AAA: Round Rock 14, at Tacoma (SEA) 11 (10)
Round Rock: 12 hits, 11 walks, 9 strikeouts
Opponent: 10 hits, 12 walks, 18 strikeouts
Record: 33-26, 3 GB
SP Yerry Rodriguez: 2 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 2 BB, 5 SO, 39 P / 25 S, 5.63 ERA
RP Jose Leclerc: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 SO, 6.75 ERA
LF Leody Taveras: 1-4, 2 BB, .294/.335/.485
RF Josh Sale: 3-5, 2 HR (2)
Nick Snyder injured his arm and left the game during Tacoma’s game-tying five-run 9th. After his 21st pitch, a missed slider, Snyder shook his arm. He threw four more pitches before leaving, still shaking his arm or letting it dangle limply at his side. Hopefully the news is better than what I saw. Snyder’s fastball was 97-99 two days ago in Las Vegas. Last night it ranged 95-97 early before dropping to 93-94 on his last two heaters.
In better news, Josh Sale had an unforgettable night, connecting on a three-run homer in the 7th and grand slam in the 10th. He’d last homered in affiliated ball in July 2014. The seven RBI were a career best. The dingers were slower off the bat than an earlier single at 107 MPH.
16 pitchers combined for 23 walks and 438 pitches. The game was four minutes shy of four hours, longest for Round Rock in the pitch-clock era by 36 minutes.
AA: Frisco 16, at Amarillo (ARI) 12
Frisco: 19 hits, 1 walk, 11 strikeouts
Opponent: 16 hits, 6 walks, 11 strikeouts
Record: 29-27, 1 GB
SP Cody Bradford: 5.2 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 8 SO, 96 P / 65 S, 6.80 ERA
RP Seth Nordlin: 1.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 SO, 2.88 ERA
CF JP Martinez: 3-5, 3B, BB, HBP, .299/.402/.516
SS Jonathan Ornelas: 3-5, HR (6), .333/.375/.464
1B Dustin Harris: 3-6, 3B, HR (11), .269/.354/.500
DH Josh Stowers: 1-5, HR (3), .203/.335/.312
C Jordan Procyshen: 4-5, 2B, 2 HR (4), .262/.364/.477
Frisco entered the bottom of the 8th ahead 13-0. 13 batters, 45 pitches and untold minutes later, Chase Lee entered a save situation. He would give up a two-run single before recording the final out in Amarillo’s 11-run inning.
The Riders scored three in the top of the 9th, but Amarillo threatened again with three straight one-out singles off Lee. CF JP Martinez caught a fly at the edge of the wall for the second out. The game ended on an appropriately bizarre note when runner Jorge Barrosa interfered with 2B Jax Biggers as he attempted to field a chopper.
The losing team is averaging 7.2 runs scored per game in the series.
High-A: Hickory 3, at Bowling Green (TAM) 1
Hickory: 8 hits, 3 walks, 10 strikeouts
Opponent: 2 hits, 2 walks, 15 strikeouts
Record: 33-23, 0.5 GB
SP Owen White: 7 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 2 BB, 11 SO, 96 P / 61 S, 4.27 ERA
RP Marc Church: 2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 4 SO, 2.93 ERA
SS Luisangel Acuna: 1-4, HR (7), .298/.404/.607
LF Trevor Hauver: 2-4, 2 2B, .232/.406/.428
DH Chris Seise: 2-4, HR (6), .262/.308/.436
Owen White and Marc Church offered their best in a critical road match against the division leader. White has 21 strikeouts and two walks in his last two starts. Church has two scoreless outings of two innings and four strikeouts in the series, both while maintaining late leads of one or two runs.
Chris Seise has started four of his last seven games at short, once in consecutive games but not on consecutive days.
Hickory has claimed no worse than a split and will either be half a game up or 1.5 back with nine to play in the first half.
Low-A: Down East 1, at Kannapolis (CHW) 2
Down East: 4 hits, 3 walks, 11 strikeouts
Opponent: 5 hits, 0 walks, 11 strikeouts
Record: 27-29, 3 GB
SP Mitch Bratt: 5 IP, 5 H (1 HR), 2 R, 0 BB, 1 HBP, 7 SO, 82 P / 59 S, 3.00 ERA
RP Damian Mendoza: 3 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 HBP, 4 SO, 1.47 ERA
CF Alejandro Osuna: 1-3, 2B, BB, .294/.406/.469
Alejandro Osuna and Yenci Pena walked to start the 9th down a run. Marcus Smith bunted them over, but Ian Moller and Daniel Mateo couldn’t bring anyone home. I’m not fond of sac bunts in this situation, but in this case one might be warranted, as Smith is a .137 hitter and strikes out an unreal 58% of the time when he doesn’t walk, reducing the likelihood of a “productive out” (or, on the other hand, a GIDP). Conversely, Smith’s primary production in 2022 is a 17% walk rate, the previous two batters walked on ten pitches, and he started the at-bat with a ball. Maybe wait on a strike?
Texas’s full-season teams combined for a season-high 55 strikeouts.
Rookie: 5-2 (SEA), 3-1 (SEA), 5-7 (KAN)
Record: 4-1
SP Josh Gessner: 4.2 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 BB, 9 SO
SP Jose Gonzalez: 2 IP, 3 H, 4 R, 1 BB, 2 SO
SP DJ McCarty: 5 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 BB, 5 SO
RP Michael Alfonso: 3.2 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 2 BB, 7 SO (2 games)
C Jesus Moreno: 4-8, 2B, 3B, BB, 2 SB
3B Gleider Figuereo: 3-10, 2 2B, 3B, 5 BB, 3 SB
OF Zion Bannister: 3-7, 2B, BB
C/1B Liam Hicks: 3-9, 3B, 3 BB
2B Andres Mesa: 4-16, 2B, HR, 2 BB, SB
SS Danyer Cueva: 4-13, 2B, 3 BB, SB
Listed are the starting pitchers for games 3-5 and the week-long stats for Michael Alfonso and the hitters. MiLB’s stat coverage of the rookie leagues is (deep sigh) even more irksome than last year: walled off from other teams and leagues, missing some basic pages. I’ve figured out how I’m going to handle it so I don’t punt the rookie coverage like last year, but I don’t have the time this morning to set up my system.
Gessner was part of the Kyle Gibson trade. Gonzalez singed in 2019. McCarty was a free-agent signing in 2020. Alfonso, 19, is last year’s 17th-round pick.
Today’s Starters
AAA: Winn
AA: Leiter
Hi-A: Englert
Lo-A: TBD
Five Years Ago Yesterday
Down 4-3 in the 9th, Round Rock’s Will Middlebrooks put the Express ahead with a two-out grand slam, but OKC scored six in the bottom half to win.