When SS Chris Owings first got promoted to Visalia at High A last year he struggled for a bit before getting his sea legs under him. Well, he hasn't taken nearly as long to adjust to the plus pitching of the Southern League following his promotion a little over a week ago. Last night he simply went 5 for 6 with a double, a homer and 4 RBI. More and more this 20-year-old looks like the SS of the future for the Diamondbacks. In his first 8 games in Mobile he has a triple slash of .333/.462/.812, has driven in 9, and perhaps more importantly is sporting a K-rate of a more than acceptable 17.5%. You'll be hard-pressed to find many 20-year-old shortstops matching those numbers at AA. Our minor league teams posted a decent 4-3 record yesterday with some solid hitting performances around. And thanks to a suggestion by shoewizard we're now including links to the box scores with the summaries. Just click on the score summary at the beginning of each one to see the box score for that game.
Snake Stars
3 Stars: Chris Owings, Mobile 5 for 6, 3 R, 1 DBL, 1 HR (1), 4 RBI (9)
2 Stars: Tom Belza, South Bend 4 for 5, 2 R, 1 TPL, 4 RBI (45)
1 Star: Cody Wheeler, Yakima 5.1 IP, 3 H, 2 BB, 5 K, 2 R, 0 ER
0 Stars: Conrad Flynn, Visalia 4.2 IP, 8 H, 3 BB, 3 K, 7 ER
Game summaries after the jump.
Triple A: Reno 8 Fresno 11: Reno lost another one which is becoming trendy since they lost their two best starters in Bauer and Corbin. Barry Enright started and got roughed up to the tune of 7 ER in 5.1 innings. The bats were on hand to make it a game but Joe Patterson and Jonathan Albaladejo each allowed a couple of runs of their own which were 3 too many. Ryan Wheeler had a couple more hits including his 12th home run and 75th RBI of the season. Taylor Harbin had three hits with a double and 2 RBI, and A.J. Pollock and Geoff Blum added a couple hits each. Adam Eaton went 0 for 5.
Double A: Mobile 13 @ Huntsville 8. The Mobile bats were on full display led by new arrival Chris Owings who ripped 4 hits including his 1st home run for the team. He also collected 4 RBI for his efforts. Mark Krauss continued his torrid hitting with 3 more including a double and 2 RBI. Other 2-hit contributors included Evan Frey, David Nick, Ed Easley and Vladimir Sutil as part of an 18-hit attack. David Holmberg started and got through 5 but not before giving up 5 runs on 10 hits and a walk. He did strike 5 on the night. Struggling Matt Davidson had a triple and scored 3 times in a 1 for 5 night.
High A: Visalia 1 @ Stockton 10. Not a pretty game for the Rawhide as starter Conrad Flynn got knocked around pretty good and the bats were not up to the task. Bobby Borchering was the lone bright spot as he went 3 for 4 with his 16th home run of the year. Michael Freeman and Gerson Montilla did their part with 2 singles apiece.
Low A: South Bend 12 Dayton 4. South Bend brought the lumber last night with a 16-hit attack that combined with a very good start from J.R. Bradley led to an easy 12-4 victory. Bradley spun a good 6-inning effort allowing just 2 runs on 6 hits and 0 walks while striking out 3. OF Tom Belza had a huge 4 for 5 night with a triple and 4 RBI. Belza has 45 RBI on the season. DH Fidel Pena was a perfect 3 for 3 with a walk, 3 runs scored and an RBI. Cleanup hitter Matt Helm had 2 hits and an RBI, and Marc Bourgeois and Raul Navarro had a couple hits each.
High Rookie: Yakima 4 Tri-City 2. Cody Wheeler continued his comeback from Tommy John surgery with another excellent start. The 2010 5th-round pick went a strong 5.1 innings while yielding 3 hits, 2 walks and 2 unearned runs, striking out 5. The Yakima hitters only managed 7 hits but it was enough to eke out the win. Kevin Medrano had a couple of singles and Joseph Loftus had a double and 2 RBI.
Low Rookie: Missoula 7 Helena 6. After blowing a 6-3 lead late, the Osprey won on a walk-off wild pitch in the 11th to notch the victory. Starter Ross Gerdeman struggled a bit but he kept Helena at bay by working out of several jams. He allowed 3 runs on 5 hits and 4 walks before being replaced in the 5th. One-two hitters Pedro Ruiz and Socrates Brito each collected 3 base hits and scored twice to lead the attack. Michael Perez had 2 more hits with a double and an RBI (his 10th of the short season), and 3B Jake Lamb had a pair of singles and a walk.
AZL Rookie: D-Backs 2 Cubs 11. The pitching was bad, the defense was bad, and the offense couldn't string enough hits together to stay in the game. Austin Platt started and wasn't too bad, but combined with shoddy defense gave up 5 runs (3 earned) in 5 innings, though he did strike out 7. The offense collected 8 singles with only CF Chuck Taylor getting more than 1. Stryker Trahan went 0 for 3 with a walk, 2 Ks and another error. The defense piled up 5 errors on the night.