Minor League Recaps

Sunday's Games

Greeneville over Bluefield 8-7
Things were a bit rougher for Michael Feliz in his Appy League debut than they were for him with the GCL. The 18-year old allowed five runs (four earned) on six hits and three walks with three strikeouts over 3.2 innings. Christian Garcia and Andrew Walters each gave up a run in relief before Jordan Jankowski pitched two perfect innings and recorded four strikeouts to give the Astros a chance to break the tie in the ninth which they did via a Jean Batista RBI single. Ernesto Genoves (3x4 3R) hit his third home run of the season and Ariel Ovando (2x5) unloaded a two-run shot. D'Andre Toney was three-for-five with two RBI, a run and a stolen base. In addition to driving in the winning run, Batista stole two bases. Jankowski now has 37 strikeouts in only 21.2 innings pitched.

Tri-City over Auburn 9-4
Joe Bircher got his first professional win as he gave up three runs (one earned) on five hits and three walks in five innings pitched. John Neely allowed one additional run in his three innings of work and Jeremiah Meiners provided a hitless ninth. Tri-City scored early and had all the runs they would ultimately need by the second inning. Andrew Aplin and Jobduan Morales hit back to back solo shots in the first inning. Aplin ended up going four-for-five with two RBI.

Hagerstown over Lexington 6-0
Tommy Shirley got the start and the loss as the two runs he allowed were two more than Lexington got the whole game. Nate Pettus gave up another three to pretty much seal the deal. Mitch Lambson, in 2.2 innings, was the only Lexington pitcher to go unscathed with Euris Quezada allowing the final run. The Legends only managed four hits, two of which belonged to Brandon Meredith. After a slow start to the season, Brandon is now .273/.373/.489 for the season and .417/.488/.722 over his last 10 games.

Lancaster over Inland Empire 5-4
Bobby Doran allowed four runs (three earned) on seven hits and zero walks with five strikeouts in 6.2 innings but it was Andrew Robinson who earned the win as he took it the rest of the way in his latest good outing. Robinson has only allowed one earned run in his last eight appearances. The lead flipped a couple of times, but the JetHawks would utltimately prevail on a much-needed Erik Castro home run (much needed by the team, but also by Castro who had been slumping of late). Rafy Valenzuela had a very good night as he went two-for-four with a double, a two-run dinger and two runs scored.

Corpus Christi over Midland 9-6
The Hooks drew first blood, literally. A pitch from starter Asher Wojciechowski actually drew blood as he caught Midland 3B Miles Head in the coconut. Yikes. Wojo (as I insist on calling him) ultimately gave up two runs (both scoring on Kevin Chapman's watch) on four hits and three walks with five strikeouts (and two hit batters) in five innings. Chapman had a rocky night as he allowed both of Wojo's runners to score and added on a pair of his own to get charged with the blown save. Henry Villar added on another two runs but ended up with the win as the Hooks piled on six runs in the bottom of the sixth on a Drew Locke (3x4 3RBI) two RBI single and a grand slam from unlikely hero Jordan Kreke. I say unlikely because, as CC Caller Times' Greg Rajan pointed out, Kreke was on an 0 for 25 streak at the plate. Kody Hinze also contributed a two-run bomb in honor of his birthday.

Omaha over Oklahoma City 11-1
Brian Bass was charged with his fifth loss in 11 starts as he gave up nine runs on 11 hits and two walks in four innings pitched. Sergio Perez allowed the other two runs (one earned) in his three innings of work before Aneury Rodriguez and Juan Abreu shut things down for the final two. The Redhawks were never able to string too much together (and never managed an extra base hit) and the sole run scored on an Angel Sanchez single. Sanchez and Matt Dominguez each had two hits.

Player of the Day: Ending an 0 for 25 streak with a grand slam to take the lead? Yeppers, Jordan Kreke gets today's WTH love.

Pitcher of the Day: Joe Bircher gets his first professional win and his first tip of the cap from WTH.