Ian Kennedy Dominant

The Scranton Yankees-AAA affiliate of the New York Yankees beat the Lehigh Valley Ironpigs yesterday by a score of 2-1 in 11 innings. Ian Kennedy made his first start of the year and went a strong 6 innings giving up 1 run on 4 hits with 0 walks and 11 strikeouts. Dave Robertson had a strong 2 innings of relief giving up 1 hit, 0 runs and 3 strikeouts. Brett Tomko pitched 2 innings giving up 2 hits, 0 runs, 0 walks and had 3 strikeouts and JB Cox closed it out with a walk and hit but no runs allowed. The offense had Kevin Russo go 3-5, Shelly Duncan 1-5 with a rbi and Juan Miranda also go 1-5. Austin Jackson went 2-5 but also had 3 strikeouts. Angel Berroa went 1-4 with a rbi. Chad Jennings of the Times-Tribune and the Scranton Yankees blog had some postgame notes and reaction. Chris Stewart the catcher said that Kennedy was as good as he ever was last season and Manager Dave Miley said it was as good as he as ever seen him pitch in AAA. Chad Jennings thought he looked aggressive and confident like he did when he breezed through AAA on his way to the majors in 2007. He said you can be as aggressive as you want but it still comes down to execution. I think Phil Hughes and Ian Kennedy are going to have big years and be waiting for another chance at the big leagues. The Trenton Thunder AA affiliate of the Yankees lost to the Binghamton Mets 4-3 yesterday. Zach McAllister pitched 5 innings for Trenton allowing 4 hits and 3 runs only 1 earned though with 2 walks and 2 strikeouts. Kevin Whelan pitched a scoreless inning giving up a walk and having a strikeout. The offense saw Eduardo Nunez go 2-5, Edward Gonzalez was 3-4. Tampa the A affiliate of the Yankees won 2-1 in a strong debut by Dellin Betances. He has been called the Baby Unit and keep your eye on him, he is young and has had some injury problems but if he stays healthy he could be in AA at some point this year and definitely next year and expect to see him in the Big Leagues in a couple of years. He pitched 6 innings giving up 3 hits, 1 run, 2 walks and 7 strikeouts. The offense saw Jesus Montero go 1-4 and Austin Romine go 0-3. Damon Sublett went 0-4 and Brandon Laird was 1-4. Tampa has a bunch of pretty good prospects so I expect to talk a lot about them this year. Charleston A affiliate of the Yankees won 4-2. DJ Mitchell pitched 6 innings giving up 1 hit, 1 run with 6 strikeouts. The run was unearned. Pat Venditte who is the ambidextrous reliever pitched a scoreless inning giving up a hit and had a strikeout. He picked up the save, he is a guy I will be watching this year as it is a fascinating story. DJ Mitchell is another good prospect for the Yankees but is in A so we can't get too excited over him with so many guys in front of him.