What the Heck, Bobby?: Astros Minor League Recaps

Results for Thursday, May 8, 2014

Oklahoma City 8, Memphis 3

W- David Martinez (4-2)
L- Scott McGregor (0-5)

OKC home runs: Jon Singleton (11, 2-run in 4th)

After getting their winning streak in late morning/early afternoon games snapped, the RedHawks came back to batter the Redbirds, jumping out to a 7-2 lead after the 4th inning.

Everyone in the lineup had a hit except for Robbie Grossman, who walked, scored a run, and stole a base (3) despite going 0-4. The steal (and eventually, the run) occurred in the 1st inning; he ended up on 3rd because the throw from Memphis catcher Ed Easley was errant. Grossman would score the first RedHawks run on a wild pitch from Scott McGregor, which also doubled as a walk to Kiké Hernandez. In the 2nd, OKC got a pair of RBI singles from Erik Castro and Jon Singleton, and Domingo Santana cracked a 2-run double. Singleton, who finished 3-5 with a couple of runs scored, added a 2-run blast (11) in the 4th. His 11 home runs are 2nd in the Minors to Arlington's Joey Gallo, who has 12 in Class A Advanced. Andy Simunic drove in the final RedHawks run of the evening on an RBI single in the 7th. Hernandez hit a double and scored twice.

David Martinez went 5 innings and allowed 3 runs on 6 hits, walked 3, and struck out 2. Rhiner Cruz allowed a hit and fanned 1 over 2 scoreless. Kevin Chapman allowed a single to Stephen Piscotty to lead off the 8th, but struck out Scott Moore and induced an inning-ending double play from Joey Butler. Jason Stoffel walked Pete Kozma to begin the 9th, but promptly erased him from the bases by getting Easley to GIDP, and Luis Mateo grounded out to Singleton to end it.

In the series finale, Bobby Doran (0-2, 6.83) will take on Boone Whiting (0-4, 5.06) at 7:05.

Frisco 5, Corpus Christi 3

W- Keone Kela (1-0)
L- Luis Cruz (3-3)
S- Phil Klein (1)

Corpus was done in by a 4-run bottom of the 3rd after they left the bases loaded in the top of the inning.

Luis Cruz pitched 4 innings and gave up 4 runs on 7 hits (3-run homer), walked 1, and struck out 3. Jordan Jankowski tagged in for 3 innings and allowed a run on 3 hits, walked 1, and fanned 3. Andrew Robinson worked around a single and a walk to throw a scoreless 8th, striking out 1.

M.P. Cokinos finished 2-3 and put the Hooks on the board with an RBI single in the 4th. Matt Duffy was 1-5 with an RBI double in the 5th and a sac fly in the 9th. Nolan Fontana and Andrew Aplin joined Cokinos in the 2-hit club. Both of them drew a walk; Aplin scored a run.

Kyle Smith (0-1, 10.80 with Corpus, 4-1, 3.86 season) will take on Alec Asher (2-3, 4.41) in game 2 of this series. First pitch is at 7:05.

Lancaster 3, Lake Elsinore 2

W- Dan Minor (3-1)
L- Cody Hebner (2-1)
S- Tyson Perez (1)

Lancaster home runs: None.

After dropping the opener, the JetHawks took the next 3 games and emerged with the lead in the California League South at the end of the 1st quarter of the season. My night was made when Astros Director of Pro Scouting Kevin Goldstein, who was making a guest appearance in the 6th and 7th innings, plugged Hello Panda cookies. If I'm not mistaken, it's a season-long promotion. Oh great, I feel like getting some. Try the strawberry ones, they're marvelous.

Um... sorry for the sidebar. As for the game, in the words of Morgan Ensberg, Tony Kemp is a Really Good Player. He had a perfect night at the plate, going 4-4 with a double to begin the game, an RBI single in the 7th, and scored 2 of the 3 JetHawks runs. Kemp's .448 on-base percentage leads the California League and is the 5th-best mark in Class A Advanced.

Teoscar Hernandez is now on a 7-game hitting streak, and he's posted multiple hits in 4 of his last 5 contests, not 4 straight as I originally tweeted last night. He went 3-4 with an RBI double in the 3rd. Carlos Correa kicked things off with an RBI single in the 1st and added a steal (6).

Mike Hauschild had a solid outing, as he allowed 2 runs on 5 hits, walked 1, and struck out 1 in 5 innings. He also recorded 8 groundball outs, which is something he's rather adept at doing. Dan Minor, ever since that nightmare outing in which he gave up 5 runs (4 earned) while only getting 1 out on April 18, has now thrown 8.1 scoreless innings over 6 appearances. He got the victory as he allowed a hit, walked 2, and struck out 2 over 2 scoreless. Tyson Perez finished the final 2 innings and gave up a hit, walked 1, and fanned 4.

The JetHawks will be spending the weekend in beautiful Adelanto, where they'll take on High Desert in a 3-game set. Vince Velasquez (4-0, 2.88) will take on Scott DeCecco (1-2, 6.12) at 7:05 Pacific. Velasquez will face the Mavericks for the 3rd time this season; conversely, this is the 3rd time that the JetHawks will see DeCecco on the mound.

Quad Cities 6, Beloit 5

W- Zach Morton (2-1)
L- Stuart Pudenz (0-3)
S- Andrew Walter (3)

QC home runs: None.

The River Bandits rallied from a couple of 3-run deficits (down 3-0 after 4 innings and 5-2 after 7.5) and finally completed the comeback with 4 in the bottom of the 8th.

Michael Feliz, who was activated from the DL prior to this game, started off with 2 scoreless, allowing a hit, walking 1, and striking out 2. Pat Christensen went 2 innings and allowed 3 runs (all in the 4th) on 3 hits, walked 1, and struck out 1. Gonzalo Sañudo was next up; he went 2.2 innings and allowed a run (inherited runner charged to him) on 2 hits, walked 2 (!!!!!!, but 1 was intentional), and struck out 2. Zach Morton pitched 1.1 innings and allowed a run (his own; he allowed 1 of the 2 he inherited from Sañudo to score in the 7th) on 3 hits and struck out 1. Andrew Walter finished it off, striking out 1 in a 1-2-3 9th.

Brett Phillips tripled to lead off the 5th for QC and scored on a groundout by Chan-Jong Moon. Conrad Gregor began the 6th with a double and would come home on Ronnie Mitchell's single.

The first 3 batters in the bottom of the 8th reached: Jack Mayfield singled, Gregor walked, and Tyler White drove in Mayfield with a single. They both advanced on a sac bunt from Mitchell, and then Brian Holberton hit a sac fly to score Gregor. Jobduan Morales tied the game at 5 with an RBI double, and Phillips gave the Banditos the lead with an RBI double of his own. White finished 2-4; it's his 3rd consecutive multi-hit game. Phillips and Mayfield also had 2 hits each. Moon had a stolen base (9).

The middle game of this series features TBA (?-?, ?.??) for the River Bandits going up against Chris Lamb (0-0, 2.25). First pitch is at 7:00.

Three Stars: Position Players

3.