In their race to the playoffs, Missoula won the second game of their 4-game set with Billings and now lead the division by a full game. They won game 1 on Thursday. Jake Lamb is playing his butt off in the series so far as he went 3 for 4 with a double and 2 RBI last night in the 3-2 squeaker in 10 innings. Lamb, a 21-year-old infielder drafted out of Washington in the 6th round of this year's player draft, has had a really solid first season and has been holding down the number 3 spot in the order most of the year as well as third base. The left-handed hitter has a triple slash of .331/.392/.535 for a nice .927 OPS with 8 homers, 5 triples, 19 doubles and 53 RBI in 260 at bats. He also plays a pretty good 3B with just 7 errors on the season. He's a possible candidate to skip a level and play in High A Visalia next year where he can start to make some noise as a player who at least has a chance to go all the way. But let's not get too far ahead of ourselves. Game three is set for tonight with Ross Gerdeman on the hill for Missoula.
Snake Stars
3 Stars: Chris Thomas, Missoula 7 IP, 3 H, 0 BB, 6 K, 1 R, 0 ER
2 Stars: Charles Brewer, Reno 7 IP, 4 H, 0 BB, 3 K, 1 ER, W (11-7)
1 Star: Jake Lamb, Missoula 3 for 4, 1 DBL, 2 RBI
0 Stars: Gerson Montilla, Visalia 0 for 5, 1 K
Game summaries after the jump.
Triple A: Reno 7 Tucson 2. Charles Brewer had one of his best outings of the year with a terrific 7 innings allowing just 1 run on 4 hits and no walks. Wladimir Sutil delivered the big blows going 2 for 3 with 4 RBI. Tyler Kuhn went 3 for 4 with 2 doubles, 3 runs scored and an RBI. Brent Clevlen also had 2 hits including his 12th homer of the year.Double A: Mobile 3 @ Mississippi 4. Starter Chase Anderson was only so-so as he allowed 4 runs in 6 innings and it was a tad more than the offense could overcome. Anderson was recently announced to play in the Arizona Fall League this year. Evan Frey did his part on offense with a 3 for 4 night and Chris Owings went 2 for 4.
High A: Visalia 2 @ Stockton 6. Taylor Siemens has hit the skids a bit in his last 3 starts and he wasn't very effective last night. He managed just 4 innings while allowing 6 runs on 6 hits and 3 walks. Carter Bell had a nice night going 2 for 2 with a walk, a double and an RBI. Garrett Webber added a pair of singles. Seth Simmons is settling down a little in relief lately and pitched 2 perfect innings with 4 strikeouts.
Low A: South Bend 4 Lansing 5. Tyler Green wasn't very sharp as the starter last night allowing 5 runs in 6+ innings. The offense was pretty meager with just 6 hits though they did scrape together 4 runs. Chris Ellison had a hit and 2 RBI and Sean Jamieson had a double and an RBI.
Short Season A: Yakima 1 Vancouver 3. DSL call-up Jose Martinez got his second start in America and it was a little better than his first as the 18-year-old got through 5+ innings allowing 2 runs on 4 hits and a walk. But the offense was so bad he was saddled with a loss for that fine effort. Four hits was all they got with a double by Joseph Loftus.
Rookie: Missoula 3 @ Billings 2. Chris Thomas was the real story of this game in what was the biggest start of his life to date and he came through in a big way. Thomas allowed just one unearned run in 7 innings on 3 hits and no walks. Thomas was just signed by the Dbacks back in early July as an undrafted free agent and he has pitched mostly out of the bullpen. Last night was just his 3rd career start and far and away the best of his young professional career. Missoula led 2-1 entering the 9th but Justin Thompson surrendered a single and a double with one out to send the game to extra innings. In the top of the 10th, Rudy Flores doubled leading off, pinch runner Andrew Velazquez was sacrificed to 3rd and later scored on a fielder's choice where they tried to get him at the plate. Thompson then pitched a clean 10th with 2 strikeouts for the huge victory.