- Could Kenta Suda be turning the corner in Peoria? Despite 4+ walks in 3 of his July performances, Kenta has not allowed more than 2 earned runs or 6 hits in any of his 6 July starts, all of which went at least 5 innings. Kenta also logged 7 K against the AZLAs on the 19th, 5 against the AZL Rangers on July 24 and 4 yesterday over 5 shutout innings against the AZL Royals. Kenta's big problem was a lack of a comfort zone with his stuff, but it's starting to look like he's finding it.
- The Lost Oasis Brother, Nolan Gallagher, had his first extended outing yesterday since his return from a long injury layoff. Previous rehab outings to stretch out hadn't gone so well, and this one wasn't terrible but could have gone a lot better. Gallagher could quite get into a groove, and hitters were able to lift a lot of his stuff with some authority. That he was able to pitch into the 5th without taking a ton of damage is a strong sign of improvement, but he's got a ways to go before he finds the reasonably effective form he was showing last season before his injury.
Groundballs: 7
Flyballs: 6
Line Drives: 3
Walks: 2 (plus 2 hit batters)
Strikeouts: 3
- That the Wisconsin T-Rats, now on a rare winning streak, scored 6 runs against the Lansing Lugnuts yesterday is so small feat. The Lugnuts have allowed the fewest runs per game in the Midwest League at 3.76 and their pitching staff's 933 Ks also lead the league. Given the T-rats have the league's worst offense by OPS (.650), it looked like the harbinger to a shutdown sweep, but Lugnuts starter Brian Letko, while not bad, is one of the lesser starters of the bunch (7 GS +2, 3.72 ERA, 36.1 IP, 3 HR, 16/28 BB/K), and the T-Rats took advantage, as Michael Pineda struck out 8, scattered 11 hits, and Edilio Colina and Denny Almonte each had 3 hits.
- Meanwhile, one team on a losing streak is the High Desert Mavs, who took an 8-5 loss last night that only looked that close because of a late series of rallies. The Travis Mortimore As Starter experiment continues, and Mortimore, a flyball pitcher, continues to get bombed. He's clearly out there at this point to eat innings and take punishment... like most of the Mavs rotation.
On the plus side, the Mavs bullpen didn't allow any more runs, Carlos Triunfel stole his 23rd base on the only time he reached base last night, and the forgotten Travis Scott relieved the injured Jose Yepez at catcher only to go off for a double and a 3 run jack before the game was done.
And since his demotion from AA, Ronnie Prettyman has torn up the Cal League. In 26 games and 100 ABs, Prettyman has racked up a 350/380/580 line with 8 doubles and 5 HR. He's still showing a lack of patience, and the power is obviously Cal League inflated, but while his upside is limited, he's not looking all that washed up just yet.
- As his foray into starting continues to show some success, pitcher Brodie Downs has taken the team lead in one category. He now leads the DIAMOND JAXX with 11 hit batters. DON'T MESS WITH THE SURVEYOR.
- There was a whole lot of home runs in Tacoma's 12-3 win last night against Memphis. Victor Diaz teed off with a man on in the 1st. Luis Valbuena went deep with a man on in the 2nd. Redbirds slugger Josh phelps, who is going nutso this series, hit a solo shot in the 2nd. Valbuena went deep AGAIN with a man on in the 4th. Phelps himself went deep AGAIN with a solo shot in the 6th. Victor Diaz hit his second shot in the 8th, going deep with a man on. And Phelps capped his big day by going deep a 3rd time in the 9th off Jon Huber.
Thankfully, the Rainiers did the bulk of the damage and got a big win, thanks in part to a fine 2nd start by Ryan Feierabend, who went seven innings on 92 pitches (57 strikes) and allowed his only runs on the first two Phelps solo shots. It's looking like Feier is pretty close to being back, if not all the way back.
Groundballs: 10
Flyballs: 7 (2 HR)
Line Drives: 1
Pop Ups: 2
Walks: 2
Strikeouts: 5
Let's look at stats.
