Final score: Trenton 7, Portland 0

Synopsis: After a season of inconsistency, this was easily Trenton's best win of the year. Brett Marshall fired six innings of two-hit, no-run baseball, the defense sparkled, every starter had a hit, and  the result was the team's first shutout of the young season. 

Bright spots: Just about everything. Luke Murton and Addison Maruszak had three hits apiece. Bloopers were falling. Cody Johnson legged out a triple when neither the center fielder nor the right fielder could find his long drive. 

Maruszak turned in a gem of a day at shortstop. Heck, manager Tony Franklin even thought his team was in command enough to remove Abe Almonte in the seventh so he could get Shane Brown in for his Double-A debut. 

And of course, the game was played in 2 hours and 47 minutes, the second sub-2:00 game in as many days, after six straight three-hour contests to begin the month. 

Nothing to worry about: In addition to Almonte's early breather, Franklin hooked Marshall after 85 pitches -- he'd gone 95 plus in his previous three outings -- so he could get some work for Kelvin Perez, Mike Dubee and Ryan Flannery. 

Line drives in the box score: Both hits Flannery gave up in the ninth were infield singles -- a bouncer that took a wicked hop over Corban Joseph, and a slow roller to third with which Kevin Mahoney could do nothing. 

Picks to Click: Here are my game story and notes from Thursday.

Flicks to Click: Here are four videos from Thursday