AAA: Round Rock 5, Sugar Land (HOU) 6
Round Rock: 6 hits, 4 walks, 8 strikeouts
Opponent: 12 hits, 3 walks, 13 strikeouts
Record: 33-31, 7 GB
SP Kohei Arihara: 5 IP, 9 H (1 HR), 4 R, 0 BB, 5 SO, 82 P / 58 S, 5.63 ERA
RP Spencer Patton: 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 SO, 3.86 ERA
RP Josh Sborz: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 3 SO, 0.00 ERA
C Meibrys Viloria: 1-1, 2B, 2 BB, HBP, .336/.464/.475
LF Willie Calhoun: 1-4, HR (5), .211/.253/.408
1B Josh Sale: 2-4, HR (4), .375/.444/.813
Josh Sale hits the ball hard, and he hits the ball in the air.
Josh Smith has played three straight games on rehab, twice at DH. He’s 2-12.
Willie Calhoun has his first post-DFA homer.
AA: Frisco 1, Midland (OAK) 0
Frisco: 10 hits, 2 walks, 6 strikeouts
Opponent: 4 hits, 2 walks, 13 strikeouts
Record: 31-30, 2 G up
SP Cody Bradford: 5.1 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 11 SO, 90 P / 61 S, 6.06 ERA
RP Nick Starr: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 SO, 2.30 ERA
SS Jonathan Ornelas: 3-4, SB (4), .352/.394/.498
2B Trey Hair: 2-4, 2B, HR (12), .245/.304/.551
RF Kellen Strahm: 3-4, .254/.392/.362
Cody Bradford fanned 11 of 21 batters, including six in a row after the first two batters reached in the 1st. He needed 29 pitches to get through that first frame but never more than 15 thereafter. Bradford, as you know, isn’t world’s hardest thrower, but when he’s successfully aiming multiple pitches and multiple spots, he’ll make hitters look silly.
Tai Tiedemann (0.2 IP), Triston Polley (1.1), Joe Corbett (0.2) and Nick Starr (1) combined to limit the RockHounds to a walk and HBP.
Jonathan Ornelas missed a homer by a couple of inches. Manager Jared Goedert thought the ball had rebounded off the railing just over the yellow stripe and got tossed for expressing his umbrage. I thought so, too, at first, but replays showed the umps got it right.
Raise your hand if you had Trey Hair tied for the organization lead in homers in June. Put your hand down, Trey. The former Ray hit 13 homers in 66 games at Hickory last year, so he’s got some pop, but this was unexpected. Notably, he’s hit nine of 12 on the road including five during a series at notorious Amarillo. (During 2021-2022, Amarillo and its opponents have his 352 homers in Amarillo and 192 on the road.)
High-A: Hickory 4, Greenville (BOS) 0
Hickory: 8 hits, 5 walks, 6 strikeouts
Opponent: 6 hits, 4 walks, 5 strikeouts
Record: 36-25, 0.5 GB, elimination number 5
SP John Matthews: 5 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 2 SO, 65 P / 38 S, 2.94 ERA
RP Jesus Linarez: 3 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 SO, 2.94 ERA
RF Aaron Zavala: 1-2, BB, HBP, SB (3), .271/.426/.385
SS Chris Seise: 1-3, 3B, BB, .262/.309/.433
C Scott Kapers: 1-3, HR (6), .263/.318/.525
CF Jayce Easley: 1-3, HR (3), .260/.370/.416
13 different times in the past month, Hickory opened the day one-half game out of first. They’re 7-6 on those days but have never taken the division lead after any of those seven victories. In the six losses, half have maintained the deficit while three have worsened it.
Whatever happens, it’s a huge improvement on last year, when Hickory carried a sub-.200 batting average well into the season’s second month, lost 16 straight down the stretch, went 9-22 in one-run games and had three of the final five games cancelled to weather and/or covid.
Contra last year, Hickory is batting a stout .287/.382/.455 in June, with only Evan Carter (.154/.327/.179) having a bad month among regulars, and even he’s reaching at a decent rate.
Low-A: Down East 3, at Lynchburg (CLE) 1
Down East: 7 hits, 1 walk, 12 strikeouts
Opponent: 6 hits, 1 walk, 11 strikeouts
Record: 30-31, 1.5 GB, elimination number 5
SP Josh Stephan: 5 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 BB, 1 HBP, 3 SO, 66 P / 44 S, 3.95 ERA
RP Bradford Webb: 4 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 8 SO, 4.41 ERA
C Efrenyer Narvaez: 2-3, HBP, .222/.279/.333
SS Maximo Acosta: 2-4, .261/.351/.353
The last time the Wood Ducks were within two games of the division lead was after their Opening Night loss. They’ve been as many as 6.5 back and never at or above .500, yet they’ve got a chance at the first-half title. They host division-leading Carolina (31-29) next week. Three other teams are one-half game back.
Down East took advantage of an inexperienced and shaky Lynchburg reliever in the 9th to score twice. Both teams had one double and one walk. Webb threw 44 of 59 pitches for strikes.
Today’s Starters
AAA: Winn
AA: Leiter
Hi-A: White
Lo-A: TBD
Five Years Ago Yesterday
Hickory’s Kyle Cody tossed a career-best eight scoreless innings but got no support, and his Crawdads lost 2-1 in extras. Two of his four runners reached on strikeout/WPs.