Not a whole lot to say after a game like last night's contest at the big-league-level. A loss like that is hard to get past, even when trying to look on the bright side at the minor-league side of things. There were a couple of solid performances, though, so it's not a completely dreary day of news...
Snakelet of the Day:
Brett Lorin (Double-A): 6 IP, 3 H, 1 R (1 ER), 3:1 K:BB, 1 HR
Bobby Borchering (Hi-A): 3-4, 2B, 2 R
Triple-A: Reno 9, New Orleans 5. (24-22) This was a bit of an odd contest, with right-hander Barry Enright being ejected after just 2.1 innings of work by home plate umpire Lance Barrett. I have no idea what conflict led to the ejection, though what we do know is that Enright had been struggling on the bump prior to being tossed, allowing four runs on six hits, a homer, and two walks. Enright offered a pair of interesting tweets (link, link) in response to the ejection, showing no hesitation in accusing Barrett of baiting him into an argument.
The bullpen and lineup had no problems picking up for Enright, though, with Bryan Woodall, Taylor Sinclair, Sam Demel, and Jensen Lewis combining to allow just one more run over the remaining 6.2 innings. Lewis in particular has been noteworthy for the Aces this year, as this outing lowered his ERA to 1.38 in 13 innings of relief for Reno, with a 14:5 K:BB ratio and no home runs allowed in the fly-ball-friendly PCL. It's a small sample, but if Lewis' stuff looks good, he could be an option for Arizona this year. At the plate, A.J. Pollock had another good day back in the PCL with three hits, while Mike Jacobs crushed a pinch-hit home run, Ryan Wheeler tripled, and Randy Ruiz and Rusty Ryal each doubled.
Double-A: Mobile 4, Tennessee 3. (26-20) Outside of a lead-off home run surrendered to Cubs prospect Junior Lake, right-hander Brett Lorin was awfully good on Tuesday. He allowed just that one run in his six innings of work, giving up just three hits and one walk while striking out three and inducing seven ground ball outs. After working to a 2.79 ERA in seven games and 9.2 innings as a reliever for Mobile, Lorin has now posted a 3.92 ERA across his four starts, striking out 15 and walking just two in 20.2 innings. We heard in the off-season that the club viewed Lorin as a reliever, and this is probably still the case due to Arizona's minor-league rotation depth. That said, I could see Lorin adding value to a big-league bullpen in an Aaron Heilman sort of way, by having the durability to work often and for multiple innings.
Left-hander Eury De La Rosa ran into some trouble in the seventh, allowing four baserunners while getting just two outs, but reliever Eric Smith came on and struck out the only batter he faced to wiggle out of the bases-loaded jam unscathed. Then, after Kevin Munson allowed a run in 2/3 of an inning in the eighth, Matt Gorgen came in to clean up the mess, stranding three baserunners by getting the final out of the eighth and working a scoreless ninth to seal the victory. Offensively, the club was led once again by Marc Krauss, who had his third straight game with two extra-base hits by doubling twice. David Nick added a double, Ed Easley had three hits, and Lorin even helped himself out at the plate by singling and drawing a walk.
Hi-A: Visalia 6, Bakersfield 14. (23-23) I'm not sure why, but right-hander Anthony Meo did not start for the Rawhide on regular five-days rest, instead replaced by fill-in starter Ross Gerdeman from Extended Spring Training. Gerdeman performed as expected from someone just up from Extended, allowing seven runs, all earned, in just 3.1 innings on the mound. Things didn't get much better when the bullpen arrived, with Pat Schuster, Kyle Winkler, and Bo Schultz each allowing multiple earned runs in their outings, despite none of them working more than one inning. Bobby Borchering led the way at the plate with a three-hit day that included a double, while Keon Broxton and Carter Bell each also doubled.
Low-A: The Silver Hawks were off on Tuesday, heading home to begin a three-game set today.