Astros Minor League Recaps

Thursday's Games

Oklahoma City over Nashville 9-1
Oklahoma City extended its winning streak to seven games with some great pitching and ridiculous offensive output from birthday boy Jonathan Villar. Asher Wojciechowski didn't waste any time getting his feet wet at AAA, pitching four innings and allowing one run on three hits and a walk with five strikeouts. He was followed by a scoreless inning from C.J. (Don't Call Me Chuckie) Fick and perfect outings from Jason Stoffel (1IP), Josh Zeid (2IP 3SO) and Jose (Don't Call Me Juan) Valdez (1IP). Jonathan Villar got things started offensively by driving in two with a double in the fourth. He then promptly stole a base and scored on a balk. The fifth inning featured back-to-back triples from Jake Elmore and Jimmy Paredes (3x4 RBI R). In the sixth, it was back to the Jonathan Villar show with a solo home run. Then in the seventh, Villar shared the glory with Carlos Perez (2x3 BB) as they each drove in two runs via singles. Brett Wallace was one-for-three with a walk and scored twice. Marc Krauss also scored twice and walked thrice.

Corpus Christi over Midland 6-1
David Martinez got his third win of the season as he pitched five scoreless innings. His ERA currently stands at 0.98. Jorge de Leon pitched the final four and allowed one run on three hits and two walks. The scoring got started up right off the bat in the first as lead-off man Austin Wates' hit by pitch blossomed into a steal of home, part of a double steal with George Springer. Domingo Santana (1x2 2BB) singled in Springer and then Max Stassi paid it forward by driving in Springer on a two-run home run in his first game of the season. The Hooks added on two more in the fourth on a Springer RBI single and a J.D. Martinez ground out that brought in Austin Wates (2x3 BB 2R 2SB).

Lancaster over Inland Empire 5-4
Brady Rodgers put up five very strong innings (1H 1R/0ER 1BB 2SO 11GO) and was followed by tandem partner Chris Devenski who was charged with three runs in the eighth. Those runs turned a 5-1 lead into a too-close-for-comfort 5-4 squeaker. Travis Ballew allowed one of Devenski's runners across, but then settled in nicely to convert his fourth save of the season. Delino DeShields (0x3 2BB 2R) scored on an Andrew Aplin double play in the first and Preston Tucker (2x3 2B BB SB) scored on a Tyler Heineman sac fly in the second. In the fifth, DeShields scored for the second time of the game (both after drawing lead-off walks), advancing to second on a wild pitch and then scoring from second on a single from Nolan Fontana (2x5). Fontana in turn scored on a Matt Duffy ground out. The final run, which came across in the top of the eighth and proved to be the game winner, came from a Heineman double followed by an M.P. Cokinos RBI single. Cokinos is now on a 10-game hitting streak. This was a more impressive win to me than one where the 'Hawks hit a bunch of long balls. They scraped together these runs with a good team effort. As a side note, Telvin Nash drew another walk last night. He has seven walks to nine strikeouts, a very encouraging stat. He also stole his first base of the season.

South Bend over Quad Cities 6-4
Quad Cities has dropped the first two of the series at South Bend. The Bandits got in an early hole as starter Mike Hauschild allowed three runs (two earned) in the first inning, and another in the fourth. After a perfect frame from Mitch Lambson, Colton Cain then pitched two scoreless innings before hitting a wall in the eighth inning. Cain allowed one run without recording an out and John Neely allowed one of Cain's runners to score, giving South Bend the lead in what had been a tied game. The Bandits scored in the first on a Ryan Dineen (1x1 4BB) bases loaded walk and in the third on a Jesse Wierzbicki (2x3 BB 2R) solo home run. They added on two more in the seventh with RBI singles from Ryan Dineen and Jobduan Morales. The team drew 11 walks, including two from Joe Sclafani and two from Roberto Pena.

Player of the Day: Jonathan Villar celebrated his 22nd in style. He went four-for-four with a double, a home run, five RBI and a stolen base. He also scored three runs. I have doubted Villar in the past, but if he keeps this up, I will happily eat crow and admit I was wrong.

Pitcher of the Day: It's a tie. David Martinez has pitched impressively for Corpus Christi. He is now 3-0 with a 0.98 ERA and a 0.904 WHIP. Brady Rodgers only allowed one hit in his outing and had an eye-popping 11 ground outs in his five innings. Nicely done, gentlemen.