Justin Williams is making a ridiculous amount of contact as he gets hotter and hotter. Last night for Missoula he went 4 for 5 with a double and is now hitting .394 in 150 at bats. He's still not showing much power with just 5 doubles and 2 homers among his 61 hits and is reminding me more of Tony Gwynn than Jason Heyward. But that's not accurate because his K rate isn't particularly sexy at around 22% which would hardly suggest he's the next Gwynn. He's a bit of an enigma to me right now. In any case, the young outfielder is showing off some serious bat control and may see South Bend sooner than next year at this rate.
On another note, my apologies for jinxing Archie Bradley after his last outing, because last night's outing was another reminder that he's still got some things to work on. He didn't make it out of the 3rd inning before allowing 7 runs on 5 hits and 3 walks with 3 strikeouts. It seems like every time people start talking about him being close to ready for the next step he takes a significant step back.
Snake Stars
3 Stars: Justin Williams, Missoula 4 for 5, 1 BB, 3 R, 1 DBL, 1 RBI
2 Stars: Fernery Ozuna, Missoula 3 for 7, 2 R, 1 TPL, 1 HR (4), 7 RBI
1 Star: Braden Shipley, Visalia 7 IP, 6 H, 2 BB, 5 K, 1 ER
0 Stars: Archie Bradley, Mobile 2.2 IP, 5 H, 3 BB, 3 K, 7 ER, L (1-1)
AAA: Reno 7 Albuquerque 16. The Aces got waxed as Bo Schultz couldn't get through 4 innings before allowing 8 runs. The bullpen allowed another 8 runs and there was no coming back from that. The offense did score 7 runs led by Roger Kieschnick who went 2 for 4 with a home run and 3 RBI.
AA: Mobile 1 @ Pensacola 9. The Bay Bears also got waxed as Archie Bradley couldn't get through 3 innings before allowing 7 runs, all earned. The offense came up with 4 singles in response.
A+: Visalia 4 San Jose 2. At least one of our minor league pitchers threw well as Braden Shipley pitched 7 strong innings allowing 1 run on 6 hits and 2 walks with 5 strikeouts. The game went all the way to the 12th inning tied at 1-1 when it looked like San Jose might prevail when they pushed an unearned run across in the top of the 12th. But Alex Glenn changed all that when he delivered a 1-out, 3-run homer in the bottom half for the walk-off win. Glenn also doubled and scored twice. Brandon Drury had a 3-hit game with a double and an RBI.
A: South Bend 2 @ Kane County 7. Blake Perry was another pitcher who got rocked allowing 7 runs over 4 innings. Zach Esquerra went 2 for 4 with a double and Andrew Velazquez had a pair of singles and 2 strikeouts. Stryker Trahan went 2 for 4 with a walk, an RBI and 2 outfield assists without striking out. Baby steps.
A-: Hillsboro 6 @ Vancouver 3. Ryan Doran had a decent outing allowing 3 runs (2 earned) in 6 innings of work while the offense did enough to make him a winner. Grant Heyman led the way going 2 for 5 with a double and 2 RBI. Jordan Parr went 2 for 4 with a walk and a double and Taylor Ard had a single and 3 walks. Zac Curtis pitched the 9th for his 11th save.
R: Missoula 22 @ Helena 5. The Osprey brought all their bats to this one as they pounded Helena with 22 runs on 21 hits. Everyone in the lineup delivered something. Justin Williams was 4 for 5. Fernery Ozuna had a triple, a double and 7 RBI. Kevin Cron had 3 hits with a double and his 5th home run for 3 RBI. Brad Keller finally had an acceptable outing allowing 2 runs over 5 innings on 4 hits and 4 walks. Not great but an improvement over his last several.
AZL: Dbacks 1 Angels 2. Plenty of good pitching in this one as the Dbacks came up a run short. Yefrey Ramirez had another really good outing allowing 2 runs (1 earned) in 6 innings on 3 hits and a walk with 8 strikeouts. Six singles was all the offense produced.