Colorado Rockies top prospect Brendan Rodgers had gotten off to a slow start this season. Heading into Friday’s tilt with the Washington Nationals’ Double-A affiliate, the Winter Park, Fla. resident was hitting .208/.224/.396, or OPS-ing less (.620) than he slugged in Lancaster last season (.671). He had just five extra base hits in 12 games. Not exactly what you’d expect from a consensus top-20 prospect in baseball. But since he didn’t make his first appearance until April 24 last year, I think he might prefer this.
Sometimes it just takes a big game to turn things around. Friday night in Hartford Rodgers helped lead the Yard Goats to a 6-3 victory by going 2-for-3 (just his second multi-hit game of 2018) with a double, a walk, an RBI, and his second stolen base of the season, matching his 2017 total. More importantly, after striking out 11 times in his first eight games, he’s stuck out just twice in his last six. He’s now hitting .235/.264/.431—which, if anything, goes to show you how small of samples we’re dealing with here).
★ ★ ★
Triple-A: Albuquerque Isotopes 7, Tacoma Rainers 5
David Dahl: 1-for-5, 2B, RBI
Raimel Tapia: 2-for-4, R, BB
Tom Murphy (no. 11 PuRP): 2-for-4, 2 R, 2B
Jordan Patterson (no. 14 PuRP): 0-for-5, 4 K
Noel Cuevas (HM PuRP): 1-for-5, RBI
David Holmberg: 4 2/3 IP, 8 H, 3 R/ER, 3 BB, 2 K
★ ★ ★
Double-A: Hartford Yard Goats 6, Harrisburg Senators 3
Brendan Rodgers (no. 1 PuRP): 2-for-3, 2B, RBI, BB, SB
Garrett Hampson (no. 9 PuRP): 1-for-3, 2 R, 3B, BB, SB
Brian Mundell (no. 13 PuRP): 0-for-4
Sam Hilliard (no. 17 PuRP): 1-for-3, RBI
Yonathan Daza (no. 19 PuRP): 2-for-4, R, 2B, SB
Wes Rogers (HM PuRP): 0-for-3, R, BB, SB
Jesus Tinoco (HM PuRP): 5 2/3 IP, 4 H, 3 R/ER, 3 BB, 8 K
★ ★ ★
High-A: Lancaster JetHawks 2, Inland Empire 66ers 3
Colton Welker (no. 5 PuRP): 0-for-3, R, BB, SB
Forrest Wall (no. 16 PuRP): 1-for-4, R, BB, 3 SB
Vince Fernandez (no. 28 PuRP): 1-for-2, 2 RBI, 2 BB
Rico Garcia: 5 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 3 BB, 8 K
★ ★ ★
Low-A: Asheville Tourists 5, West Virginia Power 6
Ryan Vilade (no. 7 PuRP): 1-for-4, R, 2B
Will Gaddis (no. 23 PuRP): 3 IP, 5 H, 4 R/ER, 3 BB, 3 K
Robert Tyler (no. 24 PuRP): 2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 4 K
Chad Spanberger (no. 29 PuRP): 1-for-4, R
Sean Bouchard: 1-for-4, HR, 2 RBI
★ ★ ★
Saturday Probables
Triple-A Albuquerque: Matt Flemer (1-0, 9.45 ERA) @ Salt Lake Bees (LAA), 6:35 pm MT
Double-A Hartford: Peter Lambert (no. 4 PuRP, 0-1, 3.00 ERA) vs. Harrisburg Senators (WAS), 4:05 pm MT
High-A Lancaster: Matt Dennis (0-3, 11.68 ERA) @ Inland Empire (LAD), 7:05 pm MT
Low-A Asheville: Antonio Santos (0-2, 4.67 ERA) @ West Virginia Power (PIT), 12:05 pm MT