Expecting a phone call from the Constable shortly to let us know how the dog show went. However, his plan for the time that he is away is that I would be doing the PreStros on his behalf. Great news for me, not so great for you valued readers. Let's hope that the Constable's canine did well.
Summary
* Not a great night for the affiliates, going 3-4 overall to run the record to 167-144
* Oklahoma City lost in extra innings - which ex-Stro was instrumental in the loss??
* Corpus played a very tight one, giving up a home run as the only scoring swing of the game
* Lancaster's night was disastrous, including a potentially serious injury to the best Astros prospect
* Quad Cities just got smoked.
* Tri-City did some smoking, shutting out the opposition whilst scoring a heap of runs
* Greeneville came back impressively
* The GCL Astros doubled up their opposition for a solid win.
Oklahoma City (42-35)
Oklahoma lost a tough one to Tacoma, who won on an eleventh inning walk-off. Tacoma scored two in the bottom of the seventh to tie the score at 3-3. Oklahoma City then allowed a run in the bottom of the eleventh to lose by a score of 4-3.
Mound: Brett Obertholtzer got the start, and did "ok" overall, going 7IP, 7H, 3R/ER, BB, 4K. He gave up two of those home-run things - one to ex-future-big leaguer Michael Saunders and one to ex-Astro Humberto Quintero. All of Obie's three runs were allowed on the two home runs. Jose Veras relieved, and went 1IP, H, BB, 2K. Andrew Robinson got the assignment for the remainder of the game, and he wore the loss with a 2.2IP, 3H, 1R/0ER, 5K line. The bottom of the eleventh went thusly: single, foul out (bunt), force out - man out at second, passed ball - runner to second, single - runner to third, single (by the new Astros nemesis, Humberto Quintero). Obviously some controversial call on the second-last single, as Tony DeFrancesco got ejected right before the last play of the game.
Plate: Kiké Hernandez continued his filthy run, with a 2-4, BB, 2B night. He was the standout offensive performer. Carlos Perez went 1-3, 2B, RBI, R, and Matt Duffy hit a triple (1-5, 3B, R).
Man of the Match: Lets go with Kiké Hernandez (again!) who is having quite the run at the moment. Andrew Robinson deserves a mention, despite wearing the loss.
Corpus Christi (35-40)
Corpus and Frisco were locked in a close one until the top of the seventh, when Frisco managed a three-run inning. The final score was 3-0 Frisco, but Corpus managed to outhit them 7-3 while both teams walked one, and neither team made an error. And the three runs?? Why, a home run from Joey Gallo, of course, who threatens to haunt the Astros and their affiliates for the next decade or so.
Mound: Fantastic start from Mike Hauschild, who had a no-hitter going until the seventh. He allowed a single, single, home run sequence to start the inning, but then finished out the inning without any further base runners. His line: 7IP, 3H, 3R/ER, BB, 5K. Tyson Perez and Alex Sogard struck out three in two combined hitless innings to finish.
Plate: Two hits each for Carlos Perdomo (2-4) and Tyler Heineman (2-4, 2B). Hits to Delino DeShields and Jonathan Meyer (1-4). Ruben Sosa had a walk (0-3, BB).
Man of the Match: Lets go with Tyler Heineman and Carlos Perdomo. Offensive standouts on a tough night.
Lancaster (46-27)
Lancaster has owned Lake Elsinore (41-32) over this season, but that streak came to an end tonight. Lancaster opened the scoring in the sixth, with a four-run top-of-frame. Lake Elsinor answered with one in the bottom of the sixth... then six in the bottom of the seventh. Lancaster got one back in the top of the eighth, but they needed more, and subsequently lost 7-5. Note is made of Carlos Correa suffering a possibly serious right ankle injury after sliding in to third base on a sixth-inning triple. He left the game immediately after the play - news to follow.
Mound: It was an excellent start for Chris Devenski tonight, until that fateful seventh inning, where he opened the inning with a double-double-single sequence. He also gave up a solo home run in the bottom of the sixth. His line: 6+IP, 6H, 4R/ER, BB, 3K. He was relieved by Daniel Minor, who helped little, giving up three consecutive singles in the seventh, followed by a sac-fly. His line: IP, 3H, 3R/ER, K. Juan Minaya struck out one in the perfect eighth.
Plate: Two triples, one of them possibly very costly. Carlos Correa hit one (1-3, 3B, RBI) then was carted off injured. The other one was hit by the offensive standout performer of the night, Conrad Gregor (2-4, 3B, HR, 2RBI, 2R). Teoscar Hernandez continued to prove his worth and potential (3-5, 2B, R). Tanner Mathis went 2-4, 2B.
Man of the Match: Lets go with Conrad Gregor, who had an impressive night with a couple of big extra base-hits.
