Minor League Affiliate Recap 5/8/2021: Reno Wins In A Wild One, Matt Tabor Impresses in a Loss for Hillsboro

It may be hard to believe, but when I last did a Minor League Recap, it was TWENTY months ago. So after a very long vacation, I’m back with the Minor League Recaps on Saturday, Sundays, and Mondays.

Reno Aces 6 Salt Lake Bees 5

Justin Donatella looked good in the first inning of his start, but things started to go south in the second, when Donatella allowed a double and a pair of walks to load the bases, but came out of it unscathed. Donatella wasn’t so lucky in the third inning, Donatella was only able to get an out after a single, but that was followed by a stolen base, another single, and then a three run home run, before he was taken out of the game for Ryan Buchter.

Buchter, of course, walked the first batter he faced, and then promptly allowed a stolen base before striking out the next batter. A double later, and the Aces were down 4-0.

Fortunately, Salt Lake wouldn’t hold onto their 4-0 lead for very long, as Juniel Querecuto hit a Grand Slam to tie the game back up in the top of the fourth inning. The Aces would pull ahead in the top of the sixth after Domingo Leyba walked, and scored on a two out double from Jamie Ritchie, who then scored himself after Ben DeLuzio followed up with a triple to make the score 6-4. Meanwhile, Tyler Gilbert came in to replace Buchter back in the bottom of the fourth inning, and was solid in his three innings of relief, allowing just one run on two hits and a walk, while striking out four. Of course, Salt Lake answered back with the aforementioned run in the sixth, immediately following Reno scoring a pair to pull ahead in the top of that inning. Miguel Aguilar relieved Gilbert for the seventh inning, but after a running into a bit of trouble himself, left the game with two runners on and two outs. Yoan Lopez would come in, and strike the batter out to end the inning. Lopez got two outs in the eighth inning, before being relieved by Joe Mantiply, who got the final out of eighth, and then pitched a scoreless ninth inning to earn the save.

Standout Performances: Ben DeLuzio 2-3 with a triple, stolen base; Juniel Querecuto 1-4 with a GRAND SLAM

Amarillo Sod Poodles 5 Tulsa Drillers 3

Jeff Bain got off to rough start, allowing back to back doubles and a run to the start the game. Somehow, Bain escaped further damage in the first, despite the single, passed ball, and hit by pitch that followed. Bain settled down after that, and his resulting line for the rest of the game looks even better in context; 4.2 innings pitched, with just one run allowed on three hits and two walks, with five strike outs. Edgar Arredondo followed Bain with 2.1 innings of scoreless baseball, with a pair of hits allowed, and four strikeouts.

Jake McCarthy tied the game up 1-1 for Amarillo with a solo homer to lead off the fourth inning. Amarillo took the lead in what turned out to be messy defensive inning from the Tulsa Drillers. Jancarlos Cintron hit a one out double and score on the Alek Thomas triple that followed. Gerald Perdomo then walked, and was nearly caught stealing, but (from what I understand from the box score) the Tulsa shortstop missed the pickoff throw, allowing Thomas to score, and Perdomo to advance to third. After Jake McCarthy went down on strikes, Jose Herrera singled, scoring Perdomo for the third run of the inning. Amarillo could have scored more, after the single and hit by pitch that followed loaded the bases, but Camden Duzenack popped out to end the inning.

Amarillo added an insurance run in the top of the sixth inning in amusing fashion after Jancarlos Cintron singled, advanced to second on a balk, then to third on a wild pitch, and scored on a sacrifice fly.

Meanwhile Mack Lemieux came on in eighth and pitched a scoreless inning, but ran into trouble in the ninth. Lemieux loaded the bases with just one out, thanks to a walk and a pair of singles, and was subsequently taken out for Junior Garcia. Garcia promptly allowed a single, allowing a run to score, then struck out a batter for the second out of the inning, before walking in the second run of the inning. Garcia thankfully would get a groundout to end the inning, and the game.

Standout Performances: Jancarlos Cintron 3-4 with a double; Alek Thomas 2-4 with a triple, Sac Fly, and a walk (with CS and GIDP on the downside);

Jeff Bain 4.2 IP, 3H, 2B, 1 ER, 5 K; Edgar Arredondo 2.1 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 4 K

Lake Elsinore Storm 9 Visalia Rawhide 8

Visalia could have and should have had this in the bag; Bobby Ay allowed three runs in the top of the third, but the Rawhide came roaring back with a pair of four run innings in the third and the fourth inning to put them up 8-3. However, luck was not on their side, as Lake Elsinore clawed their way back to with a run in top of the fifth off of Marcos Tineo, and then tied it up with a four run eighth inning off of Jhonny Valdez, and then scored the go ahead run in the top of the ninth off of Liu Fuenmayor.

Instead of focusing on the sloppy pitching of this game, I’d say let’s focus on the excellent performances offensively by Visalia, but no batter had more than one hit the game. AJ Vukovich, Neyfey Castillo, and Ronny Simon all homered, but each only had one hit. (Though Castillo did reach twice thanks to a walk) GlenAllen Hill Jr did reach base three times thanks to a hit and a pair of walks. Although Jose Curpa was 0-2, he reached base safely three times, thanks to three walks.

Everett AquaSox 3 Hillsboro Hops 0

Only Blaze Alexander (1-4), Tra Holmes (1-3), and Buddy Kennedy (2-4) had any success hitting against the AquaSox pitching, and only Corbin Carroll was able to draw a walk. None were able to get a hard hit either, as all four of Hillsboro’s hits were singles.

Despite taking the loss due to a lack of run support, Matt Tabor was quite impressive in his 6.2 innings. Tabor struck out ten while walking none, with two runs (and an unearned run) allowed on four hits. The unearned run came in the seventh and scored thanks to a wild pitch by Joe Jones who came on to relieve Tabor, and a passed ball by catcher Nick Dalesandro. It is probably worth noting that all four hits against Tabor were hard hit balls, with three doubles (two ground rule) and a triple.

Joe Jones was wild in his 1.1 innings of scoreless relief, with three walks and a wild pitch, but struck out two and allowed no hits. Nick Snyder was also solid in a hitless and scoreless inning of relief, walking one and striking out one.

Matt Tabor 6.2 IP, 4H, 2 Earned runs, 0 BB, 10 K