AAA: Round Rock 4, at Sugar Land (HOU) 3
Round Rock: 10 hits, 2 walks, 10 strikeouts
Opponent: 6 hits, 8 walks, 9 strikeouts
Record: 28-17, 1 G up, 72-47 overall
SP Edwar Colina: 0.2 IP, 2 H (1 HR), 3 R, 0 BB, 2 HBP, 0 SO, 10 P / 7 S, 6.11 ERA
RP Glenn Otto: 2.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 2 SO, 3.62 ERA
RP Jonathan Hernandez: 2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 3 SO, 1.42 ERA
RP Alex Speas: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 SO, 3.00 ERA
C Sam Huff: 1-4, HR (15), .291/.385/.536
2B Justin Foscue: 1-3, BB, SB (12), .258/.384/.439
LF Dustin Harris: 1-3, HR (6), BB, .260/.385/.459
3B Dio Arias: 3-4, .279/.348/.416
Edwar Colina was tossed after hitting a batter (his second of the inning) on the first pitch after a homer. The pitch certainly wasn’t pretty, but I have a hard time believing Colina would drill someone that early in a game. (Incidentally, the umps also tossed Cole Winn and manager Doug Davis on Friday after Winn allegedly spoke discourteously to the third base ump.) Glenn Otto entered earlier than intended but recorded the third out plus two more innings. Sugar Land would in fact not score again, thanks to those listed plus Kyle Cody and Jake Latz.
In the 8th, CF Elier Hernandez leapt the wall to steal what would have been a go-ahead three-run homer.
I mentioned Justin Foscue’s drop in production yesterday. Digging deeper into his pre and post-injury stats, I see a drop of 2-3 MPH in his median and 90th percentile exit velocities, and his hard-hit rate (95+ MPH) has fallen from 40% to 28%. Foscue missed two weeks in June, but I don’t know the cause, and the decrease isn’t necessarily residue from the injury.
Round Rock swept both the Albuquerque and Sugar Land series and hold first place outright for the first time in a month.
AA: Frisco 4, Tulsa (LAD) 2
Frisco: 8 hits, 7 walks, 8 strikeouts
Opponent: 10 hits, 4 walks, 9 strikeouts
Record: 24-21, 4 GB, 55-58 overall
SP Nick Krauth: 5 IP, 7 H, 1 R, 1 BB, 3 SO, 67 P / 47 S, 6.27 ERA
RP Antoine Kelly: 1 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 SO, 2.22 ERA
LF Kellen Strahm: 2-4, 2B, .237/.341/.328
RF Aaron Zavala: 1-3, BB, .205/.360/.306
2B Frainyer Chavez: 1-2, 2B, 2 BB, .205/.311/.333
Grant Wolfram (2.1 IP, 1 R) ended a stretch of 16 scoreless innings over ten appearances. A while back, someone asked why he was still biding his time in AA with such terrific production. Texas actually did promote him in May, and unfortunately, he was hammered: 16 runs and 27 runners in 13.1 innings. He’s better than that and should get another chance at some point, if not necessarily in 2023.
Frisco won two games in the series and heads to Midland for the last time in 2023.
Hi-A: Hickory 4, Rome (ATL) 5
Hickory: 8 hits, 1 walk, 7 strikeouts
Opponent: 9 hits, 6 walks, 11 strikeouts
Record: 31-16, 4 G up, 58-50 overall
SP Emiliano Teodo: 2.1 IP, 3 H (1 HR), 1 R, 1 BB, 3 SO, 45 P / 27 S, 4.65 ERA
DH Abi Ortiz: 1-4, HR (22), .287/.337/.624
3B Cody Freeman: 2-4, 3B, .237/.299/.412
LF Yosy Galan: 1-3, 2B, BB, .256/.315/.444
Hickory lost four straight after taking the first two games of the series. Bowling Green lost five of six, so Hickory still gained a game in the standings. Abimelec Ortiz is tied for the league lead in homers despite spending his first seven weeks in low-A. Ortiz’s .624 slugging percentage would also lead the league but he’s about 30 plate appearances short of qualification, and I think he’s going to end up a little short.
Lo-A: Down East 11, at Charleston (TAM) 4
Down East: 11 hits, 5 walks, 5 strikeouts
Opponent: 8 hits, 3 walks, 6 strikeouts
Record: 24-24, 5 GB, 61-48 overall
SP Brayan Mendoza: 3.1 IP, 3 H, 3 R, 2 BB, 4 SO, 72 P / 40 S, 3.32 ERA
RP Bryan Chi: 4 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 SO, 3.00 ERA
3B Miguel Villarroel: 2-5, HR (4), .234/.266/.344
DH Anthony Calarco: 2-4, BB, .227/.292/.227
LF Tommy Specht: 2-4, 2B, BB, .237/.345/.316
Down East scored more runs than the previous five games of the series combined. Bryan Chi allowed seven runs on July 30th and a total of one run in his other four low-A appearances combined.
Five Years Ago Yesterday
Sherten Apostel singled twice in his Texas system debut with Spokane. Tyler Phillips allowed two runs in seven innings for low-A Hickory.