The Diamondbacks Minor League affiliates combined for a 5-3 record. Missoula split a double header while Reno, Jackson, Kane County, and Hillsboro picked up a win. Here are the stars from last night’s game:
Hot Bats:
Jackson C Matt Jones 3 for 5, R
Kane County 2B Jose Caballero 3 for 5, 2 RBI, 2 R
Kane County LF Ryan Grotjohn 4 for 4, 3B, HBP, 3 RBI, 2 R
Hillsboro RF William Gorman 3 for 4, 3B, HR, SB, 4 RBI, R
Missoula C Zachery Almond 3 for 3, 2B, HR, HBP, 2 RBI, 2 R
Quality Starts:
Reno RHP Jake Buchanan 6 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 5 K, GS 67
Visalia RHP Connor Grey 6 IP, 2 H, 1 R (1 ER), 2 BB, 11 K, GS 76, L (10-9)
Kane County LHP Mack Lemieux 6 IP, 3 H, 1 R (1 ER), 1 BB, 6 K, GS 71, W (4-9)
Missoula RHP Edgar Martinez 5 IP, 5 H, 1 R (0 ER), 1 BB, 0 K, GS 59, W (4-5)
Missoula RHP Wilfry Cruz 5 IP, 4 H, 1 R (1 ER), 3 BB, 6 K, GS 59
Reno Aces 3, Tacoma Rainiers 2 (F/10): Jake Buchanan fired 6 scoreless innings and was in control the entire way. Yasmany Tomas got the Aces on the board with an 8th inning solo homer. Unfortunately Jake Barrett was very ineffective, surrendering 2 runs in the bottom half of the 8th. Fortunately, Kristopher Negron homered to lead off the 9th to tie the game at 2 and send it into extras. Tomas drove in another run in the 10th and Jimmie Sherfy pitched his 2nd scoreless inning to lock things down.
Jackson Generals 6, Tennessee Smokies 2: Jackson scored 6 early runs and staked Taylor Widener to a 6-0 lead. Unfortunately, Widener struggled in the 5th and ran up his pitch count to 96 before getting pulled with 2 outs. Bud Jeter struck out his only batter faced to get out of the inning. Jared Miller allowed a run in the 6th, but the rest of the bullpen locked things down. The official scorer credited Kevin Ginkel with the win, as he pitched a scoreless 7th and 8th inning with 3 strikeouts. Every starter in the game recorded a hit, including the starting pitcher Widener who had an RBI single, with Marty Herum being the only member to drive in 2 runs with a 1st inning homer.
Visalia Rawhide 0, San Jose Giants 1: Connor Grey and DJ Myers engaged in a ferocious pitching duel in this game. Grey allowed only 2 hits and struck out 11, but had the misfortune of giving up a run. Visalia only managed 6 singles in this game and had 2 runners thrown out on the bases.
Kane County Cougars 11, Peoria Chiefs 1: Mack Lemieux had one of his best starts in a long time with 6 innings of 1-run ball with 1 walk and 6 K’s. A trio of crooked number innings was more than enough to make him a winner. A 4-run 5th and 5-run 6th took a 2-1 game and blew it completely open. Ryan Grotjohn was the big bat in the game with 4 hits and 3 RBI in the game. The Cougars capitalized when it mattered with an 8 for 17 mark with runners in scoring position and held Peoria to an 0 for 8 clip.
Hillsboro Hops 6, Eugene Emeralds 5: Hillsboro built a big lead early then held on for dear life in this game. William Gorman had a pair of 2-run hits, a 1st inning triple and a 4th inning homer. He finished a triple short of the cycle on the day. Geraldo Perdomo added RBI hits in the 5th and 7th innings to push the lead to 6-2. However Brian Christian allowed 2 runs in the 8th and Josh Green a run in the 9th to put everyone on the edge of their seats.
Missoula Osprey 4, Grand Junction Rockies 6 (F/8): This game was a makeup for yesterday’s rainout. Wilfry Cruz allowed 1 run in 5 innings, pitching out of jams all game. Zachery Almond was the early catalyst for Missoula with a 1st inning homer and doubled to lead off the 5th. Zack Shannon followed that leadoff double with one of his own to put Missoula up 2-0. After a scoreless 6th, Bryan Menendez was unable to hold the lead in the 7th as he allowed the tying run to come across. In the 8th, Grand Junction scored 4 runs off Trent Autry and Missoula was only able to score twice on an RBI double by Blaze Alexander and an RBI single by Almond to get the tying run to the plate.
Missoula Osprey 2, Grand Junction Rockies 1 (F/7): Edgar Martinez allowed an unearned run in the first and that was it for 5 innings. Despite not recording any strikeouts, he was able to take advantage of solid defense behind him. Despite getting shutout down by Rockies top pick Ryan Rolison, the Osprey grabbed the lead in the 5th with Zack Shannon leading off the inning with a homer then Eddie Hernandez driving in Kristian Robinson with a double. Blake Workman pitched 2 scoreless innings after Missoula grabbed the lead to lock down the same.
AZL Dbacks 3, AZL Angels 2: The Dbacks came from behind to beat the Angels, although 1 run is hardly a comeback. Both teams exchanged runs in the 2nd before the Angels scored in the 4th after knocking out starter Michel Gelabert with 1 out. Raibel Custodillo allowed one of the two inherited runners to score, but got the final 2 outs of the inning. The bullpen allowed nothing more for the next 5 innings. Jorge Barrosa hit a 2-out RBI triple in the 6th to tie the game at 1 and Kevin Watson Jr. had the go-ahead RBI single in the 7th. Omar Herman and Ezequiel De La Cruz combined for 7 strikeouts in 3 scoreless innings to lock things down.