AAA Colorado Springs: W 6-5
Despite five errors made by the Sky Sox, they pulled out a win against the Las Vegas 51s thanks to effective late relief. Billy Buckner, Chris Nelson, Matt Macri, Eric Young Jr. and Eric Stults each made errors, all throwing errors, during the game. First baseman Mike Jacobs led the offense with 2 singles and 2 RBI. Catcher Matt Pagnozzi also had a multi-hit game. Nearly everyone in the Sky Sox lineup contributed in one way or another, whether getting on base and coming around to score, or batting in those runners. Third baseman Ian Stewart was among those with a RBI, singling in Young in the first inning.
Buckner, the game's starting pitcher, had a short outing of just 4.2 innings pitched, where he managed to accumulate 95 pitches thrown. He gave up 3 runs (2 earned) on 3 hits, 4 walks and 5 strikeouts. Reliever Jim Miller finished the fifth and threw the sixth cleanly. Matt Daley came in to pitch the seventh, giving up a leadoff double. After the runner came around to score after center fielder Young's throwing error, Daley was ejected from the game for as of now unknown reasons (there could be news on that in the morning). For reasons listed below, courtesy of user apeterson:
Why Daley was thrown out (A tale of horror and intrigue by apeterson)
With the runner still on third, Young's throw was way off line and it got away from Pagnozzi. As the runner came home, the catcher flipped to Daley as he was covering, but the runner didn't slide. He stepped on the plate and then ran into Daley's tag, being called (accurately) safe of the play. This did not please Mr. Daley and he yelled some very naughty things at the umpire, who sent him off to wash his mouth out with soap.
It really was a bang-bang play. But I was sitting above the dugout 3 rows up on the first base side, so I had a good angle on it. The rain down in the springs which came and went often as the night went on made for difficult conditions and was likely a partial cause of all the throwing errors last night. Impressive that they were able to come back and pull out the win.
Stults replaced Daley, allowing one more run before exiting the inning. Both of those runs charged to Daley were unearned. The Sky Sox took the lead in the bottom of the seventh, paving the way for setup man Rex Brothers and closer Andrew Johnston. Brothers nearly saw his scoreless streak come to a close after a single and a double, but the runner held at third and Brothers escaped. The exciting prospect has produced 18 strikeouts in 10 innings of relief so far this season. Johnston picked up his third save of the season.
AA Tulsa:
Rained out.
A+/A levels after the jump.
A+ Modesto: L 6-4
Tyler Matzek's showed something was incredibly off for him tonight. Matzek produced a whopping 8 walks during his two innings of work, to only 2 strikeouts. He also allowed a home run as he ended his night early having allowed all six runs San Jose would need to win the game. Matzek was stuck with his second loss of the season. Leuris Gomez, who has been quietly putting together one of the best organizational pitching performances of the young season so far in long relief for the Nuts, threw the next four innings allowing just 2 hits while striking out 6 batters. He has struck out 22 batters on the season in 14 and a third innings. Coty Woods threw the final two frames.
First baseman Mike Zuanich has been the most active contributor to Modesto's offense this season so far, and he led the charge tonight with 3 hits (including a double) and a RBI while scoring two of Modesto's four runs. The rest of the team was quieter, limited to singles from left fielder Scott Robinson, designated hitter Kala Ka'aihue and catcher Jose Gonzalez. Right Fielder Kent Matthes walked once, second baseman Maikol Gonzalez walked twice. Struggling center fielder Delta Cleary Jr. stole a base and scored a run after reaching on an error in the third.
A Asheville: W 12-3
This game brought some great performances from several Rockies prospects. The Tourists produced 15 hits, including four from shortstop Cristhian Adames, one of which was his first home run of the season. Right fielder Kyle Parker continued the excellent start to his professional career with 2 hits and 3 RBI. Third baseman Brett Tanos and second baseman Russell Wilson also contributed to the tally with multihit games. The offensive star of the Tourists (and possibly the entire system) thus far has been a surprising surge from catcher Bryce Massanari, who went 3 for 4 with 5 RBI and his seventh home run of the year in this game.
Pitching prospect Albert Campos was activated from the disabled list to make this start, and despite giving up 10 hits to Rome, he kept the damage minimal in his six innings of work. He allowed all three Rome runs, and struck out 3 opposing batters. Josh Hungerman and Craig Bennigson finished the final three innings cleanly. The Tourists pitching staff did not walk a single batter during the game.