Astros Minor League Recaps

Friday's Games

Quad Cities over Kane County 4-1
Lance McCullers got off to a great start in his first appearance of the season, allowing four hits and striking out five in his five scoreless innings of work. McCullers' tandem partner Daniel Minor gave up one run on five hits in two and a third innings. Interestingly enough, Kyle Hallock worked one inning out of the bullpen. I had assumed he would be one of the starters. Hallock and John Neely both provided scoreless relief with Hallock striking out two. 3B Rio Ruiz, OF Ariel Ovando and C Roberto Pena all went 2-for-4 with a double with Ruiz' double being of the two RBI variety.

Springfield over Corpus Christi 2-0
Nick Tropeano got the hard luck loss despite allowing only one run via a solo homer in his five innings of work as Corpus Christi managed to collect only one hit off the Springfield team. Tropeano ended his night with three hits and a walk with five strikeouts in five innings and was followed by his tandem partner Bobby Doran who allowed one run on three hits and two strikeouts in three innings. Andrew Robinson rounded things out with two strikeouts in his scoreless outing. LF Austin Wates collected that one hit, a single in the first at bat of the game, to go with two walks later in the match, as well as a stolen base. Wates and RF Domingo Santana also recorded outfield assists in the game.

High Desert over Lancaster 7-3
Starter Brady Rodgers was the latest initiate into the brotherhood of Lancaster pitchers, a fraternity of hardship that bonds these men for life. A little overly dramatic? Yeah, well, maybe so. Rodgers definitely held his own in the first three innings before allowing four of his six hits consecutively to start the fourth, including a two-run home run. T.J. Geith finished out the fourth, pitched another frame and allowed another two runs before handing it over to Chris Devenski, the second half of the tandem team. Devenski pitched a strong three innings, allowing one run on four hits and a walk with two strikeouts. Jonas Dufek rounded things off with a scoreless frame. RF Preston Tucker provided some fireworks with a two-run shot in his 2-for-4 outing; LF Brandon Meredith was 2-for-3 and stole a base; and 1B Rafy Valenzuela had the only other extra base hit of the night, a double.

Memphis over Oklahoma City 9-0 in 7 innings (Game 1)
Jordan Lyles got the loss in his first start of the season as he allowed four runs on three hits and three walks with two strikeouts over four and a third innings. He was not helped by reliever Kevin Chapman who allowed two of Lyles' runners to score. Chapman gave up a hit and a walk without recording an out before giving way to C.J. Fick. Fick then allowed Lyles' remaining runner to score, along with one of Chapman's runners before giving up three runs of his own. Before all was said and done, 12 runners came to the plate with eight of them scoring, two on bases loaded walks. Gives new meaning to the phrase "pay it forward." Josh Zeid was the only pitcher with an effective outing as he struck out the side in the sixth, working around a walk and a Jimmy Paredes error that should have been the third out. The bats weren't exactly on fire either as the RedHawks only collected five hits, including a double from RF Jimmy Paredes. 3B Brandon Laird was 2-for-3 and didn't strike out three times like a certain big league first baseman who also screwed up by cutting off a throw to home last night and is hitting .071 for the season with 11 strikeouts. Wait. Where was I? Let's suffice to to say that Wallace had better watch his back or Laird is going to take his job from him. But no pressure there, Brett.

Oklahoma City over Memphis 8-7 in 7 innings (Game 2)
Paul Clemens gave up three runs on seven hits and three strikeouts to earn the win, but not before Wes Musick and Jose Valdez made it interesting allowing four runs to score in the bottom of the seventh to come within a run. 3B Jimmy Paredes was 2-for-3 with a double as was C Cody Clark. CF Robbie Grossman was 1-for-3 with two RBI; LF Trevor Crowe was also credited with two RBI despite not recording a hit. Grossman and Paredes each stole a base. And 1B Brandon Laird was 1-for-4 with a two-run home run and two RBI sac flies. Just sayin', Brett, just sayin'.

Pitcher of the Day: Lance McCullers wins this one hands down with an excellent start. Because of the tandem pitching assignments, he will likely have to wait through his next outing before getting another chance to get that first professional win, but I have no doubt he will be getting it soon.

Players of the Day: It's a tie. I've got to send Austin Wates some love because his lead-off first inning hit kept Corpus from being on the wrong end of a no-no. The two walks, outfield assist and stolen base were just gravy. And Brandon Laird's four RBI night makes him look awfully good in light of what some of us witnessed in person at Minute Maid Park last night, small sample size or not.