After thinking for a moment that a couple-week rest was all Andrew Chafin needed to get things back on track, Wild Thing returns in all his glory. Four innings, 3 hits, 7 walks, 4 earned runs, 4 Ks. I'm thinking I could post Archie Bradley's and Andrew Chafin's pitching lines side-by-side and it would be hard to tell them apart. It's getting a little worrisome that 2 of our top prospect pitchers have really hit a rather extended rough patch of wildness. Those are not good signs for long-term prospect status. Putting those two aside there were a number of outstanding pitching performances throughout the minors as all six minor league squads in action were victorious, namely Joe Martinez, Willy Paredes, Blake Perry and Andrew Barbosa.
Snake Stars
3 Stars: Blake Perry, Yakima 5.2 IP, 1 H, 2 BB, 7 K, 0 ER
2 Stars: Willy Paredes, South Bend 5 IP, 1 H, 0 BB, 2 K, 0 ER
1 Star: Andrew Barbosa, Missoula 6 IP, 5 H, 2 BB, 4 K, 1 ER
0 Stars: Andrew Chafin, Visalia 4 IP, 3 H, 7 BB
Game summaries after the jump.
Triple A: Reno 5 @ Col Springs 1. Joe Martinez was simply outstanding as he shut down the Sky Sox offense a day after they scored 19 runs. Considering where he was pitching, he probably deserved some Snake Stars as he pitched 7.2 innings while only allowing a lone unearned run. He struck out 7 and walked just 1 in the 6-hit effort. The offense did enough with Adam Eaton clouting a double and a home run for 2 RBI. A.J. Pollock added a couple of singles and an RBI.
Double A: Mobile 6 @ Montgomery 5. The Bay Bears engineered a come-from-behind victory with 2 runs in the top of the 9th capped off by a Chris Owings single for the game-winner. Mike Bolsinger started and pitched the first 2 innings but was replaced in the 3rd for unknown reasons as he had only allowed a single run. Brett Lorin took over and pitched well until the 6th when Montgomery scored 4 runs on 5 hits. Vladimir Sutil hit a solo shot in the 7th to cut the lead to one before Owings' heroics in the 9th. Owings also had a double earlier and finished with 3 RBI. He has 15 RBI in 15 games for Mobile. Bobby Borchering hit his first home run for Mobile. Matt Davidson had 2 errors in the game, both throwing errors.
High A: Visalia 8 @ Lancaster 7. In spite of Chafin's rough outing, the Rawhide bats came to play as they pounded out 12 hits which included a double, a triple and 3 home runs, all solo shots. Gerson Montilla continues to swing a hot bat as he collected 3 more hits including his 3rd home run in his last 4 games. SS Michael Freeman had one of the solo homers as part of his 2-hit night that also featured his 20th SB of the season. The other home run was off the bat of Keon Broxton, his 9th of the year.
Low A: South Bend 11 @ Dayton 2. After 52 consecutive relief appearances, Willy Paredes got his first professional start and didn't disappoint. He pitched 5 shutout innings with just a single hit allowed and he didn't walk a batter. That was plenty good as the offense more than did its part with an 11-run outburst that featured 3 doubles and 3 home runs. Tom Belza had 4 hits and the home runs came of the bats of Marc Bourgeois, Kerry Jenkins and Bryan Henry. Paredes is a Dominican right hander who started in the Dominican Summer League last year before getting promoted to Yakima and then to South Bend before the season was out. That was the kind of effort that will keep you in the rotation.
High Rookie: Yakima 5 @ Spokane 0. Blake Perry was another prospect starter who pitched a whale of a game with 5.2 innings, a lone hit, 2 walks and 7 Ks. A pair of relievers completed the shutout and the Yakima offense scored all 5 runs late which kept Perry from earning the win. Josh Parr and Shaun Cooper hit back-to-back homers with 2 outs in the 8th, followed by back-to-back doubles by Wagner Mateo and Joseph Loftus. Cooper collected 2 more RBI in the 9th.
Low Rookie: Missoula 5 @ Great Falls 2. Starter Andrew Barbosa finally gave up a run here in his 4th professional start. The run came off a triple and an infield single in the 1st inning. But Barbosa gave up nothing after that and got through 6 before turning it over to the pen. He finished with 4 Ks. The offense was quiet most of the night and trailed 2-0 before exploding for 5 runs in the 8th, all after the first two batters made outs. Four singles, 2 walks and 2 errors did the damage. Michael Perez was the lone hitter with multiple hits as he had 2 including a double. He's hitting .334 with an OPS of 1.060 in his first 13 games.