Well, it's never a good night when your favorite team slips out of first place in the standings. However, the farm had a clean sweep today, going 4-0 with one game postponed. Naturally, there are going to be plenty of awesome performances on the farm when all of your active affiliates win, but the most impressive performance of the evening was obviously from...
Triple-A: Reno 5, Tacoma 2. (33-22) Taking the hill tonight for the Aces was lefty Tom Layne, who was effective through five innings. Layne gave up just one earned run with a 3:3 K:BB and 9:1 GO:AO before giving way to piggyback partner Kyler Newby. I'm not sure if it's any indication that Newby is being shifted back to a middle relief position, but he worked just two innings, giving up one unearned run while striking out three and walking one, before giving way to Kam Mickolio and new Aces closer Bryan Shaw, who pitched scoreless eighth and ninth innings to close out the win. The daily dose of extra-base hits came from Brandon Allen, who hit his eighth homer of the year, Tony Abreu, who hit his fifth homer of the year, Collin Cowgill's fourth triple of the season, and Cole Gillespie's ninth double this year. Cowgill, Gillespie, Allen, and Evan Frey had two-hit games for the Aces.
Double-A: Mobile 4, Mississippi 2. (30-24) Yet another solid start from right-hander Charles Brewer, giving up two runs, though just one earned run, through five-plus innings. Unfortunately, the bad news far outweighs the good with Brewer, as he was hit on the hand with a come-backer from the first hitter in the sixth inning and had to leave the game. Brewer struck out four and walked two while giving up four hits before his departure. Really hoping he's okay - it would be a huge blow to see our most polished starting pitching prospect in the system miss significant time with an injury. At the plate, the BayBears didn't have a player muster a multi-hit game, or even a multi-on-base game. Rather, they relied on some timely power from Ryan Wheeler, who hit a double, Ollie Linton, who hit his third home run of the year, and... Your Daily Goldschmidt: one Paul Goldschmidt, who cranked his 19th home run of the season to provide insurance in the top of the eighth inning.
Hi-A: Visalia 12, San Jose 8. (25-29) The bats came alive again for Visalia tonight in a big way. David Nick went 3-5 with a home run and a double, driving in four runs and scoring three times. Chris Owings went 3-5 with a double. Bobby Borchering went 2-5 with a home run. Then, of course, there was Davidson, who went 2-5 with a double, a walk, and a sixth-inning grand slam that capped off the Rawhide's offensive explosion. It's a good thing Davidson hit that slam, too, since it proved to be the difference in the game, due to another rough outing from Eric Smith, whose issues with the home run continued in spite of his strong ground ball tendencies, and a tough outing from reliever Adam Worthington. Smith went 6.2 innings, surrendering six runs (five earned) on 10 hits, four walks, and a pair of homers. He allowed runs to cross the plate in four of the seven innings in which he took the mound before giving way to the 'pen, although he did have an impressive 10:3 GO:AO ratio and somehow notched the win. After Worthington gave up 2 runs in 1.1 innings of work, Kevin Munson came on to secure the win with a scoreless ninth inning.
Low-A: South Bend 8, Cedar Rapids 3. (28-26) A solid outing today from right-hander J.R. Bradley, who gave up two runs, one earned, through 5.2 innings of work while striking out four and walking two. At the plate, Ramon Castillo and Roberto Rodriguez each doubled for the SilverHawks, while Zach Walters reached base five times, on four singles and a walk. Mike Freeman and Yazy Arbelo each walked three times, with Freeman also singling, and Chris Jarrett reached three times on two singles and a walk.
DSL: The DSL-backs' game was postponed due to rain.