Astros Farm Report: And That's a Wrap

What. A. Game.

Ours. pic.twitter.com/q8adiXRNk2

— QC River Bandits (@QCRiverBandits) September 17, 2017

Unbelievable win by Quad Cities last night. After (improbably) winning the first two games of the five game series on the road, the team came home to sweep the series in front of a large, enthusiastic crowd. Jake Levy, voice of the Bandits, noted that the crowd seemed to get to Fort Wayne starter Adrian Morejon, one of San Diego's top prospects, as he and the next two Fort Wayne pitchers saw the Bandits take a 12-0 lead by the end of the fifth inning. Ronel Blanco, who got the start for Quad Cities, was nothing short of brilliant. He exited the game after 6.2 innings, only because he had reached his pitch count. But before he left, he struck out one last batter for a career high of 10 strikeouts in a game to go with four hits, zero walks and zero runs. He got a huge ovation from the crowd and a tip of his cap as he left the field only made the ovation bigger. The Tin Caps managed to score two runs during an abbreviated outing by Yohan Ramirez to make it 12-2, but Lucas Williams came in for the final two innings and shut the door on Fort Wayne, allowing only one hit and striking out one. All of the Quad Cities starters collected either a hit or a walk in the game, but Chuckie Robinson was an overachiever, going 4-for-5 with a double, home run, three RBI and four runs scored. Troy Sieber, Abraham Toro and Kristian Trompiz each drove in a pair, and Toro and Trompiz each collected two hits. Chas McCormick and Colin Moran both scored twice and had two hits each as well. The Bandits collected a total of 13 hits and 8 walks so there was more than enough offense to go around.

.@QCRiverBandits MWL Champs! pic.twitter.com/mH8ucZTU5i

— QCBanditPhotog (@QCBanditPhotog) September 17, 2017

With a pop out to Kristian Trompiz as the final out of the game, the team rushed the field to celebrate and before the Quad Cities video feed went quiet, I saw two of the Latin players start dancing during the celebration. And thus ended a crazy, weird, sometimes wonderful, sometimes awful season of Astros minor league baseball for me. It started with me stressed and underappreciated at a job I didn't much care for with barely the time or energy to write blog posts to being unemployed and re-energized and enjoying minor league baseball more than I have since my early days of writing about it. I fell in love with that Quad Cities team in July (although there have been a few graduations and a few substitutions since then), and when Luis Payano and Marcos Almonte started dancing to celebrate the win, I started laughing and crying and wanting to dance with them.

There will be much more offseason coverage to come, including the annual WTHB Awards presentation coming soon, so check back often. Thanks for reading my little slice of the internet.