Triple-A: Albuquerque Isotopes (49-64)
El Paso 13, Albuquerque 12
W: Garces (1-0, 2.25) ; L: Castro, S (5-5, 3.86) ; SV: Jackson, J (10)
Another game, another system starter putting the team behind the eight ball. Jair Jurrjens allowed nine runs in his four innings of work, and not even eight extra base hits by the 'Topes offense could dig them out of that hole. Albuquerque got a hit out of Cristhian Adames for the seventh straight game, and this was his fifth multi-hit performance in August giving him a .444/.483/.519 line in those six games.
Double-A: New Britain Rock Cats (53-57)
Altoona 5, New Britain 0
W: Benedict (5-5, 5.57) ; L: Flemer (6-8, 3.20)
Matt Flemer had a decent start going seven innings allowing three runs. Flemer has been amazingly consistent pitching at least five innings in every game (including a relief appearance) and at least six innings in 18 of 21 starts. Flemer is the kind of guy who could come up and have a sub-4.00 ERA in a few west coast spot starts but being a fly ball pitcher who doesn't strike a lot of people out means he will likely not have a long future in the Rockies organization. Still, the right-hander quietly has a 3.20 ERA in Double-A this year.
Class A Advanced: Modesto Nuts (59-51)
Bakersfield 1, Modesto 0
W: Mathis (4-2, 3.76) ; L: Wade (7-7, 4.09) ; SV: Schepel (2)
Konner Wade pitched a complete game, going eight innings in the road game and allowing one run on four hits, striking out four and walking none in the process. In most games that would be plenty for a win, but the Nuts' bats were very silent in Bakersfield. Mike Benjamin went 3-for-4 with two doubles; his second-half .312/.366/.538 line includes an awful four-game series last week against Visalia where he went 0-15 with five strikeouts. Benjamin is among the interesting older college players the Rockies have drafted lately. While he is likely to have a limited upside future, this is where the Ben Paulsens and Corey Dickersons of the world came from.
Class A: Asheville Tourists (56-53)
Asheville 12, West Virginia 5
W: Polanco, C (8-9, 4.38) ; L: McRae (5-8, 5.07)
The Tourists were out hit 14-13 by West Virginia and also committed the game's only error. But thanks to 12 runs crossing the plate, Asheville triumphed. Forrest Wall now has three hits and three walks in his first two games back at Asheville. Wall was joined in the hit parade yesterday by 20-year-old catcher Dom Nunez who, if you stretched out his second half to a full 550 at-bat season, would be .355/.481/.664 hitter with 41 HR, 149 R, 108 RBI, and a 138 BB/62 K ration. While he is unlikely to become Mike Piazza the tools are definitely there to be a stud.
Class A Short-Season: Boise Hawks (17-29)
Hillsboro 8, Boise 4
W: Mark (1-0, 0.90) ; L: Sawyer (2-4, 4.87)
Kevin Padlo continued his short season dominance with a 2-for-4 night including his 13th double and 24th stolen base in 42 games in Boise. Padlo was joined by other potential PuRPs Carlos Herrera and Terry McClure. McClure feels like he has been around forever but is still just 19 years old. The toolsy CF has hit .444/.500/.556 in the five games since the All-Star break. Most likely that is just noise but given the dramatic midseason turn around of Nunez and others like Dillon Thomas, it may be worth monitoring.
Rookie: Grand Junction Rockies (22-23)
Missoula 11, Grand Junction 6
W: Moya (2-1, 2.57) ; L: Koger (0-2, 5.27)
Brendan Rodgers started and collected his first triple of the year. The Rockies were led by 2B Jonathan Piron, whose three hit night brought his season line to .305/.333/.539. His seven HR, 12 steal effort through 34 stateside games puts him on the list of guys to watch as they hit full-season ball next year.
Dominican Summer League: DSL Rockies (26-32)
DSL Red Sox 6, DSL Rockies 3
W: Espinoza, J (1-4, 4.53) ; L: Eusebio (3-4, 2.18) ; SV: Tena (2)
Breiling Eusabio had a rough start; nine of his 15 earned runs this year have occurred in two starts. Look for the 18-year-old lefty to be in the next wave to join Grand Junction or Boise next year. The offense had was led by home runs from 3B Jose Gomez as well as doubles from 1B Joel Diaz and C Javier Guevara.