Astros Minor League Recaps

Thursday's Games

Oklahoma City over New Orleans 2-1
Brad Peacock (6IP 3H 1R 1BB 7SO) pitched a beauty of a start for his fourth RedHawks win, with a solo home run the only blemish on his night, and he received three frames of perfect relief from Hector Ambriz, Jose Valdez and Josh Zeid. OKC got just enough offense with one run scoring in the third on a George Springer (2x4 RBI SB) single driving in Robbie Grossman (2x3 BB R SB) and the second and final run coming in as Che-Hsuan Lin singled, took third on an error and scored on a wild pitch.

Springfield over Corpus Christi 2-1
R.J. Alaniz (2H 3BB 4SO) pitched seven shutout innings, only to see his lead evaporate as Pat Urckfitz and Jorge de Leon gave up home runs in the eighth and ninth respectively. The Hooks only managed one run in the fourth as Rene Garcia (2x4 2B RBI) singled in Drew Muren. Erik Castro had the only other extra base hit, a double.

Lancaster over Inland Empire 10-5
Starter Luis Cruz (6H 1R 1BB 5SO) cruised through five and two-thirds innings before allowing his only run of the game. The bullpen, in the form of Cameron Lamb and T.J. Geith, scuffled a bit in the eighth, allowing three runs across in the frame before Travis Ballew came in to put out the fire. Ballew gave up one run of his own in the ninth. The 'Hawks scored early, powered in large part by a three-run home run from Telvin Nash (3x5 BB 4RBI 2R) in the first and played add-on through the game, culminating in a three runs scored with two outs in the ninth as the 'Hawks took advantage of a throwing error and two wild pitches from Inland Empire pitcher Michael Johnson. Delino DeShields was three-for-five and scored two runs. DeShields has been en fuego, hitting .480 over his last six games and stealing seven bases. In addition, he turned an unassisted double play in the ninth inning last night. Similarly, Nolan Fontana appears to be back on top of his game. He went two-for-three with a double, three walks, an RBI and scored two runs. Andrew Aplin and M.P. Cokinos were both one-for-five with a walk, two RBI and a run scored, and Aplin stole a base as well. Chris Epps was two-for-four with a double and a walk.

Kane County over Quad Cities 7-4
Starter Juan Minaya (3IP 4H 3R 4BB 2SO) took the loss, but neither Mitch Lambson (3IP 3H 2R 0BB 2SO) nor Jamaine Cotton (2IP 4H 2R 0BB 2SO HR) had very effective outings either. The Bandits put up one in the second on a Jobduan Morales bases loaded walk and one more in the second as Jesse Wierzbicki (3x4 RBI R SB) singled in Teoscar Hernandez (2x5 2B 2RBI R). The final two runs came in the ninth on a Hernandez two-run double.

Lowell over Tri-City 4-2
I can't give you much of an eyewitness account of this one as travel delays kept me from getting to the game until the bottom of the fifth. Starter Kevin Comer (3.1 6H 3R 2BB 5SO) was long gone by the time I got there, replaced by Charles Basford (1.2IP 2H). I did, however, get to see Evan Grills pitch two and two-thirds innings (3H 1R). The lefty worked quickly and got one ground ball out after another with great defense behind him. Richard Rodriquez pitched a perfect final one and a third. The 'Cats weren't able to string together enough hits to overcome. James Ramsay was two-for-four with a run; Chan Moon was two-for-three with a stolen base; and Ernesto Genoves was one-for-three with an RBI sac fly. I hope to bring Mark Appel and the 'Cats better luck in tonight's game.

Greeneville over Bristol 2-1
Sebastian Kessay (1H 2SO) pitched the first inning for the Astros and was followed by five terrific innings from lefty Christopher Lee (2H 0R 0BB 7SO). Krishawn Holley allowed the only run (unearned) in the seventh. Tyler Brunneman (1IP 1H) and J.D. Osbourne (1IP 2SO) rounded things out. The Astros made the most of only four hits, scoring in the fourth on a Bobby Borchering home run and in the seventh on an RBI single from Darwin Rivera scoring Tanner Mathis. Jack Mayfield was one-for-three with a double and a walk.

GCL Astros over GCL Yankees 3-1 in 9 innings (Completion of 7/3 suspended game)
Joe Bircher got his second rehab start (pitching on 7/3 before the game was suspended), allowing one unearned run on one hit while striking out three in two and a third innings. Ambiorix de Leon (5.2IP 2H 1BB 6SO) picked up when the game resumed and earned his first win of the season. Erick Gonzalez pitched the ninth to earn his second save. The Astros got on board in the first with an RBI double from Tyler White, added one in the third on a Jean Batista (2x4 R) RBI single in his first rehab appearance, and scored the final run in the sixth on a Yonathan Mejia (2x3) RBI single. Jason Martin was one-for-three with a double, walk and run scored.

GCL Astros over GCL Yankees 5-1 in 7 innings
Another strong starting performance as Agapito Barrios went five innings and allowed one run on three hits while striking out eight before giving way to two perfect innings from Troy Scribner who K'd five of the six batters he faced. The Astros scored two in the first on Yonathan Mejia (2x4 2B 2RBI) and Tyler White RBI singles. Mejia drove in another run on a double in the fourth with the other two runs in that frame coming across courtesy of a fielding error and a balk. Jacob Nottingham was one-for-three with a double and a walk.

DSL Mariners at DSL Astros - Suspended after three innings
The game was suspended with the Astros up 4-0.

Player of the Day: Nolan Fontana appears to be back to being Nolan Fontana (which is a very good thing). In addition to an excellent night at the plate on Thursday, he is hitting .333/.490/.487 with six doubles, 10 RBI and 11 walks in his last 10 games.

Pitchers of the Day: I'm going to do something different today because there were so many outstanding pitching outings so I'm going to recognize several pitchers today ~

Brad Peacock - 6IP 3H 1R 1BB 7SO HR (Peacock is 4-2 with a 2.89 ERA and a 1.113 WHIP in 9 outings for OKC)
R.J. Alaniz - 7IP 2H 0R 3BB 4SO
Luis Cruz - 5.2IP 6H 1R 1BB 5SO (Cruz is 4-1 with a 1.78 ERA and a 0.992 WHIP over his last 9 appearances at Lancaster)
Chris Lee - 5IP 2H 0R 0BB 7SO
Agapito Barrios - 5IP 3H 1R 0BB 8SO
Troy Scribner - 2IP 0H 0R 0BB 5SO
Ambiorix de Leon - 5.2IP 2H 0R 1BB 6SO

These pitchers combined for 36 and a third innings with a 0.74 ERA and a 0.661 WHIP. That was an impressive night of pitching!!!