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It's not often the top Snake Star goes to a losing pitcher, but such is the fate of Brandon Sinnery tonight, who pitched a gem for Visalia, yet still ended up on the losing end. He allowed six hits plus two walks over seven innings, and struck out seven, but the one run he allowed was enough to condemn our former indie ball signee to defeat. It was a nice bounceback, since Sinnery's last start was the recipient of the 0 Stars award the previous time I did this report, on Thursday.
Snake Stars
3 Stars: Brandon Sinnery, Visalia 7 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 7 K, L (2-2)
2 Stars: Zach Esquerra, South Bend 1-for-3, 2 R, HR (2), 3 RBI, 2 BB
1 Star: Socrates Brito, Visalia 2-for-3, 2 DBL
0 Stars: Adam Miller, South Bend 3 IP, 7 H, 6 R, 6 ER, 5 BB, 1 K, ND
Triple-A Reno 7 @ Las Vegas 5. The Randy Wolf Express made its latest stop, with another kinda okay outing tonight. He got the W, scattering seven hits and three walks over 5.1 innings, with six strkeouts and three runs, two earned. It's kinda the way he has been with a 3.63 ERA in four starts, with a K:BB ratio of 21:10. Tonight, he was helped by the offense putting up a five-spot in the fourth. 2B Didi Gregorius, 1B Mike Jacobs and C Bobby Wilson had two hits apiece, with Wilson driving in two runs as well. Evan Marshall picked up his first save, getting the last five 51 outs [that reads kinda weird...], and now has 14.2 scoreless innings to start this year.
Double-A Mobile: off day.
High-A Visalia 0 @ Lake Elsinore 1. The Rawhide can't get any breaks right now, having lost three consecutive one-run games. This one wasted an excellent outing by Sinnery, as noted above, who took only 92 pitches to get through seven innings, with the only blot a two-out, two-strike hit allowed in the sixth inning, which was enough to score a runner from second Visalia had eight hits, including a pair of doubles by DH Socrates Brito, with 1B Rudy Flores a;so getting two hits. Their best chance was probably the ninth, when Flores doubled with one out, but he was stranded on third.
A South Bend 9 @ Bowling Green 11. Both sides blew three run leads in this one, and it was the home-town Hot Rods who held on in a wild affair where the sides combined for 20 hits, 18(!) walks, five wild pitches, four errors, three hit batters and a balk. Silver Hawks starter Adam Miller allowed five free passes in three innings, along with seven hits, leading to six earned runs. South Bend were 3-0 down after one, but fought back to be 7-4 up in the middle of the fourth, only to see that lead bleed away, as did their 9-7 one in the middle of the fifth. 1B Daniel Palka and DH George Roberts each got two hits, while 3B Joe Munoz drew three walks.