Twins affliates are swept. Oswaldo Arcia is pulled. On the plus side, Sano and Buxton each homered.
LEHIGH VALLEY 8, ROCHESTER 1 IN ROCHESTER
Batting star: Chris Parmelee was 2-for-3 with a walk, a double, and an RBI.
Pitching stars: None.
Opposition stars: Ethan Martin struck out six in six innings, giving up two hits and three walks. Cody Asche was 3-for-5 with two home runs and three RBIs. Freddy Galvis was 2-for-5 with a double, scoring twice and driving in two.
Key inning: The third. It was a scoreless tie. Cameron Rupp led off the inning with a home run. Tyson Gillies followed with a double. With one out, consecutive singles by Galvis, Asche, and Cody Overbeck brought in two more runs and gave the IronPigs a 3-0 lead.
Prospect watch: Oswaldo Arcia was 0-for-1. Eduardo Escobar was 1-for-4. Nick Blackburn pitched five innings, giving up six runs on ten hits and no walks.
PORTLAND 8, NEW BRITAIN 7 IN NEW BRITAIN
Batting stars: Miguel Sano was 2-for-4 with a walk, a double, and a home run (his tenth), scoring twice and driving in two. Nate Hanson was 2-for-5 with a triple and two RBIs.
Pitching stars: Dakota Watts pitched two innings, giving up an unearned run on a hit and a walk with one strikeout.
Opposition stars: Tony Thomas was 2-for-5 with two doubles, two runs, and two RBIs. Garin Cecchini was 2-for-5 with a run and an RBI. Chrisitan Vazquez was 2-for-4 with a home run.
Key inning: The ninth. The SeaDogs led 7-6. In the top of the inning, Peter Hissey singled, went to second on a bunt, and scored on a single by Cecchini to put Portland ahead 8-6. In the bottom of the inning, Reynaldo Rodriguez walked, went to third on a single by Jordan Parraz, and scored on a sacrifice fly to make it 8-7. Hanson hit a two-out single to put runners on the corners, but Sano grounded out to end the game.
Prospect watch: Josmil Pinto was 1-for-4 with a home run, his fourteenth. Kyle Davies struck out six in 3.1 innings but gave up five runs on nine hits and no walks.
BREVARD COUNTY 10, FORT MYERS 4 IN BREVARD COUNTY
Batting stars: Byron Buxton was 2-for-4 with a walk, a triple, and a home run (his second), scoring three times. Dalton Hicks was 2-for-3 with a walk. Stephen Wickens was 2-for-3 with a walk.
Pitching star: Steven Gruver struck out two in two shutout innings.
Opposition stars: Mark Williams pitched 4.1 scoreless innings, allowing three hits while striking out three. Ben McMahan was 2-for-3 with a walk, scoring once and driving in one. Gregory Hopkins was 2-for-4 with two runs and two RBIs.
Key inning: The fourth. The Manatees trailed 2-0. Five singles and a passed ball produced four runs for Brevard County, giving them a 4-2 lead.
Prospect watch: Aderlin Mejia was 1-for-5. Mike Kvasnicka was 0-for-4. Taylor Rogers pitched five innings, giving up six runs on eight hits and no walks.
KINGSPORT 5, ELIZABETHTON 4 IN KINGSPORT
Batting stars: Romy Jimenez was 2-for-4 with a double and scored once. Javier Pimentel was 2-for-4 with a double and scored once. Zach Granite was 2-for-4 with a run and an RBI.
Pitching stars: Andre Martinez pitched a perfect inning with one strikeout. Ryan Eades struck out two in a scoreless inning, giving up one hit. Kuo Hua Lo pitched a scoreless inning despite giving up one hit and two walks.
Opposition stars: Robert Whalen struck out ten in 7.1 innings, allowing three hits and six walks. Jeyckol De Leon was 3-for-5 with two RBIs. Joe Tuschak was 2-for-3 with two walks and an RBI.
Key inning: The ninth. The Mets trailed 4-3. Jeff McNeil hit a one-out single and scored on a two-out double by Jeff Diehl. Following an intentional walk, De Leon singled to bring in the winning run.
Prospect watch: Dereck Rodriguez was 0-for-4. Felix Jorge pitched five innings, giving up three runs and seven hits and one walk with two strikeouts.
