Diamondbacks Minor League Recap 5/3/2018: Jazz hands

The Diamondbacks Minor League affiliates went 3-1 today with only a bullpen choke by Kane County preventing the first ever Minor League sweep of the season.

Snake Stars:

3 Stars: Visalia RHP Emilio Vargas 6 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 7 K, GS 73, W (2-0)

2 Stars: Kane County SS Jazz Chisholm 2 for 4, 2B, HR (3), 2 RBI, 2 R

1 Star: Jackson DH Rudy Flores 2 for 5, HR (5), 5 RBI

0 Stars: Kane County RHP Breckin Williams 1 IP, 1 H, 3 R (2 ER), 2 BB, 1 K, BS (1), L (1-2)

Reno Aces 6, El Paso Chihuahuas 5: After allowing a 2-run homer in the first, Troy Scribner settled in to allow only 1 more run to score over 6 innings with 6 strikeouts along the way. While Scribner was fending off the El Paso lineup, the Aces (10-18) hitters went to work with crooked numbers in the 4th and 5th inning to take a 5-2 lead. Kristopher Negron, Michael Perez, Cody Decker, and Yasmany Tomas had multi-hit games and drove in 4 of the 6 Aces runs. Joey Krehbiel came in and pitched a scoreless 7th before surrendering a game-tying homer in the 8th. The Aces countered with a two rally fueled by walks when Michael Perez singled in Evan Marzilli for the game-winning run in the 9th. Jake Barrett came in to close things out and did so with authority, striking out 2 on 12 pitches.

Jackson Generals 10, Montgomery Biscuits 4: Despite allowing 9 hitters to reach and bad defense behind him, Alex Young kept the Biscuits to 3 runs over 5 innings. Trailing 3-2 in the bottom of the 5th, Rudy Flores hit a big 3-run homer that put the Generals (18-8) up for good. Shaky defense once again made things interesting in the 6th, but the Generals put up another 3 spot on Zach Lee and former General Colin Poche, who wasn’t as dominant as he was as a Dbacks prospect. Even though the team went 3 for 13 with RISP, they didn’t have too rough a time converting baserunners into runs thanks to terrible Montgomery defense. Juniel Querecuto, Kevin Medrano, and Rudy Flores did the heavy lifting offensively with 2 hit games, all 3 XBH, and 8 RBI combined.

Visalia Rawhide 4, San Jose Giants 0: Emilio Vargas this time was able to get deeper into the game with 6 masterful innings, allowing 4 hits and 1 walk while striking out 7. The Rawhide (17-11) couldn’t solve Conner Menez until the 6th when they jumped on him and Dylan Rheault for 4 runs. The approach was death by a thousand papercuts as line drives and hard ground balls found their way to the grass that inning. Marcus Wilson and Daulton Varsho had 2 hits apiece, the latter controlling the running game on both sides of the plate with 2 SB in 2 tries while also gunning down both San Jose stolen base attempts. Pavin Smith and Drew Ellis each had a hit, a walk, and a RBI in the game.

Kane County Cougars 5, Lansing Lugnuts 6: Eudy Ramos put the Cougars up 2-0 early with a 2-run bomb. After the Lugnuts tied it at 2, the Cougars struck back with a double by Jazz Chisholm followed by a single by Yoel Yanqui to take a 3-2 lead. Chisholm then added to the party with a 2-run bomb in the 5th after Gabriel Maciel ran out a potential double play ball. Chisholm’s triple slash for Kane County is .333/.415/.632, although it’s fueled by a .400 BABIP, which is impressive with a 12.3% walk rate and hard contact on fly balls. After losing a year of development to knee surgery, his start to 2018 is definitely encouraging. Armed with a 5-3 lead going into the 6th, Breckin Williams was undone by poor command and especially poor defense as an error on a double play ball to 1B led to a big inning by Lansing. The Cougars were unable to get the tying run across for their final 3 trips to the plate.