Reno 3B/1B Ryan Wheeler picked up his 70th RBI of the season in just his 71st game when he clocked a 3-run home run in the 9th inning last night. He has 22 RBI in the month of June with a week to go and leads the PCL in the category. In his last 10 games 7 have been multi-hit efforts. Oh, and Reno returned to its winning ways. Mobile engineered another come-from-behind victory, this time scoring 2 in the 9th to tie it and 1 in the 12th to win 4-3. Visalia got a much-needed win as Bobby Borchering hit a 2-run shot in the 8th to break a 3-3 tie. J.R. Bradley had a decent outing in a South Bend victory. Both Yakima and Missoula were undone by their bullpens, again, and AZL won in 10 innings due to a walk-off double by prospect SS Andrew Velasquez.
Snake Stars
3 Stars: Ryan Wheeler, Reno 2 for 5, 2 R, 1 HR (11), 3 RBI (70)
2 Stars: David Holmberg, Mobile 8 IP, 7 H, 0 BB, 4 K, 3 ER
1 Star: Jake Lamb, Missoula 3 for 4, 1 R, 2 DBL, 1 RBI
0 Stars: Ty Linton, Justin Bianco, John Leonard, Missoula 0 for 12, 7 K
Game summaries after the jump.
Triple A: Reno 12 @ Salt Lake 5. Behind a typical Barry Enright PCL start the Aces bats knocked out 11 hits and 12 runs for the easy win. Enright completed 6 innings while allowing 4 earned runs on 5 hits, 3 walks and a solid 9 Ks. Ryan Wheeler continued to amass a prodigious RBI total with a late 3-run homer giving him 70 on the season. The really big blast came off the bat of the rehabbing Geoff Blum who smacked a 2-out grand slam in the 5th to blow open a close game. Every starter had at least one hit except A.J. Pollock.
Double A: Mobile 4 Montgomery 3. The Bay Bears scored 2 in the bottom of the 9th via a lone single by Matt Davidson, a walk, a sacrifice bunt and a wild pitch. The 12th inning game winner came with 2 outs and the bases loaded when Davidson grounded to 3rd and Evan Frey beat the fielder's choice throw to second. David Holmberg pitched a strong 8 innings and allowed just 3 earned runs on 7 hits while walking none and striking out 4. Frey had 2 hits including a double while Chris Owings went 0 for 6 with 3 Ks. All Star Alredo Marte left the game in the 5th due to tightness in his legs.
High A: Visalia 5 San Jose 3. Bobby Borchering became the game hero when he cranked a 2-run homer in the bottom of the 8th to make a winner of reliever D.J. Johnson. Bo Schultz followed with a clean 9th for his 10th save. Borchering had 3 RBI and also walked twice. Conrad Flynn started and went 5 innings giving up 3 runs on 5 hits while striking out 6. Raoul Torres contributed a single, a double and an RBI.
Low A: South Bend 4 @ West Michigan 2. J.R. Bradley had an effective start in leading the Silver Hawks to a 4-2 victory as he pitched 5+ innings allowing just 2 runs. Midwest League All-Star Matt Helm had a single, a double and an RBI to lead the hitting attack.
High Rookie: Yakima 3 Salem-Keizer 5. Yakima tried to eke out a close-fought game until a pair of relievers couldn't get out of the 8th leading to the 5-3 loss. Cody Wheeler was solid again in his 2nd start following Tommy John surgery giving up 2 runs on 6 hits with no walks and 4 Ks in 5 innings of work. Jacob House had 3 hits and C Ronnie Freeman (this year's 5th-round pick) had 2 hits and 2 RBI including a double.
Low Rookie: Missoula 4 Great Falls 5. The Osprey lost a heart breaker tonight leaving 2 runners stranded as Socrates Brito went down looking to end the game. Starter Ross Gerdeman was solid allowing 2 earned runs on 5 hits with 1 walk and 5 Ks. But his stellar start went for not when Chase Stevens couldn't hold the lead. Player of the game was once again Jake Lamb who clubbed two doubles and an RBI single. He has five doubles in his first 6 games and may threaten Paul Goldschmidt's season record of 27 at this pace. Kyle Koeneman hit his first professional home run.
AZL Rookie: D-backs 5 Padres 4. The D-backs tried to lose a game in which they got 5 shutout innings from starter Austin Platt and the bats collected 11 hits and 11 walks. But after giving up 2 runs in the top of the 9th to tie the game at 5, Andrew Velasquez won it in the bottom of the 10th with a run-scoring double. Stryker Trahan had a perfect night with a single and 4 walks. William Castillo had 3 singles, while Velasquez, Alex Glenn and Jake Williams each had two hits in the victory.