Diamondbacks Minor League Recap 4/26/19: Visalia makes it 14, Cron continues to mash

The Diamondbacks Minor League affiliates combined to a 3-1 record. Visalia won again, making it 14 games in a row for them as they continue to lay waste to their competition. Kevin Cron once again had a big day at the plate, which is becoming a nightly occurrence these days, hitting an absurd .365/.448/.865 with 10 HR and a 11/15 BB/K ratio in 20 games (89 PA). Those numbers are absolutely ridiculous, even for the PCL and the high elevation of Reno taken into account, and normally would be good enough to earn a promotion if Christian Walker wasn’t having a breakout season.

Here are the stars from last night’s games:

3 Stars: Reno 1B Kevin Cron 2 for 3, 2B, HR (10), 2 BB, 4 RBI
2 Stars: Jackson RF Ryan Grotjohn 3 for 4, 2 2B, 3 RBI, 3 R
1 Star: Visalia 1B Yoel Yanqui 3 for 4, solo HR (2)
Half Star: Jackson 3B Drew Ellis 2 for 2, 2B, 2 BB, 2 RBI, 3 R
0 Stars: Kane County RHP Blake Workman 1 IP, 3 H, 3 R (1 ER), 0 BB, 2 K, L (0-1)

(AAA) Reno Aces 10, Fresno Grizzlies 6: Taylor Clarke got roughed up for 3 runs in the 2nd inning, but settled in before hitting a wall in the 6th. Clarke allowed 5 runs on 8 hits with 1 walk and 4 strikeouts over 5 ¹⁄₃ innings, picking up the win thanks to Reno (7-14) putting up video game numbers at the plate again. Reno would put up most of their offense in innings 3-5, where they combined to plate 8 of their 10 runs. Reno would have five consecutive hits in the 3rd, including a 2-run homer by Kevin Cron who already has 10 long balls. Cron would add in a 2-run double in the 4th before Travis Snider and Juniel Querecuto led off the 5th with opposite field blasts. Every time Fresno started to get close, the offense would tack on with Tyler Heineman hitting a solo shot in the 7th and Domingo Leyba hitting an RBI double in the 8th.

(AA) Jackson Generals 12, Pensacola Blue Wahoos 7: Apparently Jackson (12-8) decided to follow the same script as Reno, as Bo Takahashi got roughed up early for 3 runs in the first 2 innings and ultimately lasted 4 innings. The Generals tied things up in the 3rd thanks to Pensacola pitcher Jorge Alcala forgetting how to play baseball for an inning. The first two runs scored on a balk and a missed catch error by the pitcher on an infield hit to the 2B. Jackson would take the lead on a 2-run double by Ryan Grotjohn and scored two more runs without hitting the ball more than 30 feet thanks to a passed ball and a swinging bunt. Drew Ellis continued his assault on Pensacola pitching for the night with a 2-run double in the 5th, finishing with 2 hits and 2 walks in 4 trips to the plate. Pensacola scored 4 runs against the bullpen to cut the lead down to 9-7, but the offense once again rose to the challenge and put the game away in the bottom half of the 8th. Every position player in the starting lineup reached base via hit, walk, or HBP in the game.

(A+) Visalia Rawhide 6, Lancaster JetHawks 5: This was more of a nail-biter for Visalia (18-4), but they hung on to win to make it 14 games in a row. Visalia once again set the tone at the plate with a couple early runs. Renae Martinez doubled home a run in the first and Yoel Yanqui cranked out a solo homer in the second. Lancaster countered with a solo homer in the 2nd before Visalia put up a 3-spot in the top of the 5th. After a botched pickoff attempt on Yanqui resulted in him scoring from 1st, the Rawhide hitters went to work and Camden Duzenack tripled home a pair of runs to stretch the lead to 5-1. That lead did not last through the bottom half of the inning as Jeff Bain got hit hard and surrendered 3 runs before giving way to Mack Lemieux. A well-executed double steal ended up tying the game at 5. The score remained tied until the top of the 7th when Martinez hit his 2nd RBI double to score Jancarlos Cintron for the game-winning run. The bullpen was able to close things out from there with Kyler Stout punching out 4 of the 6 hitters he faced and West Tunnell with a clean 9th for the save.

(A) Kane County Cougars 2, Cedar Rapids Kernels 6: Zack Shannon opened up the game with a solo homer in the bottom of the 1st to give Kane County (13-9) an early lead. That was good enough for Jackson Goddard, who allowed just 2 hits and walked 2 over 4 ²⁄₃ scoreless innings with 5 strikeouts. It was Shannon again who scored the second run for Kane County in the 6th, after reaching base with a 2-out double, when Kernels catcher David Banuelos uncorked a wild throw on a Buddy Kennedy swinging bunt. The lead did not last from there as Erin Baldwin surrendered a game-tying home run after finishing the 5th and a scoreless 6th. Blake Workman got the 8th and surrendered the go-ahead run with 2 outs before gaving up 2 more runs after an error by 2B Eddie Hernandez extended the inning. Kane County loaded the bases in the bottom half of the inning, but came up empty for their last realistic scoring chance.