The Diamondbacks minor league affiliates brought the whooping sticks to end June, with 5 of the 7 affiliates in the United States scoring 6 or more runs in their game and all but one of them winning. The most impressive total goes to the Rawhide, who plated 12 runs in the game in their win. Two players had multi-homer games, both of them being catchers that were on the Diamondbacks 2015 roster.
Snake Stars:
3 Stars: C Oscar Hernandez (Mobile) 2 for 3, 2 HR (3), 3 RBI, BB
2 Stars: C Tuffy Gosewisch (Reno) 2 for 3, 2 HR (3), 3 RBI, BB
1 Star: DH Stewart Ijames (Mobile) 2 for 4, 2-R HR (3), 3 RBI, 2 R
0 Stars: LHP Junior Garcia (Kane County) 4 2/3 IP, 6 H, 6 R (5 ER), 1 BB, 1 K, L (3-6)
Reno 6, El Paso 8: Zack Godley took the start for the Aces and did OK. He allowed 3 runs in 4 innings on 5 hits and 2 walks but he struck out 7 hitters. Unfortunately, he took the loss when Edgar Garcia imploded in the 5th inning when the Chihuahuas scored 5 runs to make it 8-1. The Aces countered with a 5-spot of their own in the 6th inning and knocking out starter Michael Kelly and doing some damage on the next guy that came in. Unfortunately, the 6th inning was it for the offense and they couldn't muster the final rally to tie the game. One bright spot in the loss was Tuffy Gosewisch, who belted out 2 homers and walked while driving in 3 runs. Mitch Haniger added 2 hits, one being a double.
Mobile 7, Montgomery 5: John Omahen struggled the 2nd time through the lineup, allowing 5 runs in the 3rd and 4th inning. Overall, he was able to hold the damage to those 2 innings and managed to piece together 6 innings while the offense went to work. The Baybears scored first when Oscar Hernandez hit his first homer of the day, a solo shot that made it 1-0. After falling behind 5-1, Stewart Ijames belted a 2-run homer to cut the deficit in half. After Omahen's heroics, the offense went to town in the 7th inning. It started with Flores and Westbrook both reaching base to start the inning, then an RBI single by Ijames put runners on the corners. Cody Regis tied the game with a sac fly before Oscar Hernandez's 2nd homer gave the Baybears the 7-5 lead that would hold up. The bullpen had a lot to do with that, with Joey Krehbiel, Zac Curtis, and Jimmie Sherfy pitching scoreless innings to close things out.
Visalia 12, San Jose 6: The Rawhide offense can be summed as death by a million paper cuts. Starter Ethan Elias left the game after just 1 inning, allowing 2 hits and a run although I'm not sure what caused his early exit. The Rawhide took a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the first inning with the help of an RBI double from Marty Herum. After falling behind 3-2, the Rawhide busted things open with a 6-run 3rd inning. San Jose would make things close in the 5th when they plated 3 to make it 8-6, but the Rawhide ended things with a 4-run 8th that pushed the game out of reach again. Offensively, the entire lineup was able to contribute with Trahan reaching base 4 times (2 hits, 2 walks, 0 strikeouts) and driving in 3. Victor Reyes was the only Rawhide batter that didn't do something. Overall, they picked up 13 hits, walked 6 times while only striking out twice, and went 6 for 19 with RISP.
Kane County 4, Burlington 8: The Cougars took a 2-0 lead with single tallies in the first two innings, but that's when the game fell apart. Junior Garcia allowed 3 runs to score in the 3rd to fall behind 3-2 then couldn't get out of the 5th inning when Burlington put up 3 runs to make it 6-2. The Cougar bats were unable to stunt any of the momentum that Burlington put up in the middle innings, failing to score until the 9th inning when the deficit swelled up to 8-2. The Cougars got 2 runs, but never really threatened to make things interesting. Three Cougars picked up multi-hit games in the loss.
Hillsboro 8, Salem-Keizer 2: The Volcanoes took a 2-0 lead in the 2nd inning off of Hops starter Taylor Wright, but he and the bullpen were able to buckle down from that point and allowed nothing. The Hops tied the game with 2 runs in the 5th, which set up a big 6th inning on the mound. Wright was able to get 2 outs in the inning before giving way to Kirby Bellow, would would promptly end the threat right there. The Hops then responded with 4 runs in the 6th, aided by a 2-run homer by Justin Chigbogu. The Hops tacked on two more runs in the 8th inning after Jose Martinez got Bellow out of a 7th inning jam. For the Hops, it was smooth sailing from there.
Missoula 6, Helena 3: The Osprey were able to put pressure on their opponent from the get-go, scoring 6 runs in 5 separate innings. The Osprey took a 3-1 lead in the 5th inning, which was enough for Connor Grey to win, as he allowed 3 runs in 6 innings, two of them coming on solo homers. Jazz Chisholm was the main catalyst in the offense, going 1 for 3 with a solo HR and a walk with a stolen base. Luis Silverio had 2 hits, one being a double, a stolen base, an RBI, and 2 runs scored. Armed with a 4-3 lead, Rafael Pujols retired all 9 hitters he faced to get his first save of the season while the offense packed on 2 critical insurance runs for the game's final tally.
AZL Dbacks 1, AZL Dodgers 11: This was a very ugly game to say the least. The Dbacks fell behind 4-0 before their first AB and struggled mightily at the plate with 18 batters going down on strikes. The Dbacks were able to scratch a run across in the 3rd thanks to an RBI single from Jeff Smith to make it 4-1, but that's as close as they would get. The Dodgers would then pound the living daylights out of whatever pitcher the Dbacks put in, with the Dbacks first 3 pitchers all allowing 3 or more runs. It's one of those games where you just flush out of the memory bank and never talk about again.