Sunday Pebble Report: Strong pitching performances throughout the organization highlight the day

Colorado Springs: W 3-2 (51-38, 1st place)

The Sky Sox increased their lead over Salt Lake to 5.5 games behind Adam Eaton, who went 7 innings and allowed 2 runs on 6 hits and struck out 4. However, he didn't get the win because it took the Sky Sox an extra inning to breakthrough. In the top of the 10th, Christian Colonel hit a two-out pop fly single to right field to score Mike McCoy. After that, Matt Wilhite was able to close the door on the Bees. The bullpen was lights out, going three scoreless innings without allowing a baserunner. Manny Corpas (1 IP, 1 K) and Ryan Speier (0.2 IP, 2 K's) were a major part of that success. Offensively, Mark Bellhorn and Jon Herrera each picked up two hits, and every other starter for the short-handed Sky Sox (who are without Eric Young Jr., who is at the Futures Game in St. Louis) had one hit, except for Paul Phillips, who was 0-for-4.

Tulsa: W 4-1 (45-39; 7-7 second half, 3rd place)

Samuel Deduno quietly (at least, more so than Esmil Rogers) continued to build on a very good season, as he went 6 innings and allowed a run on just three hits and struck out 7. Matthew Reynolds, who was just promoted from Modesto, made his debut for the Drillers and allowed a hit and a walk, but notched a strikeout and did not allow a run. Andrew Johnston picked up his 23rd save. Anthony Jackson, Darin Holcomb, and Michael McKenry each threw out two hits for Tulsa.

Modesto: L 1-0 (5-12 second half, 4th place)

Despite holding High Desert to just four hits, the Nuts were unable to breakthrough for any offense. Perhaps the difference was the fact that Modesto was unable to draw any walks, but issued six of their own. Kenneth Durst allowed six baserunners (3 hits, 3 walks) and a run in 6.1 innings of work in a rare decent outing, and the bullpen - Austin Chambliss and Sean Jarrett - did their jobs but the Nuts offense just wasn't able to notch key hits. Charlie Blackmon was 3-for-4 with a couple of doubles and Matt Repec had two hits, but that was about it.

Asheville: W 5-2 (11-5 second half, 1st place)

The Tourists continue to play good baseball, this time in a win over Augusta. Jonnathan Aristil went 6 solid innings and allowed 2 runs on 6 hits and struck out 5, and earned his first victory of the season. Kurt Yacko pitched two scoreless innings and struck out 3 batters, and Adam Jorgenson tossed a scoreless ninth for his 17th save. David Christensen hit his 14th home run of the season, while Thomas Field hit his first.

Tri-City: W 4-1 (15-7, 1st place)

Matt Baugh pitched 5 scoreless innings and struck out 6 batters, but did not get the victory due to the Dust Devils' inability to string some hits together until the seventh inning, when they tacked on three runs. Tim Wheeler, Orlando Sandoval, Jose Gonzalez, and Joey Wong each had two hits. Rod Scurry got into some trouble during his three innings of work, but a couple of key strikeouts helped him escape without too much damage being done. Charles Ruiz notched his 4th save with a scoreless ninth.

Casper: W 3-1 (4-12, last place)

20-year old Chris Balcom-Miller increased his scoreless innings streak to 12 to start the season, as he tossed 5 innings of no-hit ball, while allowing just one walk and striking out 5. It's obviously a small sample size, but Balcom-Miller has allowed just four hits and two walks in those 12 innings - good for a 0.50 WHIP. Although he lost the no-hitter and the shutout, Clint Tilford still pitched well as he allowed a run on three hits in 4 innings, while striking out two. Eliezer Mesa picked up three hits to raise his average to .317; Avery Barnes and Jeffery Squier added two hits apiece for the Ghosts.