AAA: Round Rock 9, Salt Lake (LAA) 6 (12)
Round Rock: 12 hits, 5 walks, 5 strikeouts
Opponent: 9 hits, 5 walks, 14 strikeouts
Record: 29-17, 1 G up, 73-47 overall
SP Robert Dugger: 6 IP, 4 H (1 HR), 3 R, 2 BB, 6 SO, 90 P / 62 S, 4.46 ERA
RP Marc Church: 1.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 SO, 3.07 ERA
DH Davis Wendzel: 3-5, 2B, .258/.384/.450
1B Blaine Crim: 4-5, HR (16), .296/.395/.509
C Sam Huff: 2-4, 2B, .295/.391/.539
Round Rock won its 13th straight, tying a franchise high during ts time as Houston’s AA affliate. Sandro Fabian’s homer (caught with panache by Ian Kennedy in the bullpen). The sides traded single runs during extras until the 12th, when March Church worked a gimme fly and struck out the next two to strand the gift-runner.
AA: Frisco 3, at Midland (OAK) 10
Frisco: 8 hits, 7 walks, 8 strikeouts
Opponent: 16 hits, 6 walks, 9 strikeouts
Record: 24-22, 4 GB, 55-59 overall
SP Noah Bremer: 2.1 IP, 6 H, 5 R, 3 BB, 3 SO, 42 P / S, 7.11 ERA
CF Evan Carter: 3-4, 2 2B, BB, .283/.415/.451
LF Trevor Hauver: 2-3, 2 BB, .261/.378/.428
C Liam Hicks: 1-2, 2 BB, HBP, .272/.405/.394
Evan Carter had his first three-hit game in nearly a month and walked as well. Carter has only one homer in August but sports a solid .456 slugging percentage thanks to five doubles and two triples, plus he doesn’t have that many at-bats because he’s walking so often.
Frisco didn’t lose ground thanks to 17-year-old Ethan Salas, who doubled in the winner for San Antonio against division-leading Amarillo. I guess nothing’s stopping me from going to San Antonio now (except the traffic, and the heat), but if the Riders can storm back to claim the second-half title, they’d visit the first-half champion Missions, and I could watch them and Salas at the same time. Go Riders.
Hi-A: Hickory 13, Greenville (BOS) 5
Hickory: 15 hits, 3 walks, 13 strikeouts
Opponent: 10 hits, 5 walks, 7 strikeouts
Record: 32-16, 4.5 G up, 59-50 overall
SP Josh Gessner: 3 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 SO, 45 P / 22 S, 7.36 ERA
RP Jackson Leath: 2.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 2 SO, 0.00 ERA
LF Wyatt Langford: 2-5, .259/.403/.519
C Cody Freeman: 3-5, .243/.304/.416
RF Geisel Cepeda: 2-4, 3B, .288/.365/.373
CF Daniel Mateo: 3-5, 2 HR (10), .259/.273/.420
DH Yosy Galan: 1-4, HR (4), .262/.318/.467
Hickory pined 12 on poor Juan Daniel Encarnacion, a deep-cut Red Sox prospect who isn’t getting results. Cam Cauley (1-4, walk, SB) is back fro the IL at the expense of IF Griffin Cheney, who was released. Last year’s discount-bonus senior-sign ninth-rounder, Cheney had some power and walk-oriented success at Down East but batted .196/.296/.231 in 39 games at high-A.
Josh Gessner missed on over half his pitches but didn’t suffer for it. Jackson Leath has walked six in nine innings at Hickory but has allowed just one hit and no runs.
Hickory gained a half-game, as trailing Bowling Green lost the completion of a rain-delay and won the regularly scheduled contest. Should the Crawdads prevail, they’ll face these same Greenville Drive, 20-29 in the second half after a 36-30 first.
Lo-A: Down East 3, Fayetteville (HOU) 6
Down East: 5 hits, 7 walks, 14 strikeouts
Opponent: 8 hits, 9 walks, 7 strikeouts
Record: 24-25, 5 GB, 61-49 overall
SP Luis Ramirez: 2.1 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 3 BB, 1 HBP, 1 SO, 41 P / 18 S, 4.20 ERA
RP Dylan MacLean: 3.1 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 3 BB, 1 HBP, 3 SO, 3.06 ERA
1B Konnor Piotto: 1-3, 2 BB, SB (6), .265/.359/.373
Today’s lineup and up-to-the-minute transactions don’t show any rookie-ballers on the low-A roster. A few made the trip last year near or at the end of the rookie season (Danyer Cueva, Gleider Figuereo, Yeison Morrobel, Jojo Blackmon, Aidan Curry).
Rookie: Rangers 3, Padres 8
Record: 23-33, season over
SP Teodoro Ortega: 1 IP, 0 R, 2 SO, 0.00 ERA
RF Max Martin: 1-3, 2 BB
Rehabbing Teodoro Ortega made his first appearance since last June. Nine Rangers took the mound on the final day, including 2022 14th-rounder Andrew Owen (1 IP, 1 R), 2023 13th-rounder William Privette (0.1 IP, 4 R), Rehabbing Orceli Gomez (1 scoreless inning), and 2023 10th-rounder Case Matter (1 scoreless inning, 1 SO). DH Sebastian Walcott was 0-5 with two strikeouts. I’ll recap the season later.
Today’s Starters
AAA: White
AA: Acker
Hi-A: Corniell
Lo-A: Curry
Five Years Ago Yesterday
My 2018 recaps are on my home computer but I am not.