What the Heck, Bobby?: Astros Minor League Recaps

Results for Thursday, May 15, 2014

Minor league affiliates go 4-0, outscore opponents 24-5. Combined pitching: 38 IP, 21 H, 12 BB, 28 K. #GoodDay
— Kevin Goldstein (@Kevin_Goldstein) May 16, 2014

Oklahoma City 4, Nashville 2

W- Nick Tropeano (2-3)
L- Ariel Peña (2-3)
S- Kevin Chapman (2)

OKC home runs: Erik Castro (1, solo in 5th), Domingo Santana (6, solo in 8th)

The RedHawks took the opener thanks to a tremendous performance on the mound and some rather timely hitting.

Nick Tropeano took a no-hitter into the 6th. He struck out Kevin Mattison to begin the inning, but Mattison managed to reach on a wild pitch. The no-hitter was lost when Eugenio Velez took him deep. That was the only hit and the only runs Trope surrendered in his 6 innings. He walked 2 and struck out 7. 2 of those 7 punchouts came on wild pitches, and the batters both reached 1st safely.

After 8 zeros were posted on the board, Erik Castro opened up the scoring with a 2-out solo shot (1) in the 5th. Max Stassi extended the lead with a 2-run double in the 6th, and after Velez's homer made it 3-2, Domingo Santana provided a little more separation by homering in his 3rd straight game (6). Santana finished 2-3 with 2 runs scored, and Kiké Hernandez joined him in the 2-hit club, going 2-4.

Game 2 of this series has David Martinez taking on Mike Fiers at 7:05.

Corpus Christi 3, San Antonio 2 in 11 innings

W- Tommy Shirley (4-2)
L- Leonel Campos (0-1)
S- Alex Sogard (2)

CC home runs: None.

The Hooks' 3 wins in this series all came in extra innings, totaling 36 frames in all.

Kyle Smith went 6 innings and the lone blemish on his line was a solo homer to Austin Hedges in the 5th. Smith allowed one other hit, walked 2, and struck out 4. Tommy Shirley allowed a run on 4 hits, walked 2, and struck out 6 in 4 innings of work. Things were on the verge of getting a little dicey for Alex Sogard as an error and a walk put 2 men on with nobody out. However, he induced a double play and struck out Yeison Asencio to end the game, stranding the tying run on 3rd.

Corpus got on the board first in the 1st thanks to an RBI single from Leo Heras. After San Antonio got 1 in the 5th and 7th, Matt Duffy tied the game at 2 with an RBI single. He finished 3-5 and is now on a 6-game hitting streak. In 5 of those 6, he's posted multi-hit games. Joe Sclafani wrapped up this series with a 2nd straight 3-hit game; he led off the 11th with a single, advanced to 3rd on René Garcia's sac bunt, and scored the eventual game-winning run on a double from Jio Mier. Sclafani is currently on a 5-game hitting streak, and has a multi-hit game in 4 straight. Nolan Fontana might have went 0-2 with 2 strikeouts, but he did what he does, and that's walk. He drew 3 BBs and scored 2 of the Hooks' 3 runs in this one. Now, he's well off the pace that he set over the last 1.5 years in BBs, but it wouldn't surprise me to see him post some more multi-walk games in the near future.

The Hooks will welcome Midland to Whataburger Field for the weekend and Monday. David Rollins and Brady Rodgers will start the opener against Drew Granier. First pitch is at 7:10.

Lancaster 10, Bakersfield 1

W- Kyle Westwood (2-3)
L- James Allen (2-3)

Lancaster home runs: Danry Vasquez (1, solo in 7th), Roberto Peña (1, 2-run in 3rd), Rio Ruiz (3, 3-run in 3rd)

As the old saying goes, turnabout is fair play. And we saw that in action in this series that saw the JetHawks take 2 of 3. They no-hit the Blaze in the opener, only to get absolutely dominated in the middle game of the series. So, the JetHawks turning the tables again would probably be the only logical outcome. And, they did just that by scoring 9 unanswered after Bakersfield tied the game at 1 in the top of the 3rd inning.

Offensively, everyone had a hit except for Ruben Sosa, who still found a way to get in on the fun. He walked twice, scored twice, and stole 2 bases (9, 11 season).

Tony Kemp led off the bottom of the 1st with a single. He proceeded to steal 2nd (13) and scored on the very same play thanks to 2 Blaze errors. Jordan Scott began the 3rd with a walk and he wouldn't have to wait long to come home; Roberto Peña followed up with a 2-run homer (1) that broke a 1-1 tie. Peña, who also added a double in 4 at-bats, was 2-2 in catching would-be base stealers. Shhh... no one say anything. Let them learn the hard way about trying to run on Roberto Peña.

Ruben Sosa walked and moved to 3rd on a Carlos Correa single. Correa wound up taking 2nd on a throw. And then, Rio Ruiz pretty much opened the floodgates with a 3-run homer (3). The JetHawks got a pair in the 5th on a couple of RBI doubles from Correa and Danry Vásquez. It was big night for Danry, as he went 3-4 with a couple of doubles and capped off the scoring with his 1st homer of the season. Correa was 2-4 with 2 runs scored, and Jordan Scott also scored twice.

Kyle Westwood was outstanding over his 7.2 innings, as he allowed a run on 7 hits and struck out 2. The 2 strikeouts are low, but that's not his game. He induced 15 groundball outs to just 1 flyball out. Mitch Lambson allowed a hit and struck out 2 over the final 1.1 innings.

The JetHawks will now hit the road; their first stop will be in Rancho Cucamonga for 4. It'll be a matchup of Mexicans on the mound, as Gonzalo Sañudo will make his Lancaster debut against the 17-year-old, Julio Urias. First pitch is at 7:05 Pacific.

Quad Cities 7, Kane County 0

W- Adrian Houser (2-1)
L- Duane Underwood (0-1)

QC home runs: Thomas Lindauer (3, grand slam in 3rd)

The River Bandits put up a touchdown and blanked the Cougars in the opener.

The haymaker was Thomas Lindauer's slam, which was part of a 5-run 3rd that more or less removed all doubt as to the outcome. He finished 3-4 and opened up the scoring with an RBI single in the 2nd. The other 2 RBI came on a Ronnie Mitchell bases-loaded walk in the 3rd and a Brett Booth single in the 5th. Booth finished 2-5 with a double and a run scored, and Conrad Gregor was 3-5 with a run scored.

Adrian Houser had another solid start as he threw 5 shutout innings and allowed 3 hits and a walk while striking out 3. Kevin Comer tagged in for 3 scoreless, allowing a hit, walking 3, and striking out 1. Albert Minnis worked around a hit to finish it off.

In game 2, Chris Lee (1-1, 2.89) will face Jen-Ho Tseng (3-0, 2.81). First pitch is at 6:30.

Three Stars: Position Players

3.

Domingo Santana, RF, Oklahoma City

2-3, solo HR (6), 2 R

Roberto Peña, C, Lancaster

2-4, 2B, 2-R HR (1); 2 runners caught stealing in 2 attempts

Photo courtesy of Bryan Green

Danry Vásquez, RF, Lancaster

3-4, 2 2B, solo HR (1), 2 RBI

Thomas Lindauer, SS, Quad Cities

3-4, Grand Slam (3), 5 RBI

Honorable Mentions: Jio Mier (for his go-ahead RBI double in the 11th), Carlos Correa, Matt Duffy, Max Stassi, Brett Booth

Three Stars: Pitchers

Where on earth do I start. Every pitcher that appeared in the system performed well.

4.