Lots of action in the minors last night, most of it coming with the bats. The feature has to be Stephen Drew homering in his second rehab game as he went 2 for 5 in Reno's 12-9 come-from-behind win over Tucson. But the top stars go to Reno's first five hitters who overcame a 5-0 deficit to score 12 unanswered runs as Adam Eaton, Jake Elmore, Stephen Drew, Ryan Wheeler and A.J. Pollock were mashing all night. Mobile swept a doubleheader as pitcher Brett Lorin led the charge in the first and Matt Davidson hit two homers in the second. Visalia lost another one to Lake Elsinore and South Bend cruised to a 9-3 win behind J.R. Bradley.
Snake Stars
3 Stars: Reno 1st Five 12 for 25, 8 R, 3 DBL, 3 TPL, 1 HR, 9 RBI
2 Stars: Matt Davidson, Mobile 2 for 2, 2 R, 2 HR (14), 5 RBI
1 Star: Ed Easley, Mobile 3 for 3, 1 DBL, 4 RBI
0 Stars: Josh Parr, South Bend 0 for 5, 4 K
Game summaries after the break.
Triple A: Reno 12 @ Tucson 9. The red-hot Aces put up three crooked number innings after falling behind 5-0 and held on for a 12-9 win on Saturday night. Joe Martinez got the team into a big hole by giving 5 runs in the first. But he did a nice job gathering himself by tossing 5 subsequent shutout innings giving the Reno bats time to right the ship. Everyone was hitting for Reno especially the top five. Adam Eaton went 2 for 5 with a double and an RBI. Jake Elmore slugged two triples for 3 RBI. Stephen Drew hit a 2-run tater in the 3rd in his two-hit night. Ryan Wheeler notched 3 singles, a double and an RBI and A.J. Pollock went 2 for 4 with a double, a triple and 2 RBI. What fun! Rusty Ryal also collected a pair of singles.
Double A: Game 1 Mobile 7 Huntsville 3. Brett Lorin was the story in Game 1 of a doubleheader by throwing 5 shutout innings while veteran minor league catcher Ed Easley went 3 for 3 with 4 RBI to support his battery-mate. The Bay Bears only had three other hits in the game but that was enough to win game 1.
Double A: Game 2 Mobile 7 Huntsville 6. In game 2 of the doubleheader it was the Matt Davidson Show as he hit a 3-run bomb in the first and a 2-run blast in the second to lead Mobile to an early 7-1 lead. Unfortunately, the pitching of Bryan Henry and a pair of relievers kept the fans interested by letting Huntsville back in the game, but the team held on for the 1-run victory. Evan Frey and David Nick also had a pair of hits each in the win. Matt Gorgen, the former Rays organization reliever who came to us via the Chad Qualls trade earned his 7th save. Gorgen was having a fairly stellar minor league ascension for the Rays but missed all of last year to Tommy John surgery following the trade to Arizona. He'll be someone to keep an eye on who still has potential to make it to the big club in the next year or two. He's currently sporting a 2.86 ERA with 36 strikeouts in 25 innings.
High A: Visalia 3 Lake Elsinore 6. Pitcher Taylor Siemens kept the Rawhide in the game by allowing 3 runs through 5 innings. But reliever Kyle Winkler allowed 3 more soon after and the Visalia bats couldn't recover. Michael Freeman, Carter Bell and Tyson Van Winkle each collected a pair of hits and Carter produced 2 RBI. Bobby Borchering went 1 for 3 with a double, a walk and an RBI.
Low A: South Bend 9 @ Fort Wayne 3. J.R. Bradley pitched a solid six innings on his 20th birthday allowing just 2 solo homers while the Silver Hawks pounded out 13 hits in an easy 9-3 win. Bradley has put together 3 decent starts in a row and appears to be growing into the role of legitimate pitching prospect. Over his last 15.1 innings he's allowed 6 earned runs (3.58 ERA), 16 hits and just 2 walks. He's not missing a lot of bats with just 3 Ks in that span but he seems to be learning how to pitch. A prospect to keep watching. Catcher Roidany Aguila had 3 hits including a double (maybe he noticed how many catchers we drafted). Matt Helm, Mark Bourgeois and Ender Inciarte each had 2 hits.