The Diamondbacks Minor League affiliates combined to go 3-2 last night with a handful of extra inning games. Reno and Hillsboro lost in extra innings while Missoula won. Here are the stars from last night’s games:
Hot Bats:
Visalia 1B Pavin Smith 3 for 3, BB, R
Kane County LF Ryan Grotjohn 2 for 4, HR, 4 RBI, 2 R
Missoula CF Alek Thomas 3 for 6, 2B, RBI, 2 R
Quality Starts:
Reno RHP Taylor Clarke 7 IP, 4 H, 2 R (1 ER), 1 BB, 4 K, GS 64
Kane County LHP Lane Ratliff 7 IP, 6 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 10 K, GS 80, W (7-1)
Missoula RHP Erin Baldwin 5 IP, 4 H, 1 R (1 ER), 3 BB, 4 K, GS 57
Reno Aces 3, Salt Lake Bees 4 (F/10): Taylor Clarke allowed 2 runs in 7 innings and left with Reno leading 3-2. Trailing 1-0 in the 6th, Owings tied the game with a solo homer. After Salt Lake answered with their own solo homer in the 7th in Clarke’s final inning, the Aces put up 2 in the top of the 8th to take the 3-2 lead. It did not last as Alex Young allowed the run to score in the 8th and needed help to finish a scoreless 9th. Bracho got the final out of the 9th and sent the game into extra innings. After the Aces were unable to score in the top of the 10th, the Bees scored their free runner off Bracho for the walkoff.
Visalia Rawhide 5, Modesto Nuts 2: Matt Peacock allowed 2 runs in 4 innings on 3 hits, 1 walk, and 3 strikeouts. The bullpen pitched 5 scoreless innings behind him to set up the late comeback bid. Trailing 2-1 going into the 8th, Camden Duzenack singled and stole 2nd to set up a Drew Ellis RBI single. A scoreless 8th by Brill set up an even bigger 9th inning. The 9th started with back-to-back singles by Ramon Hernandez and Pavin Smith. After a pair of strikeouts, Adam Walton broke the tie with an RBI single and Duzenack ripped a 2-run double for insurance. Brill went out for the 9th to “save” his win and struck out 2 of the 4 hitters he faced to get it.
Kane County Cougars 6, Peoria Chiefs 0: Lane Ratliff again turned a quality performance on the mound, striking out 10 Chiefs in 7 scoreless innings. The game was scoreless after 6 innings, but the Cougars broke through in the 7th. That inning was death by a million paper cuts as the Cougars scored 3 runs on 4 singles in the inning. Luis Castillo pitched a scoreless 8th inning and Ryan Grotjohn, who hit one of those 7th inning singles, whacked out a game-icing 3-run homer in the 9th. Tyler Keele struck out the side in order in the 9th for the final outs.
Hillsboro Hops 3, Boise Hawks 4 (F/10): Hillsboro took an early 3-0 lead in this game thanks to back-to-back homers from Andy Yerzy and Francis Martinez in the 4th. Ryan Weiss stumbled a bit in his 4th and final inning as he allowed 2 runs to make it 3-2. After 2 scoreless innings from Kai-Wei Lin, the Ryan Miller coughed up the tying run in the 7th. Hillsboro had chances to score, but were unable to capitalize with runners in scoring position as they were 0 for 10 there. In the bottom of the 10th, the Hawks wasted no time against Wesley Rodriguez, who gave up a walkoff single to the first batter of the inning.
Missoula Osprey 6, Billings Mustangs 5 (F/10): The game started off as a low scoring affair, as neither team was able to scratch much across in the early stages. Erin Baldwin scattered 4 hits and 3 walks and allowed 1 run in 5 innings with 4 strikeouts. Missoula scored 2 in the 7th with the help of a Jesus Muñoz homer to take a 2-1 lead. Pedro Zorrilla could not quite hold onto that lead as Billings tied it in the 8th. The game remained tied at 2 until the 10th when Blake Workman gave up 2 runs in the top half of the inning. Brandon Leyton re-tied the game in the bottom half with a 2-run homer to send it to the 11th. Bryan Menendez allowed the free runner to score on a sac bunt and sac fly, but Missoula countered with 2 runs in the bottom of the 11th to win it.