Banuelos strong in return from DL

Got some more minor league notes than usual, so let’s break out the bullet points…

• Remember Juan Carlos Paniagua? The Yankees signed him for $1.1M last year but the deal was later voided due to falsified documents. The 22-year-old will be eligible to sign again this July, and Conor Glassey got a fresh look at his live arm yesterday. Paniagua will be subject to the new spending restrictions and it’ll be interesting to see if the Yanks pursue a new deal.
• Local columnist Gene Sapakoff says the current Low-A Charleston team is the best in franchise history. The River Dogs came into today leading their division with a 16-7 record.
• D.J. Mitchell’s two-hit gem last month was the second best pitching performance in all of Triple-A during April. By Game Score (84), it was the sixth best performance in all of minor league baseball during the season’s first month.
• Pat Venditte was placed on the DL with right arm soreness, which explains why he had been pitching exclusively left-handed of late. Triple-A Empire State also activated two players following last night’s game: OF Cole Garner (DL) and RHP Cody Eppley (demotion).

And now to the games…

Triple-A Empire State (2-1 win over Rochester)
LF Kevin Russo, CF Dewayne Wise & DH Jack Cust: all 0-4 — Wise and Cust each struck out twice
2B Jayson Nix: 1-4, 1 2B, 1 K
1B Steve Pearce: 2-4, 1 R, 1 HR, 1 RBI, 1 K — 16 for his last 33 (.485) with six doubles and three homers
C Frankie Cervelli: 2-3, 1 R — 13 for his last 38 (.342)
3B Brandon Laird, RF Cole Garner & SS Ramiro Pena: all 1-3 — Laird doubled … Garner struck out … Pena doubled, drove in a run, and struck out
LHP Manny Banuelos: 3.2 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 5 K, 1 WP, 3/2 GB/FB — 38 of 60 pitches were strikes (63.3%) and he was up to 94 on the stadium gun … very nice first start back from the lat problem, and he should get it up to 75 or so pitches next time out
RHP Jason Bulger: 3.1 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 2 K, 4/2 GB/FB — 26 of 39 pitches were strikes (66.7%)
RHP Cody Eppley: 2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 2 K, 2/0 GB/FB — 20 of 38 pitches were strikes (52.6%)

Double-A Trenton (4-3 win over Portland)
RF Abe Almonte, 1B Luke Murton & SS Yadil Mujica: all 0-4 — Almonte walked, struck out thrice, and threw a runner out at the plate … Mujica struck out once, Murton three times
LF Dan Brewer: 2-5, 1 R, 1 K, 1 SB
3B Ronnie Mustelier: 1-3, 1 R, 1 HR, 1 RBI, 1 BB, 1 K — 15 for his last 43 (.349)
DH Cody Johnson: 2-3, 1 R, 1 2B, 1 BB
CF Melky Mesa & 2B Kevin Mahoney: both 1-3 — Mesa doubled, walked, stole a base, and struck out … Mahoney tripled, drove in a run, and scored another
C Jose Gil: 1-4, 1 2B, 1 RBI, 1 K, 1 E (throwing) — doubled in the go-ahead run in the top of the ninth
RHP Craig Heyer: 6 IP, 9 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 6 K, 8/1 GB/FB — 58 of 88 pitches were strikes (28.4%) … hooray for strikeouts and grounders
LHP Lee Hyde: 0.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 1 K — 12 pitches, seven strikes (58.3%)
RHP Preston Claiborne: 1.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 3 K — 20 of 33 pitches were strikes (60.6%)
RHP Ryan Flannery: 1 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 K, 1/0 GB/FB — 12 of 21 pitches were strikes (57.1%)

High-A Tampa (3-2 win over Brevard County in 11 innings, walk-off style)
CF Eduardo Sosa: 3-6, 1 R, 1 K, 1 SB
2B Kelvin Castro: 2-5, 1 R, 1 RBI, 1 BB, 2 K, 1 CS, 2 E (interference, fielding)
LF Ramon Flores: 5-6, 1 2B, 1 CS — ten hits in his last 16 at-bats (.625)
RF Rob Segedin: 0-5, 1 BB, 3 K — stuck in a 2-for-16 rut (.125)
1B Kyle Roller: 0-3, 1 BB, 1 K, 1 HBP
PR-1B Jose Toussen: 1-1, 1 RBI — pinch-ran for Roller late, but he wound up winning the game with a walk-off single
DH Tyson Blaser: 1-3, 2 BB, 1 K
C Hector Rabago: 0-3, 2 BB, 1 K
3B Garrison Lassiter & SS Jose Mojica: both 1-5, 2 K, 1 E — Lassiter’s error was a fielding error … Mojica stole a base, scored a run, and threw a ball away
LHP Nik Turley: 5 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 3 K, 8/2 GB/FB — 35 K in 36.1 IP
LHP Kramer Sneed: 2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 2 K, 1/1 GB/FB
RHP Manny Barreda: 2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 0 K, 4/2 GB/FB
LHP Rigoberto Arrebato: 2 IP, zeroes, 1 K, 3/2 GB/FB — picked a runner off first

Low-A Charleston (5-3 win over Lakewood)
2B Angelo Gumbs & SS Anderson Feliz: both 1-3, 1 2B, 1 BB — Gumbs stole a base and scored a run … Feliz struck out
3B Dante Bichette Jr.: 0-3, 1 BB — boy those few days on the shelf really took the wind out of his sails
RF Tyler Austin: 1-2, 2 R, 1 2B, 2 BB — 11 for his last 38 (.289) with three doubles and six homers
C Gary Sanchez: 1-4, 1 R, 1 2B, 1 RBI, 2 K — 12 for his last 38 (.316) with seven doubles
1BRey Nunez & DH Casey Stevenson: both 1-4, 1 K
CF Ben Gamel: 0-2, 1 R, 2 BB, 1 SB — no Mason Williams today, he’s a little banged up after making a diving catch three days ago
LF Kelvin DeLeon: 1-3, 1 2B, 3 RBI, 1 E (fielding) — doubled in the two go-ahead runs in the bottom of the eighth
RHP Scottie Allen: 5 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 5 BB, 4 K, 6/2 GB/FB — 49 of 88 pitches were strikes (55.7%)
LHP Fred Lewis: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 3 K — 11 of 21 pitches were strikes (52.4%)
RHP Pedro Guerra: 2 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 2 K, 1 HB, 2/1 GB/FB — 23 of 39 pitches were strikes (59.0%) … picked a runner off second
RHP Phil Wetherell: 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 K, 1/1 GB/FB — 16 pitches, 12 strikes