Wednesday Pebble Report: Scorching Hot Nuts Win Again, Christian Bergman Pitches 30 Straight Scoreless

AAA Colorado Springs -  L 3-10 (53-63, t-3rd, 13.5 GB)

The Rockies could have used Clayton Mortensen (2011, trade) to replace Juan Nicasio in the big league rotation instead of Kevin Millwood (2011, FA), but Mortensen would have to be pitching somewhere close to decent.  The right-hander allowed 7ER for his second consecutive start, including a first inning grand slam to raise his AAA ERA to 10.95.  He walked five, allowed eight hits and a home run.  Matt Macri (2011, MiLB FA) homered and walked twice, Alan Johnson (2005, undrafted) came on in relief and smacked an RBI double and scored, and Joe Mather (2011, MiLB FA) reached base three times.

 

AA Tulsa - Off Day (21-23, t-2nd, 2.0 GB)

The Drillers had an off day as they travel from Tulsa to Midland, Texas to start a series against the Rock Hounds.  Dan Houston (2008, 7th round) gets the start tonight at 5:30 MDT.

High-A Modesto  W 3-2 (27-18, t-1st)

The Nuts are roasting hot - as Rutledge goes, so does Modesto?  The Nuts' shortstop had a ho-hum two hit game, David Christensen (2006, 2nd round) homered and doubled home a run, and Jared Clark (2009, 12th round) doubled home a run to provide just enough offense for Modesto to sweep High Desert and win for the 17th time in 20 games since July 20.  #21 PuRP Edwar Cabrera (2008, DR) pitched six fine innings, striking out nine, walking two and allowing just one run.  His 184 strikeouts still lead minor league baseball by 14.  Sheng-An Kuo (2007, TW) worked a scoreless frame for the win, and Coty Woods (2009, 33rd round) and Mike Marbry (2007, undrafted) brought the win home.

Low-A Asheville - Off Day (24-19, 3rd, 4.0 GB)

The Tourists had a travel day as they traveled from Asheville to Rome, Georgia to play the Braves.  #28 PuRP Josh Slaats (2010, 5th round) starts the opener of the series tonight at 5:00 MDT.

Short Season-A Tri-City - W 3-0 (10-4, 1st)

The Dust Devils pitching staff doesn't need many runs these days, but leadoff man Brian Humphries (2011, 14th round) made sure they had plenty.  The outfielder hit a solo home run, doubled twice and scored all three runs in the game, on a Tyler Massey (2008, 14th round) groundout and Tim Smalling (2011, 15th round) single.  Tri City has tossed four shutouts in the last seven days, allowing more than three runs just once. Christian Bergman (2010, 24th round) was behind this gem, who extended his scoreless innings streak to 30 with seven scoreless frames.  The right-hander struck out six, walked zero and allowed four hits.  His ERA and FIP are both below three, with a ground ball rate over 50% to boot.

Rookie Casper -  L 0-6 (8-2, 1st)

The Ghosts lost for just the second time since July 29, as the line-up struck out 14 times in a series opener in Idaho Falls.  I'll go ahead and blame the 7 1/2 hour voyage from Casper to Idaho Falls before the game without an off day.  (Never mind the Chukars, who the Ghosts just swept, took that same trip).  Sam Mende (2011, 31st round) extended his hitting streak to ten and Harold Riggins (2011, 7th round) pushed his own to eleven, but there wasn't much else to be excited about.  Reigning Pioneer Pitcher of the Week Raul Fernadez (2008, DR) couldn't make it out of the fifth inning after giving up four runs.   Julian Yan (2009, DR) and Michael Ramirez (2007, VZ) each had two hits.

DSL Rockies - W 7-2  (35-24, 3rd, 3.5 GB)

Jesus Basilio managed to hit one of those rare occurences in the DSL - you might have heard of it - it is called a "home run."   Franmy Pena doubled and tripled, and Jose de la Cruz collected three hits as the Rockies steamrolled the White Sox.  17-year-old Angel Lezama continues to dominate the DSL with seven strong innings.  The right-hander allowed 1 ER on five hits with six strikeouts and zero walks.  He has allowed 2 ER in his last 24 IP, with 15 strikeouts and zero walks in that span.