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With the 2007 season in the books, MiLB.com is taking a look back at the year's highlights in each Major League organization.
April 7 -- Cuban-born Camilo Vazquez and three relievers combined on a one-hitter as the Chattanooga Lookouts blanked the Mobile BayBears, 5-0. Vazquez carried a no-hitter into the fifth inning before Chris Rahl followed Javier Brito's leadoff walk with a single to left field.
April 8 -- Homer Bailey pitched 5 1/3 strong innings and Joey Votto hit a grand slam and drove in five runs for the Louisville Bats as part of a 13-3 romp over the Toledo Mud Hens. Bailey gave up one run on one hit and three walks with four strikeouts in his Triple-A debut. April 11 -- Carlos Fisher ran his scoreless streak to 13 innings as Sarasota topped visiting Dunedin, 8-0. Fisher limited the Blue Jays to six hits while walking one and striking out two in six innings. The 24-year-old right hander had allowed just three hits over seven frames in a season-opening 2-0 victory over Fort Myers on April 5. The scoreless streak earned Fisher Pitcher of the Week honors. April 17 -- Daryl Thompson and two relievers combined on an eight-hitter in a 3-0 whitewash of the Swing of the Quad Cities. The Dragons (8-0) became the last team in the Minor Leagues without a loss. The game also marked the 500th consecutive sellout at Dayton's Fifth Third Field, a streak that began on April 27, 2000 and is the longest active streak in professional sports. April 19 -- The Dayton Dragons -- the Minors' last undefeated team -- lost as the visiting Swing of the Quad Cities erupted for a 15-4 win, dropping Dayton to 9-1.
April 20 -- Shortstop Chris Valaika fell a homer shy of the cycle and drove in three runs to lead Dayton over Quad Cities, 9-5. Valaika, who had a Pioneer League-record 32-game hitting streak last season, went 4-for-5 to boost his batting average to .455. He singled and scored in the first inning, tripled and scored in the third, singled again in the fifth and ripped a two-RBI double during a five-run seventh.
May 7 -- Ryan Jorgensen drove in a career-high seven runs to power Louisville past visiting Ottawa, 11-1. Three days after celebrating his 28th birthday, Jorgensen snapped an 0-for-25 slide at the plate with a three-run double in the second inning and his first home run of the season -- a grand slam -- in the third. May 7 -- After starting the season with a nine-game winning streak, the Dayton Dragons extended another run to 10 games in dramatic fashion with their second straight walk-off victory. Justin Turner punched a two-out single in the 15th inning to score Gerardo Cabrera for a 3-2 win over Kane County. The streak would come to an end on May 8 with a 5-1 loss to Peoria.
May 12 -- Adam Rosales
May 18 -- An extra inning helped Anderson Machado hit for the cycle, but it wasn't enough as Toledo edged Louisville, 8-7, in 10 innings. Machado took advantage of the extra frame, singling in the top half of the 10th to become just the third player in Louisville history to hit for the cycle. The 26-year-old shortstop went 4-for-5 with two RBIs and two runs scored.
May 22 -- Homer Bailey allowed just one hit in 5 2/3 innings as Louisville held on for a 6-5 win over Columbus. Bailey (4-1) surrendered a run before he allowed a hit, making a first-inning throwing error that allowed Brandon Watson to reach second base and later score on a groundout. Watson's bunt single with two outs in the third was the only hit Bailey yielded.
May 29 -- Enrique Cruz drove in a season-high five runs as the Chattanooga Lookouts rallied for a 9-8 victory over the Mississippi Braves. Cruz, who scored twice, smacked a game-tying, two-run single in a four-run seventh inning and belted a three-run homer in the third.
May 30 -- Josh Hamilton launched two of Louisville's five solo homers as the Bats powered past Charlotte, 13-6. Hamilton, playing his second game with Louisville while rehabilitating from gastroenteritis, crushed long homers to center field in his first two at-bats.
June 3 -- Johnny Cueto and Carlos Bohorquez combined on a five-hitter as Sarasota pounded Vero Beach, 16-0. Cueto allowed three hits with one walk and a season-high 10 strikeouts in six innings, helping him earn Florida State League Pitcher of the Week honors.
June 12 -- Sean Watson whiffed six batters in a row and Chris Heisey smacked a home run as Dayton topped Lansing, 10-6, to earn its first Midwest League playoff spot in five years. Watson allowed three hits, striking out nine and walking one over six innings to notch the victory. The next day, the Dragons locked up the division as well with a 3-0 win over South Bend. Starter Jordan Smith and rehabbing Major Leaguer Eddie Guardado teamed up for a four-hitter, with Smith going the first eight frames.
June 18 -- Jay Bruce had more hits, 10, than outs made, nine, during the previous week as he was named Florida State League Player of the Week. Five of Bruce's 10 hits went for extra bases. Bruce had at least one hit in every Sarasota game during the week and collected two hits in all but one contest.
June 19 -- Sarasota locked up the Florida State League's West Division first-half title despite falling to Clearwater, 10-8. The Reds, who led the league in hits, homers and runs, clinched as a result of Tampa's 2-0 loss.
June 22 -- Bobby Livingston tossed a four-hitter for his first shutout of the season as Louisville blanked Pawtucket, 7-0. The 24-year-old southpaw threw 71 of 103 pitches for strikes, fanning four. For the third consecutive start, Livingston didn't issue any walks.
