4/30 Minor League Wrap-Up

Not a good day for the Mavs and T-Rats, but the DIAMOND JAXX and Rainiers made huge statements yesterday.  Both winning teams also had slumping regulars put up big-time performances under pressure.

A:  San Jose 7, High Desert 1

Aaron Cotter:  6 IP, 7 H, 5 ER, 3 walks, 3 K
Austin Bibens-Dirkx:  1 IP, 3 H, 2 ER, walk
Roman Martinez:  1 IP, 1 K
Casey Craig:  1-4, R, K (.265)
Michael Saunders:  0-3, walk, K (.226)
Jesus Guzman:  2-4, double, RBI, K (.309)
Johan Limonta:  1-4, double, 2 K (.316)
spots 6-9 in lineup:  0-12, walk, K

Aaron Cotter has definitely returned to Earth.  San Jose slowly pounded away at him, with a run in the 1st, two more in the 2nd and 2 more in the 5th.  High Desert didn't manage their only run until it was far too late.  Starter Gregorio Martinez was nothing special as he pitched into the 6th, but the Mavs couldn't get much going against him, and the little Giants bullpen just shut down the Mavs, K'ing 5 of the final 12 batters and allowing only two baserunners.

A:  Dayton 3, Wisconsin 1

Kyle Parker:  5 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 3 K
Steve Uhlmansiek:  2 IP, 5 H, (3 R) 2 ER, walk, 2 K
Joseph Kantakevich:  2 IP, 2 K
Leury Bonilla:  1-4, solo HR, 2 K
And that was the only T-Rats hit in the game.

Travis Webb no-hit the T-Rats for six innings, with a walk and 5 K's.  8 flyouts to 5 groundouts.  Kyle Parker matched him with one hit ball over 5, but Steve Uhlmansiek cracked before Pedro Viola did, and cracked far more than Viola did: Uhlmansiek helped cough up 3 runs (one of which was, SURPRISE, unearned, thanks in part to a missed catch at 1st by Hargrove's kid) while Viola's only blemish was a solo HR from Leury Bonilla.  And Viola was dominant with 5 K's over his 3 innings of work.

Repeat after me:  THEY'RE JUST KIDS, THEY'RE JUST KIDS, THEY'RE JUST KIDS....

AA:  West Tenn 16, Chattanooga 8

Joe Woerman:  3 IP, 5 H, 6 ER (3 HR), 5 walks, 3 K
Juan Sandoval:  4 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, walk, 3 K
Craig James:  1 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 2 K
The Aircraft Carrier:  1 IP, walk, K
Brent Johnson:  2-6, R (.276)
Alex Meneses:  1-3, 4 R, 2 RBI, 2 walks (.217)
Prentice Redman:  2-4, two 2 run HRs, 3 R, 2 walks, 2 K (.267)
Marshall Hubbard:  1-5, 2 R, 2 RBI (.271)
Matt Tuiasosopo:  2-4, R (.371)
Jeff Frazier:  2-5, double, R, 3 RBI (.200)
Chris Minaker:  1-5, solo HR, 2 RBI, K (.233)
Luis Oliveros:  3-5, 2 double, 2 R, RBI, K (.409)
Luis Valbuena:  1-5, R (.193)

It was already 4-0 Lookouts after 2 innings, and it wasn't looking good, but the DIAMOND JAXX caught a big break in the 3rd.  Luis Oliveros, who at this point probably at least deserves a hot-hand promotion to the top catcher spot over Rene Rivera, doubled with one out.  Valbuena flew to left for two outs, but Brent Johnson's grounder to short was thrown YIKES AND AWAY by Paul Janish to score Oliveros and put Johnson at 2nd.  4-1.

Alex Meneses lined a single to right that scored Johnson, and it was 4-2.  Prentice Redman then hit a rocket over the left field wall to tie the ballgame at 4-4!  Marshall Hubbard grounded out, but still, the DIAMOND JAXX did a tremendous job of capitalizing on a big break with two outs.

But the Lookouts quickly responded in the bottom 3rd.  Chris Dickerson led off with his 1st home run of the season and Chattanooga had the lead again.  Joe Woerman then lost his control: Ryan Hanigan walked, Tonys Gutierrez walked.  Caonado Cosme sac bunted the runners ahead for one out, and Marland Williams grounded out, but plated a run to make it 6-4.  Drew Anderson drew a walk, but Paul Janish's liner got gloved by Valbuena at 2nd to end the threat, marking the 2nd gift from Janish in this ballgame.

Woerman was done after that, and the overworked Juan Sandoval surrendered a two out triple and walk in the 4th: he escaped.  He did not escape in the bottom 5th: Marland Williams bunted back to Sandoval and beat out the throw, then stole 2nd base.  Drew Anderson's double easily scored Williams and it was 7-4 Lookouts.  Paul Janish's incredible fortune continued as his liner found Chris Minaker's glove at SS, and Enrique Cruz grounded out to end the inning, but it looked like West Tenn was gonna drop another one to the Lookouts.

