South Bend infield prospect Fidel Pena had a career game at the plate last night going 4 for 6 with a grand slam, a triple and 8 RBI. He drove in 7 of the runs in back-to-back innings starting with a bases-loaded triple in the 6th. He came up with the bases loaded again in the 7th and proceeded to club a grand slam. His other RBI came on a single in the second. Pena was a somewhat highly thought-of catching prospect at one point before injuries kind of slowed that plan. He's now playing second base exclusively and has mostly been batting leadoff for South Bend. He hasn't exactly had a breakout season though he has shown flashes of talent from time to time. He's currently got an OPS of just .686 in his second season at South Bend. He doesn't turn 22 until later this month so he he still has time. Going 4 for 6 with 8 RBI is the kind of thing he does to keep getting noticed. Some consistency might put him back into the serious prospect conversation.
Snake Stars
3 Stars: Fidel Pena, South Bend 4 for 6, 2 R, 1 TPL, 1 HR (6), 8 RBI
2 Stars: Adam Eaton, Visalia 3 for 4, 2 R, 1 DBL, 1 RBI
1 Star: Elvin Soto, Hillsboro 2 for 4, 1 R, 1 DBL, 1 HR (1), 2 RBI
0 Stars: Joe Munoz, Missoula 0 for 4, 4 K
Triple A: Reno 0 @ Colorado Springs 5. The Aces ran into a rehabbing Juan Nicasio of Colorado and he took over the game with 8 shutout innings. Diogenes Rosario was called up from Visalia to make the Reno start and didn't do half bad allowing 3 runs on 7 hits and a walk over 6 innings while striking out 6. The offense produced only 5 hits with 2 singles from Brad Snyder and a double by Chris Owings.
Double A: Mobile - Rained Out
High A: Visalia 3 @ San Jose 6. Andrew Barbosa started out okay with 3 shutout innings, but then gave up runs in the 4th, 5th and 6th. The offense couldn't overcome that with just 6 hits, 3 coming from Adam Eaton in the DH spot.
Low A: South Bend 10 @ Fort Wayne 16. Fidel Pena had the big 8 RBI game and it wasn't nearly enough as every South Bend pitcher got tattooed. Jesse Darrah gave up 6 runs in 3 innings. J.R. Bradley gave up 6 more in 3+ innings. Kyle Schepel gave up a pair as did Jose Jose. In addition to Pena's monster night Brandon Drury had 3 hits and Socrates Brito had 2 doubles.
Short Season A: Hillsboro 5 Vancouver 4. Aaron Blair made his professional debut with 2 shutout innings allowing a hit and a walk with 2 strikeouts. Ross Gerdeman followed allowing 3 runs in 4 innings. Chase Stevens let in one run in 2 innings and struck out 4. The Hops trailed by one heading into the 9th and rallied to tie it on Elvin Soto's one-out solo home run. Yogey Perez-Ramos won it in the 10th with a walkoff RBI single. Shortstop Ryan Gebhardt went 3 for 5 with a double and Soto went 2 for 4 with a double, the big home run, and 2 RBI.
Rookie: Missoula 4 @ Billings 3. Bud Jeter had an effective start allowing 1 run over 5 innings. Daniel Palka went 2 for 3 with a double and an RBI. Jose Queliz and Yorman Garcia each went 2 for 4. Silvino Bracho pitched a perfect 9th for his 3rd save.