Astros Minor League Recaps

Saturday's Games

Peoria Chiefs 6, Quad Cities River Bandits 3 (7) Game 1

Saturday marked the second day in a row Quad Cities played doubleheaders and in the first game they couldn't overcome falling behind early. Daniel Minor (2-1) got the start and pitched through the first four frames. After a pretty routine first inning, Minor went on to allow runs in each of his next three, finishing at five runs on nine hits with two Ks. Michael Dimock closed out the game on the mound and after giving up a homer in the fifth, settled down. Dimock did not allow any more hits in the game while striking out three. Jobduan Morales (2X3 R) and Rio Ruiz (2X2 BB) both collected a couple hits in the game and Jesse Wierzbicki (1X3 R 2B RBI BB SO) picked up his 25th RBI on a double in the third inning, scoring Carlos Correa, Wierzbicki currently leads the River Bandits in that column.

Peoria Chiefs 2, Quad Cities River Bandits 3 (7) Game 2

Quad Cities scored three runs in the second game Saturday as well, but this time three runs was good for the "W". Not only that, their third run was of the walkoff variety, a Terrell Joyce (2X3 R RBI) single that scored Jordan Scott (0X1 R) for the win at home. Lance McCullers gave up a run in the first, but afterwards cruised through his next four innings allowing only two hits throughout that stretch. McCullers finished with a run on four hits, three walks and six strikeouts. Mitchell Lambson (1-1) pitched the final two and allowed another run on a solo homer in the seventh before picking up the win. Lambson finished with that run on two hits, two walks and four Ks. Austin Elkins finished two-for-two at the plate and Ariel Ovando didn't record any hits (0X1 2RBI BB), but was still responsible for two runs. Ovando scored Terrell Joyce on a groundout in the second and then scored Brian Blasik on a sac' fly in the sixth.

Stockton Ports 6, Lancaster JetHawks 10

This was another great comeback story on Saturday. After heading into the eighth inning down three runs, the JetHawks batsmen combined their talents with some uncommon baseball for seven runs to all but seal their triumph. David Rollins (3-3) sealed it for Lancaster and earned the win after tossing a 1-2-3 top of the ninth. He threw 1-2-3 frames in the seventh and eighth as well. Rollins came in to pitch in the sixth and threw four scoreless frames, giving out a lone hit and striking out four. Tyson Perez started on the hill and aside from a hit and a walk, made it through the first three innings with no problems. In the fourth however, Perez gave up six hits, including a three-run homer, leaving him responsible for six runs on seven hits, a walk and one strikeout. The offensive star of the day for the JetHawks was surely Matt Duffy. Duffy hit one-for-four with four RBI coming by way of a grand slam to cap off the seven-run eighth inning. Duffy is now second in RBIs (30) in the California League to his teammate, Andrew Aplin (33). Tyler Heineman hit one-for-two with a run scored, walk and two RBI of his own. One of his RBI was the result of a walk in the eighth inning that followed two consecutive, wild-pitch strikeouts on which Preston Tucker and Telvin Nash both reached base. You can read Jason Schwartz's firsthand account of the unusual eighth inning here.

Frisco RoughRiders 3, Corpus Christi Hooks 9

The fans at Whataburger Field got their money's worth on Saturday as they watched the Hooks roll to a victory. David Martinez (5-0) allowed his first run in over 25 innings and still went on to pick up the win. Martinez moved through the first four frames in familiar fashion, recording 1-2-3 sets in the third and fourth and even picked off a runner at first in the first. Martinez gave up a couple runs in the fourth and ended his outing with those, six hits a walk and three Ks. Next up to pitch for Corpus was Mike Foltynewicz, making his first appearance in front of the home crowd. Folty' closed out the final four, tallying two hits, an unearned run and strikeout, earning him his first save (Folty picked off a runner at first too). George Springer had a productive night at the plate after not getting a hit in the last two games (5 SO, BB in 5 AB). Springer went three-for-four, coming up a triple short of the cycle, scored two runs and was responsible for two RBIs. Erik Castro recorded multiple hits as well, swatting two-for-four, scoring two runs with two  RBI of his own. Castro was the first run across the plate Saturday, coming around on Kiké Hernandez's (1X3 R HR 2RBI BB) third homer of the season in the second inning.         

Salt Lake Bees 6, Oklahoma City RedHawks 4

The RedHawks fell behind early on the scoreboard and even after a three-run, bottom of the ninth rally, they couldn't pull ahead. Ross Seaton had the helm for the first five innings and allowed three runs on four hits in that time while walking three and K-ing one. Seaton ended up with his third loss of the year, moving his record to 0-3. Wes Musick took over for the next six outs and left with nearly identical numbers, lacking only the strikeout. The man responsible for all four RedHawks runs in the game was Che-Hsuan Lin. The first run came on Lin's sacrifice fly in the second, scoring Marc Krauss. The final three marked his first homer of the season, a three run shot. Lin closed his day at the plate two-for-three. Austin Wates hit three-for-four in the game and both Carlos Perez (2X3 R BB SO) and Jonathan Villar (2X4 BB SO) had a couple hits of their own.    

Player of the Day: It was a tough decision today and the honors are going to have to be split. Matt Duffy gets the first nod. Duffy's grand salami Saturday pushed the JetHawks ahead and capped off an unbelievable eighth inning. George Springer gets the other nod. He came close to hitting for the cycle yesterday and now leads all of MiLB in homers with 12. Those were two really great performances. Good game, guys.    

Pitcher of the Day: David Rollins is at the head of the class today. It was Rollin's performance on the mound, four shutout innings to close the game, that kept Lancaster in the hunt late in the game. That kind of composure and focus is invaluable and is always worthy of the honors.