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Taylor Clarke once again delivered a strong start for the Kane County Cougars and could be in line for a promotion soon given some of the struggles of the Visalia starting rotation of late. The Cougars shut out the Quad Cities River Bandits (Houston) while the other 3 affiliates experienced awful relief pitching.
Snake Stars
Reno 5, Fresno 3: Archie Bradley took the mound for the Aces and did a fairly solid job. He went 6 innings, allowing 1 run on 6 hits and 3 walks while striking out 6. For a pitcher with documented command issues, the walks are still a red flag considering how bad his command was in his start against the Giants Monday night. The Aces offense provided Bradley went plenty of support with multi-hit games from Mike Freeman, Zach Borenstein, and Sean Jamieson. The Aces bullpen hit some turbulence in the 9th inning when Dominic Leone struggled to get the last out of the game. Jake Barrett had to come in to get the final out, getting his first save on the season.
Mobile 2, Tennessee 5: The Baybears got a very good start from lefty Anthony Banda, who allowed only 1 run in 6 innings. Banda allowed 5 hits and walked 2 while striking out 5 to lower his ERA to 3.20. The Baybears managed to grab a 2-1 lead thanks to an error. Mitch Haniger and Kevin Cron both had a double and RBI in the game and the Baybears were able to take the 2-1 lead to the 9th. Adam Miller was unable to lock things down, as he allowed 3 runs in the inning with 2 outs before getting pulled for Nick Sarianides, who allowed 1 of the inherited runners to score on a wild pitch.
Visalia 3, Rancho Cucamonga 10: The Rawhide pitching staff endured a tough night, allowing 10 runs on 13 hits. Starter Bo Takahashi allowed 3 runs in 4 innings followed by 3 runs allowed by Nick Baker in 2 innings. Meanwhile, the Rawhide bats were unable to solve Drew Sopko on the mound, who threw 6 shutout innings and only allowed 3 hits and 2 walks. By the time they were able to put up any noise at home plate, they trailed 10-0 in the 9th. The Rawhide put up 3 runs in the 9th, but in the grand scheme of things it didn't matter. Colin Bray and Domingo Leyba recorded multi-hit games for the Rawhide.
Kane County 1, Quad Cities 0: The story of the game was Taylor Clarke and his brilliant performance on the mound. Clarke pitched 6 shutout innings, allowing only 4 hits and 1 walk while striking out 4. Clarke looks like he could be on the fast track to Visalia, pitching to a 1.96 ERA in 4 starts. The Cougars scratched across only 6 hits, but it was Joe Muñoz's RBI single that scored Zach Nehrir that amounted to the only score of the game. The bullpen closed things down with Brody Greer striking out 2 in a 1-2-3 7th and Jared Miller allowing only 1 hit in the final 2 innings for his first save of the year.