Bakersfield Rolls to Tenth Straight

Bakersfield cruised to their tenth straight win last night behind another one-hit outing by southpaw Tony Cingrani. Billy Hamilton and Donald Lutz led the Blaze offense to an 8-1 win.

The only thing able to stop the Blaze from winning recently has been rain. After their Wednesday game was postponed Bakersfield came back last night to finish a sweep at Stockton. They crossed the plate in four of the first five innings and rolled 8-1. It was their tenth consecutive win and moved them into first place in the California League North Division. They were led by some usual suspects. First the rotation had another strong start. Meanwhile leadoff hitter Billy Hamilton sparked the offense and Donald Lutz added power from the cleanup spot. Hamilton was 3-5 while scoring twice. Lutz hit a triple and his fifth home run of the season. David Vidal kept swinging a hot bat with a couple more hits.

No one knows for sure what challenges lie ahead in the baseball career of pitcher Tony Cingrani, but after four starts it appears that California League hitting will not be among them. The southpaw picked up the win with his second one-hit/shutout effort of the season. He punched out eight in six innings while walking only one. Cingrani has allowed only one earned run in four starts this season which calculates out to a microscopic 0.39 ERA.

Other news from the farm:

Louisville had an off day and will resume their season at New Orleans. Jeff Francis is scheduled to start.

Pensacola cruised 9-3 at Jacksonville. The Wahoo attack was led by Henry Rodriguez and Joel Guzman with four hits each. Mark Serrano threw three innings of scoreless relief with six strikeouts and got the win. Clayton Tanner had another scoreless outing which was his eighth in nine appearances.

Billy Hamilton theft watch:

Stockton gave their regular catcher a rest last night and the next time his backup sees Hamilton will probably be too soon for him. The Blaze speedster reached base three times and swiped four bases. He’s now stolen 23 in 20 games.

Dayton tied their game in the ninth at Wisconsin and won it 3-1 in the tenth. Justice French had a strong outing without picking up the decision. He allowed one run on five hits while fanning eight and walking none to bring his ERA down to 2.60. Jefry Sierra, Ryan Wright, Danny Viscioso, and Junior Arias had two hits each for the Dragons.