Minor League Recaps

Monday's Games

Hudson Valley over Tri-Cty 2-1 in 11 innings
This game was the definition of a pitcher's duel as each team's pitching staff allowed only three hits. Brady Rodgers got the start going two innings and giving up one hit, which happened to be a solo home run, in his two innings. He was followed by a masterful seven-inning hitless relief performance from Brian Holmes. Travis Ballew was charged with his first loss in relief as Scott Zuloaga allowed one of Ballew's base runners to score in the 11th inning. Euris Quezada got the final out in the top of the 11th, but the damage was done as Tri-City failed to score in the bottom of the frame. M.P. Cokinos pushed across the only Tri-City run by way of a bases loaded walk. Joe Sclafani, Preston Tucker and Tyler Heineman owned the three Tri-City hits, all singles. The Tri-City staff did collect eight walks in addition to the three hits, but also struck out 13 times. Two games remain for Tri-City in the regular season.

Rome over Lexington 9-1
Lexington's season finale wasn't exactly the way they wanted to end it, but they should take comfort in the fact that their 69-69 (.500) finish was a step up from the 59-79 (.428) record from 2011. Mike Foltynewicz got the start and the loss as he went to 14-4 on the season. Folty gave up five runs (three off two home runs) on six hits and three walks with four strikeouts in three and a third innings pitched. Judging from Folty's last two starts, I think he might just have run out of gas at the end of an otherwise excellent season. Four additional pitchers came in with only Gabriel Garcia remaining unscathed in the run column. The Legends were held to five hits, including an RBI double from Teoscar Hernandez. Ruben Sosa was two-for-four and scored the Legends only run. Nolan Fontana walked four times to bring his season total to 65 over 49 games. He ended the season with a very lopsided .225 batting average and a .464 on base percentage. I will be taking a more in-depth look at Lexington's season later this week.

Lancaster over High Desert 11-5
Blair Walters got the start and the win as he went to 3-3 on the season as he allowed five runs on six hits with seven strikeouts over five and two-thirds innings. He was followed by three and a third innings of one hit relief from Brad Dydalewicz, Pat Urckfitz, Kenny Long and Jorge de Leon (although Dydalewicz did make things a little too interesting with three walks and had to be bailed out by Urckfitz). Lancaster led the entire game, but they broke things wide open with nine runs in the sixth, seventh and eighth innings. Jonathan Meyer was en fuego with a three-for-five afternoon and five RBI via two home runs. His second home run of the day was followed immediately by Telvin Nash with his 29th of the season. Carlos Perez was also three-for-five with a double and Rafy Valenzuela was two-for-four and ended the season hitting .429/.432/.771 over his last 10 games. But the big story of the game were the stolen bases. Yes, Jio Mier and Domingo Santana swiped one each, but Delino DeShields broke the century mark as he stole his 100th and 101st bases of the season. What an amazing feat! Lancaster ends their regular season with a final record of 74-66 or a .529 win percentage as opposed to last year's .393 win percentage. I will do a final look at the season after the playoffs are over. The first playoff game will be Lancaster at Lake Elsinore on Wednesday.

Corpus Christi over San Antonio 4-1
Corpus Christi ended their regular season with an exclamation point as their 81-59 (.579) record not only was tops in the Texas League, it gave the Hooks 31 more wins than last season's dismal 50-90 record. Bobby Doran got the start and the win in a very nice five-inning stint in which he allowed only four hits with five strikeouts. Matt Heidenreich gave up the one San Antonio run and was quickly pulled for Josh Zeid. Zied, Kevin Chapman, Jake Buchanan and Jason Stoffel (S, 27) provided scoreless relief. The Hooks scored a couple early and then were able to add on a couple of insurance runs late on a wild pitch and an Andy Simunic single. Simunic was two-for-five with an RBI and scored a run; Jay Fernandez was three-for-four and scored a run; and Ben Orloff was two-for-three with a double, walk and run scored. The Hooks first playoff game will be Wednesday at Frisco.

Oklahoma City over Round Rock 1-0
Dallas Keuchel (3IP) and Sergio Perez (2IP) allowed no hits through the first five innings; Aneury Rodriguez (W, 4-7) allowed only two hits in his three innings of work; and Chuckie Fick (S, 3) allowed one hit in the ninth for a combined three hit shutout. The Redhawks were being shutout as well until a Brad Snyder RBI double broke the impasse. Of the seven Redhawks hits, three of them belonged to Snyder. This brings the Oklahoma City season to a close with a final record of 78-65 (.545). I will be looking at the Redhawks season later this week as well (I hope).

Player of the Day: I have a feeling that Delino DeShields stolen base accomplishment will remain an Astros minor league record for a long, long time. It really is an amazing feat. Honorable mention goes to Jonathan Meyer for his two home run, five RBI afternoon.

Pitcher of the Day: I continue to be extremely impressed by Brian Holmes. In his seven innings of relief, he gave up zero hits and one walk and recorded seven strikeouts. He is definitely a player to watch.