Summary
* Affiliates go 2-2, taking the overall minor-league record to 89-76
* Oklahoma managed to overcome a 5-run Nashville inning to eventually win.
* Corpus allowed a bunch of runs to score late to lose the opening game to Midland
* Lancaster won a football game over Rancho Cucamonga, 2 TD to 1.
* Quad Cities lost a tight one. A boring, tight one.
Oklahoma City (24-18)
Oklahoma City beat a decent Nashville squad (21-20), despite allowing 5 runs in the second inning. The RedHawks scored 1 in the first and sixth, and 2 in the second and fourth, and eventually prevailed 6-5, holding the Nashville team to 6 hits (and no walks) over the last 7 innings.
Rubber Rectangle: Starting for the RedHawks was David Martinez, who had a solid outing (4IP, 5H, 1BB, 6K) despite allowing 5R/ER in the second. He was relieved at 70 pitches by Chia-Jen Lo, who threw an inning, giving up two hits. Bobby Doran proceeded pitch the next 3.2 innings, yielding only three hits, but needing some assistance to close the game with runners on first and third in the ninth. Jason Stoffel got the last out.
Martinez did well, despite a horror second, when he went walk, double, homer, double, triple, groundout, SF, flyout. He bounced back to give up a hit over the next two scoreless, before being relieved.
Plastic Pentagon: Adron Chambers (leading off) and Robbie Grossman (batting second) formed a potent 1-2 punch at the top of the order, going 3-5, 2x2B, 3RBI and 2-5, 2x2B, R respectively. Also having a good day at the plate was Enrique Hernandez (2-5) and Jonathan Meyer (2-4, 2B, 2R).
That said, the RedHawks squad struck out a collective 11 times, led by Domingo Santana (1-4, BB, 3K). The Shoutout Hangover, huh? Curse of the AC!
Man of the Match: Bobby Doran fell one out short of a 4-inning save, so he gets nuthin'. Adron Chambers, recently off the DL, did well with 5 total bases. He wins!!
Corpus Christi (21-20)
I seem to remember, a few weeks ago, Corpus went through a bullpen-blow-a-rama, a few days in a row. Well, they did it again tonight. Corpus had a 5-1 lead entering the 6th, but they managed to give up 8 runs over the last four, yielding 2, 3, 1 and 2 runs in innings' 6-9 respectively. The final result was a 9-7 loss to a decent Midland (24-17) team.
Rubber Rectangle: More odd-pitching box lines in the minors, with David Rollins getting the start, and going 2.2 innings, being relieved after 44 pitches. He gave up 4 hits, stuck out three, and gave up 1ER. I am guessing that he is building stamina, as this is his second appearance back from a month-long layoff. Anyhow, he was relieved by Brady Rodgers (4.2IP, 6H, 6R, 5ER, 0BB, 2K, 3 (!) HR), with Pat Urchfitz pitching the last 1.2 innings (4H, 2R/ER, 2K). On the up-side, the pitching crew didn't walk one, but it is also hard to draw walks whilst hitting home runs.
Plastic Pentagon: An odd night for the hitters, with only 1 extra-base hit, and 17 base runners (7BB, 8H, 2RoE). Delino DeShields went 1-4, BB, 2R, SB; Nolan Fontana had a Nolan-Fontana-esque night (0-2, 3BB, R); Andrew Aplin went 2-4, BB, 3RBI; Preston Tucker homered (1-3, BB, HR, 2R, 2RBI); and Joe Sclafani went 2-5, RBI. Leo Heras stole two bases, after going 0-4, BB.
Man of the Match: I like Nolan Fontana for this one - he is quietly having a nice season, sitting at .268/.390/.402. He is a little young for the level (-1.1 years), and may also be a relative of Brian Fantana. But probably not, especially given the latter is a fictional character, and the spelling of the names is slightly different.
Lancaster (25-17)
Lancaster and Rancho Cucamonga (19-23) were swinging haymakers at each other all night. Lancaster gave up 7 runs in the first five, but had their own 7-run inning (the fifth), as well as a five-run inning (the ninth) to pull away late. A football score!
Rubber Rectangle: This game featured the debut of Gonzalo Sanudo at Hi-A. He didn't do well, only lasting three innings (7H, 4R/ER, 4K, HR). He was relieved by J.D. Osborne (1.1IP, 1H, 3R/ER, 3BB, 0K) who also struggled. But that was all the runs that Lancaster would give up, with the game finished by Jamaine Cotton (3.2IP, 5H, 2K) and Daniel Minor (IP, H, K). The Lancaster team recorded most of their outs on the ground (10 groundouts versus 4 flyouts).
Plastic Pentagon: Two high-scoring innings were powered by lots and lots of base runners (17 hits, 7 walks, 1 RoE). Five of those hits were extra-base hits (2x2B, 3B, HR). Lots of batters to mention: Anthony Kemp (4-6, 2B, 3R), Teoscar Hernandez (2-6, HR, R, 5RBI), Carlos Correa (2-6, 2R, 2RBI), Rio Ruiz (1-3, 3BB, 2R), Bobby Borchering (3-4, BB, 2B, 3B, R, 4RBI), Roberto Pena (2-5, HR, R, 3RBI) and Jordan Scott (2-3, 2BB, 2R) all contributed.
Man of the Match: Hard to go past Jamaine Cotton on the pitching side, and Teoscar Hernandez on the batting side. I would have given the offensive MoTM to Anthony Kemp, but his two SB were counterbalanced by a CS and pickoff.
Quad Cities (19-21)
The Bandits of the River lost by a score of 4-2 to the Kane County Cougars (27-14). The Cougars were assisted by two unearned runs.
Rubber Rectangle: Chris Lee started, and actually had a pretty good night, going 6IP, yielding 4H and BB, giving up 3R, 1ER, and striking out 8. He was relieved by Tyler Brunnemann, who pitched the last two innings, giving up 1R/ER on 3H, but striking out 4.
Plastic Pentagon: Things at the Pentagon were a little quieter than the other affiliates, thankfully, which assisted on keeping this post under 5000 words. In brief, Conrad Gregor went 1-2, 2BB, 3B, R. No one else did much of anything. The team struck out 13 times, walked twice, and Gregor's triple was the only extra-base hit.
Man of the Match: No one did much of anything today, aside from Conrad Gregor. But, in order to promote joy and harmony around the AC offices, I will nominate Batguy for the MoTM today. Poor Batguy is out on the AC scooter right now, looking for the Constable, who is missing (as mentioned above) presumed quesedilla'd (and probably Corona'd and Jose Cuervo'd by now).
Happy May 17, everyone!