GCL RAYS 3, GCL TWINS 1 AT RAYS
Batting star: Will Hurt was 3-for-4 and scored once.
Pitching stars: Damian Defrank struck out four in four shutout innings, giving up three hits and a walk. Stephen Gonsalves pitched 3.1 scoreless innings, giving up three hits and a walk with two strikeouts.
Opposition stars: Clayton Henning was 2-for-4 with a triple and scored once. Alexander Simon was 2-for-4 with two RBIs. Eric Fredrick pitched three shutout innings, giving up four hits and no walks with two strikeouts.
Key inning: The fifth. It was a scoreless tie. Daniel Sattler came in to start the inning. Taylor Hawkins led off the inning with a home run. A one-out error was followed by a hit batsman. A ground out moved the runners up and Simon hit a two-run single to give the Rays a 3-0 lead.
Prospect watch: Zach Larson was 1-for-4. Amaurys Minier was 1-for-4 with a double and an RBI. Alex Swim was 1-for-4.
DSL ORIOLES1 5, DSL TWINS 0 AT TWINS
Batting stars: Manuel Guzman was 3-for-3 with a walk. Dubal Baez was 2-for-3 with a walk.
Pitching stars: Wilfredy Liranzo struck out five in four innings, giving up one run on one hit and one walk. Williams Ramirez struck out two in 1.2 scoreless innings, giving up no hits and two walks.
Opposition stars: Rafael Moreno struck out six in seven innings, allowing five hits and a walk. Guillermo Salas was 1-for-3 with a walk and scored three times.
Key inning: The eighth. The Orioles1 already led 2-0. A hit batsman and two singles loaded the bases. A run scored on a wild pitch, Rochendrick Alexander hit an RBI single, and two walks brought in a third run to make it 5-0.
Prospect watch: Frank Encarnacion was 0-for-3. Francis Mateo was 0-for-4.
TODAY'S TILTS
10:00 DSL Padres at DSL Twins
11:00 GCL Twins at GCL Orioles
11:05 Portland (Anthony Ranaudo, 8-3, 2.97) at New Britain (Virgil Vasquez, 3-2, 3.18)
5:35 Fort Myers (Manuel Soliman, 1-4, 7.46) at Brevard County (Tyler Cravy, 3-1, 2.98)
6:00 Elizabethton (Josh Burris, 0-1, 5.21) at Kingsport (Martires Arias, 0-4, 9.15)
6:05 Lehigh Valley (Tyler Cloyd, 2-8, 6.68) at Rochester (P. J. Walters, 4-2, 3.96)
6:35 Peoria (Kyle Helisek, 7-4, 3.03) at Cedar Rapids (Christian Powell, 2-3, 6.14)
The Brevard County Manatees need a better cap.
I'd like to suggest this logo:
Found Here.
so the major league club is holding up the entire system again
I've been on the record about not being worried about Sano's low batting average, and it's working it's way back up (.231 with an .895 OPS now). Buxton's numbers seem to be a bit more troubling. He's still only 19 years old, but in 102 PAs he only has 7 walks to 25 strikeouts and even after this game only 7 extra base hits. I don't know what that suggests. Maybe he just won't be the next Mike Trout. Maybe it means nothing at all.
Maybe he's started believing the hype and has forgotten to do the little things that got him promoted. Maybe not.
I was also not concerned. Sano's walk rate has increased too: up to 13.9% and his strikeout rate (26.4%), although still above his A+ numbers of 25.1%, have gotten closer to his career rate of 25.7%.
I'm in the "it means nothing at all" camp at this point. Buxton's playing in the Florida State League at age 19. He's hitting .255/.302/.398 in 98 at-bats there. Yes, you'd like those numbers to be better, but they're not awful. If he makes the majors in 2015, or even in 2016, when he's 22, that's still better than a lot of guys who turned out to be really good have done. I'm not worried about him at this point.
Buxton also is barely more than a year since turning pro. Prior to that, he was playing in rural Georgia. Not exactly premium competition. He started out 1-for-27 in the GCL, but hasn't really struggled since then till now. Give him a chance to get his feet wet. We're talking 102 PAs. Go back and read BA's feature on him if you have any doubts.
No real doubts in my mind, just havin' some fun!
I like this form of "one-upmanship."