AAA Colorado Springs Sky Sox (41-49, 4rd PCL Pacific North)
Sky Sox 8, Bees 7
Bullpen woes continue to plague the Sky Sox (because really, when has pitching NOT plagued the Sky Sox?). Billy Buckner turned in a decent start, going 5 innings, allowing 2 runs, none earned, striking out 4 and walking 2. The Sky Sox bats destroyed Bees starter Eric Junge, tagging him for 7 runs, 4 of which came in the 6th before Junge even had the chance to record an out.
That all said, Edgmer Escalona and Jim Miller allowed 5 runs between the 7th and the 9th, tying the game and forcing a walkoff in the form of a Willy Taveras single, SB, and then an Alfredo Amezaga RBI single.
AA Tulsa Drillers (41-45, 3rd TEX North)
Drillers 2, Missions 3
ATTENTION: CHRISTIAN FRIEDRICH IS A HUGE BUST AND THE ROCKIES HAVE NO PITCHING PROSPECTS
I'm sorry, Friedrich can't hear you over his 8IP, 1ER, 5K outing.
Daniel Turpen can, though. He recorded all of 1 out in the 9th, allowing 2 runs on 2 walks and 2 hits.
Worst part of this is the fact that the Drillers put up 2 against Missions' pitcher Nick Vincent in the 9th on a James Cesario PH double that drove in Hector Gomez and Michael Mitchell.
A+ Modesto Nuts (42-46, 3rd CAL North)
Nuts 8, Ports 9
Yet another terrible outing from Nick Schnaitmann. In 13 starts, he has a 10.22 ERA, a sub-1 K/BB, and has allowed 2.3 HR/9. Nuts bats did their best to recover from the 7-run deficit they found themselves in come the 4th inning by posting 7 runs of their own in the 7th inning, but it just wasn't enough. Tack on the 2 runs Leuris Gomez allowed in his 1.2 innings of work, and there just wasn't much that the offense could do.
Kent Matthes, Josh Rutledge, and Beau Seabury all notched multi-hit games in this losing effort, and Chad Rose, Kurt Yacko, and Coty Woods all turned in scoreless innings in relief.
It should be noted that Woods has a 1.03 ERA in his 52.2IP, striking out 63 to only 20BB, and 1HR. I can't help but wonder if Woods is being looked at as a promotion candidate to Tulsa.
A Asheville Tourists (40-47, 4th SAL Southern)
Tourists 2, GreenJackets 10
Joey Wong notched 2 hits and Bruce Kern successfully recorded 2 outs in his scoreless appearance, and that pretty much sums up the positives from this Sally League thrashing.
Peter Tago's recent string of successful outings was snapped, allowing 5 runs on 3 hits, 5K, 5BB over 5.1 innings of work, raising his season ERA to 5.05. Adding insult to injury was Josh Hungerman's 3.0IP of 5 run ball.
A- Tri City Dust Devils (11-13, 3rd NOR East)
Dust Devils 2, Volcanoes 14
Speaking of thrashings, how about Tyler Gagnon's 12-hit, 10-run outing which spanned less than 4 innings? Rhett Ballard allowed another 2 unearned runs and Chris Dennis allowed another 2 on his watch.
Tyler Massey went 2-for-3 with a walk, raising his Northwest League batting line to .299/.357/.506.
Rk Casper Ghosts (7-14, 4th PIO South)
Ghosts 5, Raptors 9
Hey, a w-...nope, another loss. Daniel Winkler went 4 innings, allowing 3 runs, along with 3 punchouts, a walk, and a homer. Matthew Crocker only lasted an inning, allowing another 4 runs (3ER) on 4 hits and 2 walks. Jeremiah Sammy went 3.0 innings, allowing 2ER and a homer.
Offensively speaking, Rosell Herrera is making some noise, going 1-for-4 with a walk, a homer, 2 RBI, raising his season line to a whopping .319/.388/.597.
Don't forget about OF Francisco Sosa, who also has been impressive in the young 2011 Pioneer League, batting .300/.344/.600 with 4 bombs, 6 doubles, and 4 snagged bags.
DSL Rockies (17-17, 4th BC Baseball City)
Off Day