Tacoma blasted Tucson, 12-4. Everybody in the Rainier starting lineup picked up a hit, while Hunter Brown and Ramontiago led the way with three apiece. Brown, Jamal Strong, and Shin-soo Choo each drilled home runs, providing Cha Baek with more than enough run support to pick up his sixth win of the year. In potentially relevant news, Miguel Olivo continued his AAA mini-tear with a double and a triple, flashing the kind of power that made him such an intriguing catcher a year ago, but he also struck out twice, so there's still work to be done. Notables:
Baek: 7 IP, 6 H, 4 ER, 3 BB, 6 K
Brown: 3-5, 1 HR
Santiago: 3-4, 1 2B
Leone: 1-4, 1 BB
Snelling: 1-4, 1 BB
Olivo: 2-5, 1 2B, 1 3B
Choo: 1-5, 1 HR
Strong: 1-5, 1 HR
Inland Empire downed Stockton, 6-2. Mike Steele took advantage of a rare opportunity to start, spinning five shutout frames for the win. He was staked to an early cushion, as Asdrubal Cabrera smacked an RBI triple in his first high-A at bat, and Carlos Arroyo followed with an RBI single. That wouldn't be all, though, as Cabrera came back with a two-run single in what would turn out to be a four-run bottom of the fifth. Needless to say, it was a terrific debut for a guy who's turning himself into an upper-echelon prospect. Notables:
Steele: 5 IP, 6 H, 4 K
Cabrera: 2-4, 1 2B, 1 3B, 1 BB
Balentien: 2-4, 1 2B
Garciaparra: 2-5
Lahair: 0-3, 1 BB
Arroyo: 2-4
Everett fell to Boise, 3-0. Paul Fagan got the start and lasted four innings, allowing three unearned runs thanks to defensive errors in each of the first three innings. Not that the Aquasox were really prepared to make a game of it, though, as they managed just four hits (with five walks and a hit batter) throughout the game. Not that they were lacking for run-scoring opportunities, but they went a combined 0-10 with RISP on the day. Notables:
Fagan: 4 IP, 2 H, 3 R (0 ER), 2 BB, 2 K
Cho: 1-3
Zorn: 1-3, 1 2B, 1 BB
Flaig: 0-3
Saunders: 0-4
Valbuena: 1-3, 1 BB
The rookie Peoria Mariners lost to the rookie Peoria Padres, 12-6. Remember Clint Nageotte? We found him. He's in Arizona, starting games against inferior competition and confusing the crap out of them for three innings before giving way to worse pitching. The next three relievers combined to allow all 12 runs in just five innings of work. In better news, though, Ronald Garth collected four hits, while Eddy Hernandez went deep twice. Oswaldo Graterol was the only other Mariner to have a multi-hit game. Notables:
Nageotte: 3 IP, 6 K
Garth: 4-5, 2 2B
Hernandez: 3-4, 2 HR
Graterol: 2-4, 1 2B
Bradford Jr: 1-5, 1 3B
Coming up:
Andrew Lorraine for Tacoma, Jon Huber for San Antonio, Jason Mackintosh for Inland Empire, someone for Wisconsin, Eric Carter for Everett, and someone for Peoria.