Astros Thursday Minor League Recap

Tri-City advances to the New York-Penn League Championship Series!  The ValleyCats pulled out a 1-0 victory over Batavia in the series finale in order to move on.  All three games were very exciting and each one was in a different way. 

Game 1 was with the extra innings and the walkoff while Game 2 had the big innings and the exciting final play.  Game 3 was the great pitchers duel between Tri-City's Jake Buchanon and Batavia's Andrew Moss.  While Moss pitched the rare complete game at the level, Buchanon pitched seven innings with just 79 pitches.  Michael Ness came in relief for Buchanon and pitched his own two outstanding innings as well.

After the jump, I'll recap the game in more detail along with the box score!

Jake Buchanon had one of the best starts to his career.  I already mentioned his efficiency with just 79 total pitches and he only got to three balls just one time the whole night, and that ended in a walk.  He also allowed three hits but he faced just two over the minimum, thanks to two double plays. His six strikeouts were also all swinging.  He was locating his fastball and his curveball was working for him all night. 

"[Buchanan's] two-seamer and changeup were giving them fits," catcher Chris Wallace said. "He did a great job of locating his pitches tonight."

As with most pitchers duels, there just isn't much to talk about at the plate.  Tri-City was only able to get four base hits and Batavia only managed three.  There was also only one walk in the entire game and that was the one issued by Buchanon.  The only real hitting came in the fourth inning when Tyler Burnett singled on a groundball to second base with one out.  Chris Wallace followed up with a strikeout.  Adam Bailey came in with two outs and sent a double to the right field corner who misplayed the ball slightly, allowing Burnett to make it home for the only score of the game.

Buchanon's final inning, the seventh, wasn't the sharpest, with him issuing the walk which led to him being pulled for Ness.  Ness came in and flat out dominated, other than his first pitch that Geoffrey Klein sent to the center-field wall that Dan Adamson was able to catch.  Had it been back at "The Joe," it would have been a home run.  He struck out three over the final two innings, two swinging. 

Batavia was the most potent offense in the NYPL this season and for Buchanon and Ness to shut them down for this win is very impressive.  Good job Tri-City and good luck against Brooklyn tomorrow night!  Tri-City's website has a recap of last night's game and it's probably a better read since they were actually at the game.

• Jake Buchanon (0.00)-7 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 6 SO
• Michael Ness (0.00)-2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 SO
• Ben Orloff SS (.385)-1-4
• Austin Wates LF (.286)-1-4, 2 SO
• Tyler Burnett 3B (.154)-1-4
• Adam Bailey RF (.111)-1-3, 2B

Congratulations to Ben Orloff who was named the Tri-City MVP prior to last nights game.  He really earned it this season as the primary lead-off hitter who posted a great numbers at the plate and played solid defense at many positions.