Rockies prospects: Tyler Anderson dominates, gets no run support

Tyler Anderson is making his case to be the next man in line for the Rockies in the event that an inevitable injury occurs within what I hesitate to call their starting rotation.

Anderson tossed 6⅔ innings on Wednesday, allowing only two hits and two walks while striking out eight batters in Double-A Tulsa's 1-0 loss to San Antonio. The 24-year-old left-hander, who was the Rockies' first-round draft pick in 2011, has shown that pedigree all season and this game was no different. He was efficient, needing only 83 pitches (57 strikes) to get through nearly seven frames. Anderson also induced nine ground-ball outs compared to only two fly outs.

Unfortunately, the Drillers' offense kept him from getting a victory. The unit managed only four hits in 10 innings. That has been the case on multiple occasions this season for Anderson, who improved his ERA to 2.74 and has 55 strikeouts and 22 walks in 62⅓ innings.

Story perfect at the plate

Trevor Story went 2-for-2 with a two-run homer and three walks in High-A Modesto's 9-4 win over San Jose. The 21-year-old shortstop walked in his first two plate appearances before launching the two-out, opposite-field blast in the fourth and singling in the seventh. He's now hitting .332/.436/.582 in 50 games. The strikeouts are still there -- Story has whiffed 59 times -- but the walks are also catching up, which is a good sign and is kind of like weighing carbohydrates against protein in that the better one helps cancel out the bad one.

Speaking of protein, there was plenty of meat in the Nuts' offense on Wednesday. Along with Story, Rosell Herrera, Jordan Ribera and Matt Wessinger had two hits apiece. And Mr. Consistency himself, catcher Chris O'Dowd, led the club with three knocks.

Starter Jayson Aquino picked up the win despite allowing eight hits and three walks in five innings of work. He struck out one and gave up only two earned runs.

Other games

Low-A Asheville 11, Greenville 4: Ryan McMahon hit his first home run since May 8, a two-run shot in the fifth inning that broke open a close game. It was his 11th deep fly of the season. Jordan Patterson also hit a two-run homer, his seventh of the year. He also doubled twice, as did Jose Briceno. David Dahl and Michael Benjamin went 0-for-10 from the No. 1 and 2 spots in the order, but the rest of the lineup went a combined 16-for-31. Antonio Senzatela was credited with a win after allowing three runs on four hits and four walks in 5⅔ frames.

Short Season-A Tri-City 1, Eugene 0: Blake Shouse and three relievers combined for a shutout, allowing only six hits and a walk while punching out seven total batters. The Dust Devils' offense had only two hits, but the first one -- Marcos Derkes' infield single to lead off the bottom of the first -- eventually resulted in the only run they'd need.

Rookie Grand Junction 5, Ogden 4: Wilson Soriano's line-drive single in the bottom of the 13th won it for the Rockies in the longest game of their brief history. Soriano and Wesley Jones led the team with three hits apiece while Renaldo Jenkins and Max George had two each. George hit his first professional home run, a two-run shot in the fifth. Sam Howard made his pro debut, getting the start and responding with three shutout innings during which he allowed only a pair of singles and struck out three. Yoely Bello was the star out of the bullpen, whiffing five batters in two scoreless frames.

Rookie DSL Rockies 3, DSL Yankees 1: Jorge Oviedo pitched six shutout innings, allowing only two hits while striking out three, but he didn't get the victory because the Rockies didn't score until the bottom of the seventh. In that inning, second baseman Anthony Brito knocked in a pair of runs with a two-out double to put the game away. Daniel Suero and Jose Gomez added two hits apiece for the Rockies.