Colorado Springs: W 4-3
The Sky Sox used a two-run rally in the bottom of the ninth inning to walk-off victorious over the Padres AAA affiliate. Matt Miller hit an infield single to lead-off the inning, then after being sacrificed to second scored on an Edwin Bellorin double. A couple of walks later, pinch runner Josh Towers scored the winning run in place of Bellorin on a Mike McCoy single. The team stayed close thanks to a solid start from Jason Hirsh, who went six and a third giving up just three runs on five K's and no walks, as well as scoreless relief from Cedrick Bowers and Matt Daley.
Tulsa: W 13-2
The box score indicates that there were some fine performances all around in this contest, with Chaz Roe also going six and a third innings, striking out eight and allowing just one run on four hits and four walks. On offense, Eric Young Jr had three hits, scored three runs, drove in two and stole his 36th base of the season. Chris Nelson got on board four out of his five plate appearances with a double and three walks and Justin Nelson had a big game highlighted by a three run homer, but he also got on via single and HBP. Daniel Carte and Jeff Dragicevich rounded out Tulsa's multi-hit club.
Modesto: L 5-4
Five innings, seven K's, zero walks, one hit and zero runs allowed would make for sensational start for Aneury Rodriguez, it's just too bad we can't take away that one inning, five hits allowed, one walk, one wild pitch and five runs allowed from a disastrous third last night. Rodriguez, similarly to rotation mate Esmil Rogers, just can't seem to get off this plateau and go from being a solid prospect to a very good or even great one. Sometimes he seems tantalizingly close, I just wish we'd see some consistency at a higher level of play. Daniel Mayora had three hits, including his fifth homerun of the season, and Victor Ferrante had his tenth HR of the year plus a single in the loss.
Asheville: W 4-3
Shane Lindsay's velocity definitely seems to be down from the last time I saw him, as he topped out at 93 mph last night, compared to the 97 I'd seen him hit once a couple of seasons back. The good news is that he was hitting that 93 consistently, working in the 91-93 mph range most of the night, so it seems to me that he can get a tick or two more from the gun the further he gets removed from his labrum surgery. The bigger issue I had with his performance was almost a total lack of command with his curveball, which allowed Lexington hitters to sit dead red and got him into trouble when he left a couple up in the zone in the second inning. There wasn't that much to get excited about offensively, the Legends pitcher had some pretty good sink on his fastball and Mike Mitchell's triple in the ninth was the only really well struck hit of the night for T's, and he and Warren Schaeffer seemed to make up nearly the entirety of our offensive effort. Everth Cabrera continues to impress me with his range, and I still think that while the three I mentioned a couple of days ago get the statistical nod, that given Everth's defense, his position and his speed tool that he might actually be the best bet outside of Darin Holcomb to make the majors among Tourists position players.
Tri-City: L 1-6
Dust Devils pitchers walked fifteen batters, including six in a one inning plus start by Brad McAtee. McAtee got through the first unscathed despite letting the bases get full via single, walk and HBP, but he then walked the first five hitters he faced in the second, and allowed three runs to score by wild pitch before he got pulled. With six walks in his previous start, I'm starting to worry about Steve Blass disease a little bit here. I really hope McAtee calms down and puts this one behind him. Scott Robinson scored and drove in the Dust Devils only run off a lead-off homer in the first. After that inning (which also had a Jordan Pacheco single), Tri-City managed just one more hit, a second inning infield single by Derek Kinzler. For the last seven frames, nada.
Casper: W 5-1
Kiel Roling hit a three run homer and Delta Cleary added a solo shot -his first HR as a professional- as the Ghosts rolled to a win at Great Falls. Marco Duarte pitched five strong innings, and Alan Deratt struck out five out of the six batters he faced in two innings of scoreless relief.