Colorado Springs, W 5-3: Mike McCoy hit a sac fly in the top of the ninth to break the 3-3 tie and Christian Colonel had an RBI single to give the Sky Sox a little cushion. In the fourth inning, McCoy hit his fourth homer of the season. Joe Koshansky and Chris Frey each hit a triple.

Greg Reynolds allowed three runs on 10 hits in 6 2/3 innings and struck out nine. Matt Daley allowed the tying run when he put one of the runners he inherited from Reynolds across the plate. Juan Morillo pitched hte last two innings, walked two, and didn't allow a run.

Tulsa, W 5-3: Dexter Fowler and Chris Nelson both went 3-for-5with two RBI, but it was Fowler who had them all go for extra-bases. He had two doubles and a triple. Corey Wimberly was caught stealing twice, but also swiped his 59th base.

Josh Hall allowed three runs in six innings after allowing four hits and walking four. Ryan Mattheus picked up his 17th save.

Modesto, L 6-7: Mike McKenry hit his 18th homer, a three-run shot, in the fourth inning. Victor Ferrante and Angel Cabrera each hit solo homers.

James Burok started the game and allowed two runs in three innings. Jon George, Tommy Baumgardner, and Austin Chambliss (making his first appearance for Modesto this season) held Bakersfield to one run over the next three innings. David Patton allowed four runs in the seventh inning.

Asheville, L 1-3: Everth Cabrera went 2-for-4 with a double, a triple, and his 73rd stolen base. Christian Friedrich allowed one run on four hits and two walks in five innings. The run scored on a first-inning homer. He struck out six.

Tri-City, L 3-5: Parker Frazier allowed five runs (three earned) on eight hits and a walk in six innings.

Casper, L 0-10: Delta Cleary had the only Casper hits last night. They did walk five times, but nothing got done. Ethan Hollingsworth allowed five runs (three earned) in four innings. He walked three and struck out five. Craig Benningson allowed three runs in 1 2/3 innings. Nick Schnaitmann, making his first appearance for Casper, allowed a hit and struck out one in one inning of work. Eric Schaler gave up two runs the next inning.

Colorado Springs, W 21-5: At least some team knows how to score runs, and lots of them. Joe Koshansky hit a three-run homer for his 26th, scored five times, and, oh, he hit for the cycle (again); Mike McCoy had two solo homers, three total hits, and drove in a total of five runs; Christian Colonel had a two-run homer for his ninth of the season and three total hits; Matt Miller had four hits and drove in six runs; Humberto Cota had two RBI; and Sean Barker, Chris Frey, and Adam Melhuse (as a PH) each had an RBI. Doug Bernier and Jeff Dragicevich were the only non-pitchers to not drive in a run. They combined for 24 hits.

Josh Hall allowed one run on seven innings, but Cedrick Bowers allowed four runs in two innings.

Tulsa: No games scheduled.

Modesto, L 6-7: The Nuts led 5-4 entering the top of the ninth, but David Patton allowed an RBI single and a two-run homer to blow the save. Esmil Rogers left after five innings and four earned runs. Chris Malone allowed only one hit over the next three innings.

Kane Simmons and Nelson Robledo combined to drive in three runs in the sixth inning, the latter with two on a double. In the bottom of the ninth, the Nuts attempted a comeback. Nick Haley scored on a Victor Ferrante RBI single (his second of the night), and it appeared Mike McKenry drove in the tying run, but the ball was ruled a double. That stopped Ferrante from scoring. Lino Garcia promptly struck out for teh third and final out.

Asheville, L 3-5: Brian Rike went 3-for-4 with a double and two RBI, but it was David Christensen who flailed four times last night. Robinson Fabian allowed five runs (two earned) over five innings. He struck out five. Matt Reynolds and Ethan Katz threw scoreless innings of relief.

Tri-City, W 12-4: Jonnathan Aristil allowed three runs (one earned) in four innings before giving way to David Parker. He allowed a run in the fifth, but Sean Jarrett for the sixth and seventh innings and struck out four.

