Dbacks MiLB Round-Up 5/13: The Griffin flies tonight

After a breakout 2012, where hit .302 with 28 home-runs, 2013 proved very different for Jon Griffin; in 61 games for Mobile, he had only a .601 OPS. Over winter, he worked with hitting co-ordinator Alan Cockrell, who got him back to basics. "He simplified my mechanics, and then mentally he gave me an approach that I could work with that worked for me. My approach would be to look for a pitch I could handle away and just kind of react to everything in. And in doing that, I can pick out my zone. I can recognize offspeed easier." While still in progress, two homers tonight got Griffin's OPS up to .754; hopefully the first-baseman, who turned 25 last month, can continue to move back on track.

Snake Stars
3 Stars: Jon Griffin, Mobile, 3 for 5, 3 R, 2 HR (4), 4 RBI
2 Stars: Andrew Velazquez, South Bend 3 for 3, 1 RBI, 2 BB, SB, CS
1 Star: Andrew Chafin, Mobile 6 IP, 4 H, 2 BB, 2 K, 1 ER, W (3-1)
0 Stars: Brandon Jacobs, Visalia 0 for 4, 3 K

Triple-A Reno 4, Fresno 7. A close game, with no more than one run between the teams at any point - at least, until the seventh, when Jess Todd took three attempts to get the final out, giving up home-runs to the first two batters faced. Eury de la Rosa took the loss despite not allowing a hit or a walk in 1.2 innings, plunking a batter before the first of Todd's homers. Bo Schultz was meh, giving up four runs on six hits and a walk in five innings.CF Tony Campana, 1B Mike Jacobs and Designated Deceased Equine Nick Evans each had two hits, the last-named also driving in a pair of runs.

Double-A Mobile 7 @ Jacksonville 1. A nice outing by Andrew Chafin, holding the one run over six innings, on four hits and two walks, with two strikeouts. He improved his record to 3-1, with a 2.06 ERA. The BayBears jumped out in front on 1B Jon Griffin's three-run homer in the first, his third of the season, and Griffin added another, a solo shot, in the ninth. LF Tom Belza enjoyed a three-hit night, and there were two-hit games for 2B Sean Jamieson (now hitting above .300), 3B Jake Lamb and CF Daniel Bowman. Willie Paredes worked two scoreless frames in relief, and Patrick Schuster worked the ninth.

High-A Visalia 3, High Desert 2. As in Reno, this was decided in the seventh. The Mavericks took the lead in the top half, scoring twice off starter Spenser Arroyo; that was all he allowed in 6.2 innings, on six hits and four walks, with eight K's. That overturned a 1-0 Rawhide lead, held since LF Alex Glenn's ninth homer of the season, leading off the second inning. But Visalia were not to be denied, scoring twice in the bottom half and held on for the win, despite going 0-for-6 with RISP. Glenn and C Jose Queliz had two hits; Seth Simmons got the decision, retiring all four batters faced, and Enrique Burgos saved his 7th, stranding the tying run on second.

A South Bend 7 @ Dayton 3. Down by a pair after four, the Silver Hawks scored two in the fifth, two more in the sxith, and pulled away with a three-run eighth, to improve to 21-17. SS Andrew Velazquez did great in the leadoff spot, getting on base all five times he was up, on three hits and a walk. LF Chuck Taylor had his first homer, and there were also long-balls by 3B George Roberts and C Michael Perez, each their second. Starter Sean Furney couldn't get through five, scattering eight hits and three walks over 4.2 innings, but the bullpen held the Dragons to one run on three hits the rest of the way, with seven K's. 2B Jamie Westbrook also had three hits.