Tyler Skaggs and Adam Eaton continued to impress in Reno as they combined for a dominating pitching and hitting performance last night in Reno's 7-2 win over Salt Lake. Skaggs tossed 7 shutout innings and Eaton was perfect in 5 at bats. Skaggs allowed just 3 hits and a walk in his 7 innings while striking out 6 in his best AAA outing in three tries. He lowered his AAA ERA to 2.65 and improved his K/BB ratio to 4/1. It's hard to imagine him not being a part of the 2013 rotation. The same can be said about Eaton's prospects of being in the 2013 outfield rotation with a dominating 3 for 3 night with 2 walks, a home run and 3 stolen bases. He's raised his average to .390 and has scored 94 runs in a little over half a season. Another prospect who's been much talked about lately is Alfredo Marte who had a 3 for 3 night of his own with his 16th home run of the season. On the negative side Andrew Chafin returned to form, bad form that is, with a pretty awful outing for Visalia. We've got a ton of games to report on with several doubleheaders so let's get to it.
Snake Stars
3 Stars: Tyler Skaggs, Reno 7 IP, 3 H, 1 BB, 6 K, 0 ER, W (2-0)
2 Stars: Adam Eaton, Reno 3 for 3, 2 BB, 2 R, 1 DBL, 1 HR (5), 1 RBI, 3 SB (26)
1 Star: Andrew Velazquez, AZL 4 for 4, 2 BB, 2 R, 1 TPL, 2 RBI, 4 SB (13)
0 Stars: Andrew Chafin, Visalia 2.1 IP, 6 H, 3 BB, 3 K, 6 R, 5 ER
Game summaries after the jump.
Triple A: Reno 7 Salt Lake 2. We talked about the terrific performances from Skaggs and Eaton in our lead, but there were some other noteworthy efforts. Ryan Wheeler hit his 15th home run of the season in a 1 for 4 night. A.J. Pollock clubbed his 2nd home run of the season in a 1 for 2 night with 2 walks. And Mike Jacobs added yet another perfect 3 for 3 night with a walk, a double, a homer and an RBI.
Double A Game1, Mobile 2 Huntsville 1. Alfredo Marte made a winner of Brian Woodall when he hit a 2-run homer in the bottom of the 6th after Woodall had allowed a run in the top of the 6th in a low-scoring 1-run victory. Marte was perfect on the night with 2 singles to go with his home run as he raised his average above .300. Matt Davidson had a pair of singles and Chris Owings had 2 hits including a triple. Bobby Borchering went 0 for 3 and is now hitting .094 at AA. Chase Anderson started and tossed 3 scoreless innings on 2 hits and no walks with 2 Ks.
Double A Game 2: Mobile 2 Huntsville 4. The second game was also a pitcher's duel with Brett Lorin starting the game with 5 dominant shutout innings before a rough 6th inning ruined it. He finished with 4 earned runs allowed on 4 hits and a walk in 6 innings while amassing 9 strikeouts. The Bay Bears only managed 5 hits with Alfredo Marte going 1 for 2 with a walk and an RBI.
High A Game 1: Visalia 7 Lancaster 2. After a lone sparkling start in South Bend following 28 relief appearances, the club promoted Willy Paredes to Visalia for his second professional start and he was just as sparkling. He finished with 5 shutout innings on 3 hits and no walks with 5 punchouts. The 22-year-old Dominican right hander is definitely headed in the right direction. The offense gave him plenty of support scoring in every inning but the 2nd. Gerson Montilla was yet another minor leaguer with a perfect night going 2 for 2 with 2 walks and an RBI. Leadoff hitter Ender Inciarte had a pair of singles and an RBI while Garrett Webber added his 6th homer of the year.
High A Game 2: Visalia 3 Lancaster 13. The Rawhide couldn't manage the doubleheader sweep as Andrew Chafin was fairly awful again when he couldn't get out of the 3rd inning before allowing Lancaster to plate 6 runs. Ray Hernandez came in and threw some gasoline on the fire by surrendering 5 runs of his own in the 4th inning. That was way more than the offense could overcome in the blowout loss. Ender Inciarte added 3 more hits in the nightcap to raise the 21-year-old Venezuelan's average to a stout .355. He also stole his 12th base in 20 High A games, giving him 30 on the season. I'm guessing he's starting to get some attention from the Dbacks farm experts.
Low A: South Bend 1 Kane County 2. This was a classic pitcher's duel as Tyler Green was really looking sharp throughout. Kane County blinked first in yielding an unearned run in the 4th to give South Bend a 1-0 lead. But Green blinked right back in the bottom of the 4th when he allowed 2 runs (one of which was unearned) and that was the extent of the scoring. Green finished 7 innings allowing just 4 hits and 2 walks while striking out 6. The offense was limited to 4 hits and struck out 13 times.
High Rookie: Yakima 4 Salem-Keizer 6. Cuban starter Alexander Carreras wasn't his best and dug the team a hole with 5 runs allowed (3 earned) in 4+ innings of work. The offense battled back within a run in the 8th led by Daniel Poma's 3 hits and 2 RBI. But they could get no closer. Michael Lang and Adam McConnell also contributed a couple of hits each.
Low Rookie: Missoula 1 Grand Junction 10. The Osprey got waxed at home by Grand Junction in a game devoid of highlights worth discussing. Starter Jared Ray got lit up pretty good and the offense was held to 6 singles. Yosbel Gutierrez had 2 of those singles.
AZL Rookie: Dbacks 11 Athletics 12. After the Dbacks combined with their opponent for 32 runs in Thursday's game, the pitching was much improved yesterday as just 23 runs were scored. Takashi Saito started and threw a perfect 1st with 2 Ks. That was the end of any pitching worth talking about. But the offensive player who keeps shining is NYC-native INF Andrew Velazquez. All he did was go 4 for 4 with 2 walks, 2 RBI and 4 stolen bases. I have really become smitten with this kid who is now hitting .424 with 15 RBI and 13 stolen bases in 16 games. They also love his glove but he has 7 errors already so there's work to be done there. OF Alex Glenn had a nice game with a double, a home run and 4 RBI.
DSL: Dbacks 1 Rockies 0. Don't normally touch on the DSL league but there's a 16-year-old pitcher by the name of Jose Martinez for the Dbacks who is tearing up the league. He's a 6-1 right hander who threw 8 more shutout innings in a 1-0 victory yesterday. He's now 5-1 with a 1.49 ERA in 42.1 innings and a WHIP just under 1.00. He's racked up 36 strikeouts while allowing just 12 walks and is sporting a G/A ratio of 4.18. Opposing batters are hitting a paltry .199. Not bad for a 16-year-old. Look for him to be sent to the USA somewhere next year.