Ryan Peisel, hitting ninth, had the biggest hit of the night. As part of a six-run fourth inning, Peisel connected with a ball for a three-run triple. From the Tri-City Herald:

"That triple was big; it's what got us going," said manager Fred Ocasio, who got his 100th win with the Dust Devils. "Of late, (Peisel's) been getting some quality at-bats; they just hadn't been hits."

Charlie Blackmon, who had three hits and stole his 11th base, doubled in Peisel. Erik Wetzel brought Blackmon home after a passed ball and a sac fly. Austin Rauch earlier scored on a fielder's choice.

The Dust Devils scored five runs in the eighth that included an Austin Rauch two-run single, a Scott Robinson RBI single, a run scored on a throwing error, and a Thomas Field RBI single.

Casper, L 3-8: Orlando Sandoval went 4-for-4 and drove in a run. Nick Valdez stole home plate. Jeff Fischer saw four runs score over his five innings on the mound, Ronny Lopez saw two runs touch home plate in his two innings, and Andres Marrero also witnessed two guys round the bases.

Colorado Springs, W 12-4: Valerio De Los Santos allowed two unearned runs and walked three in five innings. Josh Towers entered in the seventh inning and allowed two runs on five hits to "blow" the save. Luckily for him, the offense in the bottom of the seventh had something to say about that.

Earlier in the game, Doug Bernier hit his ninth homer, a two-run shot, and Edwin Bellorin had another triple, this time bringing in a run. In the bottom of the seventh, Christian Colonel started the scoring with an RBI single, which was (after a pitching and defensive changes) followed by a Joe Koshansky grand slam. A few batters later, Chris Frey had a two-run triple and then scored on an Humberto Cota single.

Tulsa: Postponed due to rain. The game will be made up as part of a doubleheader when Midland hosts Tulsa over the weekend.

Dexter Fowler's season would be complete if he wins the gold medal with Team USA and then gets called up.

Modesto, L 2-6: Jhoulys Chacin wasn't his usual sharp self last night. He allowed six runs on nine hits in five innings. He struck out six and walked one. Those runs were split evenly between the third and fifth innings with two of them put on the scoreboard by a home run. Andy Graham, Tommy Baumgardner, and James Burok allowed one hit over the last four innings

Matt Repec and Nelson Robledo each had two hits. One of those hits for both went for doubles; Mike McKenry also had a double.

Asheville, W 9-8 in 10 innings: Despite two runs allowed in the top of the 10th, the Tourists came back to win in the bottom of the inning. Brian Rike started the inning with a walk and advanced to second on a Darin Holcomb single. Both moved to theor next respective bases on a Jeff Cunningham walk. Bo Bowman then singled in Rike and Holcomb. Kevin Clark put down a sac bunt to move Cunningham into scoring position, who scored the winning run on a David Christensen single.

Darin Holcomb went 3-for-5, two of those being doubles (42). The first double scored two in the first inning. Beau Seabury hit his first homer of the season, and Everth Cabrera stole his 69th base.

Tri-City, W 3-2: Down by a run in the bottom of the ninth, a Patrick Rose RBI ground out and a Jordan Pacheco RBI single tied and won the game for the Dust Devils. Pacheco also had an RBI triple in the previous inning to put his team on board for the first time in the game.

Parker Frazier allowed two runs in 6 2/3 innings. J.R. Murphy struck out three in 1 1/3 innings of relief.

Casper, W 8-7: Wilin Rosario hit two homers, both solo shots, and is now at 11 for the season. Kiel Roling hit his fourth, a two-run shot. Chad Jacobsen went 2-for-4 and drove in two runs. Delta Cleary and Zack Murry knocked in the other runs.

Dan Houston went five innings, allowed four runs on four hits, struck out four, and walked three. Brandon Walker didn't allow a run in his inning of work, but Alan Deratt was charged with two runs after Isaiah Froneberge allowed  those inherited runners to score. Kurt Yacko picked up his eighth save after allowing an unearned run in the bottom of the ninth.

The Springs, W 8-3: Franklin Morales allowed three runs in 5 2/3 innings and struck out five. Kenny Perez drove in three runs, and Mike McCoy and Dog Bernier two. Matt Miller and Chris Frey had three hits.

