Dbacks Minor League Round-Up 5/29: Lamb Blasts Two Homers

If you want to break out of a slump, just call me and request a Zero Stars rating and the next day all will be well. After yesterday's Zero Stars for Jake Lamb and highlighting his recent slump, he broke right out of it with a 2-homer performance leading Visalia to a 9-5 win. It was probably the first negative thing I've said about him all season so I just had to laugh when I saw the box score. And to top it off I got a direct message twitter virus tweet from him today. I'm really thinking he should be thanking me. In any case, in spite of Lamb's recent slump he's having an awfully good season, hitting .299 with 7 homers and a .996 OPS.. I keep expecting a promotion to Mobile any day, but maybe at the break would be a more appropriate time.

Lots of other excitement around the minors last night. Archie Bradley suffered his first loss in AA, though to be fair it was a 1-0 loss and he pitched another really good game. Brandon Drury continues to swing a really hot bat with 2 more home runs and he's also bucking for a promotion. It might make sense for him to go to Visalia at the same time Lamb goes to Mobile. Our third base depth is suddenly looking very good with Davidson, Lamb and Drury.

Snake Stars
3 Stars: Brandon Drury, South Bend 3 for 5, 3 R, 1 DBL, 2 HR (4), 3 RBI
2 Stars: Archie Bradley, Mobile 8 IP, 8 H, 3 BB, 7 K, 1 ER, L (4-1)
1 Star: Jake Lamb, Visalia 2 for 4, 2 R, 2 HR (7), 4 RBI
0 Stars: Zeke Spruill, Reno 6 IP, 12 H, 2 BB, 4 K, 7 ER, L (1-2)

Triple A: Reno 1 @ Las Vegas 7. Zeke Spruill has crashed back to earth lately as he's become another victim of the PCL for pitchers who don't miss enough bats. Spruill allowed 7 runs on 12 hits and 2 walks in 6 innings. His AAA ERA is now a bloated 6.06 with a BAA of .321. That's not going to keep him in the conversation for a future rotation spot. On the bright side, Matt Davidson went 2 for 4 with a home run, his 6th, and he didn't commit any errors.

Double A: Mobile 0 Chattanooga 1. Archie Bradley kept doing what he's been doing with another strong outing, this one his longest of the season at 8 innings. He allowed just 1 run on 8 hits and 3 walks while striking out 7. His ERA since being promoted to Mobile is 0.79 and he has 37 strikeouts in 22 innings. The offense could only muster 4 singles and a walk.

High A: Visalia 9 Modesto 5. Since being recalled from the 7-day DL Andrew Barbosa is clearly on some kind of pitch limit. He went just 3 innings giving up 2 runs on 4 hits and 3 walks while striking out 4. The offense had not trouble with that as Jake Lamb blasted 2 home runs for 4 RBI. Gerson Montilla went 2 for 5 with 2 doubles and 2 RBI. David Nick had 3 singles, a walk, an RBI, a stolen base and 3 runs scored.

Low A: South Bend 11 @ Dayton 1. Brandon Drury just keeps hitting as he ripped 2 home runs and a double to lead South Bend to the rout. Jesse Darrah had another very good start that would normally earn him some snake stars if there hadn't been so many other strong performances yesterday. Darrah allowed 1 earned run on 7 hits, no walks, and no strikeouts. Socrates Brito went 2 for 5 with a double, a triple and 2 RBI.