I understand that the Constable is having a sleep-in, and getting a cooked breakfast served to him in bed this morning, so you are stuck with me AGAIN. Apologies.
This entire post is too long to read; therefore I want a quick summary, which is immediately below
aka TL;DR
* Astros Affiliates went 2-3 on the day, with the overall record now standing at 56-48
* Oklahoma lost, unearned runs were prevalent
* Corpus Christi gave up 4 runs in the final inning to again lose by one.
* Lancaster shut out High Desert, but fell short of a second straight 17K performance by a mere 10 strikeouts.
* Quad Cities split a doubleheader, with both games played over 7 innings each.
Oklahoma City (15-12)
Lost 5-2 to the Round Rock Express (who move to 14-12) at Bricktown. Oklahoma City was down 2-1 after the first, 4-1 after the 3rd, and both teams scored 1 in the ninth to complete the scoring.
On the Bump: Jake Buchanan started the new 6-man, non tandem system, which clearly does not work, mostly because the entire Astros front office either (i) has a total IQ <100 or (ii) are a bunch of geeks that have never played the game. Anywho, Jake pitched 5 innings, yielding 7H, 4R, 2ER, 0BB, 2K. He threw 81 pitches. Enrique Hernandez committed 2 throwing errors, accounting for the unearned runs.
Darin Downs relieved (2IP, 1H, 3K over 20 pitches), and Jason Stoffel relieved him (2IP, 3H, 1R/ER, 1BB, 2K).
At the Plate: Bob Grossman went 2-4, being the only RedHawk to have a multi-hit game. The two extra base hits were both doubles, from the bats of Domingo Santana and Enrique Hernandez (both 1-3, BB). Jon Meyer drew a walk, and Ronald Torreyes got plunked. No word on whether the plunking followed a bunt-against-the-shift. Expect retribution, probably because Bo Porter is crazy.
Man of the Match: Darin Downs did well. I would think he may see Houston at some stage, being a versatile LHP and all. Especially if Jessie Crain does not recover as quickly as expected. Whilst his superficial stats aren't great at AAA, the advanced ones are a little more favourable (5.54 ERA, 2.53 FIP)
Corpus Christi (14-12)
For the second night in a row, Corpus gives up four in the final inning (in this case, the bottom of the eighth), to lose, 5-4 in this case. On this occasion, it was the Midland squad (16-9) who acted like Every-Major-League-Team-That-Plays-The-Astros, knocking the bullpen around. Corpus led 4-1 after 3, and it stayed that way until the bottom of the eighth, when Midland went walk-FO-error (Sclafani)-FO-walk-double-single-popout to yield 1 unearned.
On the Bump: Thomas Shirley, who recently got featured in Carson Cistulli's Fringe Five article at Fangraphs pitched well: 5IP (76P), 5H, 1R/ER, 0BB, 6K. Prior to todays game, his ERA / FIP stood at 1.16 / 1.01, with a 10.8 K/9 and 1.54 BB/9. Stats not yet updated, but a nice season so far for the 25 year old lefty, who admittedly is a little old for the level.
Alex Sogard relieved, throwing 2.1 innings, no hits, 2R/1ER, 3BB, 1K. He was relieved in the 8th by Pat Urckfitz, who yielded 2 hits, 2R/ER, BB and took the loss.
At the Plate: Preston Tucker went 1-4, but hit a 3R HR. Nolan Fontana and Andrew Aplin went 2-4, R, BB, with the former also having a 2B. Rene Garcia went 2-4, 2B.
Man of the Match: Preston Tuckers 3R HR was potentially the game winning play. But not to be. Sigh.
Lancaster (16-11)
Lancaster won a tight one over a good (15-12) High Desert team. Lancaster scored 1 in the 5th and one in the 6th to win 2-0 at the Hanger. This puppy was done in 2h 19m.
On the Bump: Josh Hader started, and threw 4 scoreless, working around 1H and 5BB, versus 1K. Daniel Minor relieved and struck of 3 in 2 perfect innings, followed by Tyson Perez (2IP, 1BB, 2K) and Juan Minaya (1IP, 1BB, 1K). Overall the relievers allowed no hits in 5IP, walking 2 and striking out 6.
At the Plate: Not a heck of a lot of scoring to go into, as the JetHawks managed only 8 base runners (6H and 2BB) as a team. Carlos Perdomo, filling in a SS, went 1-3 with a triple, scoring a run. Anthony Kemp went 1-3 with a double, also scoring. The only other XBH was via Rio Ruiz (1-4, 2B). Brandon Meredith broke his streak, although technically I have mentioned him, therefore the streak continues. I will get back to you with the official legal opinion tomorrow.
Man of the Match: Clearly, the three headed monster of Minor, Perez and Minaya, who shut the Mavericks down, had a strong performance. Was it man-of-the-match worthy?? Yep!
Quad Cities (11-13)
Quad Cities played the 10-13 Clinton LunberKings squad in two 7-inning games today. In the first, QC lost 6-3 and in the second, won 9-8.
On the bump(s): Kent Emanuel started the first game, throwing 3IP, yielding 1R on 2H, 1BB, 4K. His ERA sits at 2.45 for the season. He took the loss. He was relieved by Albert Minnis, who gave up 5R on 5H, 1BB, 1K in 1.2 IP. Tyler Brunnemann pitched 2.1 innings, working around 3H and striking out one.
In the second game, Jandel Gustave had a less-than-impressive outing, giving up 6R/4ER on 3.2 IP, 5H, 2BB, 4K. Zach Morton and Andrew Walter both gave up 1R on 1BB, 2K, with the former pitching 2.1 innings (giving up 3H) and the latter pitching 1 inning (giving up 1H).
At the plate(s): Not much offence in the first game, with good efforts from Tanner Mathis (2BB, 0-2, R), Chan Moon (1-2, BB, R), Chase McDonald (1-4, 2B) and Thomas Lindauer (1-2, 2B, R, BB). 1-15 RISP doomed the River Bandits' offence in this one.
In the nightcap, LF Jon Kemmer went 2-3, 3R, BB, HR, SB while SS Thomas Lindauer went 2-3, BB. He lifted his triple slash to .387/.424/.677 in 31 at bats. Lindauer is a 22 year old SS, and is the reigning Midland Player of the Week. Chan Moon also went 2-4, 2R, and Chase McDonald went 2-4, R.
Man of the Matches: Thomas Lindauer had a solid day, combining for 3-5, 2B, 2BB for the day.
Hope you enjoyed the Morning Report! Thanks for reading.
We didn't come out here to play tiddlywinks, son.
-Hal Smith
