Diamondbacks Minor League Recap 5/1/19: Clarke grounds the Aviators

The Diamondbacks Minor League affiliates combined to go 1-3 last night.

Here are the stars from last night’s game:

3 Stars: Jackson RHP Riley Smith 7 IP, 4 H, 1 R (1 ER), 0 BB, 5 K
2 Stars: Kane County CF Tra Holmes 2 for 4, solo HR (2), 2 R
1 Star: Reno RHP Taylor Clarke 5 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 K, W (3-1)
0 Stars: Kane County RHP Erin Baldwin ²⁄₃ IP, 4 H, 5 R (4 ER), 1 BB, 0 K

(AAA) Reno Aces 2, Las Vegas Aviators 0: Taylor Clarke did his best Merrill Kelly impression, where he pitched 5 shutout innings without dominating strikeout numbers (1/1 K/BB). Reno would plate 2 runs with back-to-back-to-back hits by Tim Locastro, Juniel Querecuto, and Travis Snider. Clarke and the bullpen made those two runs stand.

(AA) Jackson Generals 2, Tennessee Smokies 3 (F/10): Riley Smith was solid with 7 innings of 1 run ball on 4 hits, no walks, and 5 strikeouts. Unfortunately, he was on the wrong side of a 1-0 game for most of the day as the Jackson offense was in the deep freeze. It took a 2-out home run in the 9th from his battery mate, Daulton Varsho (HR #5), for Jackson to get on the board. That sent the game into extras when Jackson plated their free runner to take a 2-1 lead and hand the ball off to Kevin Ginkel. Ginkel unfortunately was unable to get the job done as the defense failed to get any outs on a sac bunt and with 2 runners in scoring position Ginkel served up a single to plate both.

(A+) Visalia Rawhide 3, Stockton Ports 9: Unfortunately Visalia’s slide continues as they dropped their 5th straight game and this one was ugly. Cole Stapler got jumped on for 5 runs in 5 innings, serving up 3 home runs on the day. Camden Duzenack blasted out a 2-run homer to make it 5-2, but that’s as close as they got. Luis Castillo served up 4 runs between the 6th and 7th innings to put any damper on a comeback bid.

(A) Kane County Cougars 4, Fort Wayne TinCaps 10: It was looking good for the first 4 ¹⁄₂ innings of the game, but the wheels fell off in the bottom of the 5th. Jackson Goddard had cruised through the first 4 innings, allowing just 1 run on 4 hits with a 4/1 K/BB ratio, but ran into trouble. The first four hitters reached base and Erin Baldwin made things worse. He allowed all three inherited runners to score on top of 5 additional runs as he surrendered 4 hits and a walk before getting lifted with 2 outs. Neither team pushed across any runs in the final 3 ¹⁄₂ innings of the game afterwards.