AAA: Round Rock 10, at Oklahoma City (LAD) 9
Round Rock: 14 hits, 8 walks, 9 strikeouts
Opponent: 15 hits, 2 walks, 10 strikeouts
Record: 34-18, 3 G up, 78-48 overall
SP Owen White: 0.2 IP, 5 H, 5 R, 0 BB, 1 SO, 35 P / 21 S, 4.50 ERA
RP Jake Latz: 1.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 SO, 4.45 ERA
RF Elier Hernandez: 2-4, 2 BB, SB (9), .312/.372/.513
CF Evan Carter: 4-6, SB (1)
C Sam Huff: 2-2, 3 BB, .303/.407/.551
3B David Wendzel: 1-5, HR (26), .238/.364/.491
DH Justin Foscue: 2-3, BB, HBP, SB (14), .265/.392/.444
Evan Carter debuted successfully in AAA. In the 1st, he reached on a chopper to SS Kolton Wong. He lined to center the next inning, followed by a solid lineout to left, a blistered grounder through to right, a flared single to center, and a called strikeout. Carter didn’t miss any of the seven pitches he attacked, fouling off two and sending the others into play.
The Rangers promoted Carter at the onset of a two-week road trip. I take that personally.
I’m not going to tell you Owen White was good, but luck definitely participated in his short outing. The first four runners reached on an error, a bouncer through the right side, a medium-hard grounder just past SS Jonathan Ornelas, and a slow chopper by Wong to Ornelas (identical to Carter’s first hit to Wong). He wasn’t alone, as Fernery Ozuna, Marc Church, Grant Anderson, and Yerry Rodriguez also surrendered runs in the wild affair.
AA: Frisco 3, Corpus Christi (HOU) 2
Frisco: 5 hits, 7 walks, 2 strikeouts
Opponent: 4 hits, 4 walks, 13 strikeouts
Record: 27-25, 3 GB, 58-62 overall
SP Noah Bremer: 5 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 4 SO, 78 P / 49 S, 6.14 ERA
RP Grant Wolfram: 1.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 5 SO, 2,11 ERA
RP Antoine Kelly: 2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 4 SO, 2.03 ERA
LF Trevor Hauver: 1-3, 2B, BB, .258/.375/.420
CF Kellen Strahm: 1-2, BB, HBP, .246/.352/.336
RF Aaron Zavala: 1-1, 3 BB, .199/.358/.296
Frisco won its first game of the post-Carter era. Grant Wolfram entered with two in, two on, and a one-run lead in the 6th and struck out two batters plus three of the next four. Antoine Kelly followed with four strikeouts against seven batters.
Hi-A: Hickory 11, at Greensboro (PIT) 3
Hickory: 12 hits, 6 walks, 7 strikeouts
Opponent: 6 hits, 7 walks, 8 strikeouts
Record: 35-19, 4 G up, 62-53 overall, magic number 8
SP Jose Corniell: 5 IP, 3 H (1 HR), 2 R, 3 BB, 1 HBP, 4 SO, 79 P / 51 S, 3.25 ERA
SS Cam Cauley: 2-6, HR (4), .258/.330/.443
2B Max Acosta: 2-4, 2 BB, .254/.302/.400
LF Wyatt Langford: 2-4, HR (4), .324/.457/.622
3B Cody Freeman: 1-3, 2 BB, .238/.302/.400
Wyatt Langford hit a ball out in about 0.2 seconds. Gboro’s Derek Diamond set it up with a down-the-pipe first pitch. Here’s video.
Later, Cam Cauley upstaged Langford with an opposite-field grand slam off the facade of the apartments across the street. I measured the distance to the wall at about 410′, and adding another +-15′ for where it would have landed if unimpeded results in a shot of around 425′ that was about 30′ inside the opposite foul pole. That is some serious power.
Lo-A: Down East 6, at Carolina (MIL) 3
Down East: 5 hits, 7 walks, 9 strikeouts
Opponent: 9 hits, 3 walks, 8 strikeouts
Record: 26-29, 6 GB, 63-53 overall
SP Dylan MacLean: 4.2 IP, 4 H (1 HR), 2 R, 2 BB, 2 SO, 77 P / 46 S, 2.99 ERA
RP Paul Bonzagni: 1.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 SO, 3.68 ERA
RP Luis Ramirez: 3 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 BB, 5 SO, 4.13 ERA
2B Devin Hurdle: 1-2, 2 BB, .220/.281/.254
Down East took the first game of the series against its most likely playoff opponent. Carolina leads the second-half race by two games with 11 to play. As has become increasingly common, the Woodies collected more walks than hits but managed to take advantage of the generosity.
Texas promoted IF Echedry Vargas to Down East from the rookie squad, joining 1B/OF Marcos Torres.
Today’s Starters
AAA: Kent
AA: Acker
Hi-A: TBA, forecast worrisome
Lo-A: already postponed
Five Years Ago Yesterday
The rookie Rangers lost in the Arizona League semifinals 8-7 to the Cubs on a game-ending bases-loaded walk by Erne Valdes. Announced participants in the upcoming Arizona Fall League were RHP Joe Barlow, RHP Demarcus Evans, C/IF Josh Morgan, IF Chuck Leblanc, OF Julio P. Martinez, and OF Yanio Perez (taxi squad, limited availability).