Astros Minor League Recaps

Friday's Games

Cedar Rapids Kernels 2, Quad Cities River Bandits 0 (11) Game 1 

This game was the first of two scheduled for the day and it quickly became a classic pitchers' duel, lasting 11 innings. Josh Fields, on rehab assignment, started on the hill for Quad Cities and pitched the first two innings, allowing one hit and striking out three. Jamaine Cotton followed Fields for the next four frames and kept it scoreless, allowing just a hit of his own, walking two and striking out a pair. John Neely came on in the seventh, for what was scheduled as the last inning of the game, and gave up a hit, walked one and struck out two. Cameron Lamb (1-2) was next on the mound, starting the extra innings, and pitched three and a third scoreless of his own before allowing two runs on three hits in the 11th to break the stalemate and tally the loss. Lamb finished at two runs on five hits with five Ks. Mitchell Lambson came in to replace Lamb and retired the final two batters, striking out one. There wasn't much happening at the plate for the River Bandits in this game, they collected six hits (all singles) and two walks total. That said, Jordan Scott still ended up three-for-four batting, collecting half of his team's hits.

Cedar Rapids Kernels 5, Quad Cities River Bandits 1 (7) Game 2

Game two of the doubleheader was the makeup of the rainout from the previous day and the River Bandits came within one out from being shutout in this one (Roberto Pena, who was on with a leadoff walk, scored on a one-out sac' fly by Jordan Scott in the bottom of the seventh). Vincent Velasquez (3-1) took the start and the loss, his first of the season, after pitching the first four and two thirds. Velasquez was hit hard in the first frame for four runs on six hits and ended up allowing five runs all day over nine hits while recording a career-high nine Ks. Gera Sanchez took over the helm from Velasquez and finished out the game, retiring the first four batters he faced in order before allowing a single in the seventh. Sanchez then got back in the groove and retired the final two and recorded one strikeout on the day. There was very little offense in this game as well for Quad Cities, four hits and five walks, but Teoscar Hernandez, who hit one-for-four, did steal a base in the second for his 10th of the season. 

Stockton Ports 13, Lancaster JetHawks 19

Allowing 13 runs to the opposing team is not usually a good thing, but when you are already far ahead and record 19 of your own, the home crowd doesn't seem to mind too much. Brady Rodgers got the start and threw for the first four and two thirds, allowing seven runs (5ER) on seven hits, walking two and striking out five. By the time Rodgers left the game in the top of the fifth the JetHawks already had 16 runs. Chris Devenski (3-1) picked up the reins in the six to finish out the pitching and took the win as well, giving up six runs on six hits, walking three and striking out four. At the plate, it was pure insanity: all but two starters had multi-hit games, every one of them recorded a hit, Telvin Nash hit two homers and recorded seven RBI,  Andrew Aplin hit three-for-four with a triple and four RBI of his own and while all that was going on Chris Epps was running around stealing bases. Here's the box, because trust me, I'd miss something otherwise:  

Frisco RoughRiders 4, Corpus Christi Hooks 9

The Hooks crept out to an early lead in this one and when things got close again in the seventh frame, they came back to drop four runs in the bottom of the seventh to seal the win. Nick Tropeano got things started on the mound, pitching four innings and recording one run (0ER) on two hits with a walk and five strikeouts. Bobby Doran (5-0) clocked in for the next three and a third and went on to earn the win. Doran cruised through his first two frames of work, but allowed three runs in the seventh, finishing with those three runs on two hits and a K. One man was responsible for over half of Corpus Christi's nine runs on Friday, Domingo Santana. Santana hit a team-first, three homers in the game and recorded five RBIs all day, finishing three-for-four at the plate. Rene Garcia hit two-for-four with a double, RBI, and run scored. 

Tacoma Rainiers 0, Oklahoma City RedHawks 1

Oklahoma City won what could be called a four-hit shutout on Friday at home, but what really was another classic pitchers' duel. The RedHawks didn't tally a hit until the fourth inning when a Brett Wallace (1X4 R 3B 2SO) triple followed by a Brandon Laird (1X4 2B RBI SO) double scored the only run of the game. Brett Oberholtzer (2-3) threw the first five and two thirds frames and collected the win. Oberholtzer recorded 1-2-3 innings in the second, third and fourth while allowing one hit, walking two and striking out nine. Josh Zeid (1.1 IP H 4SO), Kevin Chapman (.1 IP H BB) and Jason Stoffel (.2 IP SO) all earned holds, their third, fifth and second, respectively, after Oberholtzer left the game. Jose Valdez came in for the ninth to close and picked up his ninth save after giving up a hit and striking out one. Valdez is second in the Pacific Coast League in saves so far this year.

Player of the Day: What a day Friday was. Telvin Nash hit two homers and would normally be a shoe in, but Domingo Santana had to come along and hit three. You know what? They get to split it today. They without a doubt earned it and both had incredible games. Between the two is 12 runs and five homers on Friday. Wow.   

Pitcher of the Day: Brett Oberholtzer, come on down. This guy was on fire Friday and set the pace for the rest of the pitching staff in their shutout while striking out 9-nearly two guys an inning.