Didn't the Constable pick a bad day to be out of contact?? He missed out on providing some input into our awesome position statement. I am sure that he will be commenting on the Astros news he has missed when (i) the dust / hoopla / whatever settles and (ii) when he has this new "internet" thing available to him.
Summary
* Rough affiliate day AGAIN 2-4 for a combined record of 190-177
* Oklahoma City had a slugfest with Colorado Springs
* Corpus lost on a walk-off for the second straight night
* Quad-Cities were offensively inept
* Tri-City managed to piece together five runs over four innings, and won
* The GCL Astros gave up a five-run inning, and lost
* Greeneville gave up a five-run inning, and lost - after having a six-run inning of their own!
Oklahoma City (45-40)
Oklahoma City scored for the cycle, with a 1-run, 2-run, 3-run and 4-run inning all occurring within the space of 5 innings. Sadly, not in order. They racked up 16 hits while subduing a Colorado Springs team that sports a poor record (35-49).
Bump: Rudy Owens started and was roughed up a little (although the Colorado Springs home park benefits hitters considerably, and it is at considerable altitude). His line: 5.1IP, 6H, 5R/4ER, 5BB, 2K, 1HR allowed. Alex White relieved, and allowed another run to reach the ledger for Colorado Springs: 1.2IP, H, R/ER, BB. His ERA now sits at 6.19 for the season. Jorge De Leon finished the game without incident (2IP, H, K).
Flat: Two RedHawks had three hits including the red-hot Kiké Hernandez (3-5, 2B, HR, 2R, 4RBI) and Preston Tucker (just a mere 3-5 with an RBI). Domingo Santana was on base four times (2-3, 2BB, 2R, RBI), and three other RedHawks had two hits: Austin Wates (2-5, R, RBI), Marc Krauss (2-5, 2B, 2R) and Matt Duffy (2-5, R, RBI). Ronald Torreyes had a double (1-4, 2B, R).
Man of the Match: Enrique Hernandez is tearing up AAA at the moment, and is in a rich vein of form. His night was outstanding - 3 base hits, all for extra bases, driving in four. His home run came with one runner on. Could (i) Marwin get traded or (ii) Villar get demoted?? Watch and see.
Corpus Christi (38-44)
Corpus, for the second straight night was the victim of a walk off at the hands of the Tulsa Drillers (44-37). This time the scores were tied at seven heading into the bottom of the ninth after both teams managed a 4-run inning earlier in the game. Brian Humphries was again the architect of the walk-off, singling with a runner on second and two outs. Corpus made two errors, resulting in three earned runs.
Bump: Brady Rodgers got the start and struggled: 4.1IP, 6H, 6R/4ER, 2BB, 4K, 1HR allowed (of the two-run variety). Mitchell Lambson relieved - 2.2IP, 1H, 1R/0ER, BB, K, 1HR allowed. Jordan Jankowski turned in a scoreless outing, but he left with bases loaded courtesy of two strikeouts with the bags full (1IP, H, 2BB, 2K). Richard Rodriguez wore the loss while recording two outs.
Flat: The Hooks managed 11 hits (five of which were for extra bases) and 5 walks. Tony Kemp, batting leadoff, had a good night (2-4, HR, R, 2RBI). Also with two hits was Delino DeShields (2-4, R), Jonathan Meyer (2-4, BB, 2B, RBI), Leo Heras (2-5, 2B) and Tyler Heineman (2-4, 3B, RBI, SB). Telvin Nash walked twice (0-2, 2BB, R)
Man of the Match: I choose Tony Kemp, for his surprising pop from such a little dude.
Quad Cities (40-40)
Quad Cities drops back to .500 with a loss to the Peoria Chiefs (45-35). The Chiefs took the lead with a three-run bottom of the first, and had another three-run frame in the third. The River Bandits didn't score until the ninth, and they lost by a score of 8-2. Quad Cities also managed three errors, resulting in two unearned runs.
Bump: Jandel Gustave got the start, and he, uh, struggled. 2IP, 5H, 6R/ER, 3BB, 4K. Chris Cotton relieved (3IP, 4H, 1R/0ER, BB, K) and Tyler Brunnemann was solid in finishing the game (3IP, 3H, 1R/0ER, 3K.
