RESULTS

Friday: Thunder 11, Erie 5
Saturday: Erie 10, Thunder 4
Sunday: Erie 4, Thunder 3

Key to the series: As has been the case so often lately, bad pitching has cost the Thunder big time. Jeremy Bleich continued to walk people (he has an Eastern League-leading 19 in 25 1/3 innings), and the bullpen continued to blow games (Grant Duff allowed a walk-off bomb to Max St. Pierre on Sunday). Thunder pitchers issued 10 free passes over 14 2/3 innings. Currently, Trenton is walking an average of 4.21 men per game, up from last year's mark of 3.65. This is not a good trend. Also interesting: The relievers in the Erie series walked nobody.

Notes: The Thunder are tied with Akron for the most walks allowed in the Eastern League, but have also given up the fewest hits. That amazes me to no end. It must frustrate the hell out of Tony Franklin and Tommy Phelps. ... Austin Romine and Reid Gorecki each notched their first Thunder home runs in the series, and Jose Gil, Marcos Vechionacci, Luis Nunez and Brandon Laird also went deep. The Thunder are second in the league (behind only Portland) in doubles.