Tulsa, L 5-6 in 13 innings: Daniel Carte hit his 10th homer in the fourth and drove in one of the three runs scored in the eighth inning. Eduardo Cornejo and Tony Blanco drove in the other runs that inning. Unfortunately, Darren Clarke couldn't hold the 4-1 lead Brandon Hynick left him. Hynick allowed one run on three hits in seven innings. Clarke allowed three runs in the bottom of the eighth. Neils Wilson hit a homer in the top of the 13th, only to see Ryan Mattheus allow the game-winning two-run double.

Modesto: The Cal League had the night off.

Asheville, L 1-2: Mike Mitchell's three singles were part of a five-hit night by the Tourists. He also swiped his 45th base. Connor Graham went seven innings, allowed two runs on four hits and three walks, and struck out three.

Tri-City, L 9-13: Kenny Durst went four innings and gave up five runs, and that was one of the better Tri-City pitching performances last night.  J.R. Murphy allowed four runs in 1 2/3 innings and Tyler Trice saw three runs score on five hits in an inning. Carlos Luna struck out four and allowed a run in 2 1/3 innings.

Leonardo Reyes drove in three runs (two on a triple) while Scott Robinson (one RBI) and Ryan Peisel (two RBI) each had three hits. Austin Rauch also drove in a run and scored three times.

Casper, L 2-5: Orem's Roberto Lopez drove in all five runs for his team (four on a grand slam), and Wilin Rosario drove in both runs for Casper. Casper hitters struck out 11 times. Matt Baugh was charged with all those runs in 4 1/3 innings. Brandon Dill struck out three in 2 2/3 innings. Brandon Walker and Kurt Yacko followed with a scoreless inning each.

Colorado Springs, L 9-10 in 11 innings: The Sky Sox rallied for five runs in the bottom of the eighth to tie the game at nine, only to ultimately lose. Joe Koshansky hit his 20th home run to lead off the inning; Kenny Perez had an RBI double; Chris Frey drove in a run on a single; Mike McCoy had an RBI triple (and a two-run homer earlier in the game); and Doug Bernier reached first base on a throwing error and saw McCoy score.

Steven Register pitched the last two innings and allowed a Chris Shelton RBI double to become the winning run. Sean Smith started the game and did all right over six innings: 3 R/1 ER, 2 BB, 5 K. The troubles came with Juan Morillo, who recorded no outs in the seventh inning. He faced five batters, allowed four of them to get a hit, and walked the other. Four of them scored while Morillo was on the mound while the other scored when Cedrick Bowers came in to relieve. Bowers himself walked four and one run scored that way. Josh Towers, oddly enough, didn't allow a run in his two innings of work.

Tulsa, L 6-9: It was a good night to hit  home runs . . . if  you were on NW Arkansas. Alan Johnson surrendered three homers, all multi-run homers. Johnson left after five innings and eight runs. Tomas Santiago struck out five over the next three innings.

Jeff Kindel hit a two-run homer, his 10th, in the seventh to bring the game to 6-9. Daniel Carte had two hits and two runs, and Corey Wimberly stole three bases to have 52 on the season.

Modesto, L 6-11: Simon Ferrer allowed five runs on nine hits over 4 1/3 innings, and Chris Malone saw four runs score in 1 2/3 innings. Mike McKenry hit his 12th home, a solo shot in the sixth. Anthony Jackson went 3-for-4 with two doubles, an RBI, and two runs scored. Chris Nelson went 0-for-5 and is hitting .192 after seven games.

Kane Simmons and Radames Nazario received promotions from Tri-City to Modesto yesterday. Esmil Rogers and Keith Weiser will be temporarily on the inactive list.

Asheville, L 2-4: The Tourists ran into some tough pitchers, namely Carl Pavano and Phil Hughes. Pavano allowed only a hit in two innings and struck out four. Phil Hughes held the Tourists to two hits over three innings. A wild pitch and a Bo Bowman single scored the two runs in the seventh inning. Bruce Billings allowed three runs on six hits in seven innings and struck out six in his start after throwing a no-hitter.

Tri-City, W 4-2: In the bottom of the first, Thomas Field started with a called strike out, but the next three Dust Devils walked. Patrick Rose reached base on an error, which scored two runs. In the sixth inning, two runs scored on two wild pitches. The Dust Devils only had three hits.

