AAA: Round Rock 3, Gwinnett (ATL) 6
Round Rock: 6 hits, 7 walks, 14 strikeouts
Opponent: 11 hits, 3 walks, 5 strikeouts
Record: 1-4, 3 GB
SP Austin Gomber: 4.2 IP, 7 H, 6 R, 1 BB, 1 SO, 85 P / 52 S
RP Marc Church: 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 SO
RP Patrick Murphy: 1 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 SO
RP Michel Otañez: 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 SO
CF Alejandro Osuna: 2-5
2B Justin Foscue: 1-3, 2B, BB
3B Tyler Wade: 2-3, 2B, BB
The Express trailed 6-0 nearly the entire game but managed to get the winning run to the plate in the 9th when Hayden Harris issued four walks and no one could field Justin Foscue’s wind-blown pop or Alejandro Osuna’s dribbler to second. With the bases loaded and two out, Cam Cauley swung through a couple of balls with the intent of ending the game, but he watched a very close strike three (confirmed via challenge) to end the game.
Marc Church offered a 95-98 fastball, an 86-88 slider and three upper-80s changes. Much his his success is premised on deception. He deals from a newly lowered but still quite high slot, he tends to work vertically, and neither his fastball nor slider have much horizontal movement, so those pitches look the same out of his hand. The changeup could be a worthy addition, I suppose, but the fastball is his foundation. At times in the past, his slider has been nearly unhittable, but his overall results were still subpar because of a fastball either too wild or grooved.
Austin Gomber allowed all the runs in the 2nd, partly on six balls in play at 100 MPH or higher, but he escaped and settled down the rest of the way. Gomber froze a few batters with a mid-70s curve but was mostly reliant on hit placement, as he missed only three bats, and over half of opposing swings resulted in a ball in play.
Hopefully the badly needed rain lets up this evening. Could be an interesting game.
AA: off
Frisco visits Houston-affiliated Corpus Christi tonight. Listed starters for the series are Leandro Lopez, Dylan MacLean and David Davalillo.
Hi-A: off
I’d previously said all the teams below AAA would start Thursday, but Hub City actually waits until Friday.
Lo-A: off
Hickory opens tonight at home against Columbia. The listed starters this week are Evan Siary, Jesus Lafalaise and AJ Russell.