Astros Minor League Recaps

Sunday's Games

Oklahoma City over Albuquerque 5-4
Asher Wojciechowski tossed seven and a third innings to get his eighth AAA win (10th of the season). He allowed three runs on seven hits, walked one and struck out eight. Pat Urckfitz and Jason Stoffel finished off the eighth inning without incident. Jorge de Leon allowed one run in the ninth on his way to converting his third save. OKC didn't score after the fourth and Albuquerque didn't start scoring until the sixth. The first two RedHawks runs came in the second on a two-RBI single from Che-Hsuan Lin. George Springer then led off the fourth with his 16th home run for OKC (35th of the season). Jimmy Paredes also scored in the fourth on a ground out after first driving in a run with a triple.

Corpus Christi over Arkansas 3-1 in 10 innings
Mike Foltynewicz and company pitched a beauty. Folty allowed one run on two hits and struck out four in six innings. R.J. Alaniz (3IP 1H 2BB 1SO) and Jonas Dufek (1IP 1H 1SO) combined with Folty to keep it to only four hits allowed. Arkansas scored their sole run in the first, but the Hooks didn't match that run until the sixth when Kiké Hernandez hit a home run to start the inning. Fast forward to the top of the 10th inning ... with two outs and the bases loaded, Erik Castro (3x5 2RBI) drove in two with a single, setting things up for Dufek to convert his second save since his promotion to AA.

Lancaster over High Desert 9-3
Colton Cain got the start and the win. He gave up three runs in six and a third innings on five hits and three walks, striking out two. The bullpen (in the form of Jordan Jankowski, Kenny Long and Travis Ballew) did a terrific job, allowing only one baserunner the rest of the way (on a Ballew walk). Lancaster took advantage of a couple of throwing errors and a Tyler Heineman triple in the second to score a pair, and scored another two on a Nolan Fontana triple in the fifth. Up 4-3 going in to the bottom of the seventh, the 'Hawks put up a four-spot, again scoring one on an error, one on a Carlos Perdomo sac fly and two on a bases-loaded M.P. Cokinos single. The final run came in the eighth on a Heineman inside-the-park home run, his second (!) of the season. Joe Sclafani was two-for-three with a walk and scored twice.

Quad Cities over Burlington 3-2
Brian Holmes threw the first five and a third for QC and allowed one unearned run on seven hits and three walks while striking out six. Holmes has only allowed one earned run in three appearances since coming back from rehab. Zach Morton then stranded the two runners he inherited and pitched two and two thirds scoreless innings. Juan Minaya gave up the second Burlington run in the ninth and was charged with a blown save, but also got the win as Quad Cities came back in the bottom of the frame to win on a Rio Ruiz walk-off home run. Jobduan Morales also homered in the fourth. Carlos Correa tripled in the game and drove in a run on a ground out.

Staten Island over Tri-City 3-2 in 11 innings
Kevin Comer (3.2IP 3H 2BB 5SO) and Evan Grills (4IP 7H 2R/1ER 1SO) had solid outings and were following by scoreless relief from Richard Rodriguez and Gonzalo Sanudo. Tyler Brunnemann came on in the 11th inning and allowed a one-out walk-off home run and was charged with the loss. Tri-City didn't score until the top of the ninth when a Mike Martinez two-run homer tied things up. The ValleyCats were held to five hits in the game.

Elizabethton over Greeneville 5-2 in 8 innings (called early due to rain)
Edison Frias pitched a strong six innings, allowing only one run on five hits and two walks while striking out four, but Kevin Ferguson got hit hard in the seventh and gave up four runs. Sebastian Kessay pitched to one batter in the eighth before the game was called for rain. Greeneville scored one in the fifth on an Angel Ibanez bases-loaded walk and one in the seventh on a Chase McDonald RBI single. Tanner Mathis was two-for-three with a walk and scored both runs. The GStros were also held to five hits.

Player of the Game: I've got to give Tyler Heineman some extra love today for his second inside-the-park home run of the season to go with his RBI triple. (Did I mention that he's a catcher?) Heineman is en fuego in August, hitting .410/.520/.872 so far this month. Honorable mention goes to Rio Ruiz for his walk-off home run, the first walk-off homer of the season for Quad Cities, and to Erik Castro for making that long bus ride back from Arkansas a whole lot more fun.

Pitchers of the Game: I'm splitting the prize among the Corpus Christi staff today for the four-hitter from Mike Foltynewicz, R.J. Alaniz and Jonas Dufek. Honorable mention goes to the excellent (and drama-free) relief from the Lancaster relief trio of Jankowski, Long and Ballew.