The Diamondbacks Minor League affiliates combined for a 3-1 record.

Top Prospect Performances

Amarillo CF Corbin Carroll: 0-4, BB, SB (15)
Amarillo RHP Slade Cecconi: 6 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 3 K, 91 pitches (56 strikes)

AAA: Reno Aces 3, Oklahoma City Dodgers 2

Statcast

Corbin Martin delivered a solid start in this game, holding the Dodgers to 1 run in 5 ²⁄₃ innings with 3 walks and 10 strikeouts, with that one run being a bases loaded walk in the 3rd. Reno (25-21) would score first on this play when Tony Wolters committed a passed ball on a walk and made an ill-advised throw that badly missed 3rd base to allow Yonny Hernandez to score from first on the play. In the 3rd, it was Stone Garrett who once again flexed his muscles after Dominic Fletcher singled to push his hit streak to 30 after one of his reached on errors was rescored as a hit to keep the streak alive. Garrett’s two-run homer had an exit velocity of 106.4 MPH and easily cleared the Dodgers bullpen in left center.

After Martin was done carving up the Dodgers lineup, Mack Lemieux would get a strikeout to end the 6th but would have a pair of walks in the 7th. Justin Lewis would relieve him, making his debut at the AAA level and did not seem fazed as he struck out 3 in 1 ¹⁄₃. Apparently now Lewis can hit 95-96 with the heater with spin rates in the 2400-2600 RPM range, so he’s someone to keep an eye on when the team needs more relievers with the bullpen later in the year. Here’s a look at him fooling Miguel Vargas badly with his change-up, his go-to secondary offering.

Jesus Liranzo would get the 9th inning and would serve up a home run to Jason Martin and allow another hit before giving way to Kevin Ginkel. Ginkel would work a 2-2 count before a hit-and-run attempt resulted in a single, as the ground ball was hit in the area vacated by the SS covering 2nd. The slow grounder was picked up by Garrett, who fired a missile to home plate to nab Drew Avans by 20 feet for the final out.

AA: Amarillo Sod Poodles 4, Arkansas Travelers 1 (F/12)

A well-pitched game that Amarillo (20-23) blew open in the 12th thanks to a couple big hits in the inning. Pitching prospect Slade Cecconi turned in a quality start for the Sod Poodles, throwing 6 scoreless innings on 3 hits, 2 walks, and 3 punchouts. For the first nine innings, the only run for Amarillo came on a Blaze Alexander opposite field solo home run.

After Cecconi left the game, Ty Tice came in and failed to record a single out of any of the three batters he faced. Cam Booser came in to clean up the mess and stranded two of the three inherited runners to limit the damage after coming in with bases loaded and no outs. Booser would be charged with a blown save despite delivering 6 huge outs, which to me is completely unfair considering he likely improved his team’s win probability with that outing, but I digress. Blake Rogers would fire two scoreless innings to keep the game tied going into Manfred Rules Baseball.

The first two innings of Manfred Rules Baseball saw a bevy of blown opportunities. Amarillo had a runner on 3rd with 1 out in the 10th, but Drew Stankiewicz could get a ground ball past a drawn-in infield. The bottom half of the inning saw Rogers strand the bases loaded on a flyout to right, with two walks (one intentional) in addition to the Manfred Man being Arkansas’ baserunners for that inning.

In the 11th Amarillo had one of the fastest prospects in the minors open the inning at 2nd in Corbin Carroll, who went 0-4 with a walk and a run scored, but a double play by Leandro Cedeno and a pop out by Ti’Quan Forbes ruined that opportunity. Jeff Bain would get the 11th and induce a weak flyout for the first out, but then would walk and hit a batter to load the bases with one out. With no room for error, it was do or die for Bain. Fortunately he had some help from his left fielder to get out of the inning.

Nick Dalesandro, the catcher turned outfielder, was able to charge a sinking liner off the bat of bat of Tanner Kirwer and take advantage of his momentum to fire a strong, one-hop throw to the plate to nail Riley Unroe for the final out. Dalesandro would continue his heroics in the top of the 12th, giving Amarillo a 2-1 lead on a fly ball that right fielder Jack Larsen had a really late break on that landed on the warning track then bounced over the fence for a double. One batter later, Roby Enriquez completely unloaded on a fastball and blasted a home run in the Amarillo bullpen to put them up comfortably 4-1.

Now with a 4-1 lead, the Sod Poodles sent out Junior Garcia to close it out. Garcia would retire all three hitters he faced to put up a zero and put this marathon game to bed and end Amarillo’s losing streak.

High A: Hillsboro Hops 2, Vancouver Canadians 4

Apparently Hillsboro (21-20) didn’t get the memo that May 27th was all D-backs affiliates win day, as they saw Liu Fuenmayor blow a 2-0 lead after inheriting a bases loaded, 1 out situation in the 9th. Miguel Hiraldo’s 9th inning double would clear the bases, with all those runs charged to Andrew Saalfrank who ended up taking an undeserved loss. That meltdown was also somewhat possible due to Hillsboro hitters having a bad day swinging the bats. Collectively, the team recorded only two singles which didn’t help them cash in on 6 walks drawn in the game. It held up initially thanks to a terrific performance on the mound from Kenny Hernandez, who threw 7 scoreless innings with 2 walks and 6 strikeouts.

Hillsboro scratched across runs in the 6th and 7th inning. Their first run came on a throwing error by the opposing pitcher attempting to get Tristin English out on a swinging bunt. The error would allow Ryan Bliss to score from 2nd on the play. In the 7th, Danny Oriente scored on a fielder’s choice to 3B after walking, advancing to 2nd on a balk, then moving to 3rd on a fly ball to right. Oriente was able to beat out the tag and put Hillsboro up 2-0 at the time.

Low A: Visalia Rawhide 13, Rancho Cucamonga Quakes 10

This had the makings of another blowout loss for Visalia (13-30), but then the 6th inning happened. Trailing 6-1 in the inning, the Rawhide sent 15 batters to the plate and scored all 11 runs with 2 outs in the inning. Singles by J.J. D’Orazio and Juan Corniel would put 2 on with 2 out just before the hitting explosion began. 10 straight Visalia hitters would reach base with 2 outs, which included a 3-run homer from Ramses Malave and a 3-run double from Sheng-Ping Chen. Armed with a 12-6 lead, Visalia was able to mostly cruise through the end of the game. Peniel Otano would come in with the lead and provided 3 ²⁄₃ innings to rest the bullpen, although he also gave up 4 runs in his appearance. With Otano running out of gas in the 9th, Visalia turned to David Sanchez to get the final out of the game with a lineout to center closing out the game.