Minor League Recaps

Saturday’s Results

DSL Cardinals 11 DSL Astros 2

This was one of those tough DSL games we have all come to know and love. Samil De Los Santos (2-3) took the loss after going the first 2 and a third.  De Los Santos was the first of 7 pitchers used in this game for the Astros and all but the last, Juan Delis, gave up at least a run.  There wasn’t much offense to speak of, but Luis Reynoso did go 1 for 4 and pick up the Astros only extra base hit of the game, a double in the bottom of the first.

Here’s the box straight from milb.com containing all of the Astros pitchers used in the game:

GCL Nationals 2 GCL Astros 5

The Astros were getting shutout on Saturday until the eighth inning when they dropped a 5 spot on the scoreboard and took the win at home.  In fact, the GCL Astros only had 1 hit until the eighth inning.  Brett Phillips doubled in the eighth with his only hit in four at bats and ended up with 2 RBIs.  Agapito Barrios got the start and through 4 and a third frames was charged with both runs (1ER) on 5 hits and walked 2.  Erick Gonzalez (2-0) picked up the win after coming on for the final 1 and a third.

Greeneville Astros 6 Princeton Rays 5

Greeneville scrapped for a nice victory here on Saturday.  Carlos Correa and Rio Ruiz both made their debuts with Greeneville in the game and both went 1 for 2 with very timely hitting. Ricky Gingras went 1 for 4 with another homer, giving him 3 on the season and 2 in the last 2 games.  Zachary Dando took the “W” with just 2 innings of work in the fifth and sixth.  Dando was charged with 2 runs (1ER) on a hit, walked 1 and struck out 5.  Euris Quezada earned his second save of the season after pitching a perfect last inning.

Tri-City ValleyCats 6 Staten Island Yankees 3

Once Tri-City got on the board Saturday in the fourth the game never left their hands again.  M.P. Cokinos had a big game, hitting 3 for 4 with a huge 2-run homer, 2 RBIs and a walk.  Emilio King, who went 1 for 4 at the plate, also had a 2- run shot of his own.  Joe Bircher (2-2) took the win after the first 5 innings of work.  Bircher allowed 2 runs on 3 hits, walked 3 and K-ed 4.  Blake Ford picked up his 13^th save upon completion of the last inning, giving up just a hit and striking out 1.

West Virginia Power 4 Lexington Legends 3

Even though the score is close here, Lexington never had the lead on Saturday.  Lexington actually had only 3 hits on Saturday.  One of those hits was good for Matt Duffy’s (1X3) 62^nd RBI of the season.  Nolan Fontana drew another walk, stole a base and scored a run in the game as well.  David Rollins (1-2) took the loss with the first 5 and 2 thirds innings of work, getting charged with all 4 runs (2ER) on 6 hits, walking 1 and striking out half a dozen.

Lancaster JetHawks 2 San Jose Giants 3

The JetHawks scored both their runs in the first inning and then fell silent offensively for the rest of the game.  Delino DeShields went 1 for 4 with a run scored and stole his first base since his promotion to the California League yesterday.  Andrew Aplin had a big day at the plate, going 2 for 3 with his first California League triple, a walk and a RBI. Aplin also swiped a bag in the game.  Colton Cain picked (0-1) up his first loss after starting and pitching 4 and 2 thirds.  Cain allowed all 3 runs on 6 hits, walked 5 and struck out 3.  Chia-Jen Lo, who came on next for 2 and a third, gave out just a pair of hits and sent 4 back to the dugout holding their bats.

Springfield Cardinals 3 Corpus Christi Hooks 9

Corpus Christi poured it on at home on Saturday.  Bobby Borchering helped pour in the fourth inning with a big 3-run homer to put the Hooks up by 4.  Borchering ended up 1 for 2 on the day with 4 RBI.  Robbie Grossman went 3 for 4 at the dish with a triple, walk and pair of runs scored.  Rob Rasmussen earned the win, moving him to 4-2 on the season after pitching a solid 6 and 2 thirds.  Rasmussen allowed 9 hits, but only 2 runs and K-ed 3.

Sacramento River Cats 5 Oklahoma City RedHawks 3

This loss makes it 8 in a row for the Oklahoma City RedHawks and it was a tough one.  The RedHawks didn’t get on the board until the fifth inning.  Rudy Owens (0-1) got the start and lasted 7 innings, but not before giving up 4 runs (3ER) on 6 hits (2HR) and striking out 4.  Jason Castro did well again on Saturday at the plate.  Castro hit 3 of 3 with a RBI and a walk.  Jose Martinez went 1 for 3 with a walk, his first double since moving up to AAA and scored a run.  Matt Dominguez hit 2 for 3 and had a walk as well.

Player of the Day:  Andrew Aplin gets the honor today.  Aplin had a really strong day at the plate Saturday and picked up both steal and triple number 1 after his promotion to the California League.  Way to go, Aplin.

Pitcher of the Day:  Rob Rasmussen gets to wear the WTHB crown today for recording another solid start and his crafty pitching performance on Saturday (Said crown may, or may not, be a Burger King crown that I taped the WTHB logo onto).