Asheville and Colorado Springs followed the big club's lead in having good pitching performances nullified by anaemic offenses, while Modesto's Matt Macri celebrated being Purple Row's Top Ten Prospect poster boy by hitting his fourth homerun of the season to lead the Nuts to victory.
At Asheville, Samuel Deduno started and for the second straight appearance was pulled after only a brief outing, this time with two down in the fourth, but at least we know what's been bothering him: a mild deltoid strain. His shoulder will be checked out by an MRI apparently, but losing Deduno would be a setback to the system. As far as the rest of the Tourists, the best offense they could muster on Indians starter Justin Hoyman, was in the seventh on consecutive singles by Joe Koshansky, Matt Miller and Justin Nelson.
Modesto won four to two on the three run Macri shot in the top of the sixth, giving Sandy Nin the well deserved victory. Jim Miller came back from his first blown save of the season by striking out three (with a walk) for a stellar ninth. Jordan Czarniecki had two doubles for the Nuts and Ian Stewart was held hitless again with a strikeout and no walks.
There were no games on the Texas League schedule, but Colorado Springs was in action and Justin Hampson pitched well over five innings, striking out three, walking none, allowing five hits and a run. The Sky Sox managed only three hits however and defensive miscues in the eighth by Elvis Pena and Jorge Piedra led to the two run difference. Update [2005-5-13 17:0:42 by Rox Girl]:I meant to post this story with the pebble report this morning, but I forgot to by the time I had to leave for grocery shopping. Anyway, three of our minor leaguers were among eleven suspended yesterday for violations of the drug policy. Christian Parker, Marcus Mendoza, and Jonathan Herrera. Only Herrera has merited any attention from me as a potential prospect (rising to number eighteen in fact as a twenty year old flashy middle infielder without pop) though Parker was off to a great start fronting the rotation for Tulsa. Here's a link to the Baseball America rundown of them and the rest of the players suspended.