Astros Minor League Recaps

Thursday's Games

Oklahoma City over Reno 3-2
Paul Clemens pitched three scoreless innings followed by two scoreless from Philip Humber. Eric Berger allowed a two-run home run in the sixth and gave way to Rhiner Cruz with one out in the seventh. Cruz, Kevin Chapman and Hector Ambriz kept the slim lead from slipping away. The Hooks collected their three runs in the second on RBI singles from Jon Singleton and Che-Hsuan Lin; Lin subsequently scored on a fielding error. Jose Martinez was two-for-four with a double, the only extra base hit of the game. Rene Garcia was one-for-four in his AAA debut. The seventh win in a row for the RedHawks has them tied for first place in the division.

Corpus Christi over Midland 5-4
Nick Tropeano threw the first six innings and allowed four runs on nine hits and a walk. He also struck out ten, including a one-pitch strikeout in which the batter received two delay of game strikes for the K. [Note: If anyone wonders why I love the minors so much, look no further. I love them because stuff like that happens. All the time.] He was followed by two perfect innings from Carlos Quevedo. Jonas Dufek converted his first save opportunity for the Hooks as he allowed one hit and struck out two in the ninth. The Hooks scored two in the first on a Preston Tucker home run, and one in the third on an Erik Castro RBI single. The two runs in the fifth came as Max Stassi (2x4) scored on a fielding error and a Jonathan Meyer (SB) drove in Domingo Santana (SB) with an RBI single, in an inning that featured three wild pitches. Ronald Torreyes was two-for-three and scored two runs.

Lancaster over Lake Elsinore 26-5 [Why I love the minors, Part II]

Lancaster JetHawks ‏@JetHawks
JetHawks beat the Storm tonight with 26 runs, 21 hits, 3 HR, 3 2B, 2 3B, 13 BB, 5 HBP, (only) 2 SO and a partridge in a pear tree.

Yeah, you read that right. It was 6-0 through three innings when I went to bed and starter Brady Rodgers had things well in hand. Chris Epps had doubled in two and Andrew Aplin singled in two in the second, and the 'Hawks scored two more in the third, one of them coming off Epps' second double of the night.

And then I wake up this morning and see a final of 26-5! What did I miss? Rodgers gave up a three-run homer in the fourth, the only blemish in an otherwise stellar performance (7IP 5H 1BB 7SO) and the 'Hawks countered with two in the bottom of the frame on an M.P. Cokinos home run, and another in the fifth as Joe Sclafani tripled and came in on an Epps sac fly. Up 9 to 3 after five.

And then the explosion came as the 'Hawks scored 17 more runs over the next three innings. In the sixth, it was RBI singles from Brandon Meredith, Sclafani and Delino DeShields and a bases-loaded walk from M.P. Cokinos. In the seventh, 12 men came to the plate starting with a lead-off double from Tyler Heineman who later scored a three-run home run in the inning. There were RBI singles from Aplin and Cokinos in the frame as well, but Lake Elsinore definitely helped the 'Hawks cause with two errors, a wild pitch and a hit batter. And it was more of the same in the eighth - hit batter, walk, walk, Aplin sac fly, fly out, hit batter, Heineman grand slam, hit batter, fly out. Phew! Lake Elsinore did come back in the top of the ninth to score two runs off Tyson Perez (2IP 4H 2R 1SO), but that's only because there was no mercy rule in effect.

Jesse Wierzbicki was one-for-five with a walk and scored two runs in his Lancaster debut. Nolan Fontana only had one hit, but walked five times and stole two bases. For the full boxscore, go here. Please. Enjoy.

As a side note, two players and three members of the coaching staff will be inducted into the Lancaster Hall of Fame before tonight's game. Jose Altuve was the 100th former JetHawk to reach the big leagues, only two months after leaving Lancaster. Carlos Gonzalez played for Lancaster in 2006 as a member of the Diamondbacks organization and is one of the most successful former JetHawks currently playing. Finally, Manager Rodney Linares, Hitting Coach Darryl Robinson and Pitching Coach Don Alexander are being honored for bringing Lancaster their first California League Championship in 2012, a feat we all hope they can repeat.

Quad Cities over Peoria 5-3 in 7 innings (Game 1)
Lance McCullers got his sixth win of the season as he gave up three runs (two earned) on seven hits and two walks while striking out seven over six innings. Jordan Jankowski pitched the seventh for his fourth save. Quad Cities got on the board in the second on Rio Ruiz' (2x3) eighth home run of the season and added on three in the fifth on a Teoscar Hernandez (2x4 2RBI R) RBI triple and RBI singles from Danry Vasquez and Dan Gulbransen. Hernandez drove in the final run with a single in the sixth.

Quad Cities over Peoria 2-1 in 7 innings (Game 2)
Vincent Velasquez cruised to his eighth win of the season, striking out seven batters in six innings and allowing only one run on three hits. Juan Minaya pitched the seventh inning to earn his sixth save. One run came across in the third as Austin Elkins tripled and was driven in by a Danry Vasquez single, with the second coming in the sixth as Dan Gulbransen drove in Carlos Correa on back-to-back doubles. Rio Ruiz also doubled in the game.

State College over Tri-City 4-1
The ValleyCats are officially in a slump, having now lost seven in a row, and have now dropped into a tie for first place in their division with Lowell. The 'Cats scored in the first as Tony Kemp tripled and was driven in by Jack Mayfield, but only collected five hits the rest of the way, four singles and a Mike Martinez double. Tanner Bushue kept State College scoreless until the fifth inning when he allowed three runs and was charged with the loss. Patrick Christensen pitched a perfect sixth and was followed by Adrian Houser who allowed one final run on three hits in his two innings of work.

Greeneville at Bristol - Postponed due to rain

GCL Pirates over GCL Astros 5-0
Austin Nicely is getting stretched out slowly and put up four scoreless innings today - two hits, one walk, two strikeouts. Erick Gonzalez allowed one run over the next two and a third, with Jorge Perez finishing off the seventh without incident. The eighth did not go so well. Devonte German, in his professional debut, allowed four runs on two hits and three walks in only two-thirds of an inning. The runs came on a bases-clearing triple and a wild pitch. Reymin Guduan came in to get the final out of the inning. The Astros got some hits, including two doubles from Jacob Nottingham and a triple from Mesac Laguna, but just couldn't string enough hits together. Ydarqui Marte doubled in the game as well.

DSL Astros over DSL Rays 4-2
Edwin Villarroel threw the first five and two-thirds innings and allowed the only Rays runs via a two-run home run in the fourth. Juan Hernandez and Starlyng Sanchez took it the rest of the way with scoreless outings. The Astros put up two in the third on a Jarico Reynoso RBI single and a Kristian Trompiz (2x4 2-2B) RBI double and two more in the fourth on a two-run Marlon Avea home run. Jean Estrella was two-for-three and is hitting .313/.395/.347 for the season and .378/.452/.432 in his last 10 games.

Player of the Day: Three-for-four with a double, two home runs, two walks, seven RBI and five runs scored? Yeah, that's going to be hard to top! Tyler Heineman is the man ... and then some.

Pitcher of the Day: I'm going to go with Vincent Velasquez. Velasquez is having a very nice run, going 4-2 with a 2.06 ERA and a 0.896 WHIP in his last ten games.