23-year-old righty Nick Blackburn has been promoted to Triple-A Rochester of the International League.
Blackburn replaces Dave Gassner on the Red Wings roster who is out with a elbow inflamation.
The 6'4", 230 lbs. Oklahoma native is continuing his rapid professional ascent as it was less than a month ago, on July 14, when he was promoted from Single-A Ft. Myers to Double-A New Britain.
He has been impressive in Connecticut, having thrown two complete games in his 4 EL starts, surrendering only 20 Hits and 9 earned runs over 30.1 innings of work. His record stands at 1-3 and his ERA is a very solid 2.64.
Justin Olsen has taken over Blackburn's place on the Rock Cats' starting rotation.
Meanwhile, the Cats have received righty reliever Jannio Gutierrez, a 23-year-old native of Maracaibo, VZ, from Fort Myers of the Florida State League.
Gutierrez will be making his second career trip to the Eastern League as he began the 2004 season in New Britain.
The stocky right-hander has appeared in 15 games for Single-A Ft. Myers in 2005, compiling a 1-1 record and 1.78 ERA out of the Miracle's bullpen. In 25.1 total innings of work, Gutierrez has yielded only 5 earned runs with a K/BB ratio of 39/10.