Alex Meneses got plunked to lead off the top 6th, and it must've lit a fire under the DIAMOND JAXX, because Prentice Redman went up and hit ANOTHER jack to make it 7-6.  Marshall Hubbard grounded to 2nd and 2B Caonabo Cosme couldn't handle it, giving Hubbard 1st.  Tui grounded to pitcher Luke Lockwood and made it to 1st in time, runners now at 1st and 2nd, no outs.  Jeff Frazier, a dud so far this year, smacked a worm burner down the RF line for two bases, scoring Hubbard to tie the ballgame as Tui took 3rd.  That was it for Luke Lockwood, ceding to Carlos Bohorquez.  Chris Minaker grounded to short for the first out, and Tui scored to give the DIAMOND JAXX the 8-7 lead.  Oliveros hit a towering double to left that scored Frazier and made it 9-7.  Valbuena and Brent Johnson flew and popped out, but once again West Tenn put up a huge inning.

And it wouldn't be their last.  After adding another run off a wild Jared Burton in the 7th to make it 10-7, the Lookouts relieved Burton with a familiar face from a couple years back: Mike Flannery, part of the trade that sent Miguel Olivo to San Diego.  Chris Minaker greeted old Mike by hitting his first HR of the season, 11-7.  Oliveros flew out, but Luis Valbuena's grounder down the middle found a hole for a base hit, and Valbuena stole 2nd.  Brent Johnson popped up for two outs (what is with this guy's gag reflex with RISP?), but Alex Meneses walked.  Then Prentice Redman walked (probably pitched around a bit after those two bombs) to load the bases.  Marshall Hubbard finally got good wood and smoked a single to center that scored Valbuena and Meneses, 13-7.  Tui smacked a single to left that loaded the bases again.  Jeff Frazier, who has a hit already but has been a rally killer all year, hit a sharp grounder that found a hole to LF, scoring Redman and Hubbard to make it 15-7 as Tui took 2nd.  Even after Chris Minaker flew out, the rout was on.

AAA:  Tacoma 7, Colorado Springs 6

Jim Parque:  6 IP, 9 H, (5 R) 4 ER, walk, 2 K
Renee Cortez:  2 IP, 0 H, 1 ER, 2 walks, 2 K, HBP, wild pitch
Jon Huber:  1 IP, 2 K, THIS is more like it.
Adam Jones IS BACK:  0-4, R, walk, 2 K (.295)
Jeremy Reed:  1-4, double, 3 RBI (.247)
WLAD:  1-4, solo HR (6) (.247)
Bryan LaHair:  0-3, R, walk (.217)
Mike Morse:  1-3, R, walk, 2 K (.333)
Jeff Clement (DH):  0-2, R, walk, K (.212)
Rob Johnson:  1-2, double, R, 2 walk (.225)

After WLAD's solor blast in the 1st made it 1-0, the Sky Sox pounded the hell out of Jim Parque in the 2nd for 5 runs, but Parque, to his credit, hung in there until the end of the 6th and did not allow another run after that barrage.  Jeremy Reed nailed a 2 out, 2 run double in the 5th to cut it to 5-3.  Josh Newman's 2 wild pitches to Jeremy Reed in the bottom 7th allowed Reed's groundout to 2nd to knock in Adam Jones and make it 5-4.

The Sky Sox threatened in the top 8th against a shaky Renee Cortez.  Ian Stewart drew a one out walk and Sean Barker got plunked.  Joe Koshansky grounded to our friend Oswaldo Navarro, who had been so good this past week or so but NOT HERE, as he bobbles the ball and loads the bases.  Error #7 on the year for Oswaldo, but again, he had been much better this past week up to this point.  Cortez then uncorked a wild pitch to give up a run and move the other runners over, 6-4 Sky Sox.  Cortez thankfully got Alexis Gomez and Alvin Colina to end the inning.

Tacoma immediately answered in the bottom 8th.  Bryan LaHair and Mike Morse drew walks to lead off, and after a coaching visit, Josh WIld Thang Newman was yanked for Ryan Speier, who plunked Jeff Clement to load the bases.  Rob Johnson grounded to 3rd, and 3B Ian Stewart obviously threw home for the force, except his throw was YIKES AND AWAY and LaHair scored to make it 6-5, runners on 2nd and 3rd.  Gookie Dawkins grounded into the 6-4-3 DP for two outs, but still knocked in a run as Mike Morse scored, and we were tied at 6.  Oswaldo Navarro tapped to 1st, and 1B Joe Koshansky returned the favor for Oswaldo muffing his grounder earlier by throwing the ball YIKES AND AWAY to allow Clement to score and give the Rainiers the 7-6 lead.

But Daren Brown loves drama, so to get the final three outs, and with Byron Embry still sucking air (and, quite likely, meatloaf) from yesterdays appearance, the skipper called for Jon Huber, who had spent April melting down slowly and painfully.  Imagine JJ getting the night off after a five out save and Grover handing the ball to Mateo with a one run lead in the 9th.  Yeah, like that.

So what does Huber do?  He gets Douglas Bernier to watch strike three for one.  He gets Cory Sullivan to ground out to 2nd for two.  He gets Jayson Nix to swing at strike three to seal the ballgame.  JON HUBER IS BACK.

Okay, it's only one game, but after the month he's had, this has to be a massive confidence booster for Jon Huber, not just getitng the save, but Daren Brown handing him the ball in the 9th with a one run lead after the month he's had, then getting the job done.