Quad-Cities (36-36)
The River Bandits drop back to .500, with a loss to the Peoria Chiefs (39-33). The River Bandits were doomed by a six-run inning from Peoria, and if that wasn't enough, Peoria added another three runs in the next two innings. Quad Cities loses, 9-2.
Mound: Getting the start, and getting shelled, was Kevin Comer. He was not able to escape the third inning, and his final line looked... er... messy: 2.1IP, 7H, 6R/ER, K. Chris Cotton relieved and escaped the third without further damage, but he got knocked around a bit in the next two: 2.2IP, 3H, 3R/ER, BB, K. Adrian Houser did a tremendous job of finishing: 4IP, H, BB, 2K.
Plate: Quad Cities managed one scoring inning (the third, immediately after the 6-run top-half of the frame). They only managed 5 hits and three walks all night. Ronnie Mitchell was on base twice (1-3, BB), James Ramsay hit a triple (1-4, 3B, R, RBI) and Tyler White and Jon Kemmer hit doubles (1-4, 2B, with Kemmer also scoring a run).
Man of the Match: Adrian Houser shut down the Chiefs with one hit in four innings - sadly Quad Cities was already in a hole that they would be unable to climb out of.
Tri-City (5-4)
Tri-City flat out dominated the Lowell (5-4) team, with the coup de grâce being the seven runs scored in the last two innings. Tri-City allowed three hits, and committing two errors in an 11-0 win.
Mound: Troy Scribner got the start and dominated, going 5IP, allowing one hit and one walk while striking out 4. Krishawn Holley, Vance Wheeland, Jordan Mills and Randall Fant all pitched one scoreless inning each, allowing two hits between them.
Plate: A.J. Reed managed to get on base 5 times (3-4, 2BB, 2RBI, 2R), and Jose Solano and Jamie Ritchie reached base four times each, and also recorded 2 doubles (3-4, BB, 2x2B, R, 2RBI and 3-3, BB, 2x2B, RBI, R respectively). Two players hit triples (Ravel Santana - 1-4, BB, 3B, 2R, RBI and Mott Hyde - 1-3, 3B, 2R, RBI).
Man of the Match: Lets go with the pitching staff, whose strong showing meant that only one run would have been enough... Honourable mentiones to offensive standouts A.J. Reed, Jose Solano and Jamie Ritchie.
Greeneville (1-2)
Greeneville recorded its first win of the season, and did so in impressive style with a comeback 6-5 win over Elizabethton (2-1). Elizabethton got off to a fast start, scoring two in each of the first two innings. However, Greeneville, who entered the middle of the sixth 4-1 down, scored three in the sixth and two in the bottom of the eighth to take the lead. Elizabethton managed to get one back in the top of the ninth, but Greeneville managed to close the door to complete the comeback.
Mound: Well, the starting and finishing wasn't that impressive, but the middle bit was solid. Gerardo Juarez had a rough start: 4IP, 7H, 4R/ER, BB, 4K. Keegan Yuhl (35th round) relieved and threw two perfect innings (K), and Angel Heredia worked around 3 hits to record two scoreless. Eric Peterson (37th round) allowed one run on two hits in the ninth, but was credited with the save.
Plate: Nine hits (all singles), four walks. Ydarqui Marte was the top performer (3-4, RBI), and Luis Reynoso had two hits (2-4, RBI). Sean McMullen (30th round, 1-3, BB, RBI) and Trent Woodward (20th round, 1-3, BB, RBI, R) were both on base twice.
Man of the Match: Lets go with Keegan Yuhl in his professional debut, who allowed no base runners in two perfect innings.
GCL Astros (2-0)
The GCL Astros scored another solid win, doubling up the GCL Braves (0-2). The Astros scored three in the top of the fourth to take a 5-0 lead, and withstood a three run Braves inning in the bottom of the fifth to run out 6-3 winners.
Mound: Getting the start was Elieser Hernandez, who went four scoreless (H, BB, 4K) while dominating. Alejandro Solarte gave up all the runs (2IP, 4H, 3R/ER, 2K). Samil De Los Santos and Juan Delis combined to record a perfect last three innings (1K).
Plate: Four players recorded two hits: Alexander Melendez (2-5, R, SB), Dexture McCall (2-4, RBI, SB), Richard Gonzalez (2-4, R) and Jake Bowey (2-4, 2B, R, RBI). Edwin Medina scored two runs and recorded the only walk (0-4, BB, R, SB).
Man of the Match: Lets go with the starting pitcher, Elieser Hernandez, who allowed two base runners in four dominant innings.
So there it is - another PreStros wrap looking closely at the interesting prospects that the organisation is currently developing. Lets cross fingers for the health of Carlos Correa.
We didn't come out here to play tiddlywinks, son.
-Hal Smith
