Tulsa Drillers 9, Corpas Christi Hooks 8: Anderson with another solid performance
Tyler Anderson continues to pitch very well, if not especially economically. He did give up eight hits in this game but limited the damage to just two runs in five innings, striking out five. He didn't walkd a batter and one of the runs came on a solo home run from second baseman Tony Kemp.
Anderson did commit an error that cost him but still managed to leave the game up 7-3. Unfortunately, the man who relieved him wasn't much relief as Josh Mueller failed to record a single out giving up four runs on four hits and walking two before being pulled in favor of Ken Roberts.
Roberts came out of this one with an interesting line: 4 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 3 BB, 0 K, Blown Save, Win.
In 28 games and 48.2 innings pitched, Roberts has an ERA of 2.40. Batter are hitting .168 against him.
It's worth noting again that Tyler Anderson has pitched phenominally this season, besting Jon Gray's ground ball ratio and Eddie Butlers stikeout percentage.
Offensively, Tulsa got multi-hit days from Joey Wong, Taylor Featherston, Brian Humphries, and Jared Simon who hit is seventh home run of the season. Featherston hit his tenth, both were two-run shots.
Trevor Story (playing shortstop and hitting third) went 1-4 with a double, a run, an RBI, a walk and a strikeout. A little of everything for Story who is settling in for the Drillers.
Asheville Tourists 2, Greensboro Grasshoppers 20: Tourists lose a laugher
What the hell?
Only eight of the Grasshoppers runs were earned (really, only eight?) as the defense did the horrifying pitching a solid by commiting five errors on the day.
Andrew Brown gave up 10 runs in the first 1.2 innings though only four of them earned and the team was pretty much sunk.
For statistical purposes, there were some nice signs on offense as David Dahl grabbed two doubles in a 2-4, one walk performance. Raimel Tapia went 3-4 with an RBI (Ashevilles only one) raising his season average to .325.
Ryan McMahon also smacked a double in four plate appearances but the offensive star lately for the Tourists (though hard to classify anyone in this game as a star) has been outfielder Jordan Patterson who was just named player of the week for the SAL league. He kept chuggin' along with a 2-4 game, scoring a run and a double and bringing his average to .287.
In his last ten games, Patterson is hitting .472/.545/.778. From MiLB.com:
(.538/.594/.923, 7 G, 14-for-26, 4 2B, 2 HR, 10 RBI, 9 R, 4 BB, 4 K, 2 SB)
Patterson, a 2013 fourth-rounder out of the University of South Alabama, entered June with a .221 average after subpar months in April and May. The number slowly rose as the summer progressed before completely popping last week. The left-handed slugger went 12-for-18 with two homers, three doubles, 10 RBIs and two steals in a four-game stretch from Thursday to Saturday alone. He's now batting .284 with eight homers, 39 RBIs and a .817 OPS in his first full season in the Rockies system.
Colorado Springs Sky Sox 6, Oklahoma City Redhawks 10: Garcia's perfect day not enough
Shortstop Drew Garcia was 3-3 with two doubles an RBI and a walk but it wouldn't be enough as the combination of Mike McClendon and Wilton Lopez buried Colorado Springs from the hill.
McClendon gave up three runs on seven hits, Lopez three on four, while errors from Garcia and Angelys Nina provided a four run buffer for the Redhawks.
Nolan Arenado was 1-5 in another rehab start though the only important thing right now is that he looks healthy according to reports.
Kyle Parker added two hits of his own including a double and two RBI settling his season average at a nice .301. Ben Paulsen walked twice and scored twice.
Modesto Nuts 1, High Desert Maverick 6: Devin Burke roughed up in loss
Starting pitcher Devin Burke only managed to get through four innings, surrendering six runs on nine hits and two walks without striking out a batter.
That would be enough as the Nuts offense didn't exactly provide much help. They scattered four hits, all by different players and only Will Swanner's double went for extra bases. Swanner also stole his seventh base of the season which kinda surprised me.
