Friday Pebble Report:

Colorado Springs: Off

The Sky Sox resume their schedule after the all star break tonight.

Tulsa: L 7-2

Chaz Roe went from his best start of the season to one of his worst, lasting just five innings and giving up seven runs on nine hits and two walks. Roe got bitten by the long ball bug that's plagued most of Tulsa's pitchers this season, giving up four homeruns. Dexter Fowler was the only Driller with two hits, he also walked and drove in one of the runs. Troy Tulowitzki managed just a one for five night with a single. i haven't mentioned Eric Young Jr lately, and that's because he's not been doing much of note in the power or contact departments, which I kind of expected coming off of his wrist injury as power's always the last thing to come back and contact frequently gets out of whack as well. Perhaps I didn't expect him to maintain so much on base value, as he's had a better than .390 OBP in both June and July. He's slightly mitigated that by being a smidgen less than desirable on his stolen base attempts (69%, break even is seen as closer to 75%) but the fact is that while not completely ideal his return hasn't been as discouraging as it could have been.

Modesto: W 6-5

Jhoulys Chacin got a lot of support from the bottom of his lineup as Travis Becktel and Jason Van Kooten combined for five hits, three runs and three RBI. Two of Van Kooten's three hits were doubles and one of Becktel's two hits was a homerun. Michael McKenry also hit a homerun to keep up with Chris Iannetta for the system lead among catchers at ten apiece. Chacin's outing wasn't great, hitting double digits in K's, but also giving up double digit hits, reversing his typical GB/FB rate and giving up four runs, but he didn't walk anybody which is a plus. The K's, hits, plus the GB/FB rate all indicate that he was missing up in the strike zone; he's got to get those pitches back down.

Asheville: L 1-2

Sheng-An Kuo had been ineffective his previous two outings, but last night he was just plain unlucky, as he pitched two outs into the seventh, struck out nine and gave up only three hits and three walks. Still, he took the loss as he gave up two runs on a night he could only afford to give up one thanks to the Tourists offense being unable to figure out Zachary Britton. Everth Cabrera had two of Asheville's six hits and scored their lone run.

Tri-City:  L 4-6

It's apparent that the only two Dust Devils that like playing the Boise Hawks are Bo Bowman and Scott Robinson. Bowman hit a homerun for the third consecutive night and Robinson just missed the same trick as he could only muster a triple. Bobby Paschal came on in relief of Jonathan Aristil in the sixth with a three to two lead and left with the score five to three two outs later. Each team would add one more, but by then the damage had been done and the Dust Devils lost their fourth straight to the Hawks and sixth straight overall. Bowman's going to have to do a lot at higer levels to be considered a prospect, but Robinson's getting close to where he should be in top 30 consderation. He just turned twenty this month but has a .178 ISO in a tricky ball park to hit at (.257 in July) and grades well tools-wise according to scouting reports. His only homeruns this season were at Boise, where they come by much easier than other places in the NWL, so keep that in mind, but he's progressing well for a latter round project pick.

Casper: W 7-3

The Ghosts rode two big innings and the pitching of Marco Duarte to their second straight win. Kane Simmons hit a two run homer in a three run first and also doubled later, while a three run third was puctuated by triples from Eliezer Mesa and Zack Murry. Mesa's triple drove in Mike Zuanich, who had led the inning off with a double of his own, and then scored on Andrew Goff's sac fly, before Murry tripled and scored on a throwing error by the opposing shortstop. Besides Simmons, Murry, Wilin Rosario, Alex Feinberg and James Sims all finished with two hits apiece. Duarte pitched six innings, gave up two runs (four hits, one walk) and struck out eight with a 9/1 GO/AO rate.