I will do the PreStros again today, to give the Constable time to (i) analyse the draft and (ii) par-ty. For those of you that don't know, the Constable is a little bit of a party animal - middle age ain't goin' hold him back!
Summary
* Affiliates reverse yesterdays record, going 3-1, leading to a combined record of 133-112.
* Oklahoma City leaked lots of runs late to lose a tight one.
* Corpus finally won at Midland to go to 1-7 on the season in that particular away matchup.
* Lancaster scored a bunch of runs late to win away.
* Quad Cities shut out the Burlington Bees.
Oklahoma City (32-30)
Oklahoma City were locked in a tight 1-0 battle with Omaha (33-28) heading in to the bottom of the seventh. They gave up two on a Matt Fields home run, then scored one in the top of the eighth to draw level at two apiece. But then Matt Fields came to the plate with the bases loaded in the bottom half, and hit another of those home run things that seem so popular these days. He drove in all six Omaha RBI's, and the RedHawks lose 6-2 to the Storm Chasers.
Bump: David Martinez got the start, and flat out dominated. He threw six innings, allowing 4 base runners (3 hits, 1 walk) and striking out four. He was pulled after 86 pitches, and replaced by Alex White, who gave up two runs (1IP, 4H, 2R, 2ER, 2K) - the second tainted outing in a row after 4 scoreless outings to start the season. Jason Stoffel pitched the last inning, and had a bad one: IP, 4R, 4R, 4ER, BB, K.
Plate: Not much to see here.... given that only two runs scored on 5 hits (both solo home runs). Enrique Hernandez had the best night (2-4, HR, R, RBI) and Carlos Perez was not far behind (1-3, HR, R, RBI). Ronald Torreyes got on base once (0-2, BB), but was erased on a caught stealing.
Man of the Match: David Martinez succeeded in keeping runs off base, and runs off the scoreboard.
Corpus Christi (30-30)
Corpus wins a tight one, over Midland (32-28). Corpus scored twice in a 2-0 win, once in the top of the fourth, and once in the top of the seventh.
Bump: Jordan Jankowski flat out dominated - the second Affiliate starter to do so today (if you are reading this from top to bottom). His line: 7.1IP, 3H (all singles), BB, 7K. No runs or earned runs. 97 pitches, 69 for strikes, and 7 groundouts versus 6 flyouts. Career-high in terms of number of innings pitched.
He was relieved by Pat Urckfitz - 1.2IP, H, K. His ERA stands at 1.57 for the season. Urckfitz recorded the save.
Plate: The Hooks only mustered 4 hits and two walks, so not much to write about here. Nolan Fontana went 1-4 with a double (the only extra base-hit) and a run. He was driven in by a Carlos Perdomo (1-4, RBI) single. Delino DeShields (0-3, BB, R, CS) scored the other run in the seventh. He singled with two outs, then scored all the way from first on a Jonathan Meyer single (1-4, RBI). Preston Tucker went 1-4.
Man of the Match: Jordan Jankowski recorded a dominant outing, and the Hooks scored just enough runs. Game finished in a hair over two and one-half hours.
Lancaster (40-23)
The mighty Lancaster team rolls on, winning the opening game of a 4-game away series agains the Visalia Rawhide (33-30). Visalia opened the scoring with a 4-run fourth, with Lancaster getting three runs back in the fifth and sixth innings combined. Visalia scored another in the seventh to take the score to 5-3, but Lancaster answered in the top of the eighth with five runs. Lancaster wins 8-5 (although they only managed five hits).
Bump: Zach Morton made his second AA start, and had a little bit of trouble because of one bad inning. His line: 5IP, 2H, 4R/ER, BB, 4K. He gave up two doubles in his outing as the only extra-base hits.
He was relieved by Matt Heidenreich, who went three innings, giving up 2 hits, 1 run/earned run, 1 walk and striking out three. Daniel Minor got the save (IP, H, 2K).
Plate: The JetHawks were assisted with two errors that allowed three unearned runs to score. However, some guys also managed some good nights at the plate: Anthony Kemp (leading off): 0-2, 3BB, RBI and Rio Ruiz: 1-2, 3BB, 2R managed six walks between them; Jobduan Morales managed the only extra-base hit (1-4, BB, 2B, RBI) and Conrad Gregor was on base twice (1-3, BB, 2R, 2RBI).
Man of the Match: I like the walking ways of Anthony Kemp and Rio Ruiz - impressive six walks between them.
Quad Cities (31-29)
Quad Cities rode a dominant pitching performance to a 4-0 win over the Burlington Bees (30-29). Qaud Cities scored one in the second and sixth, and two in the eighth to avoid an away sweep. The Bees helped by making five errors.
Bump: Edison Frias dominated, throwing five innings, giving up two hits, walking one, and striking out 5. Evan Grills relieved, and was even nastier, as he retired the first seven batters he faced in 3 scoreless innings (3IP, H, BB, 3K). Frederick Tiburcio pitched an uneventful ninth, striking out one.
Plate: Brett Phillips (2-3, BB, 3B, 2R, SB) and Tyler White (2-5, 2B, RBI) both had solid nights. Thomas Lindauer recorded a double (1-4, 2B, RBI). Chase McDonald walked twice (0-3, 2BB). James Ramsay stole two bases (1-4).
Man of the Match: Three out of the four affiliates, plus the big-league club, recorded scoreless outings from their starters. It's a sign!! Edison Frias wins the MoTM.
It's almost like the affiliates took a time machine back to the 1920's or something. Three of four affiliates had dominant pitching outings, and the offences recorded 5, 4, 5 and 8 hits respectively. Given the similar numbers of hits, the spread of runs scored in the games was quite wide: between 2 and 8 runs scored. Also, the affiliate opponents committed 10 combined errors.
Baseball's randomness is interesting.
We didn't come out here to play tiddlywinks, son.
-Hal Smith
