Astros Minor League Recaps

Saturday's Games

Greeneville Astros 11, Johnson City Cardinals 10 (10)
This game was the opposite of a pitchers' duel and Greeneville took advantage of four opposing errors, seven hits and nine walks to come out on top. They have now won nine games in a row. The Astros used five pitchers in their game Saturday and no one worked longer than two and two-thirds. Starter Enderson Franco pitched one and two-thirds and after a 1-2-3 first, gave up a hit and walked four in the second to be charged with four runs. The win went to Tyler Brunnemann (2-0) after taking the hill for the final two innings. Brunnemann hit two batters and threw a wild pitch, but didn't give up any hits and struck out two. Brian Holberton (1X3 2R HR RBI 2BB) and Juan Santana (2X5 R HR 3RBI 2SO) both homered in the game while Tyler White (1X3 2R 2RBI 2BB) collected a couple RBIs, including the go ahead run in the 10th. Tanner Mathis (1X5 2R BB) stole second twice on Saturday.

GCL Yankees1 2, GCL Astros 1

The Astros only allowed three hits to their opponents outside of the first inning but still lost this one at home. Troy Scribner (3-1) went six innings in his start before picking up his first loss. Scribner was charged with two runs (1ER) on five hits and struck out ten. Brett Booth went two-for-four at the plate with a double, a strikeout, stole a base and scored the Astros' only run in the fourth.

Hudson Valley Renegades 7, Tri-City Valley Cats 5
Tri-City was in control of this game until the seventh inning when they allowed five runs to score, four of which were unearned. Randall Fant took the mound to start and threw five innings, allowing a pair of runs on seven hits, walking two and striking out one. Zach Morton entered in the seventh and finished the game, becoming the owner of the five runs (1ER) that upset the Valley Cats on Saturday after two errors, three hits, a HBP and a passed ball all occurred in the seventh. Morton (1-1) would retire the last seven batters of the game in order. Michael Martinez went three-for-four in the game and put the Tri-City on the board in the first with a two-out, two-run homer, finishing with three RBI. James Ramsay went two-for-three, scored a run, walked and collected an RBI.  

Quad Cities River Bandits 3, Lake County Captains 5
Chris Devenski had a rough outing from the get go on Saturday. Before leaving the first inning, Lake County had already connected for two home runs and a couple doubles, good for four scores. Devenski (0-2) pitched four innings and left with five runs on nine hits, a walk and seven strikeouts along the way. Quad Cities hit a pair of homers of their own on Saturday: Teoscar Hernandez (1X4 R HR RBI) put the River Bandits on the board in the sixth with a solo shot and Luis Alvarez (3X4 R HR RBI SO) followed suit in the seventh. Rio Ruiz didn't hit any homeruns but did finish two-for-four with an RBI.

Lancaster JetHawks 3, Bakersfield Blaze 6
Lancaster was down five runs before they scored one of their own Saturday and that momentum proved to be a little too much to hurdle. Brady Rogers (8-6) threw the first five innings and tallied five runs on seven hits and a walk through the third inning before retiring the final eight batters he faced. Rogers K-ed four. Five JetHawks had multi-hit games and Delino DeShields (3X5 R 2B) topped them all with three hits. DeShields also stole two bases. Matt Duffy (2X3 R HR 2RBI) hit a two-run homer in the fourth inning, good for Lancaster's first score of the game. Chris Epps (2X4 R), Carlos Perdomo (2X4) and Ryan McCurdy (2X4 SO) were the other three players with two hits.   

Frisco RoughRiders 1, Corpus Christi Hooks 9
The Hooks scored first and scored often on Saturday, collecting all nine of their runs before finally allowing one to Frisco in the seventh. Nick Tropeano (4-7) pitched the first seven innings and conceded the only opposing run on four hits, walked one and struck out five during his shift. Max Stassi had just one hit in three at bats, a two-run shot in the fifth—his ninth homer of the year—and accumulated three RBI. Erik Castro (3X4 2R 2B 3RBI) hit three-for-four and hit three RBI of his own while Jonathan Meyer (2X5 2R RBI SO) and Rene Garcia (2X5 R SO) had two hits apiece.    

Oklahoma City RedHawks 8, Memphis Redbirds 1
Oklahoma City too, collected all of their runs before finally allowing one in the seventh. Jake Buchanan (2-2) was on the mound for the scoreless, first six innings of the game and would earn the win, allowing five hits, four walks while striking out five. The RedHawks hit twice as many times as their opponents in the game (14-7) and Robbie Grossman (5X5 2R 3B RBI) had more than a third of their hits, finishing five-for-five on Saturday. Marwin Gonzalez (2X5 2B RBI), Jimmy Paredes (2X5 R) and Carlos Perez (2X4 R 2RBI 2SO) combined, have just one more hit than Grossman on the day. Just because "5X5" is fun to look at, here's the box:

Player of the Day: Robbie "The Machine" Grossman had a tremendous game at the plate yesterday and deserves the honors today. Even though it was an eight run game with no homers, Grossman found a way to include some fireworks. Great game.

Pitcher of the Day: I am going against convention today and giving it to a couple of guys who lost on Saturday but still stuck it out. First, Troy Scribner did take a loss Saturday, but he also regained his composure after two runs scored in the first to strike out the last three batters of the inning—the first of his 10 Ks in the game. Second, there is Tri-City's Zach Morton who entered the game yesterday to scoring as well and left having retired the last seven in order. Both of these guys faced adversity Saturday and overcame it, maybe not on the scoreboard, but right out there on the mound.