM. Manny Banuelos is expected to get the start for Trenton against Altoona’s Zack Dodson.

BOX SCORE!!!

SINGLE-A 

Tampa Yankees (30-32) lost to the Charlotte Stone Crabs (30-30) 4-1 

It was a rocky debut for Jaron Long in Tampa on Saturday night. Long gave up three runs on four hits in five innings of his work in his first start since being promoted from Charleston. He would strike out five batters and walk two in the game. However, the problem for Long in the loss was the two home runs he gave up, which included a two-run shot by catcher Ryan Hanigan in the bottom of the third inning. Hannigan is on a rehab assignment for the Tampa Bay Rays.

As for the Tampa offense, they had the misfortune of going up against Jeremy Hellickson in his rehab outing. Hellickson pitched three scoreless inning, giving up only two hits. The problem for the Yankees was only getting one run off of reliever Reinaldo Lopez, despite Lopez walking four batters over five inning. The lone run for Tampa came in the bottom of the sixth when designated hitter Matt Snyder drew a bases-loaded walk to get the team on the board. Even though the team only had six hits in the loss, Snyder and second baseman Jose Rosario had two hits each.

After splitting the four-game series with Charlotte, Tampa now gets set to begin a two-game road series Sunday at 5:05 PM against the Brevard County Manatees. Tampa’s starter has yet to be determined for this game. They will be facing Manatees’ starting pitcher Hobbs Johnson.

BOX SCORE!!!

Charleston Riverdogs (28-34) lost to the Savannah Sand Gnats (40-19) 4-0 

Brady Lail‘s quest for his eighth win of the season fell short in Saturday night’s loss to Savannah. Lail gave up four runs on nine hits over the course of five innings. He struck out five batters and walked one in the loss, his third of the season. Even though Lail wasn’t horrible in this game, the offense did not help his cause.

The team managed just four hits, with second baseman Gosuke Katoh having two of those hits, including a double. Right fielder Aaron Judge also had a double in the loss, improving his regular season average to .318.

Charleston will look to get a split of this series on Sunday at 5:05 PM. Rookie Davis takes the ball for the Riverdogs against Chris Flexen for the Sand Gnats.

BOX SCORE!!!