Minor League Schedule and Results

SUNDAY'S GAMES

Kannapolis at Lexington at 12:35 CST
Probable Pitchers: LHP Blair Walters (0-1, 2.70) and TBD
Available on MiLB.tv

Oklahoma City at Memphis at 1:35 CST
Probable Pitchers: RHP Paul Clemens (1-1, 1.64) and RHP Brandon Dickson (1-1, 2.38)

Corpus Christi at Tulsa at 2:05 CST
Probable Pitchers: Jake Buchanan (0-0, 6.75) and LHP Nick Schmidt (0-0,12.46)
Available on MiLB.tv

Lake Elsinore at Lancaster at 4:00 CST
Probable Pitchers:  TBD

SATURDAY'S RESULTS

Kannapolis over Lexington 3-1
Noteworthy:  Nick Tropeano got his first start of the season (he had previously pitched five innings in a relief appearance) and continued to dominate.  In 11 innings pitched over two appearances, he now has 18 strikeouts.  Unfortunately, his terrific performance went for nothing as the offense was held to five hits and three walks.  Nathan Pettus pitched three innings in relief and was pegged with the loss.

Oklahoma City over Memphis 4-3
Noteworthy:  Henry Sosa had a good start, but the bullpen in the form of Sergio Perez, Xavier Cedeno (W, 1-0) and Jose Valdez (S, 2) were almost flawless.  The staff combined for 11 strikeouts and allowed only two walks.  Home runs from Brian Bixler and Scott More accounted for most of the offensive output.

Northwest Arkansas over Corpus Christi 9-7
Noteworthy:  Brett Oberholtzer got touched for 6 earned runs and two home runs in 4.1 innings pitched, but it was Jonnathan Aristil who got charged with the loss despite a decent 2.2 innings pitched.  Jake Goebbert and Kody Hinze each had a pair of hits and Jose Martinez had a pair of RBI, but it is Brandon Barnes who's been on fire.  Over the last four games, Brandon has hit .611 with 11 hits, six doubles, one home run and seven RBI's.  Alas, Austin Wates' hitting streak came to an end at 7 games as he went hitless on Saturday.

GAME OF THE DAY
Lancaster over Lake Elsinore 4-1

What went right:  Starting pitching and some pop from Jio and George.  Bobby Doran got the start for Lancaster and pitched seven strong innings giving up seven hits, no runs, no walks and seven strikeouts, and Kirk Clark kept Lake Elsinore scoreless for an extra frame.  Word is that Jio Miers' and George Springer's fathers were in attendance at the game, and the duo didn't waste any time trying to impress their parental units as each homered in the first inning to take a permanent lead in the game.  Erik Castro also hit his second home run of the season.

Bobby Doran (W, 1-0) - 7IP  7H  0R  0BB  7SO (3.27 ERA)
Kirk Clark - 1IP  1BB (0.00 ERA)
Jorge de Leon - 1IP  1H  1R  1BB  2SO  (13.50 ERA)

Jiovanni Mier - 2x4  HR  RBI  2SO  R  (.310 BA)
George Springer - 1x4  HR  2RBI  SO  3R  (.278 BA)
Erik Castro - 1x3  HR  RBI  (.400 BA)

What went wrong:  The team only managed six hits and two walks.  Also, Springer had a fielding error; Adam Bailey and Rafy Valenzuela hit into double plays; and Bobby Doran and Jorge de Leon had wild pitches.

PITCHER OF THE DAY
Although Nick Tropeano had a fantastic start, I'm going with Bobby Doran on this one because he needed it more.  I thought that he was poised to step up his game this season.  Let's hope this improvement continues for him.

PLAYER OF THE DAY
I've got to give this to Brandon Barnes.  He had a terrific winter in the Australian League and it appears that some of that success is carrying over to Corpus Christi.

A NOTE ON MINOR LEAGUE RECAPS - I don't plan on doing full-blown recaps of the games this season as that would keep me from writing other things that you may find of interest as it pertains to the Astros minor league system.  For more information (and different perspectives), you should check out Astros County and The Crawfish Boxes for their minor league recaps.