VENEZUELA~! VSL Mariners 5, VSL Cardinals 4
VSLMs: 40-24... VSL Cards: 29-33
(League: 254/336/342... 3.46 ERA)
Jessie Nava: 6 IP, 9 H, 4 ER, 4 K (12 GS +1, 1.60 ERA, 67.1 IP, 16/44 BB/K)
Rhonny Acosta: 2 IP, 2 K
Yoervis Medina: 1 IP, 1 H, 3 K (16 app, 1.60 ERA, 39.1 IP, 1 HR, 12/34 BB/K)
Yidid Batista: 2-4, double, R, K (254/305/288)
Carlos Ramirez: 1-2, RBI (333/393/415)
Mario Yepez: 3-4, double, 2 R, RBI (335/398/454)
Michael Acevedo: 1-3, RBI, walk (243/329/319)
Larry Gonzalez: 1-4, 2 RBI (214/272/270)
Dominican: The DSLMs had Tuesday off.
Rk-AZL: Mariners 12, Royals 1
(League: 267/350/385... 4.50 ERA)
Kenta Suda: 5 IP, 4 H, 4 K (5 GS +2, 2.41 ERA, 33.2 IP, 1 HR, 17/26 BB/K)
Eddy Hernandez: 2 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 4 K (8 app, 5.40 ERA, 10 IP, 1 HR, 9/7 BB/K)
Brandon Maurer: 2 IP, 1 H, 3 K
Terry Serrano: 2-4, 2 R, RBI, 2 K, 2 SB (277/308/411)
Cesar Fuentes: 2-5, 3 run HR, walk (300/347/418)
Jharmidy De Jesus: 2-6, double, solo HR, 2 R, K (355/418/609)
Joel Mendez: 3-5, double, 3 RBI, K, SB (325/336/386)
Emmanuel Familia: 2-4, 2 R, RBI, walk (246/277/311)
Jarret Burgess: 0-4, sac fly RBI (178/257/218)
Rk+: The PMs had Tuesday off.
A-: Spokane 7, Everett 6
EVE: 16-26... SPO: 32-10
(League: 254/344/367... 4.16 ERA)
Nolan Gallagher: 4.2 IP, 6 H, (2 R) 1 ER, 2 walks, 3 K, 2 hit batters
Bobby LaFromboise: 1.1 IP, 3 H, 2 ER (HR), 3 K (6 GS +1, 4.94 ERA, 23.2 IP, 3 HR, 6/18 BB/K)
Philip Hann: 1.1 IP, 2 H, 2 ER, K (12 app, 6.19 ERA, 16 IP, 1 HR, 8/13 BB/K)
Javier Martinez: two outs, 2 H, (intentional) walk, wild pitch (12 app, 5.84 ERA, 12.1 IP, 1 HR, 12/10 BB/K)
Eddy Fernandez: two outs, 2 H, (1 R) 0 ER, walk (15 app, 5.66 ERA, 20.2 IP, 2 HR, 8/23 BB/K)
Mark Pettis: one out (11 app, 4.24 ERA, 17 IP, 13/15 BB/K)
Tyson Gillies: 1-4, 2 run HR, 2 R, walk, K (287/370/402)
Nate Tenbrink: 1-4, R, RBI, walk, K, SB #20 (228/339/366)
Dennis Freaking Raben: 0-2, walk, K, left game after 5th (328/476/609)
Welington Dotel: replaced Raben, 1-2, triple (266/317/415)
Manny Pimentel: 1-5, 2 RBI, K (222/338/299)
Kevin Reynolds: 1-4, double, R, K (342/392/459)
Travis Howell: 1-4, double, 2 K (311/433/408)
Anthony Phillips: 3-3, 2 R, walk (255/339/392)
A: Wisconsin 6, Lansing 2
WIS: 11-27... LAN: 20-18
