AAA: Round Rock 4, Oklahoma City (LAD) 0
Round Rock: 8 hits, 3 walks, 13 strikeouts
Opponent: 5 hits, 4 walks, 10 strikeouts
Record: 10-10, 4 GB, 47-47 overall
SP Jack Leiter: 4.2 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 7 SO, 81 P / 48 S, 3.59 ERA
RP Steven Jennings: 1.1 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 SO, 6.00 ERA
RP Matt Festa: 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 1 SO, 4.26 ERA
RP Aidan Anderson: 1.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 SO, 2.50 ERA
SS Davis Wendzel: 2-4, 2B, SB (3), .286/.379/.505
DH Sam Huff: 1-3, BB, .248/.325/.441
1B Blaine Crim: 1-3, BB, SB (5), .243/.354/.379
RF Kellen Strahm: 1-2, BB
Jack Leiter had a pretty good day in his first appearance since July 5th. The fastball constituted an unusually high 64% of his pitches, and he missed ten bats with it. Control was an occasional issue; he tended to miss glove-side, a persistent problem in 2022-2023. He also offered more curves (11) than any other secondary and tallied three more swinging strikes. Only one of ten balls in play was hit hard, a high fly for an easy out. The hits, all singles, came on a bloop, a medium-hard grounder, and an slow grounder.
Since rejoining the Express in mid-May, Leiter has a 4.10 ERA (park-adjusted league average is 5.32), an opposing line of .248/.359/.362, a 15% walk/HBP rate and 30% SO rate. Contra yesterday, his fastball hasn’t been an especially virulent bat-misser during this time, with a dead-average 25% whiff rate on swings and 12% overall. Opponents aren’t hitting it nearly as hard, however, slugging .436 on contact compared to a league average of .636.
Kellen Strahm saw his first action in AAA after being promoted two days earlier. Texas’s 2019 5th-rounder had spent the past two-plus seasons and 284 games in Frisco, batting .265/.371/.373 and spending a plurality of his time in center.
AA: Frisco 1, @ Wichita (MIN) 2
Frisco: 7 hits, 1 walk, 8 strikeouts
Opponent: 4 hits, 3 walks, 3 strikeouts
Record: 12-9, 2 GB, 56-34 overall
SP Winston Santos: 4 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 1 BB, 3 HBP, 2 SO, 70 P / 42 S, 5.40 ERA
RP Tyler Owens: 2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 SO, 2.43 ERA
CF Alejandro Osuna: 1-4, HR (3), .313/.380/.609
C Liam Hicks: 1-3, BB, .264/.369/.361
Winston Santos’ first six batters included three HBPs and a four-pitch walk. Seeing an 0.2 in the innings column wouldn’t have surprised, but he survived that inning and faced the minimum over the next three.
Hi-A: Hickory 5, Greensboro (PIT) 2
Hickory: 9 hits, 4 walks, 12 strikeouts
Opponent: 5 hits, 0 walks, 10 strikeouts
Record: 13-11, 1.5 GB, 41-49 overall
SP Ryan Lobus: 6 IP, 3 H (1 HR), 1 R, 0 BB, 7 SO, 63 P / 45 S, 3.78 ERA
C Tucker Mitchell: 2-3, 2 BB, .225/.321/.394
SS Sebastian Walcott: 3-4, BB, SB (12), .243/.338/.408
CF Anthony Gutierrez: 2-4, .258/.308/.335
LF Yosy Galan: 1-4, HR (8), .184/.287/.349
A master of efficiency, Ryan Lobus worked through the order the first time on just 25 pitches and a second with a total of 58.
In additional to his plate heroics, Sebastian Walcott made a snazzy relay throw to nab Mitch Jebb at third. The speedy Jebb had grounded sharply down the right field line to Quincy Scott. Walcott is hitting .318/.388/.500 in July.
C/1B Tucker Mitchell is back in Hickory after a seven-week injury absence and two-plus weeks of obliterating youngsters in Arizona (.390/.468/.732).
Lo-A: Down East 0, @ Delmarva (BAL) 2
Down East: 3 hits, 3 walks, 13 strikeouts
Opponent: 4 hits, 4 walks, 9 strikeouts
Record: 9-14, 6.5 GB, 44-44 overall
SP Jose Gonzalez: 4 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 5 SO, 51 P / 38 S, 2.23 ERA
RP Victor Simeon: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 SO, 2.79 ERA
RP Willian Bormie: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 SO, 3.46 ERA
2B Chandler Pollard: 1-3, BB, SB (28), .232/.312/.284
Game time: one hour, 59 minutes. Several Wood Ducks pitched well, but the offense hit five balls out of the infield.
Five Years Ago Yesterday
Short-season Spokane clinched the first-half division title with a 5-4 win over Everett. Daniel Robert pitched the last two innings. The baby Rangers also clinched with a 19-9 record. “Demarcus Evans’ last two years: 99.2 innings, 45 hits, 70 walks, 178 strikeouts.”