June 23 -- Justin Mallett fanned six in five hitless innings as Chattanooga cruised to an 8-1 victory over Birmingham. The 25-year-old right-hander, making a spot start for the Lookouts, fanned two in a perfect first and did not allow a baserunner before issuing a walk with two outs in the third.
June 25 -- Jeff Bannon went 4-for-4 with a career high-tying six RBIs as Louisville outslugged Pawtucket, 12-7. The 27-year-old right fielder hit a three-run double in the first inning, knocked an RBI base hit in the third, singled and scored in the fifth, walked in the sixth and delivered a two-run single in the seventh.
July 1 -- Jordan Smith and two relievers combined on a two-hitter as Dayton blanked Fort Wayne, 6-0. Smith pitched four hitless innings before allowing leadoff singles to Daryl Jones in the fifth and Cedric Hunter in the seventh.
July 5 -- Denis Phipps hit a grand slam and drove in a career-high six runs as Dayton trounced Great Lakes, 20-3. Phipps' grand slam -- the first of his career -- came in the Dragons' 11-run sixth inning. The 21-year-old right-fielder also ripped a two-RBI double in the eighth.
July 11 -- Ben Jukich allowed just one run on two hits over six innings as Sarasota defeated visiting Brevard County, 4-1. Jukich struck out six and walked four in his fifth start for the Reds.
July 17 -- A day before turning 23, Dayton 1B Logan Parker belted two three-run homers in an 11-run fourth inning as the Dragons coasted to an 11-4 triumph over Cedar Rapids. Parker, who once hit six homers in a doubleheader while playing for New Mexico Junior College, entered the game with just two long balls all season.
July 21 -- Sarasota southpaw Ben Jukich allowed just one hit in six shutout innings as the Reds edged the Fort Myers Miracle, 2-1. The 24-year-old allowed a leadoff single in the first, then retired 14 of the next 16 batters he faced, including 10 straight from the first to the fourth.
July 26 -- OF Chris Dickerson hit for the cycle as Louisville routed Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, 13-7. Dickerson singled on a bunt to lead off the game, hit a solo homer in the fifth, and laced a bases-loaded triple in the sixth. With two outs in the ninth, Dickerson completed the cycle by dropping a double just inside the left-field line, becoming the fourth Bat to accomplish the feat.
Aug. 9 -- Aaron Herr plated seven runs and he and Paul Janish belted grand slams as Louisville pounded Indianapolis, 16-1. It was just the second two-grand slam game in Bats history, the other taking place May 15, 1984, on blasts by Gary Rajsich and Mark Salas.
Aug. 12 -- Ben Jukich tossed a two-hit seven-inning shutout as Sarasota beat St. Lucie in the first game of a doubleheader, 6-0. He struck out four and walked one in going the distance for the second time this season.
Aug. 18 -- 1B Joey Votto homered twice for the second straight game and knocked in five runs as Louisville rallied for an 8-7 victory over the Durham Bulls. Votto hit a three-run shot in the fifth inning, then connected for a two-run homer in the seventh. The multi-homer game was Votto's third of the season.
Aug. 19 -- 3B Juan Francisco hit three homers and plated seven to power Dayton to an 8-7 victory over the Lansing Lugnuts. The three-homer game was the first by a Dragon since Wily Mo Pena accomplished the feat in 2001. Francisco's seven RBIs were a career high and tied the team record set by Adam Dunn in 2000 and matched by Joey Votto in 2004.
Aug. 22 -- Sam Lecure allowed just one hit and struck out a career-high 11 in seven innings as Chattanooga whitewashed the West Tenn Diamond Jaxx, 8-0. After yielding a leadoff hit in the first inning, Lecure was nearly flawless. He set down the next five batters, issued a walk in the second, then mowed down the final 17.
Aug. 28 -- LHP Matt Maloney struck out 10 batters in a game for the fifth time in 2007 as Louisville beat Toledo, 9-8. The 23-year-old Maloney, who was obtained by Cincinnati from Philadelphia in return for right-hander Kyle Lohse, struck out six consecutive batters at one point in just his second Triple-A start.
Aug. 29 -- Brandon Waring homered twice for the third time in four games and collected a career-high six RBIs, powering the Billings Mustangs to a 15-7 victory over the Helena Brewers. Waring smacked a two-run shot in the first inning and a grand slam in the seventh. Waring later set a Billings' single-season home run mark with his 20th before being promoted to Class A Dayton of the Midwest League.
Sept. 4 -- Sarasota's Ben Jukich fired seven no-hit innings as the Reds blanked the Clearwater Threshers, 2-0, in Game 1 of their Florida State League best-of-3 first-round playoff series. The 24-year-old left-hander retired the final 13 batters he faced but left after his pitch count reached 98.
Sept. 5 -- Daniel Guerrero pitched eight dominant innings as Dayton posted a 3-1 victory over South Bend in Game 1 of their Midwest League first-round playoff series. The 22-year-old right-hander gave up a run on four hits and a walk with five strikeouts, and he retired 14 straight batters after allowing a leadoff single in the first inning.
Michael Echan is a contributor to MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of the National Association of Professional Baseball Leagues or its clubs. |
