Sanchez homers in Tampa’s near no-hitter

Got some very sad news pass along: Chase the Bat Dog passed away at age 13, Double-A Trenton announced. He had been battling a form of blood cancer since January. Chase’s retirement party was just last Friday. Cancer sucks. Chase will be missed by many.

In other news, the Yankees signed C Jose Gil and assigned him to Double-A Trenton according to Chris Cotillo. He was in the system from 2005-2012 before becoming a free agent last winter and hooking on with an independent league team and then the Orioles. It’s just a depth signing, but it is a pretty good indication C Gary Sanchez won’t be promoted anytime soon.

Triple-A Scranton (8-7 win over Rochester, walk-off style)

• RF Thomas Neal: 2-4, 1 R, 1 RBI, 1 K
• 2B Brent Lillibridge: 3-4, 1 R, 1 2B, 1 HR, 2 RBI, 1 BB, 1 K — walk-off double … six homers in 17 games with SWB
• DH Randy Ruiz: 1-4, 1 R, 1 HR, 2 RBI — nine homers in 25 games with SWB
• RHP Brett Marshall: 4 IP, 6 H, 5 R, 4 ER, 2 BB, 1 K, 1 WP, 6/2 GB/FB, 2 E (missed catch, pickoff) — 49 of 87 pitches were strikes (56%) … managed to string together three good starts before this

Double-A Trenton is off until Thursday for the All-Star break. The actual game will be played tomorrow. For Yankees farmhands are headed to the game: RHP Tommy Kahnle, LHP Nik Turley,  OF Tyler Austin, and OF Ramon Flores.

High-A Tampa Game One (8-4 loss to Dunedin) completion of the June 30th game, which was suspended due to rain with one out in the bottom of the first

• CF Mason Williams: 1-1, 1 CS — started the original game but did not play the completion
• CF Taylor Dugas: 2-3, 1 R, 1 K
• C Peter O’Brien & DH Gary Sanchez: both 1-3, 1 R, 1 RBI — O’Brien struck out
• LF Ben Gamel: 1-3, 1 RBI, 1 BB, 1 K
• 2B Rob Refsnyder: 0-4
• 3B Alex Rodriguez: 0-3, 2 K — had more on him earlier
• RHP Corey Black: 0.1 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 0 K, 0/1 GB/FB — started the original game
• RHP Rafael DePaula: 5.2 IP, 8 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 2 BB, 3 K, 1 HB, 3/7 GB/FB — his next appearance will be at CitiField on Sunday for the Future’s Game

High-A Tampa Game Two (7-0 win over Dunedin in seven innings)

• LF Taylor Dugas: 1-3, 2 R, 1 2B, 1 RBI, 1 BB
• CF Ben Gamel: 1-3, 1RBI, 1 BB, 1 K
• 3B Peter O’Brien: 2-4, 1 R, 1 RBI, 2 K, 3 E (all throwing) — let’s just say the third base experiment is off to a rocky start
• C Gary Sanchez: 1-4, 1 R, 1 HR, 1 RBI, 2 K — he’s on pace for 22 homers after hitting 18 last year
• RHP Joel De La Cruz: 5 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 3 K, 9/5 GB/FB — can’t ask for a better spot start
• RHP Manny Barreda: 2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 3 K, 2/2 GB/FB — blew the no-hitter with one out in the seventh

Low-A Charleston (2-1 loss to Greenville)

• SS Cito Culver & CF Jake Cave: both 1-4 — Culver doubles, drove in a run, and struck out twice
• 2B Angelo Gumbs & 1B Greg Bird: both 0-4 — Gumbs struck once, Bird thrice … Gumbs also committed a fielding error
• 3B Dante Bichette Jr.: 2-4, 1 K
• RHP Jose Campos: 4 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 2 K, 6/4 GB/FB — 38 of 55 pitches were strikes (69%) … he has walked one batter since May 29th (22/1 K/BB in 27.2 innings)

Short Season Staten Island (7-5 loss to Connecticut)

• 3B Eric Jagielo: 0-4, 1 HBP
• CF Brandon Thomas: 2-5, 2 R, 1 HR, 1 RBI, 1 SB — only his third extra-base hit in 19 pro games
• LF Danny Lopez: 1-2, 2 R, 1 2B, 2 BB, 1 K, 1 E (fielding)
• C Isaias Tejeda: 2-3, 1 R, 1 HR, 4 RBI, 1 K, 1 HBP, 2 E (both throwing)
• RHP Jairo Heredia: 5.1 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 9 K, 1 HB, 4/1 GB/FB — the batter he hit was Ben Verlander, Justin’s brother
• RHP Stefan Lopez: 1.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 2 K, 2/0 GB/FB

Rookie GCL Yanks1 (10-2 loss to GCL Pirates)

• SS Abi Avelino: 0-3, 1 R, 1 BB, 1 K
• 2B Gosuke Katoh: 2-3, 1 R — .333/.455/.722 in eleven pro games
• DH Matt Duran: 1-4, 2 RBI, 1 BB, 1 K
• SwP Pat Venditte: 1 IP, 4 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 0 BB, 1 K, 1/1 GB/FB — threw on back-to-back days already … the perk of being ambidextrous, I guess

Rookie GCL Yanks2 (4-1 loss to GCL Tigers)

• 2B Jose Javier: 3-3, 1 3B, 1 RBI, 1 E (fielding) — .342/.395/.605 in 13 games for the 20-year-old
• C Luis Torrens: 0-4, 1 K
• LF Nathan Mikolas: 1-4
• SS Thairo Estrada: 2-4, 1 E (throwing) — eleven hits in his last 23 at-bats (.478) for the 17-year-old
• LHP Rony Bautista: 3 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 3 K, 1 WP, 1 HB, 4/2 GB/FB