Flat: The River Bandits only managed four hits and no walks, so not much to write about here. Both runs that they scored were unearned on a fielding error. Marc Wik (1-4, 2B, R) hit a double in that inning (which was the only extra-base hit), and Brett Phillips (0-3) scored the other run after being hit by a pitch. Chase McDonald (1-4), Jon Kemmer (1-3) and James Ramsay (1-4) had the other three hits.
Man of the Match: Lets select the relievers: Chris Cotton and Tyler Brunnemann They gave up two unearned runs, and it wasn't their fault that the offence was awful.
Tri-City (11-7)
Tri-City had the pleasure of visiting the Vermont Lake Monsters (7-11) today. They scored five runs spread over the last six innings, eventually winning by a score of 5-3. One of those runs was unearned as Vermont made three errors.
Bump: On the bump was Luis Ordosgoitti (try typing that after a few drinks), and he was fairly solid over 4 innings: 4H, 1R/ER, 2BB, 4K. A veritable bevy of relievers followed - Blaine Sims ate up the most innings (1.2) and didn't allow any runs, despite walking three and allowing two hits. Derick Valazquez threw the next longest out of the relievers: 1.1IP, 1H, 1R/ER, 1BB, 1K. Three other relievers also pitched (box here).
Flat: Three players managed two hits: Bobby Boyd (2-5, R); Ryan Bottger (2-4, BB, R) and Nick Tanielu (2-4, 3B, R, RBI). A.J. Reed homered (1-5, HR, R, RBI), and Alex Hernandez was on base twice whilst homering (1-3, BB, HR, R, RBI).
Man of the Match: The homer-ing duo of A.J. Reed and Alex Hernandez get the MoTM for today's game.
GCL Astros (4-5)
The GCL Astros are found out tonight that you don't win many games where you give up five runs in an inning, and eight runs over two consecutive innings. They were playing the GCL Phillies (5-4), who scored three in the second and five in the third. That was enough, as the GCL Astros only managed seven runs (including two consecutive 3-run innings of their own), and therefore lost by a score of 9-7.
Bump: Ruben Alaniz didn't have it tonight: 2.2IP, 11H, 8R/5ER, K. Christian Perdomo, Randall Fant and Aaron Vaughn combined for four innings, giving up one hit between them. J.D. Osborne gave up a run in his only inning.
Flat: The hits were nearly totally spread between the following four players: Osvaldo Duarte (3-5, 2B, RBI); Hector Roa (2-5, 2B, 3B, 2R); Kristian Trompiz (3-3, 2xBB, 2B, 3R) and Jake Bowey (2-4, BB, 2B, 3B, 2R. Richard Gonzalez got the lone remaining hit, and was also on base twice (1-3, BB, 2RBI).
Man of the Match: The relief corps were awesome, but not quite as awesome as Kristain Trompiz, who was on base five times tonight, and had six total bases. His line as a pro: .483/.559/.793.
Greeneville (4-8)
Greeneville also wanted to trial a hypothesis investigating the relationship between allowing 5-run innings and losing. They also found out that giving up five runs in a frame tend not to support winning efforts, as they found out against Burlington (6-6). Greeneville themselves had a 6-run inning in the fourth, and led 7-3 going into the eighth. Burlington took an 8-7 lead in that inning, but Greeneville tied it up in the ninth, only to lose on a walk-off unearned run by a score of 9-8. Both sides made three errors, and of the 15 runs scored, 10 were earned.
Bump: Reymin Guduan got the start, giving up two runs in 4.1IP (3H, 2ER, 4BB, 7K, 2HR allowed). Robert Kahana relieved and allowed an unearned run in 2.2 innings. Krishawn Holley did the most damage (0.1IP, 4H, 5R/ER, K, HR allowed). But Jorge Perez wore the loss (1.1IP, 3H, 1R/0ER, BB). The ninth went single, double-play, fielding error, bunt single, RBI single.
Flat: Everyone except Conner Goedart had a hit tonight, and he walked once (0-4, BB, R). Jason Martin was productive (2-5, 3B, R, 3RBI), Yonathan Mejia was solid (2-4, BB, 2B, R, RBI) and Jacob Nottingham did well (2-4, R, RBI).
Man of the Match: Yonathan Mejia can have the MoTM-y, due to a lack of other obvious contenders.
Thanks for reading, and make sure you check out the awesome graphing looking at the ages compared to league average of the Corpus Christi and Oklahoma City teams. Spoiler: they are both quite young.
We didn't come out here to play tiddlywinks, son.
-Hal Smith