(League: 252/323/374... 3.70 ERA)
Michael Pineda: 7 IP, 11 H, 2 ER, walk, 8 K (15 GS +5, 2.36 ERA, 99 IP, 5 HR, 32/81 BB/K)
Ryan Moorer: 1 IP, 2 H, K (34 app, 3.97 ERA, 45.1 IP, 2 HR, 19/32 BB/K)
Jeff Dunbar: 1 IP, walk, K
Denny Almonte: 3-4, double, solo HR, walk, K (266/312/468)
Edilio Colina: 3-5, double, RBI, K (289/347/380)
Joe Dunigan: 2-4, solo HR, 2 R, K (230/287/403)
Israel Nuñez: 1-4, double, R, 2 RBI, K (182/239/250)
A+: Lake Elsinore 8, High Desert 5
Mavs: 15-23... Lake: 18-20
(League: 274/343/413... 4.58 ERA)
Travis Mortimore: 5 IP, 11 H, 8 ER (2 HR), 3 walks, 3 K (6 GS +2, 7.67 ERA, 31.2 IP, 9 HR, 20/23 BB/K)
Julio Santiago: 2 IP, 1 H, K (32 app, 6.08 ERA, 47.1 IP, 3 HR, 33/37 BB/K)
Nick Hill: 1 IP, 1 H (23 app, 10 GS, 5.11 ERA, 75.2 IP, 9 HR, 27/60 BB/K)
Michael Wagner: 1 IP, 2 K (40 app, 4.83 ERA, 50.1 IP, 2 HR, 16/42 BB/K)
Gavin Dickey: 1-5, R, RBI, K (267/308/317)
Ronnie Prettyman: 2-4, R (350/380/580)
Travis Scott: 2-3, double, 3 run HR, 2 R
James Davenport: 1-4, double, RBI, 2 K
Fernando Encarnacion: 1-4, double, R, 2 K
AA: Birmingham 3, West Tenn 2
WTN: 15-23... BIR: 20-18
(League: 262/340/397... 4.16 ERA)
Brodie Downs: 4.1 IP, 5 H, 2 ER, 2 walks, hit batter (33 app, 6 GS, 3.69 ERA, 78 IP, 3 HR, 35/50 BB/K)
Nelson Payano: 2.1 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, walk, 4 K (38 app, 4.06 ERA, 62 IP, 3 HR, 37/59 BB/K)
Denny Stark: 2.1 IP, 1 H, 2 walks, 3 K, wild pitch (8 GS +5, 4.29 ERA, 42 IP, 2 HR, 21/23 BB/K)
Mike Wilson: 1-3, solo HR, walk, 2 K (287/384/568)
Johan Limonta: 1-3, solo HR, walk, 2 K (293/375/512)
Jon Nelson: 1-3, double (277/318/439)
AAA: Tacoma 12, Memphis 3
TAC: 55-55... MEM: 60-50
(League: 276/347/443... 4.85 ERA)
Ryan Feierabend: 7 IP, 4 H, 2 ER (2 HR), 2 walks, 5 K (10 GS, 1.98 ERA, 59 IP, 5 HR, 12/42 BB/K)
Jon Huber: 2 IP, 2 H, 1 ER (HR), 2 K (40 app, 7.32 ERA, 51.2 IP, 4 HR, 19/38 BB/K)
Tug Hulett: 0-4, sac fly RBI, some other RBI (303/383/521)
Matt Tuiasosopo: 2-4, double, 3 R, RBI, walk, K (258/345/402)
Victor Diaz: 2-4, 2 run HR, 2 run HR, walk, K (291/372/550)
Shawn Garrett: 1-5, double, K (289/320/427)
Prentice Redman: 1-4, double, 2 R, walk, K (312/376/550)
Luis Valbuena: 4-4, 2 run HR, 2 run HR, 4 R, walk (233/337/356)
Oswaldo Navarro: 2-5, double, R (274/340/354)