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Diamondbacks affiliates won two out of three games played on Saturday, with Reno’s game being postponed due to weather. The affiliates played five games on Sunday thanks to Hillsboro playing a doubleheader, but lost all five games. On Monday, with the rest of the affiliates having the day off, Reno played a doubleheader, and won both games played.
Highlighted performances:
Hitting;
CF Jake McCarthy AAA Reno 6 for 10 with a triple, 3 HRS 6 RBIs (combined three games)
Pitching:
Drey Jameson AA Amarillo 7 IP 1 ER 3 H 2 BB 10 SO, WP HR
Humberto Castellanos AAA Reno 7 IP 2 ER 4 H 0 BB 11 SO, HR\
Honorable mention goes to the Aces’ bullpen, who combined to throw a shutout. See the last game for details.
Saturday August 21, 2021
Amarillo Sod Poodles 5 Midland Rockhounds 3
Kenny Hernandez was solid in his 5 2⁄3 innings, with the only real mistake in the sixth inning, when he gave up a three run homer. Jeff Bain got the final out of sixth inning, and pitched a scoreless seventh. Mitchell Stumpo pitched scoreless inning in the eighth, and Blake Rogers pitched a scoreless ninth.
Ben DeLuzio, who was assigned to Amarillo from Reno on the 20th, hit a one out triple and scored on a wild pitch in the top of the first. Luis Alejandro Basabe doubled and scored on a Jancarlos Cintron single in the fourth to make the score 2-0. Stone Garrett hit a solo homer to make the score 3-0 in the top of the fifth. Jancarlos Cintron singled and scored on a Dominic Miroglio triple in the sixth to make 4-0. Ben DeLuzion walked, advanced second on a wild pitch, and scored on a Stone Garrett single to make the score 5-3 in the top of the seventh.
Hillsboro Hops 7 Spokane Indians 8 f/10
After pulling ahead in the top of the ninth, then having the game tied right back up in the bottom of the ninth, the Hops managed to pull ahead again in top of the tenth, only to be walked off in the bottom of the inning thanks to an error by Cam Coursey. Shumpei Yoshikawa pitched 4 1⁄3 innings, allowing four runs on four hits and a walk. Yoshikawa allowed a two run home run in the bottom of the third, and a solo home run in the fifth. Austin Pope allowed a run in his 1 2⁄3 innings of work. Wesley Rodriguez pitched two scoreless innings, allowing a pair of hits and a pair of walks. Denson Hull went 1 2⁄3 innings with three runs (only one earned) allowed on five hits and a wild pitch.
Down 2-0 in the top of the fourth, Axel Andueza singled, advance to second on a wild pitch, and scored on Tristin English home run, Down 5-2 in the top of sixth, Tristin English singled, Andy Yerzy walked, and Blaze Alexander homered to tie the game back up at 5-5. Cam Coursey homered in the top of ninth to make it 6-5. In the top of the tenth with Axel Andueza as the auto runner on second, English singled, scoring Andueza, but was out thrown out trying to stretch the single into a double.
Fresno Grizzlies 2 Visalia Rawhide 6
Kyle Backhus had an excellent start, going five innings and allowing just two unearned runs on two hits and two walks, while striking out six, and also picked off a runner at first. The unearned runs came via an error by Mason Berne in the top of third. Eric Mendez followed with three scoreless innings, with four hits allowed, no walks, and six strikeouts. Alex Valdez pitched a scoreless ninth inning.
Down 2-0 in the bottom of the third, the Rawhide quickled pulled ahead after Mason Berne singled, Ryan Bliss doubled to put runners on first and third, and Neyfy Castillo homered to make the score 3-2. After Adrian Del Castillo popped out for the second out of the inning, Deyvison De Los Santos walked, and Tim Tawa tripled, to make the score 4-2. In the top of the seventh with one out, Ryan Bliss singled, and Neyfy Castillo doubled to put runners on second and third. Adrian Del Castillo hit a sac fly, scoring Bliss. Neyfy Castillo would then steal third, but Deyvison De Los Santos ground out to end the inning.
Sunday August 22, 2021
Matt Tabor and Seth Frankoff had awful outings. Tabor went just 2 2⁄3 innings, with six runs allowed on six hits and walk. Tabor of course was bit by the homerun bug, allowing a solo homer in the second, and three run homer in the third. Frankoff went just 2 1⁄3 innings, allowed five runs on four hits, a wild pitch, and a walk. Just like Tabor, Frankoff allowed a pair of homers, though they were both two run homers. Luis Castillo pitched two scoreless innings, and Stefan Crichton pitched a scoreless inning.
Jake McCarthy had a great game offensively, going 3-4 with a triple and a solo homerun. Cooper Hummel and Henry Ramos were the only other batters with a hit.
Amarillo Sod Poodles 2 Midland Rockhounds 3
Drey Jameson had an excellent start, but the offense decided to not show up. Jameson went seven innings, allowing just a run on three hits and two walks, while striking out ten batters. Mack Lemieux pitched a scoreless eighth inning. Matt Brill had a rough bottom of the ninth, getting just one out, and allowing two runs on three hits, a walk, and a wild pitch. Though to Brill’s credit, at least neither run scored on the wild pitch.
