The bats bust out in Week 3

The offense took center stage last week with 5 teams scoring more than 40 runs for the week, taxing bullpens but some starting pitchers shined.
Vancouver scored an insane 64 runs - that's an average of 8 runs per game and 20 runs more than any other squad. There were at least four other teams that plated more than 40 runs: Allentown, 45; Blue Ridge and San Francisco, 41, and Empire City, 40.

The Iron Fist used a balanced attack with J.D. Martinez leading the league in runs (8) and Jonathan Schoop and Anthony Rendon -- thanks to a grand slam -- among the leaders in RBI with 10 and 11, respectively. Martinez has shot up the leaderboard in batting average, slugging and RBI.

Other notables last week were Hoboken's David Ortiz, who continued a hot start with his second 5-HR week, adding 10 RBI and 8 runs scored. Christian Yelich of Sardine City slapped 12 hits, including 5 doubles, while slashing .387/.406/.548. Hopatcong's Yoenis Cespedes saw his league-best 16-game hitting streak to start the season come to an end in the week's first game. Empire City's Domingo Santana hit is first career home run on Friday night. It was 6th inning solo shot off David Price.

Wilson Ramos of Empire City hit two home runs in a game versus Marietta, including a walk-off grand slam in the 10th off Dellin Betances, in his 3rd inning of work. Ramos finished with 6 RBI on the day and tied for 2nd in the league with 11 RBI, along with 10 hits, ahead of Allentown's Manny Machado, who had 10 RBI.

Jedd Gyorko of Livingston grabbed headlines over the weekend with the season's second three-homer game, driving in a league-high 8 RBI. Otherwise, it wasn't much of a week to remember for the Empire City 2B. He had the high with 12 RBIs but 4 of his 5 hits were long balls for a peculiar line of .179/.226/.607.

Yanvergis Solarte led the San Francisco attack, keeping a torrid pace that started with a historic cycle on Wednesday. He sandwiched 3-hit efforts before and after his cycle and added another on Sunday to lead the league in hits for the week (14) and tied for second in RBI with Rendon and Ramos, while slashing a league-best .483/.516/1.000. That kind of week deserves the JR Cigars Batter of the Week. for Week 3 (Games of April 20-27 on the DMBL calendar).

Jose Altuve had grand slam and 5 RBI to in a Tucson win over Livingston. Poovey Farms' Brian Dozier first two home runs of the year in the same game. There were a ton of other two-homer performances: Freddie Freeman of Poovey, Hillsborough's Gregory Polanco, Francisco Lindor of Blue Ridge (who also had a grand slam), Allentown's Giancarlo Stanton, San Francisco's Jonathan Lucroy, Robinson Cano of Hopatcong, Philly's Maikel Franco, Tucson's Sean Rodriguez, Hoboken's Curtis Granderson, Philly's Daniel Murphy, Blue Ridge DH Evan Gattis and Jay Bruce of Empire City.

Angel Pagan homered twice for Marietta, including in between Randal Grichuck and Starlin Castro homers in the 1st inning - pummeling Empire City starter Danny Duffy with 3 straight long balls. Pagan was among the leaders in hits with 12, to go with 3 HRs and 8 RBI on the week, slashing .400/.438/.800. Sardine City got a 9th inning grand slam out of Alex Avila, who was only picked up because Kurt Suzuki went to the DL last week.

That's not to say that pitchers had a bad week overall. There were more than a few impressive outings. Hillsborough rookie Vincent Velazquez went 6 1/3 innings in his lone start with 13 of his 19 outs by strikeout, at the time matching the season's high. Clayton Kershaw also struck out 13 in a near-complete game, going 8 2/3 before George Springer ruined a shutout and the lefty was lifted. Other strong single outings on the week were turned in by Hillsborough's Carlos Carrasco, who struck out 11 and scattered 4 hits and 2 runs over 7 innings but was saddled with a loss, and Dallas Keuchel of Arkansas struck out 10 over 7 innings for a win.

As far as two-start pitchers, Chris Sale of San Francisco had microscopic 0.44 WHIP and 0.56 ERA (1 run) over 16 innings. He won both starts and compiled 14 strikeouts against just 1 walk. Also a two-game winner was Hoboken's Max Scherzer who blew away the league with 27 strikeouts (Danny Duffy of Empire City was second with 20 Ks), and also led in innings with 17. He set a new high in strikeouts on the season with 15 in a 2-hit shutout and also K'd 12 in over 8 innings, to compile a 0.53 WHIP and ERA. Those numbers make him The Seeing Eye DMBL Pitcher of the Week for the week of April 17.

Zach Britton of Arkansas led the league with 3 saves in 4 appearances. The Blue Ridge and Allentown bullpens had 5 relievers who didn't allow a run in multiple appearances last week and Hopatcong had 3 relievers do the same. A.J. Schugel was a workhorse in the Vancouver pen, logging 8 2/3 shutout innings in 4 appearances to go 2-1.

San Franscisco's Junior Guerra continued a strong start, with another 2 wins, logging 15 innings and 12 strikeouts with a 1.80 ERA and 0.73 WHIP. He's one of five pitchers who have logged a quality start each time out so far, and it's a motley crue: Tyler Anderson also of San Francisco, Allentown's Ian Kennedy, Joe Ross of Sardine City and Blue Ridge's Masahiro Tanaka.

Kennedy was a hard-luck loser in Scherzer's first win of the week. Livingston's Miguel Gonzalez was another, going 8 innings and yielding just 4 hits and a run with 6 Ks and no walks. Yet he lost 1-0 to Tucson. The only run came in the 8th after a leadoff single by JT Realmuto, and a sac bunt and fielder's choice later put him on 3rd. That's when Gonzalez picked a bad time for a wild pitch.

Also winning both their starts last week were Marcus Stroman of Arkansas and Philly's Drew Pomeranz. Zach Greinke's line for Empire City looks like he could have been a two-game winner but came up with one no-decision. The veteran logged 14 innings with 9 K's against 1 walk, and a 0.43 WHIP to go with a 1.29 ERA.

El Paso's Steven Matz picked up his first career save in a pitching duel over Blue Ridge's Ivan Nova. Both scattered 6 hits over 8 innings, Matz notched 8 Ks and yielded 2 runs while Nova struck out eight and gave up just 1 run but his bullpen blew the save (a 9th-inning error and two wild pitches by Roberto Osuna didn't help) and Matz snuck out the win (the first of his career).