At Casper, EY Jr, Kyle Blumenthal, Cole Garner and Bret Berglund all got on base at least three times and went a combined ten for seventeen with two walks, two doubles, a triple (EY) and a HR (Blumenthal) to lead the Rockies offense in the nine to six win. Chaz Roe allowed one run in each of the four innings he pitched, but there have been signs that he's coming around to the higher level of competition in the rookie leagues.
Further up, the Dust Devils of Tri-City lost three to two. James Freeman wasn't to blame as he didn't allow any runs, but his wildness still bothers me, he walked five in his four innings of work. James Burok gave up three runs on four hits to take the loss.
Asheville's Joe Koshansky provided the offense to back up Frankie Morales, hitting a homerun and two run double in the Tourists three to two win.
Morales had a strong six innings of work, allowing five hits and two runs with two walks and six K's and the Tourists relievers shut down Charleston the rest of the way.
Modesto continues to dominate the California League, winning their sixth straight and second in a row over second best Stockton, who drops to three games back with the eight to five loss. Juan Morillo was wild (six walks in six innings) but also virtually unhittable, giving up only two all night (one a Majewski solo shot in his last inning of work) to go along with eight K's. Chris Ianetta hit two out himself, a solo homer in the second and a three run job an inning later and now has eleven on the year. Ianetta's stock continues to rise rapidly as he adds all these facets to his game, the power being the latest to come on board. Joe Gaetti also went three for three with a double, a walk and two runs scored for the Nuts. Gaetti started showing this greatly improved ability to connect with the ball about a month before he went down with an injury and also started taking outside pitches the other way more, which has resulted in fewer strikeouts and a rapid rise in his batting average. His power is as good as or better than everybody currently in the Rockies big league outfield and is ahead of Seth Smith at this stage, so don't be surprised if Gaetti moves fast and sees major league action as soon as next year if he keeps this pace up in the next level.
Tulsa meanwhile has lost as many (six) in a row as Modesto has won. The Drillers offense has yet to get in sync with its new parts and the pitching is slowing down. The good news is Jordan Czarniecki appears to be adjusting finally as he had three hits last night in his best game so far as a Driller.
Finally, Ryan Shealy also has a lot of power and his bat is major league ready as we speak, but he has no position. Shealy didn't have an extra-base hit last night, but he did score the winning run on an error and Aaron Cook looked solid for the Sky Sox in his second to the last rehab start.