Diamondbacks Minor League Recap 5/14/19

The Diamondbacks Minor League affiliates combined to go for a 1-3 record, with the pitching struggling in all four contests. Every pitcher that appeared yesterday earns a demerit, with only two pitchers (Lucas Luetge and Ben Taylor) managed to avoid giving up runs between 4 levels.

No stars for the recap, pretty much only Reno and Jackson hitters had any sort of good day at the plate.

(AAA) Reno Aces 9, Salt Lake Bees 11: Kevin Cron, Ildemaro Vargas, and Yasmany Tomas each had multi-hit games and one home run. Reno grabbed a 2-0 lead on back-to-back jacks from Vargas and Cron. Unfortunately the pitching sucked as a rusty Taylor Clarke on 6 days rest surrendered 5 runs in the 3rd and a solo homer in the 4th to cap his night. Matt Koch wasn’t much better with 5 runs allowed in 4 innings himself. It was Vargas, Cron, and Tomas who also keyed a 4-run 5th inning that tied the game at 7-7 for the Aces. Unfortunately Koch was not in the mood for winning, as he surrendered 4 runs in the 7th to put Reno behind 11-7. The Aces would rally for 2 more runs in the 8th thanks to a Caleb Joseph groundout and Kevin Cron’s 3rd RBI hit of the game and put the tying runs in scoring position but Tomas grounded out to short to end Reno’s last realistic chance.

(AA) Jackson Generals 8, Mobile Baybears 7: The Generals took advantage of 11 walks in the game, tallying up 4 of their 7 hits with RISP. That allowed Jackson to take an early 6-1 lead after 3 innings, but the pitching did not hold up. Starter Justin Donatella surrendered 5 runs in 4 ¹⁄₃ innings and although reliever Lucas Luetge didn’t do him any favors as he allowed 2 of the 3 inherited runners to score. Connor Grey would come on in the 6th and blow the lead in his second inning of work before the offense would give him a win. Wildness once again helped the Generals as the first three hitters reached on a 2 walks and a single with the first two scoring on a wild pitch and sac fly to take an 8-6 lead. Junior Garcia allowed a run in the 8th, but closed the door with a 1-2-3 9th inning with a pair of strikeouts.

(A+) Visalia Rawhide 0, Modesto Nuts 9: The Rawhide pulled a stinker out of their hats in this game as there was no pitching or offense in this one. Matt Mercer surrendered 2 home runs in 5 innings and 5 runs in total. Jayson McKinley was worse with 4 runs allowed in 1 ¹⁄₃ innings. As bad as the pitching was, the hitters were equally as inept when it came to hitting with runners in scoring position. The team combined for an 0 for 10, committed two outs on the bases, and left 11 more on base.

(A) Kane County Cougars 2, Wisconsin Timber Rattlers 9: Ryan Weiss got hit hard in this game, surrendering 10 hits and 8 runs in 5 ¹⁄₃ innings despite a 4/0 K/BB ratio. That put Kane County in too deep a hole early. Alek Thomas would launch his 2nd home run of the year in the 4th, but the big 5-run 6th inning made a difficult comeback bid next to impossible. There wasn’t much going on offensively, as the team only got 5 hits and 5 walks but only had 1 XBH and went 1 for 7 with RISP.