Saturday Pebble Report:

Colorado Springs: L 5-6

By the talk coming from the front office, Kip Wells seems guaranteed a prominent spot on the Rockies roster after the All-Star break, so perhaps he could be forgiven for not pitching as if he worries about giving up AAA runs. Wells lasted just four and a third innings in yesterday's start, gave up six runs on nine hits and three walks, and saw Colorado Springs ERA rise to 8.84. After Thursday's game thread got out of hand, I'd appreciate it if the befuddlement with the team for this -and the initial move to sign Wells in the first place- not careen overboard, but I'll understand expressions of displeasure as they would be context appropriate here.

The SKy Sox offense did all it could do come back, but without the potent AAA force in the lineup that is Jayson Nix, they fell just short after Ian Stewart's solo shot in the ninth inning.

Tulsa: W 12-0

Jeff Kindel (a homerun and double) and Corey Wimberly (three hits, two SB's) had good nights offensively, but the story of this game was Chaz Roe's complete game shutout, limiting Arkansas to three hits and a walk. Looking at the Texas League leaderboards in WHIP, you'll note that Roe is now the second best starter to the Cardinals Jesse Todd, who started the TL All-Star Game. Roe is doing it somewhat with smoke and mirrors in that his peripheral stats indicate he shouldn't be expected to be quite this good, but he's also relatively young for the league (21 years old where the average pitcher is 24) and is oddly succeeding quickly in a jump that most pitchers with those kind of secondary stats struggle with. Those latter points are signs that the quality and movement of Roe's offerings are better than typical pitchers with the same repertoire. I should add the caveat, however, that taking a look at Roe just after his best start of the season when he only has had seven to begin with reeks of selection bias, and yesterday's start skews his numbers into more positive light than where they probably really stand. Still, it was an extremely encouraging outing and I hope to see more like it.

Casey Weathers was interviewed by Adam Loberstein at Project Prospect and answered questions about the opportunity to play in the Futures Game and possibly the Olympics, and the opportunities the Rockies have given him among others.

Modesto: W 2-1

Jhoulys Chacin and Anthony Jackson, with a little help from Daniel Mayora, Will Harris and Andrew Johnston, pretty much manufactured the win for the Nuts last night themselves. Chacin pitched seven innings, allowing just four hits and three walks and he struck out six. Two of the four hits were line drives in the second to score the one run off of him, but the other two were groundballs through holes in the infield, and in all Chacin had a 12-6 rate of GB-FB of balls put into play. He's been consistently around that 2-1 ratio all season, which would put him in the Brandon Webb range  if he were able to continue to be so successful at the MLB level.

Jackson tripled and scored on a Mayora groundout to lead off the game in the first. A couple of innings later, he singled, stole second and advanced to third on a throwing error and scored on Mayora's single. Chacin, Harris and Johnston then held the lead from there for the win.

Asheville: L 2-3

Robinson Fabian was wild but somehow came up with his third straight quality start anyway, however the Tourists offense couldn't quite get him the runs needed for a victory in the ten inning loss. Fabian pitched seven innings and gave up three hits, four walks and struck out six, he also hit two batters but limited the damage to a pair of runs. Edgmer Escalona came on in relief and held Lake County scoreless through the eighth and ninth innings before giving up a lead-off and walk-off homerun in the bottom of the tenth. Helder Velazquez had three hits and scored both Tourists runs. I know somebody asked about Everth Cabrera's injury the other day, as soon as I know more I'll pass along the info.

Tri-City: W 12-4

Jordan Pacheco had his best game as a Dust Devil to date, with two triples, a double, five RBI, and  he also gunned down the lone runner who tried to steal against him on defense. Parker Frazier went to 3-0, allowing three runs in six innings and struck out five. Leonardo Reyes and Rhadames Nazario each also had a pair of hits and scored twice.

Casper: W 6-1

Nick Valdez had a pair of homeruns and four RBI, and Marco Duarte had a solid seven inning performance, his best start of the season to date, as the Ghosts swept Misoula on the road.