What the Heck, Bobby?: Astros Minor League Recaps

Results for Friday, May 19, 2017

Welcome to the Carolina League, Jorge Alcala!

Fresno 10, Memphis 2

W- Kevin Comer (1-0)
L- Luke Weaver (3-1)

Fresno home runs: D.J. Fisher (10, solo in 7th)

Memphis starter Luke Weaver allowed just one run in his four starts prior to this contest. The Grizzlies tagged him for 6 runs in the first two frames; 4 of those runs were earned. Fresno scored 4 more in the 7th for good measure as they took game 1 from the Redbirds.

Mike Hauschild went 4.1 innings and allowed 2 runs on 8 hits, walked 5, and struck out 3. The bullpen picked him up and finished this one off with 4.2 scoreless innings.

Kevin Comer was first; he got Hauschild out of a bases-loaded predicament in the 5th and went on to throw 1.2 perfect frames, striking out 2. Reymin Guduan followed with 2 innings, allowing 3 hits, walking 1, and striking out 3. Aaron West worked around a hit to finish the game, striking out 1 in the 9th.

D.J. Fisher and Teoscar Hernandez hit one-out singles in the 1st inning to bring up Colin Moran, who put the Grizz on the board with an RBI single. Teoscar wound up scoring on a wild pitch, and Tyler White, who was at the plate at the time, wound up ripping an RBI double. Reid Brignac and Andrew Aplin led off the 2nd with singles; Brignac eventually scored on a Tony Kemp groundout. Fisher reached on a fielder's choice and Teoscar singled and advanced to 2nd on the play. They both scored on an error that allowed Moran to reach; he ended up moving to 3rd on another error on the play.

Fisher led off the 7th with a homer. The Grizzlies then got an RBI single from A.J. Reed, an RBI double from Juan Centeno, and a run-scoring groundout from Brignac. Centeno extended his hitting streak to 16 games with that two-bagger. Fisher (solo HR, 3 R), Teoscar (RBI, 2 R), Moran (RBI, 2 R), Reed (2B, RBI, R), and Andrew Aplin all finished with two hits on the evening. Fisher is the first man in the system to hit 10 home runs this year.

Francis Martes will go up against Marco Gonzales in game 2 of this series. First pitch is at 7:05 Pacific.

Corpus Christi 2, Frisco 1 in 10 innings

W- Josh James (3-1)
L- Joe Filomeno (0-2)
S- Andrew Thome (2, 3 season)

CC home runs: Jon Singleton (8, solo in 2nd), Antonio Nuñez (2, solo in 10th)

Nine innings wasn't enough to decide the outcome of this game, but the Hooks only needed one extra inning to do just that.

The two solo shots you see above were the Hooks' only scoring plays of the game. Tony Nuñez entered this season with zero career home runs; he now has two after sending one out in the first extra frame to put Corpus in front. Drew Ferguson went 2-4 with a stolen base (9); he is now on a 16-game hitting streak. He appeared as a pinch-runner on May 11 but did not have a plate appearance, so his streak is technically still active.

Rogelio Armenteros issued a walk and struck out 5 in 5 shutout innings. Josh James tagged in for 4 innings and allowed an unearned run on a wild pitch, 5 hits, walked 1, and struck out 1. Andrew Thome earned the save with a 1-2-3 10th; he got two groundball outs and struck out Drew Vettleson to end the game.

Cy Sneed gets the call in game 2. He'll face Ariel Jurado at 7:05.

Buies Creek 7, Down East 1

W- Jorge Alcala (1-0, 3-0 season)
L- Wes Benjamin (2-4)
S- Sebastian Kessay (1)

BC home runs: Spencer Johnson (1, 4 season; 3-run in 5th), Ryne Birk (3, 2-run in 7th)

Make it 2-0 for the Astros system over the Rangers on Friday night.

The Carolina Stros broke a 0-0 game wide open by scoring 4 runs in the 5th inning. Three of those runs came off the bat of one Spencer Johnson, who connected for his first Carolina League home run.

Before Johnson launched that 3-run homer off Wes Benjamin, Ryne Birk opened the scoring with a sac fly. Jason Martin went 3-4 with a sac fly in the 6th, and Birk capped off the scoring with a 2-run blast in the 7th. Johnson and Myles Straw both finished 2-4. After a terrible slump that saw his average drop to .218 on May 10, Birk has responded with hits in 7 of his last 8 games.

Jorge Alcala was a winner in his first Carolina League start; he went 6 innings, and the one run he allowed came on a solo homer hit by Josh Altmann in the 6th. Alcala allowed 2 other hits, walked 3, and fanned 6. Sebastian Kessay struck out 2 over 3 perfect frames to finish off the game.

Yoanys Quiala will take on Richelson Peña in game 2 of this series. First pitch is at 6:00 Eastern.

Kane County 5, Quad Cities 0

W- Jon Duplantier (4-0)
L- Enoli Paredes (0-3)
S- Jake Winston (1)

QC home runs: None.

The Banditos are not enjoying their time in Chicago's suburbs... they were blanked for the second consecutive night.

Rodrigo Ayarza went 2-4 and was the only player on either side to finish with a multi-hit game. Ayarza also extended his hitting streak to 8 games. Stephen Wrenn tripled, which was Quad Cities' only extra-base hit of the evening.

Enoli Paredes went 4.1 innings and allowed a run on 3 hits, walked 4, and struck out 3. Ronel Blanco extracted him from a bases-loaded jam in the 5th and then got victimized by some not-good defense in the 7th; Quad Cities committed 3 errors in the bottom of the 7th which led to 4 runs, all of which were unearned. Blanco went 2.2 innings and allowed 4 hits, walked 1, and struck out 1. Salvador Montaño threw a 1-2-3 8th.

Ryan Hartman gets the start in game 3. First pitch is at 6:30.

Friday's Stars

All photos are from Jayne unless stated otherwise.