Summary
* Mixed day, 4-3, but most of the upper level Affiliates won. Combined record: 184-163
* Please someone check my addition after last nights effort.
* Oklahoma City walked off with a three-run bomb.
* Corpus got tripled-up by Springfield.
* Lancaster scored 12 runs in the first three innings to cruise to an easy win.
* Quad Cities survived giving up a run in the bottom of the ninth to win a close one.
* Tri-City won a close one by scoring five in one frame.
* GCL Astros were handily beaten...
* As was Greeneville
Oklahoma City (43-39)
The RedHawks entered the bottom of the ninth against the Omaha StormChasers (43-37) with the score tied at 5-apiece. This occurred after Oklahoma City gave up a run in the top of the ninth to a one out walk-stolen base-double sequence, but they got out of the inning stranding the runner at third. The bottom of the ninth went thusly: single, sac-bunt, IBB (Marc Krauss), HR (Domingo Santana). All of this is the long way of saying 8-5 walk-off win.
Bumpy Bit: Rough start for Bobby Doran, giving up three in the first inning, all with two outs: single-single-walk-triple (buy our old friend, Wrecking Ball Paredes)-K sequence. However he settled down, giving up a single run in the fifth for an overall line of 6IP, 8H, 4R/ER, 2BB, K. Andrew Robinson then Kevin Chapman (AAA ERA: 0.94) relieved for a scoreless inning apiece, then Jason Stoffel blew the save and got the with with a IP, H, R/ER, BB, K line.
Flat Bit: Domingo Santana, when he wasn't blasting walk off home runs, was pretty damn good. His line: 4-5, HR, 3RBI, 3R. Also homering was Marc Krauss (1-4, BB, HR, 2RBI, 2R). Matt Duffy had the next-best night: 2-3, BB, R, RBI.
Man of the Match: Lets go out on a limb here, and choose
Corpus Christi (37-42)
Corpus got a little beaten-up by Springfield (39-40) who held a 3-0 lead until Corpus scored two in the top of the sixth to take the game to 3-2. Springfield then replied with a three-run bottom half, and that was all she wrote. Hooks lose, 6-2, and were outhit 13-5.
Bumpy Bit: Mike Hauschild got the start, and gave up all the runs despite striking out seven. His line: 5.2IP, 11H, 6R/ER, 0BB, 7K. Alex Sogard and Travis Bellow combined for 2.1 innings of scoreless, 2-hit relief.
Flat Bit: More ugly from the Hooks in the batting department, but some solid games hidden amongst the dross. Delino DeShields was on base thrice (1-2, 2BB, 2B, RBI) and Carlos Perdomo and Ruben Sosa also walked twice (0-2, 2BB). Jio Mier was on base twice (1-3, BB).
Man of the Match: Haven't had much cause to mention Delino DeShields in the MoTM awards this season. His season line: .233/.331/.338. But today was a good day for him, long may it continue.
Lancaster (48-31)
Phew... business has resumed as normal at the Hanger, as Lancaster beat up on Lake Elsinore (44-35). Lancaster started badly, entering the bottom of the second with a three-nil deficit, but the five runs they scored in their half of the second, followed by the six runs they scored in their half of the third put the game beyond doubt. Lancaster 13, Lake Elsinore 5.
Bumpy Bit: Mark Appel either (i) continued scuffling or (ii) improved vastly, depending on whether your spectacles are rose-tinted or not. Noteably, he didnt allow a hit over his last three innings: 5IP, 5H, 3R/ER, BB, 3K. Personally, I would like to be seeing him missing more bats. I would also like to see nine digits to the left of the decimal point in my bank account, but you can't always get what you want, and Appel is far from finished. And speaking of finishing - Brian Holmes pitched the next four: 4IP, 2H, 2R/ER. 3BB, 3K, 1xHR.
Flat Bit: The Astros have the market cornered on undersized second basemen with surprising pop. Sadly, no ML slots look set to open up in the next few years, trade deadline notwithstanding (and no, I don't think Altuve will be dealt). All this was a long winded introduction for Chan Moon's stellar night: 3-5, 2B, 2xHR, 2R, 6RBI. Yikes. Brandon Meredith was pretty darn good too: 1-3, 2BB, 3B, 3R; Conrad Gregor also enjoyed himself (1-3, 2BB, 2B, 2R) as did Roberto Pena (1-1, 2BB, R, 2RBI) - those three batted 4-6 in the order, respectively. Rio Ruiz didn't play well (0-5, 2K).
