The Constable continues to be shut in his computer room for unclear reasons. More senseless shouting vaguely relating to baseball has been observed. So... me. Sorry.
Summary
* Yay!! 4-0 on the day - 67-62 for the year - some breathing space above .500!!
* Filthy Pitching Duel at OKC. Which Astros prospect threw a dominant outing??
* Dominant tandem pitching and runs-in-bunches resulted in a laugher for Corpus.
* More dominant tandem pitching and runs-in-smaller-bunches at Lancaster.
* Quad Cities broke out the lumber early, and held on to win by a healthy margin at home.
Oklahoma City (18-15)
The 15-17 Memphis Redbirds have just rolled into Bricktown for a three game set. Oklahoma City held Memphis to six hits during a 2-0 shutout. Game all done in 2:10 - short but sweet for Astros fans - and the wind was 22mph, and blowing out.
Hill: Jake Buchanan broke out the Nasty today, with a dominant 7-inning performance. He gave up 5 hits, struck out 5, and kept the ball on the ground (13:3 GO:FO ratio). He only tossed 86 pitches in a pretty efficient performance.
Rhiner Cruz and Kevin Chapman combined for the eighth, giving up 1 hit. Josh Zeid pitched a perfect inning (K) to earn the save.
Hit: OKC didn't exactly go offensive-crazy themselves, but scored enough runs to back a dominant pitching performance. No players had an XBH.
The offence consisted of a plethora of 1-4's (Bob Grossman, Domingo Santana - the latter with a run scored) and 1-3's (Gregorio Petit - with a run scored, Max Stassi - RBI, and Carlos Perez - RBI). Note is also made that Jon Singleton (0-2, 2BB) and Enrique Hernandez (1-2, BB) were the only RedHawks that were on base twice. Bob Grossman stole a base. Not sure where he stashed it, but if you find it, please contact the officials at Bricktown.
Man of the Match: Jake Buchanan, as a 24 year old in AAA, isn't exactly old for a prospect at this level. His peak time is close-to-now, and if the Goat Pen continues it's shenanigans, he may see some time in the Bigs later in 2014. This is only his second shutout of the season, and he sports an ugly 4.13 ERA. But - keep throwing like this, and who knows?
Corpus Christi (17-15)
The Hooks took 3 of a 4 game series with the San Antonio Missions (13-18) after an 8-0 win. All the scoring in the game was in two half-innings, when the Hooks scored 5 in the second and 3 in the eighth. Three Hooks got hit-by-pitches. Coincidence?? I think not, given the recent bad blood between the Astros and the... Padres?
Hill: Matt Heidenreich and Brady Rodgers made the tandem starting work exactly like it should. Heidenreich earned the win: 5IP, 7 base runners (6H, 1BB), striking out 5. Brady Rodgers went even better: he earned a 4-inning save (my favourite kind), allowing 2 hits and striking out a hefty six. 11K's versus 1BB for the pitching staff.
Hit: Numbers 2 through 5 in the order all had two hits (Nolan Fontana 2-5, 2B, 2RBI; Andrew Aplin 2-3, BB, R, RBI; Matt Duffy 2-4, 3B, 3RBI; Preston Tucker 2-5, R). Marc Wik, yesterdays MOTM, also had a good day (2-3, 2B, 2R), and Rene Garcia (at DH) also did not disappoint (1-3, BB, 2R, RBI).
Wik, Duffy and Tyler Heineman (1-2, BB, R) were victimised by HBPs.
Man of the Match: Kudos to Brady Rogers for the 4-inning save. Showing great Closer Mentality!! The Astros need some of that!
Lancaster (19-14)
The JetHawks got up early, then closed out a 7-2 win away to the Lake Elsinore Storm (20-13)
Hill: Josh Hader (who was recently scouted) started for the JetHawks, and threw 5 solid, earning the win (5H, 2R/ER, BB, 3K, 1HR). He threw 80 pitches and kept the ball on the ground (5:1 ratio). He was relieved by Chris Devenski, who earned the 4-inning save (my absolute favourite kind), allowing 3 hits and striking out 6. Tandem starting works!! (...sometimes).
Hit: Multi-hit games from Anthony Kemp (2-5, 2B, R, 2RBI), Teoscar Hernandez (2-4, 2x2B, BB, R RBI), Rio Ruiz (2-4, BB, RBI), Ruben Sosa (2-3, 2B, 3B, BB, 3R) and Jordan Scott (2-4, R, 2RBI). Dan Gulbransen went 1-5, 2B. Carlos Correa went 1-5, and made a throwing error. Bring back Carlos Perdomo!
Man of the Match: The trophy has been cut in half with Chris Devenski taking the upper half (he had first choice of which half to take), and Ruben Sosa getting the base (after his 2XBH effort). Congrats gentlemen.
Quad Cities (13-18)
The River Bandits scored 8 in the first two innings, and held on to win at home by a score of 10-4 over the Cedar Rapids Kernels (18-13).
Hill: Jandel Gustave responded to his average scouting report today by only lasting 3.1 innings, after being staked to an 8-1 lead. His line was a messy 3.1IP, 4H, 4R/ER, 4BB, 4K, 1HR. But he hits 100 on the gun!! Must be good!
He was relieved by the man who eventually recorded the win, Chris Cotton, who went 2.2 hitless, walk-less innings with 1K. Kevin Comer recorded a 3-inning save (my second-favourite kind), allowing 3 base runners (2H, BB) and striking out two.
Hit: The top of the River Bandits order went crazy today, but I know that the avid reader is in fact impatient to learn how Jobduan Morales went. Remember, we attempted to curse him the last few days as an experiment. Well, I won't delay any longer.... 1-4, BB, 2K. Results: unclear.
Back to the top of the order... James Ramsay (3-4, 3R, 2B, 2BB, SB), Chan Moon (2-5, 2R, 2x3B, BB 2RBI), Jack Mayfield (2-5, 2R, 2RBI), Chase McDonald (2-4, BB, R, RBI) and Ronnie Mitchell (1-3, 2R, HR, 2BB, RBI) all had strong games, batting in the 1-5 slots respectively. But the best of the lot was Tyler White: 5-5, 2x2B, 4RBI, but, incredibly, no runs scored. How random is that??
Man of the Match: The entire top six of the order get would have been named MOTM (you get a trophy, you get a trophy, you get a trophy...), but the actual MOTM is: you guessed it... Jobduan Morales!! Jobduan, we keep doing this until we get an answer. And given that you seem to play only on alternate days, it may be a day or two yet...
Thanks for reading. I will endeavour to keep you updated as to the whereabouts of the Constable.
We didn't come out here to play tiddlywinks, son.
-Hal Smith
