Aaaaaand we are BACK. After only 4.5 hours, I managed to finish up the Wrap-Up for Friday's games, and here is the Wrap-Up for last night's games. With today's games complete or close to it, I now have MORE work to do, but meanwhile, here you go. Catch up on this weekend's action.
(Go checkout Friday's Wrap-Up first if you're interested, then...) On to the wrap-up!
VENEZUELA~!: VSL Mariners 4, VSL Rays 2
Erasmo Ramirez: 4 IP, 3 H, walk, 3 K, wild pitch
Nolan Diaz: 2 IP, 3 H, (2 R) 1 ER, walk, 2 K
Yoervis Medina: 3 IP, 3 H, 2 K, wild pitch, hit batter
Jorge Agudelo: 3-3, R, walk, SB
Jetsy Extrano: 1-5, R, RBI, K
Cesar Del Rio: 1-5, RBI, 3 K
The VSLRays helped out the VSLM's, or hurt them depending on your perspective, by plunking 6, SIX VSLM batters and throwing two wild pitches. All the severe run damage came in the 3rd inning against VSLRays pitches Omar Bencomo. Yidid Batista beat out a grounder to short, then Roberto Velasquez got plunked. Jorge Agudelo beat out a grounder to 2nd, and Batista scored to make it 1-0 VSLMs. Mario Yepez flew out to left for one out, but Velasquez tagged up and scored to make it 2-0. Rigoberto Rangel exercised some irony in grounding out harmlessly for two outs, but Jetsy Extrano singled to center to cash in Agudelo and make it 3-0. This was a great time for a wild pitch, so Bencomo uncorked one to move Extrano to 2nd, and Cesar Del Rio smoked a grounder into LF to cash Extrano in and make it 4-0 VSLMs.
That was all the VSLMs pitching staff needed, and despite a couple of middle inning runs off Nolan Diaz, the VSLRays could not overcome the gap.
A: Wisconsin 4, Kane County 2
WIS: 19-20... KC: 26-14
Nathan Adcock: 7 IP, 8 H, 2 ER, walk, 4 K, wild pitch, hit batter (8 GS, 2.85 ERA, 47.1 IP, 2 HR, 18/46 BB/K)
Jacob Wild: 2 IP, 2 K (9 app, 2.20 ERA, 16.1 IP, 5/15 BB/K)
Alex Liddi: 1-4, R, RBI (223/303/323)
Scott Robinson: 2-4, double, 2 run HR, 2 R (250/286/450)
rest of T-Rats lineup: 2-23, R, 2 walks, 8 K
Adcock got into trouble early, and let a one out Larry Cobb double turn into a run off a Corey Brown infield single in the 1st. In the 2nd, Todd Johnson led off with a triple to center, and TJ scored promptly on a Jonathan Johnson single to left, 2-0 Cougars.
After that, though, Adcock had little to no trouble despite a few too many line drives, and finished 7 innings without further damage.
Groundballs: 9
Flyballs: 5
Line Drives: 6
Pop Ups: 1
Walks: 1 (plus 1 hit batter)
Strikeouts: 4
However, so did Cougars starter Scott Hodsdon (8 GS, 4.04 ERA, 35.2 IP, 2 HR, 7/25 BB/K), who shut down the T-Rats for 7 innings and, given the T-Rats hit like true MARINERS IN THE MAKING and have made getting themselves out into an art form, it looked like Hodsdon was in line for an easy 2-0 win.
He did walk out to pitch the 8th as an endurance exercise, and Scott Robinson led off by lining a double to right. Blake Ochoa helped out Hodsdon by grounding to 3rd, but n00b 3B Carlos Arrieche muffed it to put him on. The T-Rats tried to help him again by sending Denny Almonte to the plate, but catcher Jonathan Johnston passed his 5th ball of the season to move the runners over. Almonte did fly out for the first out, and Hodsdon finally got the hook for wild but effective Nick Walters (10 app, 0.63 ERA, 14.1 IP, 11/20 BB/K).
He got Alex Meneses on strikes, but against Maximo Mendez, he uncorked a wild pitch to let in Robinson and cut the lead to 2-1 as Ochoa took 3rd. Mendez did ground out to end the frame, but the T-Rats got a run despite themselves.
Edilio Colina had sat this game out, but pinch hit for Juan Diaz to lead off the 9th, drawing a walk to get on. Calvin Beamon struck out for one out, and Walters took a seat for Justin Friend (11 app, 3.27 ERA, 22 IP, 3 HR, 13/32 BB/K), easily the most dangerous of Kane County's closer by committee.