Kenny Durst started and allowed no runs on three hits in four innings. He struck out six. Austin Chambliss picked up his 10th save.

James Sims and Andy Goff have taken the places of Simmons and Nazario.

Casper, W 5-0: Ethan Hollingsworth allowed no runs in five innings and struck out eight, his best start of the season. Isaiah Froneberger struck out three in two innings, and Kurt Yacko struck out two in the ninth.

Carlos Martinez had two hits (one for a triple) and two RBI. Wilin Rosario also had a triple and an RBI. Forty-sixth round pick Jimmy Cesario made his debut, had a hit, and struck out three times.

Colorado Springs, W 6-5 - Poor Chris Frey was lonely yesterday, as he was the only starter to not have a hit. Even Frankie Morales, who we know was originally an outfielder, had a hit and an RBI. Most of the damage was done on singles, but Christian Colonel had a solo shot in the fifth. In fact, the first six batters all had at least two hits, with Adam Melhuse collecting three.

On the pitching side of things, Morales allowed only two runs on three hits, but he also walked five batters. Of his 103 pitches, 53 went for strikes. Matt Daley allowed three runs, allowing one hit and walking three. Cedrick Bowers actually saw two of those runs score before Alberto Arias and Steven Register closed out the game. Register picked up his 15th save.

Tulsa, L 5-6 - Jeff Kindel two-run homer in the eighth inning was part of a four-run ininning that tied the game at five. Alas, Darren Clarke put some men on in the bottom of the eighth and then saw Ryan Mattheus allow the go-ahead run to cross home plate.

Xavier Cedeno allowed two unearned runs over five innings. Justin Nelson hit a homer earlier in the game and Dexter Fowler walked three times.

Modesto, L 4-5 - Victor Ferrante and Mike McKenry each had a two-run homer in the contest, and that was about it for the offense. Keither Weiser allowed four runs on nine hits in six innings.

Asheville, L 3-4 in 11 innings - Gotta give a whole lot of credit to Riordan last night despite allowing a run in the ninth to tie the game. Riordan went nine innings and allowed three runs on 10 hits. He struck out eight. Craig Baker allowed a leadoff homer in the 11th. 

Helder Velazquez, Kevin Clark, and Beau Seabury each had an RBI, and David Christensen had two hits. Mike Mitchell stole his 41st base. Brian Rike continued to pileup the strikeouts, collecting three more.

Tri-City, W 5-4 - Austin Rauch's second homer of the season was a big one since it won the game for the Dust Devils. Down 3-4 in the ninth, Rauch stepped to the plate with ne out and hit the ball out of the park. Erik Wetzel had two hits and drove in two runs. Charlie Blackmon had two hits and stole his sixth base.

Christian Friedrich had a good start, striking out eight over five innings and allowing one run on two hits. Sean Jarrett, who's on his way back from injury and surgery, allowed three runs, but saw two of them score while Austin Chambliss was on the mound.

Casper, L 11-19 - Casper gave it a go in the ninth for a comeback, but only five runs scored. Dan Houston went three innings, allowing four runs on three hits. Alan Deratt allowed seven runs in two-thirds of an inning, and Andred Marrero saw five score in 1 2/3 innings.

Carlos Martinez, Wilin Rosario, and Shane Lowe led the offense with two hits each, but Lowe failed to drive in a run like the the other two. Almost everyone had an RBI, including the pinch-hitters, and it's too long to list.

Colorado Springs: L 2-5

Jayson Nix hit his sixth homerun and Juan Morillo bounced back from a terrible appearance his last time with a perfect frame, striking out two. Chris Frey chipped in two hits and an outfield assist, but other than that there wasn't a whole lot of note in this game.

Tulsa: Off

My latest blog entry at the Rocky Mountain News checks in on Dexter Fowler's progression, with additional notes from around the system.

Modesto: W 9-5

The California League's funky scheduling is going to leave a lot of people with mistaken impressions about the strength (or lack thereof) of their prospects this year. Rockies fans might have to be included in that camp if they're not careful when it comes to the Nuts.

