We're coming down to the end of most of the minor league seasons and some of our clubs still have some meaningful games coming up. Reno is stretching to clinch their playoff berth with a 4 game lead and 7 games left to play. The roster has been fairly denuded with the promotions of Ryan Wheeler, Jake Elmore, Tyler Skaggs and probably Adam Eaton not far behind. With the Dbacks just about out of it and Reno heading for the playoffs, they might delay Eaton's expected call-up until that is all resolved. Mobile has a 5-game series with Mississippi to finish their season then they begin the playoffs at home on September 6. Visalia has 7 games left and will not be going to the playoffs. Two of their sluggers, Jonathan Griffin and Yazy Arbelo were promoted to Mobile yesterday. South Bend has 7 games left and they aren't heading to the playoffs. Yakima has 5 games left then begin their playoffs on September 3 at Boise before coming home for the final 2 games of the 3-game series. Missoula has 10 games left and they won't be in the playoffs. The AZL Dbacks have just 2 games left and they aren't headed to the playoffs either.
Snake Stars
3 Stars: Reno Bullpen 5 IP, 0 H, 0 BB, 3 K, 0 ER, W, S
2 Stars: Taylor Harbin, Reno 2 for 3, 1 BB, 1 R, 1 HR (5), 3 RBI
1 Star: Matt Mangini, Mobile 2 for 3, 1 BB, 3 RBI
0 Stars: Keith Hessler, South Bend 3 IP, 5 H, 5 BB, 4 K, 7 ER
Game summaries after the jump.
Triple A: Reno 4 Fresno 3. Brett Tomko started after being promoted from Mobile and pitched 5 decent innings allowing 3 runs on 7 hits and 2 walks. The stars of the night were the Reno bullpen members of Joe Patterson, Mike DeMark, Jensen Lewis and Jonathan Albaladejo who combined to pitch 5 scoreless, hittless innings in relief. That gave the offense time to get to the 10th inning tied at 3 when Tyler Bortnick drove home Tyler Kuhn on a suicide squeeze. Taylor Harbin was the big hitting star with a 3-run homer in the 4th that tied the game.
Double A: Mobile 3 @ Tennessee 5. Michael Bolsinger started and got beat up early as he surrendered 5 runs in the first 2 innings. But he kept it together and pitched 5 subsequent shutout innings to give the offense a chance. They got within 2 runs due to 3 RBI from Matt Mangini on 2 singles, but they could get no closer. David Nick and Evan Frey also had a couple of singles each.
High A: Visalia 3 Stockton 8. The Rawhide now has one eye toward the off-season as their playoff hopes were dashed a little more than a week ago and now a couple of their key players have been moved up. Raymond Hernandez got tattooed early and this game was never interesting. Michael Freeman and Garrett Webber each went 3 for 4 with an RBI with all the hits being singles. Gerson Montilla went 2 for 5 with a double.
Low A: South Bend 5 @ Bowling Green 11. This is another squad just trying to finish out the season. Keith Hessler had his worst outing of the year and seems to be hitting the wall a little. He gave up 7 runs in 3 innings. Raul Navarro went 2 for 4 with a triple, Sean Jamieson went 2 for 3 with a walk and an RBI, and Chris Ellison went 2 for 4 with a walk.
AZL Rookie: Dbacks 3 @ Athletics 1. Jonathan Pulley had an outstanding start going 6+ innings allowing one run on 4 hits and 1 walk while striking out 6. Eric Meyerchick got the final 4 outs for his 2nd save. The Dbacks had just 4 hits with Anderson Bolivar delivering an RBI double and Damion Smith an RBI single.