There were a lot of missed opportunities, thank to some poor decisions on the basepaths. Ben DeLuzio hit a ground rule double to lead off the game, advanced to third on a wild pitch, and but was thrown out at home trying to score when Stone Garrett hit into a fielder’s choice. DeLuzio got a second chance in the top of third, when he was hit by a pitch, and scored on a Camden Duzenack double. Duzenack was able to reach third thanks to a throwing error, but would get thrown out at home trying to score when Stone Garrett hit into another fielder’s choice. Buddy Kennedy singled to follow, but Eduardo Diaz went down on strikes to end the inning. In the top of the eighth Kennedy hit a solo homer to make the score 2-1.
Hillsboro Hops 6 Spokane Indians 8 f/10
Starting pitcher Justin Vernia and the rest of the Hops were cruising to a 6-4 win after the top of the sixth inning. In the bottom of the sixth things went south quickly as Vernia and Mailon Arroyo imploded for four runs. Vernia went 5 2⁄3 innings, and allowed seven runs (only three earned) on seven hits, a walk, and a balk, with a pair of home runs allowed. Mailon Arroyo inherited two baserunners, and allowed both runners to score. Arroyo went just a third of an inning total, with a run allowed on two hits and a wild pitch.
The Hops jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the top of the first after Jorge Barrosa led off with a single and stole second, Ronny Simon walked, and Axel Andueza singled, scoring Barrosa. A wild pitch advance Simon and Andueza to 2nd and 3rd. Tristin English and Blaze Alexander both walked, loading the bases and scoring another run. AJ Vukovich ground into a double play, but Axel Andueza was able to score. Spencer Brickhouse was hit by a pitch, and Elian Mirando walked to load the bases back up, but Nick Dalesandro grounded out to end the inning. In the top of the fourth with the score 4-1, Jorge Barrosa led off with a single, stole second again, advanced to third on an Axel Andueza single, and scored on a Tristin English sacrifice fly. with Andueza advancing to second. Blaze Alexander then singled, scoring Andueza to make the score 5-1. The Hops added another run in the top of the sixth after Andueza led off with a single, and scored after Alexander and Vukovich hit back-to-back singles.
Hillsboro Hops 2 Spokane Indians 9 F/7
There were A LOT of errors in this game; C Axel Andueza and 3B AJ Vukovich had throwings errors, SS Ronny Simon had a missed catch and fielding error, Cam Coursey had a missed catch error, and Andy Yerzy had a fielding error.
In a bullpen game, Kyler Stout pitched the first two innings, and allowed four unearned runs on three hits and two walks. Josh McMinn allowed three runs (all earned) on five and walk, with a solo homer allowed. Kai-Wei Lin pitched 1 2⁄3 scoreless innings, with a hit and a walk allowed. Nick Snyder allowed two unearned runs in the sixth on two hits and two walks.
Already down 7-0, the Hops got their first run in the fifth after Cam Coursey singled and scored on a two out Leodany Perez double. Andy Yerzy hit a solo homer in the top for the hops second run of the game.
Fresno Grizzlies 5 Visalia Rawhide 2
Avery Short got the start, pitched six innings, with five runs allowed on nine hits and no walks, with six strikeouts, and a two run homerun allowed. All five runs allowed came in the third, and Short was actually quite solid aside from that. John Carver pitched three scoreless innings, with three hits allowed, no walks, and three strikeouts.
The Rawhide were essentially given both runs in this game. Glenallen Hill reached on an error and advanced all the way to second. Hill advanced to third on a Ryan Bliss groundout, and scored on a wild pitch. The other run came in the second. Caleb Roberts singled and Jeferson Espinal walked, Channy Ortiz ground into a double play, but Roberts was safe at third. An errant pickoff throw by the catcher would then allow Roberts to score.
Monday August 23, 2021
Humberto Castellanos went the full seven innings in the first game of the doubleheader, and allowed two runs on four hits with no walks, while striking out eleven batters. The only mistake Castellanos made was the two run homerun he allowed in the top of the third, unsurprisingly.
Jake McCarthy was the driving force in the offense of this game, knocking in five out of six of the Aces’ runs, however Henry Ramos and Jamie Ritchie were right there with him. In the top of the second, Henry Ramos led off with a double, Jamie Ritchie followed with a single, putting runners first and third for McCarthy. McCarthy hit into a force out with Ritchie out at second, but Ramos was able to score to make the score 1-0. With the score now 2-1 in the top of the fourth, Henry Ramos reached on a single (with Ritchie flying out this time), and McCarthy homered to make the score 3-2. In the top of the sixth, the same players were exactly the same. Henry Ramos led off with a double and scored on a Jamie Ritchie triple to put the score at 4-2, Jake McCarthy then homered to make the score 6-2.
This was bullpen game for the Aces, who obviously combined to pitch a shutout. Edgar Arredondo pitched three scoreless innings, with just one hit allowed. Matt Gage, Sean Poppen, J.B. Bukauskus, and Brandyn Sittinger followed with a scoreless inning each,
The Aces just jumped ahead to a quick 1-0 lead in the top of the first. Alek Thomas led the game off with a triple, and scored on a Seth Beer double. The Aces added another run in the top of the third after Alek Thomas, Ildemaro Vargas, and Andrew Young hit back to back to back singles,