Friend blew away Gavin Dickey for a strikeout, but blew away his catcher too, as Jonhnston passed his 6th ball of the season to give Colina, representing the tying run, 2nd base. Alex Liddi came up, and Friend uncorked a wild pitch to give Colina 3rd. Liddi then singled to right and cashed him in to TIE THE BALLGAME.
Scott Robinson came up, and Friend, who has shown he's homer prone, fed Robinson the meatiest of suck pitches, which Robinson yanked into the RF seats for the walkoff 2 run bomb!! It was only his 2nd home run of the season!
A+: Rancho Cucamonga 8, High Desert 2
Mavs: 19-24... Quakes: 17-26
Nick Hill: 5 IP, 7 H, (5 R) 4 ER, 2 walks, K, balk (11 app, 7 GS, 4.60 ERA, 43 IP, 4 HR, 17/36 BB/K)
Austin Bibens-Dirkx: 1.1 IP, 4 H, 3 ER, walk (12 app, 6.48 ERA, 16.2 IP, 3 HR, 8/14 BB/K)
Steve Uhlmansiek: 1.2 IP, 1 H, 2 walks, 3 K, hit batter
Leury Bonilla: 2-3, R, walk (302/381/430)
Matt Mangini: 2-4, solo HR, K (257/373/414)
Carlos Peguero: 3-4, RBI (304/320/458)
Travis Scott: 2-4 (317/377/485)
The Quakes get revenge for an embarrassing Friday night loss. Matt Mangini did hit a solo shot with one out off Trevor Bell (8 GS, 3.45 ERA, 47 IP, 3 HR, 13/34 BB/K), but it was all the Mavs got before the Quakes rallied in the 2nd off Military Man Nick Hill, whose career as a starter hit another snag today. PJ Phillips (236/262/373) lined a double to left with one out, and Larry Infante (262/322/308) singled to left, Phillips scoring to tie the game. Flint Wipke, in his 7th game of the season, lined a single to right to move Infante to 2nd. Rian Kiniry (195/313/317) grounded to 3rd, but Mangini muffed the play to allow Infante to score, 2-1 Quakes, as Wipke took 2nd. Anderson Rosario (7th game) lined a single to center to score Wipke, 3-1, as Kiniry took 3rd. Peter Bourjos (335/367/471) thankfully killed the rally by grounding into an inning ending 6-4-3 double play.
Leury "Latin Campaneris" Bonilla Watch: another start at 1B, as with Limonta promoted and gone, with Carlos Peguero needing field time at RF, and with no one needing a rest, it appears that'll be his position until further notice, not a bad idea given if they need to replace somebody, he can slide over and someone else can take the defensively easy job of playing 1B in his stead. Anyway, he drew a one out walk in the 3rd and took 3rd on a Matt Mangini seeing eye single to LF. Carlos Peguero lined a single to center to cash in Bonilla and cut the lead to 3-2 as Mangini took 2nd... but Chris Minaker killed the rally by grounding into the inning ending 4-6-3 double play.
Hill got hit again by heavy artillery in the 4th. Larry Infante lined a single to 2nd, but Greg Halman's golden arm threw YIKES AND AWAY when Infante tried for 2nd, giving him 2nd easily. Flint Wipke's double cashed Infante in to stretch the lead back out to 4-2. Rian Kiniry bunted him over for one out and Rosario sac flied him in for two outs to make it 5-2.
Hill almost allowed more runs in his 5th and final inning. With one out, Wilberto Ortiz grounded to 3rd and Mangini committed ANOTHER fielding error to put him on. Mark Trumbo walked, Hill committed a balk holding the runners to put them at 2nd and 3rd, and PJ Phillips walked himself to load the bases... but Infante gave the Mavs some luck, lining right to 2B Chris Minaker, who stepped on 2nd to double off Trumbo and end the frame, plus Hill's night. Groundballs good, line drives bad.
