After passing their first tests at their respective new levels with honors, right-handers Trevor Bauer and Michael Bolsinger each faced the challenge of replicating their debuts. As you can probably tell from the title of this round-up, they weren't quite so successful in doing this. This isn't to say that the outings were sub-par, but "with great power (stuff), comes great responsibility", or something like that.
Snakelet of the Day:
Ryan Wheeler (Triple-A): 4-4, 2 2B, BB
Triple-A: Reno 2, New Orleans 4. (24-23) First off, as a random bit of news for the day, outfielder David Winfree retired from the Aces at age 26. This comes from Aces beat reporter Chris Gabel:
Aces OF David Winfree retired today. he apparently saw the writing on the wall regarding playing time and decided it was time.
— Chris Gabel, RGJ.com (@RGJ_Aces) May 24, 2012
It's hard to really fault Winfree in this assessment, as he was likely behind Adam Eaton, A.J. Pollock, and Cole Gillespie on the outfield depth chart. Gabel added a few other interesting details, such as Winfree's unfortunate inability to stay healthy this year and the D-backs' attempts to trade him somewhere he could get more playing time (perhaps along the lines of what they did for Tom Layne).
As for the game today, the Aces sent right-hander Trevor Bauer to the hill for his second start at Reno. Bauer wasn't quite so dominant in this outing as he was in his first time out for Reno, but he still shut down the Zephyrs for five innings of one-run work. The sloppiness came in the five walks that Bauer surrendered to the New Orleans lineup, but he mitigated this threat by allowing just a single hit and by whiffing five on the day. Reliever Mike DeMark came in and muddled things up for the Aces, allowing two runs over 1.1 innings and giving New Orleans a lead they would not relinquish. Ryan Wheeler doubled twice, singled twice, and walked for Reno to obviously lead the way, while the aforementioned Eaton added a double.
Double-A: Mobile 8, Tennessee 6. (27-20) Starting pitcher Michael Bolsinger struggled, allowing five runs (all earned) in just five innings on six hits and three walks, striking out four. Thankfully, though, Bolsinger was two innings and one earned run better than his counterpart on the mound. Nicholas Struck. Bryan Henry came on with three scoreless innings of fireman relief, and Evan Marshall ended things in the ninth. The two biggest offensive contributions for the BayBears came in form of home runs from Matt Davidson and Alfredo Marte. The shot was Davidson's tenth on the season, while Marte's bomb was his ninth of the season.
Hi-A: Visalia was off on Wednesday. The good news, though, is that Anthony Meo's missed start yesterday was due to a blister, and he'll be ready to take the hill the next time through the rotation.
Low-A: South Bend 5, Fort Wayne 7. (24-22) Southpaw Taylor Siemens had a rough day in a spot-start appearance for South Bend, allowing six runs (four earned) on eight hits and a home run in just four innings, although Siemens did strike out six. The Silver Hawks bullpen tried to stop the bleeding, but Ender Inciarte's double was the only extra-base knock of the game.