What the Heck, Bobby?: 2018 Astros Minor League Recaps

Results for Monday, April 23, 2018

Reno 3, Fresno 2

W- Jake Barrett (1-0)
L- Brendan McCurry (0-1)
S- Jimmie Sherfy (2)

Fresno home runs: Tim Federowicz (2, 2-run in 6th)

The Grizzlies bullpen faltered late.

After both teams combined to post ten zeroes on the scoreboard, Tim Federowicz put a crooked number up with a two-run homer in the 6th, which ended up being Fresno's only scoring play of the afternoon. Federowicz and A.J. Reed both finished with two hits in this game.

Trent Thornton dominated as he allowed just two hits and struck out nine over six shutout innings. At one point, he struck out eight consecutive batters, which tied a Pacific Coast League record. The nine strikeouts also ties a career high; he reached that mark twice with Lancaster during the 2016 season. The bullpen couldn't seal the deal for him, unfortunately. Matt Ramsey allowed two hits and recorded two outs in the 7th. Buddy Boshers got the last out of the inning with a strikeout. Brendan McCurry got knocked around in the 8th as the Aces scored all three of their runs against him. McCurry allowed three hits and issued a walk.

The Grizzlies are off today as they make their way home. They'll start a five-game series with Tacoma on Wednesday.

Corpus Christi 6, Midland 1

W- Framber Valdez (1-1)
L- Corey Walter (1-2)

CC home runs: None.

Corpus pulled away with some timely late-inning offense.

Framber Valdez rebounded from a tough outing last week by turning in a fine performance. He went 6 innings and the one run he allowed came on a solo homer hit by J.P. Sportman in the 3rd inning. Framber allowed one other hit and struck out 7. Erasmo Pinales allowed two hits, walked one, and struck out four over two scoreless, and Ralph Garza Jr. worked around a hit to throw a scoreless 9th, striking out one.

The Twin Towers helped put Corpus Christi on the board and in the lead in the 4th inning. Yordan Alvarez drew a walk to start things off and he scored the Hooks' first run of the night on Taylor Jones' double. Jones ended up scoring the go-ahead run on an error that allowed Ryne Birk to reach. Myles Straw hit a sac fly in the 7th and the Hooks put it away in the 8th as Birk lashed a two-run triple and scored the final run of the night on a Jamie Ritchie single. Birk and Ritchie finished with two hits apiece.

Ryne Birk has come alive as of late after starting off the season 2-26 at the plate. He's extended his hitting streak to eight games and the last four have been multi-hit efforts.

Josh James will get the start in game 2 of this series. First pitch is at 7:05.

Buies Creek was off

The Carolina Stros will start a three-game series with Down East tonight at 7:00 Eastern.

Quad Cities 3, Kane County 1

W- Carlos Hiraldo (1-0)
L- Breckin Williams (1-1)
S- Carlos Sanabria (1)

QC home runs: None.

The Banditos have their first winning streak of 2018 as they got a couple of runs in the 7th to break a 1-1 tie.

Luis Garcia went 4.1 innings in his first start, allowing two hits, walking one, and striking out 7. Carlos Hiraldo tagged in for 3.2 innings and allowed an unearned run on 2 hits, walked 2, and struck out 3. Carlos Sanabria recorded a strikeout in a 1-2-3 9th to earn the save.

Bryan de la Cruz opened the scoring with an RBI single in the 1st, although he was thrown out to end the inning attempting to stretch his base hit into a double. Jonathan Arauz drew a walk with one out in the 7th and scored the go-ahead run on an Adrian Tovalin triple. Tovalin wound up scoring on an error that allowed Roman Garcia to reach safely. Jake Adams went 2-4 and was the only player on either side to finish with a multi-hit game.

Game 2 of this series starts at noon. Quad Cities' starter is TBA.

Monday's Stars

All photos are from Jayne unless stated otherwise.