Man of the Match: Chan Moon. Since his promotion: .353/.421/.765 in 5 games.
Quad Cities (39-37)
Quad Cities scored three in the top of the sixth to take a 3-2 lead over Peoria (42-34), then added an insurance run in the top of the ninth. Thank goodness they did, as Peoria scored one in the bottom of the ninth, but Quad Cities managed to hold them off for a 4-3 win.
Bumpy Bit: "Tandem rotation be damned!", says the Peoria squad. Edison Frias started, and despite a 2-run first, had a solid day: 5IP, 4H, 2R/1ER, 5K. Evan Grills secured a 4-inning save while striking out six: 4IP, 2H, R/ER, 6K.
Flat Bit: Quad Cities managed 14 hits and 3BB. A bunch of guys had two or three hit nights, including James Ramsay (2-4, BB, 2x2B, SB, CS), Jon Kemmer (3-5, 2B, R), Chase McDonald (2-5, 2B, R, 2RBI), Ronnie Mitchell (3-5, R, RBI, SB, CS) and Brett Booth (2-4, 2B). Marc Wik walked twice (0-2, 2BB, R)
Man of the Match: James Ramsay in CF hit two doubles, walked once, and didn't score. Scratchy last ten: .237/.293/.368. Hopefully, this signals an improvement.
Tri-City (9-6)
A five run seventh inning for the ValleyCats led them to a 7-5 win over Connecticut (7-8).
Bumpy Bit: Tri-City used a bunch of pitchers, and I won't mention them all here, but here is the box if anyone is interested. Ryan Thompson, Derick Velazquez, Jordan Mills and Chris Munnelly had scoreless outings.
Flat Bit: The big blow was from Terrell Joyce (1-4, HR, 2RBI, R), but some other ValleyCats had good nights. This included Bobby Boyd (2-5, RBI, 2R), J.D. Davis (2-4, RBI), Ricky Gingras (2-4, 2B, R) and Mott Hyde (2-4, 2B, RBI, R).
Anatomy of a five-run inning (the seventh): walk, home-run (Joyce), ground-out, single, single, RBI double with runner to third, walk, K, 2RBI single with throwing error, ground-out.
Man of the Match: Good team effort, and we have some MoTM trophies saved up because our receptionist thought the ValleyCats were in a full-season league, so everyone can have a trophy!! In fact, take two. We need the office space!
GCL Astros (4-3)
The GCL Astros played away against the GCL Pirates (2-5), and had the game tied at 2 apiece entering the bottom of the eighth. But the Pirates managed a three-run inning, and the GCL Astros lose, 5-2
Bumpy Bit: Justin Ferrell started and went two, allowing a hit whilst striking out two. Joselo Pinales and Kyle Gehrs combined to allow the three runs in the eighth. Pinales actually pitched the most innings out of any pitcher from the GCL-Astros (4.1IP, 7H, 3R/ER, K).
Flat Bit: Hector Roa was the standout performer on offence: 3-4, 2B. Dexture McCall continued his hot start to a pro career: 2-4, RBI. Richard Gonzalez went 1-3, BB, 2B for a good night.
Man of the Match: Hector Roa had a good night, but neither scored nor drove in a run. Despite this horrible lack of production, he gets the MoTM.
Greeneville (4-5)
Greenville found out the hard way that you don't win many games after you give up a seven-run inning. Greeneville led 5-4 entering the bottom of the seventh, then said seven-run inning occurred, so they lose 11-5.
Bumpy Bit: Dean Deetz was the double-agent in the Greeneville team: 0.2IP, 2H, 6R/ER, 3BB, K. Angel Heredia had the only scoreless night of a Greeneville pitcher in 0.1IP. Brock Dykxhoorn had his second appearance, and gave up his second run in his pro-career: IP, H, R/ER, BB.
Flat Bit: All of the offensive was concentrated at the top of the order. Leadoff man Antonio Nunez (2-4, BB, R, RBI) did well; Juan Santana followed and did less well (1-5, R, RBI) but Sean McMullen had the best line (1-3, BB, 2B, R, 2RBI). Below McMullen's spot in the order was mostly crickets and tumbleweeds, with the occasional interesting line (Ramon Laureano: 0-2, 2BB, R).
Man of the Match: Sean McMullen gets the MoTM-y because of a total lack of pitching.
Great win for the Astros tonight (after blowing the lead in the eighth). Good to see Jason Castro stringing some really good at-bats together. He hit the ball hard all night, and finally got rewarded. Stick around for more Astros-centric news.
