Fabian had four hits and finished a double short of the cycle on Sunday as Aberdeen raced to an 8-3 win.
Triple-A: Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders (NYY) 7, Norfolk Tides 4
Norfolk jumped out to a 3-0 lead, but a wild Ryan Watson walked in a run in the first. Walks hurt him again in the fifth: he allowed two free passes before a home run sent everybody home. The game was tied 4-4 from that point until the eighth inning, when Chris Vallimont gave up three more on a pair of home runs. And that was all she wrote.
The good news: Terrin Vavra homered and tripled. At this point he’s clearly proven that he can hit Triple-A pitching. Joey Ortiz doubled in a run. Connor Norby doubled, too, and Daz Cameron had a 2-for-4 day.
Double-A: Erie SeaWolves (DET) 5, Bowie Baysox 2
Bowie was shut out for eight innings by Erie pitching. They took advantage of a pair of wayward Erie relievers to score two runs in the ninth: Mayo was hit by a pitch, John Rhodes and Billy Cook singled back to back, and TT Bowens and Tim Susnara walked, Susnara pushing in a second run.
Thanks to the Baysox’s punchless offense, Chayce McDermott took a tough-luck loss with two runs allowed in four innings on five hits and five strikeouts. He was actually one of Bowie’s better pitchers on Sunday. Conner Leoprich allowed two more runs in 1.1 innings. Nolan Hoffman was ineffective, allowing three hits in 0.2 innings. Xavier Moore managed to walk three in one inning while giving up no runs! Wandisson Charles was solid, though: he struck out two and allowed no runs in the ninth.
High-A: Aberdeen IronBirds 8, Asheville Tourists (HOU) 3
The IronBirds won in convincing fashion behind a strong day on the mound from Kyle Vrbitsky, who threw 4.2 innings and allowed two runs. He struck out five and walked two. Reese Sharp looked the part with a scoreless 1.1 innings of relief. Ignacio Feliz and Keagan Gillies threw one each scoreless. Dylan Heid allowed a wonky run on a single, walk, balk and groundout.
The IronBirds brought the lumber on Sunday. Jud Fabian had a huge day, homering, tripling and singling in a run for a shiny 4-for-5, 5 RBI -line in the box score. Douglas Hodo tripled on a 2-for-4 day. Luis Valdez went 3-for-4 with a double. Frederick Bencosme went 1-for-3 and walked.
Low-A: Down East Wood Ducks (TEX) 7, Delmarva Shorebirds 3
Delmarva’s Edgar Portes gave up a three-run homer in the first, then hung around to pitch four innings with one more hit and three walks allowed. A mixed bag for Portes. The Shorebirds would tie up the game in the next two innings, but then Juan Núñez allowed three more runs in the eighth, and César Alvarez gave up one more in the month to give the Wood Ducks a four-run cushion.
The Shorebirds scored all of their runs on an Angel Tejada GIDP and a two-run double by Ramón Rodríguez. Trendon Craig, at DH, had three hits, including two doubles. Anderson de los Santos had two hits.