44% of Modesto's games thus far have been against Stockton or San Jose, the league leaders when it comes to run prevention. 43 of 59 games for the Nuts in 2008 have been against the North Division, and you'll note that the five teams from the North (including Modesto, #3 in Cal League pitching this year) just happen to be the five teams in the league to be giving up less than five runs per game. How much of this is attributable to good pitching versus how much is attributable to poor hitting? This series with High Desert shows me that while Modesto's offense is still relatively poor, it's probably not quite as bad as it looks on the stat pages unless strength of schedule is taken into account. Modesto's league lagging offense has busted out for eighteen runs against the Mavericks league lagging pitching staff, so I take heart knowing that the Rockies advanced A level hitting woes aren't nearly as bad as Seattle's advanced A level pitching woes.

Jason Van Kooten went four for four with a homerun and triple, Victor Ferrante three for three with two doubles, and Daniel Mayora three for five with a double.

Asheville: L 4-1

Connor Graham lasted just two innings on a wet pitching mound before having to give way for Robinson Fabian for what I was told was a right groin tweak. It seems to be more grounds related and not serious enough to keep Graham out of his next start. It was Fabian's debut with the team, but an unsuccessful one as the Tourists wound up losing to Hickory to snap their nine game winning streak. The lone Tourists run came from a Darin Holcomb solo shot, his ninth homer of the season. Brian Rike had a pair of hits but other than those two, there wasn't much offense for the T's. The final score could have been worse if it weren't for the strong arm of left fielder Kevin Clark, who twice gunned down runners at the plate trying to score on sac flies.

Colorado Springs, L 8- 16 - Multi-hit nights for a number of players. Jonathan Herrera, Edwin Bellorin, and Chris Frey each had three hits, and Bellorin also drive in three runs. Sean Barker and Joe Koshansky both had two hits, and drove in two and one RBI each. Herrera also had an RBI.

Valerio De Los Santos allowed seven runs on ten hits over four innings. He allowed at least a run in every inning and allowed a two-run homer in the third and fourth innings. Sean Smith did not have a memorable debut, or at least not a good debut. He went three innings, allowed five runs, walked five, and struck out five. Three of those runs scored after he left the game and Matt Daley replaced him. Daley prompted served up a grand slam to Landon Powell. Daley would allow three more runs to score after that.

Tulsa, L 3-7 - Chris Nelson, Daniel Carte, and Jeff Dragicevich drove in the runs for Drillers while Nelson and Fowler had the only extra-base hits for the team, both doubles.  Fowler also stole his seventh base.

Brandon Hynick went six innings, allowed two runs on eight hits, and struck out six batters. Adam Bright allowed two runs to blow the lead. Jarrett Grube allowed one of the inherited runners to score and gave up three runs himself without recording an out. He walked three, which scored one of the runners Grube put on, and then the one hit Grube allowed turned out to be a bases-clearing double to give Springfield the lead. Ryan Mattheus struck out one batter, his only out in the game, after relieving Grube.

Modesto, L 1-3 - Despite collecting eleven hits (to Visalia's seven), the Nuts lost this one. Simon Ferrer had his best outing of the season so far after allowing three runs (two earned) on six hits and two walks over seven innings. He struck out five. Zach Simons walked three and struck out five in two innings of relief.

Tony Blanco had an RBI triple in the fifth. Daniel Mayora and Victor Ferrante had two hits each. Cole Garner had a double, and he recently sat down with Brian VanderBeek for an interview.

Asheville, W 5-1 in 12 innings - The Tourists scored the first run of the game in the fifth. Kevin Clark led off the inning with a double, who then moved over to third after Nick Noonan missed catching the ball on a pickoff attempt. Clark then scored on an error by the third baseman which allowed Helder Velazquez to reach base. In the 12th inning, Warren Schaeffer's two-run double and Everth Cabrera's two-run single gave the Tourists the victory. Cabrera stole his 13th base. Darin Holcomb hit his ninth double. Brian Rike and Jeff Cunningham struck out three times each, but Lars Davis accounted for five strikes out (16 between the entire team).

Cory Riordan went seven innings, allowed no runs on fours hits. He struck out seven. After Craig Baker allowed an unearned run to score in the eighth, Craig Rodriguez walked three over his two innings of work to pick up the win. Matthew Reynolds struck out two to finish the game.