Minor League Recaps

Thursday's Games

DSL Indians over DSL Astros 5-3
Writing about the DSL Astros is about as depressing as following the big club. You just have to look for nuggets of hope for the future. With that said the Astros did collect 10 hits and two doubles in this game which is significant for this light-hitting club (alas, the big club only collected one). Victor Mesa was pegged with the loss after allowing all five of the Indian runs (three earned).

GCL Marlins over GCL Astros 6-0
The less said about this one the better. The Astros were the victim of a perfect game. Lance McCullers was charged with the loss after giving up two runs on five hits over two innings. Jose Montero and Brandon Culbreth allowed the remaining runs. The good news is that Chia-Jen Lo and Rodney Quintero both pitched one perfect inning each.

Pulaski at Greeneville - Game suspended after the top of the 7th
Pulaski was up 5-0 over Greeneville when the game was suspended. Daniel Minor had a shutout going through six innings and then Minor, Scott Zuloaga and Zach Dando had things blow up on them with a five-run seventh. Greeneville only had four hits in the game at the time it was suspended, but two of those belonged to Brian Blasik. The game will resume today, weather allowing.

Tri-City over Vermont 6-3
Vincent Velasquez (W, 4-1) gave up two runs on three hits and three walks over five innings and John Neely let another run come across in the seventh, but then the bullpen shut things down and Blake Ford earned his 10th save of the season. On the offensive side, Joe Sclafani got things started with a two-run triple in the third, one of his two hits for the night. Preston Tucker was two-for-three with a double and an RBI single. Andrew Aplin got one hit and scored two runs.

Greenville over Lexington 11-10 in 15 innings
What makes this loss worse is that Lexington should have won it once in regular innings and once in extra innings before they finally lost in the 15th. Starter Jonas Dufek allowed five runs (three earned) on seven hits and no walks over six innings with nine strikeouts. He had a tough four-run fifth inning, but otherwise looked very good. Greenville led 5-2 going into the seventh, but Lexington scored six runs in the seventh thanks in large part to two hit batters, two wild pitches and three walks issued by the Greenville crew. With Lexington leading 8-5 going into the bottom of the ninth, the normally reliable Dayan Diaz gave up three runs to tie it. Then Lexington went ahead again in the top of the 12th with a two-run Mike Kvasnicka double, but Nate Pettus gave up two runs in the bottom of the frame. In the end, Mitch Lambson got stuck with the loss, but it never should have gotten that far. Offensive standouts were Brandon Meredith (2x6 2B 3B RBI), Mike Kvasnicka (2x6 2B HR 4RBI) and Jose Fernandez (2x6 2-2B).

San Jose over Lancaster 15-8
I think when you allow 15 runs, it goes without saying that the pitching staff struggled. The "Let's Convert Jorge de Leon to a Starting Pitcher at Lancaster Experiment" is still a miserable failure as de Leon fell to 2-9 for the season, but it was Jose Trinidad giving up eight runs in 1.1 innings that sealed Lancaster's fate for the evening. Only birthday boy Kirk Clark went unscathed as he pitched a perfect final frame. Chris Epps had a particularly good night with an RBI double and a three-run home run as did Ben Heath with an RBI single and a two-run home run. Kike Hernandez was two-for-four and George Springer was three-for-four with an RBI.

Midland over Corpus Christi 6-4
Jake Buchanan gave up five runs on nine hits in seven innings and went to 5-6 for the season. The Hooks got within a run with a big sixth inning thanks to a Drew Locke RBI double and a three-run Jake Goebbert home run, but they stranded runners in the eighth and ninth innings and that was that. Andrew Simunic and Jose Martinez each had two hits, but Drew Locke was locked in with a five-for-five night.

Oklahoma City over Omaha 9-8
This one got closer than it should have as Jonnathan Aristil and Juan Abreu combined to allow three runs in the bottom of the ninth, but ultimately starter Armando Galarraga got the win despite giving up five runs, four of them on home runs. The Redhawks scored four via the long ball as well, with a two-run shot from Jimmy Paredes and solo homers from Brad Snyder and Landon Powell. There was good hitting across the board with everyone getting at least one hit and Brandon Barnes and Paredes getting three hits each.

Pitcher of the Day: I'm going to go with Blake Ford for converting his 10th save out of 10 opportunities for Tri-City. He still has a 0.00 ERA for Tri-City, and a WHIP of only 0.868.

Players of the Day: Chris Epps should get some recognition for his four RBI night, as should Drew Locke for his five-for-five outing.