After spending much of Spring Training hearing about how impressive Brett Lorin - a Rule 5 pick from Pittsburgh who Arizona would eventually swing a trade to keep on the roster - had been, there has been little word on the 6'7" right-hander since. Pitching at Double-A Mobile, Lorin had spent most of his time in the bullpen this year, but made a start on April 29 when the BayBears needed someone to fill Patrick Corbin's rotation slot. Five games later, Lorin is still in the BayBears rotation, and showing himself quite capable of handling the role (at least at the Double-A level). With his huge stature and downward plane, it's of little surprise that Lorin was generating ground ball after ground ball yesterday, burning through the Mississippi lineup.
Snakelet of the Day:
Triple-A: Reno 11, Tacoma 10. (13-17) To answer a question from a recent comment thread, right-hander Chris Jakubauskas was in fact ready to come off the disabled list, making this start and filling the spot in the rotation vacated by Tom Layne's trade. Jakubauskas was solid, but fell victim of some poor defense behind him, with five of the six runs he allowed over his 5.1 innings on the hill going down as unearned runs. After Jakubauskas left, the team traded blown leads, with Sam Demel allowing four runs in 0.2 innings to blow a save for the Aces, and Chance Ruffin giving back two runs in his two innings on the hill to give the lead right back to Reno. The offense received yet another home run from Randy Ruiz - side note: Ruiz is establishing himself as perhaps this year's Wily Mo Pena-style Interleague DH - a single and a triple from Jacob Elmore, and a single and a double from David Winfree.
Double-A: Mobile 1, Mississippi 10. (17-13) Making this start for the BayBears was right-hander Brett Lorin, whose spot-start the last time through the rotation appeared to be a more permanent move than I had initially thought. Lorin, who has spent most of his career in the rotation but - purely from what I've read (which has perhaps changed by now) - is viewed by the organization as a reliever, was solid for Mobile, particularly in keeping the ball on the ground. Lorin ended up working 5.2 innings for Mobile, giving up three runs, two of which were earned - those two earned runs were allowed to score as inherited runners by Eury De La Rosa - while allowing five hits and striking out two, posting a 12:3 GO:FO ratio.
The rest of the club, however, had an all-around poor evening, with De La Rosa allowing those two inherited runners (inherited with two outs) to score, then giving up four of his own in 1.1 innings on the mound. Kevin Munson allowed an earned run in his one inning of work, and Yonata Ortega gave up two more earned runs in his inning. The offense had a rough evening as well with just five hits total, although three of them were for extra bases, courtesy of doubles from Yazy Arbelo, Marc Krauss, and David Nick - Nick's double being of the pinch-hit variety. On the other hand, the BayBears also drew seven walks on the evening, so they had plenty of baserunners on the night, but simply couldn't get them across home plate.
Hi-A (game one, eight innings): Visalia 4, High Desert 3. Visalia struck first in this one, with a Jonathan Griffin solo shot putting the Rawhide up 1-0 in the second. Things went awry for Visalia starter Anthony Meo in the sixth inning, with the right-hander giving up three runs (one an inherited runner) before departing with two outs for reliever Bo Schultz. Meo's final line was solid, although a bid wild - 5.2 IP, 6 H, 3 R (3 ER), 6:3 K:BB, 7:3 GO:FO. Schultz held the Mavericks scoreless for the following two innings, giving the bats a chance to steal a victory. A couple of no-out walks in the seventh came around to score and send this game into "extra innings," and a one-out double from Bobby Borchering walked it off for Visalia.
Hi-A (game two, seven innings): Visalia 0, High Desert 10. (14-17) It was an ugly second game for the Rawhide all-around, with all five Rawhide pitchers - Patrick Schuster, Diogenes Rosario, Eric Smith, Bradin Hagens, and Michael Belfiore - allowing earned runs in their time on the bump. Meanwhile, the offense was completely shut down by the High Desert pitching, with Eric Groff's double going down as the only extra-base hit tallied on the evening by the Visalia bats.
Low-A: South Bend 1, Great Lakes 6. (17-12) The Silver Hawks offense struggled in this one with the lone exception of Gerson Montilla. The Silver Hawks offense notched seven hits in total, but Montilla was the lone bat to contribute a two-hit night, as well as the lone bat to record an extra-base hit, connecting for a triple. The one run of output wouldn't be nearly enough, as starter John Pedrotty had a rough night on the mound. The left-hander surrendered seven hits, three walks, and six runs over five innings on the hill, striking out three and generating five ground-outs.