Chris O'Dowd and Matt Wessinger and Dean Espy were the other players to reach base, the latter getting the only RBI for the Nuts as Rosell Hererra, Patrick Valaika, Michale Tauchman, Derek Jones, and Juan Ciriaco went a combined 0-18.
Tri-City Dust Devils 11, Boise Hawks 5: Ryan Garvey's big day powers Dust Devils to win
Oft injured son-of-a-former-major-leaguer, Ryan Garvey, had a day of good things coming in threes. He was 3-3, with three runs scored, three RBI and a triple!
He also hit his first home run of the season, a solo shot that meant he would be just a double away from completing the cycle. Maybe he shouldn't have drawn that walk.
Garvey was joined in his offensive onslaught by a couple of Grand Junction alumni who are known more for their defensive skills. Catcher Robbie Perkins hit a two run home run (also his first of the season) and second baseman Cesar Galvis added two hits and two RBI.
Everyone in the Devils lineup recorded a hit, Sam Bumpers and Drew Weeks both going 1-5 and Fransisco Sosa with a 1-4.
Blake Shouse got the start and pitched five innings, giving up four runs.
Grand Junction Rockies 8, Orem Owls 15
Another ugly beat down in the Rockies system last night, but at least the Grand Junction offense put up a decent number of their own.
Harrison Musgrave got the start but failed to get out of the second inning after giving up eight runs (six earned due to a Kevin Padlo error) in 1.1 innings of work. Marc Magliaro came into the game for only .2 innings and was charged with five runs, though none of them earned.
From the Grand Junction Rockies official site:
Ryan Seiz hit a first inning grand slam to put Orem up 4-0, and after the Rockies cut that lead in half in their second inning, the Owlz erupted for nine in their half of the inning, though only two were earned, and added a pair in the third to take a 15-2 lead. They sent 27 men to the plate in the first three innings, with the top four in their order going 9-for-10 with 2 walks.
Perhaps it's bad luck to have one of your guys win player of the week award. Like Jordan Patterson, Renaldo Jenkins was named player of the week (for the Pioneer League) and his team got spanked.
Jenkins wen 2-5 with two runs scored in this one bringing his season average to a sizzling .444.
From MiLB.com:
(.429/.455/.810, 5 G, 9-for-21, 3 2B, 1 3B, 1 HR, 3 RBI, 4 R, 1 BB, 2 K, 1 SB, 1 CS)
Jenkins signed with the Rockies during the spring after spending three seasons in the Brewers system and is making a solid first impression with Grand Junction. He had two hits in each of his final four games last week and in six of his first eight games with the Rockies. Through eight games, he is 14-for-31 (.452) with a homer, a triple, four doubles, three RBIs and three steals.
Hamlet Marte was 2-4 (.350 now) and Denvel Richardson grabbed two hits and two runs. Luis Jean and Kevin Padlo each had one hit and two RBI, Padlo's being a triple.
DSL Rockies 4, DSL National 3: Hector Villaroel strong
Hector Villaroel pitched five innings and gave up two runs on two hits, with two walks, and (you guessed it) two strike outs. Anthony Brito was 2-2 with a run scored, two RBI and a walk out of the DH spot.
Ramon Marcelino and Joel Diaz each added RBI of their own to secure the win.
Today's starters:
SAL Asheville Greenville 7:05 pm Balog, Alex (5-3, 3.73) Ball, Trey (1-7, 7.27)
PIO Grand Junction Orem 9:05 pm Palacios, Javier (0-2, 9.22)
PCL Oklahoma City Colorado Springs 9:05 pm Martinez, David (5-5, 4.18) Nicasio, Juan (1-1, 6.35)
CAL San Jose Modesto 10:05 pm Lujan, Matt (1-0, 5.40) Aquino, Jayson (2-4, 6.68)
NOR Boise Tri-City 10:15 pm Ihrig, Tyler (1-0, 3.50) Gagnon, Tyler (0-2, 6.08)