Groundballs: 11 (plus 1 bunt)
Flyballs: 2
Line Drives: 7
Walks: 2
Strikeouts: 1
Austin Bibens-Dirkx relieved Hill and, after a couple of good outings... he ran into trouble again. He got a groundout, but walked Kiniry, then Rosario snuck a grounder into LF, then Peter Bourjos smoked a grounder into RF. Kiniry came around 3rd, Peguero in RF relayed to 2B Minaker, who turned and threw home, but an astute Leury Bonilla, seeing Kiniry was easily safe, but saw Rosario trying for 3rd and catchable, cut the throw off, threw to Mangini at 3rd and gunned down Rosario for the 2nd out as Kiniry scored, 6-2 Quakes. Sure, the run scored, but the run probably was going to score anyway, and this was a heads up play by Leury that got the Mavs a badly needed 2nd out. This is the kind of smart play you want to see more of in this org. Abel Nieves grounded to 2nd to end the frame after that.
Granted, it was all for naught, as ABD gave up a one out double to Mark Trumbo, threw YIKES AND AWAY on a pickoff atempt at 2nd, moving Trumbo to 3rd, and it didn't matter as PJ Phillips tripled to center to cash Trumbo in, 7-2, and that was it for ABD. The first inning was bad fortune on grounders, but he clearly got hit hard in this frame.
Steve Uhlamnsiek came in, walked Infante and Flint Wipke doubled down the RF line to cash Phillips in and make it 8-2.
The Mavs did load the bases in the 8th with two outs, but Greg Halman struck out. There would be no rally whatsoever in the 9th.
AA: West Tenn 8, Mobile 7, 11 innings
WTN: 27-16... MOB: 18-25
Rich Dorman: 6.1 IP, 8 H, (5 R) 4 ER, 2 walks, 4 K (9 GS, 2.59 ERA, 55.2 IP, 4 HR, 19/44 BB/K)
Jason Mackintosh: no outs recorded, 1 H, 1 ER (13 app, 4.24 ERA, 17 IP, 5/12 BB/K)
Travis Chick: 3.1 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 2 walks, 2 K, 2 wild pitches (11 app, 2.49 ERA, 25.1 IP, 1 HR, 13/22 BB/K)
Craig James: 1.1 IP, walk, 3 K (13 app, 2.25 ERA, 12 IP, 7/14 BB/K)
Luis Valbuena: 3-6, double, solo HR, 4 RBI, 2 K (325/404/488)
Jon Nelson: 2-4, R (307/373/404)
Ronnie Prettyman: 2-4, solo HR, 2 RBI, K (220/250/390)
Mark Kiger: 1-3, double, 2 R, 2 RBI, 2 walks, K (201/355/288)
The DIAMOND JAXX struck first in the 3rd. Mark Kiger led off with a walk, Jef Dominguez not only bunted him over but reached safely, and pitcher Tony Barnette (9 GS, 6.60 ERA, 46.1 IP, 6 HR, 12/37 BB/K) uncorked a wild pitch to move them over, before Luis Valbuena continued his impressive series with a double to right that cashed in both runners. The next three DIAMOND JAXX went quietly, but still, 2 runs!
More damage fell in the 4th. Adam Moore led off with a single, Jon Nelson got plunked, and Ronnie Prettyman bunted them over for one out. Mark Kiger doubled (!!) to center to cash both runners in and make it 4-0. Jeff Dominguez struck out, but Luis Valbuena got a grounder into left to cash in Kiger and make it 5-0.
But no lead is saf- wait, this is the Southern League! A 5-0 lead should be safe, right? RIGHT? Greg Thomson (215/311/285), that giant thorn in the side, led off the 5th by drawing a walk, and despite two quick outs from Rich Dorman (which moved Thomson over), Yunesky Sanchez (355/371/418) singled to center to cash in Thomson, before Chris Rahl (183/230/305) doubled to left to cash in Sanchez. Rahl took 3rd on a bad throw from Jeff Dominguez in LF, and scored easily on a Bryan Byrne (285/372/394) seeing eye single to RF, 5-3.
Mobile threatened more damage in the 6th on a one out Cy Hankerd (299/340/403) double, as Greg Thomson singled to left to put runners at the corners... but Orlando Mercado (230/351/328) helped them out by grounding into the inning ending 5-4-3 double play. West Tenn took no chances, though, as Ronnie Prettyman took reliever (7 app, 6.48 ERA, 8.1 IP, 2 HR, 5/7 BB/K) Matt Elliott deep in the bottom half to extend the lead to 6-3.
Dorman ran out of steam in the 7th. Guillermo Reyes (263/346/347) led off with his 1st triple of the season. Yunesky Sanchez's grounded to 3rd for one out could not move him over. Chris Rahl (183/230/305) struck out but the ball landed in the dirt, and Adam Moore's throw to 1st was dropped by Johan Limonta, so Rahl was safe. Nonetheless, that was it for Dorman.
