Friday Pebble Report: LeMahieu, Parker and Murphy homer; Modesto twirls shutout

Triple-A Colorado Springs - W 5-1 (19-13)

Chris Volstad pitched five scoreless innings and picked up his first win in Triple-A for the Sky Sox. Volstad, who pitched well in his last start, was helped by 8-to-2 GB/FB ratio Thursday night. He was also aided by two Sky Sox double plays behind him. Nick Schmidt gave up the lone run on the night,surrendering a solo home run to Darnell McDonald.

DJ LeMahieu (a last name that I always have to check my spelling on) swatted his first HR of the year, a solo shot in the third which extended his hitting streak to 18 games. I'm not sure what's left for LeMahieu to earn a promotion. He's hitting .375 on the season, not to mention a .390 road batting average away from hitter-friendly Colorado Springs. Plus, I'm friends with a guy that played high school ball with him. So yeah, call him up please.

Double-A Tulsa - L 7-3 (16-17)

Kyle Parker drilled his seventh dinger of the year, but it was not enough for Tulsa as Arkansas scored all seven of its runs in the sixth inning.

Dan Houston started for Tulsa and fell to 0-3 on the year when he ran into trouble in the seven-run frame. He ended up allowing six runs -- four earned -- in 5.1 innings of work. Parker Frazier worked 2.2 innings behind Houston and surrendered the seventh and final Arkansas run.

High-A Modesto - W 2-0 (15-19)

Harold Riggins homered for the second consecutive game and four Modesto pitchers combined for a three-hit shutout while striking out 11.

Daniel Winkler started off the strong pitching performance, going 5.2 innings allowing just one hit and striking out nine. Winkler improved to 4-1 on the year and lowered his ERA to a meager 2.21. He was followed by Geoff Parker, Leuris Gomez and Scott Oberg, each of whom turned in scoreless work.

Low-A Asheville - L 13-12 (18-14)

The Tourists lost a wild back-and-forth affair Thursday night. Three home runs -- one from Tom Murphy and two from Francisco Sosa -- weren't quite enough as Asheville's pitching faltered.

Murphy was 2-for-4 and clubbed his eighth HR of the year while raising his batting average to a ridiculous .420 to go along with 27 RBIs. Sosa's two homers were his fourth and fifth on the season.

T.J. Oakes started and gave up seven runs in 3.2 innings. Ryan Arrowood followed him and allowed three runs in 3.1 innings. Josh Slaats failed to record an out and surrendered three more runs before Jesse Meaux stopped the bleeding by pitching two scoreless innings.