Astros Minor League Recaps

Results for Saturday, May 16, 2015

I believe that the 43 innings on Saturday is the high-water mark in terms of innings played in the Astros system this season.

Fresno 5, El Paso 2

W- Richard Rodriguez (3-0)
L- Nick Vincent (1-1)
S- Jordan Jankowski (1)

Fresno home runs: Domingo Santana (8, solo in 6th)

The Grizz used a 3-run 7th to take the opener of the 2nd leg of their roadtrip.

Domingo's homer in the 6th put them on the board and tied the game at 1. With runners on the corners and 2 outs, Jon Singleton hit a ball back to El Paso pitcher Chris Rearick, who wound up botching the play, and as a result, Robbie Grossman and Carlos Correa scored, giving the Grizzlies a 3-1 lead. One batter later, Matt Duffy ripped an RBI double, one of his 2 hits on the evening.

Mr. Correa has recorded a hit in each of his first 5 games at the AAA level; this was his 2nd consecutive multi-hit effort as he finished 3-5 with 2 doubles, one of which drove in a run in the 9th inning, and a stolen base, his first in AAA and 16th of the season. Unfortunately, his perfect record on stolen base attempts is no more after he was caught stealing 3rd after his RBI double. Domingo and Alex Presley both finished 2-4.

Tommy Shirley allowed a run (well, had an inherited runner charged to him) on 2 hits, walked 3, and struck out 8 over 4.2 innings. Richard Rodriguez was nails, although he did allow one of the runners he inherited from Shirley in a bases-loaded situation to score. He allowed a hit and struck out 2 over 2.1 innings. Darin Downs worked around a hit batter to throw a scoreless 8th, but was taken deep by Brett Wallace to begin the bottom of the 9th and then gave up a single after getting the first out of the inning. Jordan Jankowski came on and finished it off, striking out Rocky Gale for out #2 and getting Ramiro Peña to fly out to end it.

Game 2 of this series is at 1:05 Mountain. Dan Straily will take on Jason Lane.

Corpus Christi 15, Frisco 14 in 12 innings

W- Travis Ballew (3-1)
L- Cody Ege (0-1)
S- Jandel Gustave (5)

CC home runs: Tyler White (2, 2-run in 6th)

29 runs, 40 hits, 2 errors, 4 hours, 29 minutes. All of that adds up to a Hooks series win as they withstood 4 Frisco home runs.

Um.... where do I even start? Through 6 innings, the difference was a 2-run 3rd inning for the Roughriders. Both teams traded 2 in the 1st, 1 in the 2nd, 2 in the 5th, and 6 in the 6th. At that point, the Hooks trailed 13-11.

Let me try something different here...

1st inning: Jio Mier RBI double, Andrew Aplin RBI triple
2nd inning: Leo Heras scored on a passed ball.
5th inning: Conrad Gregor RBI groundout, Telvin Nash RBI single
6th inning: Teoscar Hernandez and Jio Mier RBI singles, Tyler White 2-run homer (2), Andrew Aplin 2-run triple
7th inning: Tony Kemp RBI double
8th inning: Conrad Gregor RBI single ties the game at 13.

Everyone in the lineup had a hit. Chan-Jong Moon, who entered the game as a substitution following Tony Kemp's ejection, did not appear at the plate. The 23 hits is one shy of a Hooks record. Aplin led the way by finishing 4-5 with his 2 triples and 3 runs scored. Leo Heras also finished 4-5; he scored 3 runs and stole his 6th base of the season. Jio (2 RBI singles, 4 R, SB [3]), Kemp (2B, RBI, R; ejected in 11th), and White (2B, 2-R HR [2]. 2 R) had 3 hits apiece.

Kyle Westwood went 5 innings and allowed 7 runs on 10 hits (solo and 2 2-run homers) and struck out 2. Angel Báez was the first man out, but he failed to record an out in the 6th. He allowed 4 runs (1 inherited runner charged to him) on 2 hits (3-run homer) and walked 2. Juan Minaya got credit for the 6th inning; he allowed 2 runs of his own on 3 hits, walked 1, and struck out 1. Dan Minor was next, and he ended up restoring some order to this game as he threw 2 scoreless, allowing a hit, walking 2, and striking out 1. Travis Ballew struck out 3 over 3 perfect frames. Jandel Gustave got himself in a bit of a jam in the 12th as he attempted to nail down the save; the Roughriders got 1 off of him in the inning to make it a 1-run game. However, he got Joey Gallo to ground into a force out to end the game. Gustave allowed a run on an RBI single and walked 2.

The Hooks will look to sweep the series as Josh Hader faces Jose Leclerc at 4:05.

Inland Empire 3, Lancaster 2

W- Trevor Foss (1-0)
L- Evan Grills (1-4)

Lancaster home runs: Jose Fernandez (3, solo in 7th)

Ugh. Sadly, the 66ers got to Evan Grills in the 9th and walked off with the win. That's the 3rd straight loss for the JetHawks, and all of them have been by 1 run. Actually, their last 4 losses have been by 1 run.

Jose Fernandez scored both Lancaster runs; he tripled to lead off the 5th inning and trotted home with the game's first run on a Brett Phillips double. He drove himself in with his 3rd home run of the season, which led off the top of the 7th inning. Those were his 2 hits; Chase McDonald and Brett Phillips also had 2-hit nights. Danry Vásquez drew a walk to lead off the 4th and ended up stealing his way to 3rd, but he was stranded there. Danry now has 6 swipes. Phillips also stole his 4th base of the season, while James Ramsay stole his 3rd.

Bryan Radziewski allowed 4 hits, walked 3, and struck out 3 over 5 shutout innings. Evan Grills cruised through 3 innings; prior to the 9th, the only baserunner against him reached on an error in the 7th. But..... the wheels fell off for him in the 9th as he allowed a walk-off bases-clearing double with 1 out. Grills allowed 2 singles to the first 2 batters he faced in the 9th, and the 1 walk he issued also came in the 9th. That walk came after he got Kody Eaves, a product of Pasadena Memorial High School, to pop out for the first out. And then.... the double happened. Grills struck out 3 in 3.1 innings.

Too long, didn't read: Baseball is unbelivably cruel.

In game 3 of this series, Troy Scribner takes on Jordan Kipper. First pitch is at 2:05 Pacific.

Cedar Rapids 4, Quad Cities 3 in 13 innings

W- Randy LeBlanc (3-0)
L- Jordan Mills (0-1)

QC home runs: None.

All good things must come to an end, part 2: The River Bandits saw their 10-game road winning streak go by the wayside.

Jamie Ritchie went 2-5, and his 2-run double put the Banditos on the board in the 3rd and gave them a 2-1 lead. Kristian Trompiz drove in the other Quad Cities run with an RBI triple in the 7th. Thomas Lindauer and Jake Nottingham both doubled, both scored a run, and they both finished with 2 hits.

Austin Chrismon allowed 3 runs on 6 hits and walked 1 over 5 innings. Dan Mengden allowed 3 hits, walked 1, and struck out 3 over 4 scoreless; his scoreless streak now stands at 25 innings. Reymin Guduan threw 3 more scoreless innings, allowing a hit and walking 1. The Kernels got the winning run off of Jordan Mills on an RBI single with 1 out in the 13th. Mills allowed a double to lead off the inning.

Josh James will face Jared Wilson in the series finale. First pitch is at 2:05.