Groundballs: 12
Flyballs: 9
Line Drives: 1
Pop Ups: 1
Walks: 2
Strikeouts: 4
Jason Mackintosh came in and Bryan Byrne beat out a grounder to 1st that allowed Reyes to score, 6-4. Mackintosh got the quick hook for Travis Chick, and Chick watched Adam Moore pass a ball to move the runners over. Cesar Nicolas (286/399/455) went ahead and drew a walk to load the bases. Frank Curerri (246/371/407) grounded to 2nd and 2B Valbuena took the easy out at 2nd for two outs, as Rahl scored to make it 6-5. Cy Hankerd came up and Chick uncorked a wild pitch to let Byrne in and tie the ballgame... before Hankerd tapped back to the mound to end the disaster frame.
The DIAMOND JAXX didn't get a serious chance to score until the 8th. Jon Nelson singled with one out, took 2nd on a balk and got a break when Ronnie Prettyman's strikeout was thrown YIKES AND AWAY by AJ Shappi (16 app, 1.73 ERA, 26 IP, 1 HR, 4/22 BB/K), putting Prettyman on and moving Nelson to 3rd... but Kiger struck out and Dominguez flew out to center to end that.
Chick worked through the 9th without further damage, and despite an infield single and a seeing eye job into right plus a wild pitch moving them both to 2nd and 3rd... Chick got out of the jam without damage. But the DIAMOND JAXX went 1-2-3 in the 9th against Cody Evans (5 app, 3.86 ERA, 11.2 IP, 2 HR, 3/7 BB/K) and we headed to extras yet again.
It looked like Mobile had their revenge in the 10th. After unfortunate back to back lineouts, Mercado walked with two outs and Guillermo Reyes lined a double to left to cash him in and make it 7-6 Baybears. Craig James relieved Chick and intentionally passed the dangerous Yunesky Sanchez, then watched Adam Moore pass ANOTHER ball before striking out Chris Rahl to end that threat.
Down now to three outs or doom in the bottom 10th, Johan Limonta smoked a grounder up the middle to get on, then Adam Moore tried a bunt with two strikes and nudged one foul for the retarded bunt strikeout. Jon Nelson lined a single to right to put runners at the corners with one out, and Ronnie Prettyman singled to center to TIE THE BALLGAME at 7. Nelson, representing the winning run, tagged up on Mark Kiger's flyout (2 outs) to take 3rd... but Jeff Dominguez grounded out to 2nd to end the threat.
James mowed down the side in the top 11th, and Luis Valbuena, having had enough of this crap, led off by launching a suck pitch over the RF wall for the walkoff home run.
AAA: Tucson 9, Tacoma 3
TAC: 22-20... TUC: 15-29
Ryan Feierabend: 3 IP, 5 H, 3 ER (HR), 3 K (8 GS, 2.15 ERA, 46 IP, 3 HR, 10/33 BB/K)
Andrew Baldwin: 3 IP, 5 H, 2 ER, walk (9 app, 4 GS, 5.61 ERA, 25.2 IP, 1 HR, 14/10 BB/K)
Jake Woods: 1 IP (13 app, 4.64 ERA, 21.1 IP, 4 HR, 8/16 BB/K)
Potatoes: 1 IP, 2 H, 2 K (9 app, 4.09 ERA, 11 IP, 1 HR, 4/12 BB/K)
Roy Corcoran: 1 IP, 4 H, 4 ER, 2 walks, K (7 app, 9.45 ERA, 6.2 IP, 9/6 BB/K)
Tug Hulett: 2-4, double, triple, R, RBI, K (225/307/348)
Jeremy Reed: 1-4, double, R, K (349/413/557)
Victor Diaz: 1-3, double, RBI, walk, 2 K (304/403/480)
Oswaldo Navarro: 1-4, double, R, K (294/386/376)
Feier's bad day was over after only 45 pitches, leaving with a 3-3 tie, and PHAT ANDY 22 got lit up a bit himself in the 5th and 6th, allowing the Sidewinders to build a 5-3 lead.
Even granted that, the game was in reach, but Roy Corco got bombed for 4 runs in the 9th, effectively killing the chances of any rally.
Nonetheless, welcome to Luis Oliveros! He finally did get promoted to Tacoma, and went 1 for 4 with 3 K's. Not sure how long it will last, however.