Box Scores
AAA: Round Rock 4, Albuquerque (COL) 9
Round Rock: 7 hits, 4 walks, 8 strikeouts
Opponent: 12 hits, 4 walks, 8 strikeouts
Record: 31-22, 3 GB, 62-66 overall
SP David Davalillo: 0.2 IP, 4 H, 4 R, 2 BB, 1 SO, 32 P / 16 S, 6.15 ERA
RP Ryan Lobus: 2.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 SO, 3.43 ERA
RP Jack Leiter: 1 IP, 3 H, 3 R, 0 BB, 1 HBP, 1 SO, 7.36 ERA
2B John Taylor: 1-3, 2B, BB, .264/.396/.429
RF Aaron Zavala: 1-3, 2B, BB, .270/.358/.438
SS Keyber Rodriguez: 1-3, 2B, BB, .246/.320/.447
Uh oh. Since returning to Round Rock, David Davalillo had thrown 67% strikes and walked only one in 19 innings. I genuinely believed the control troubles were in the past. I was on the call with Rylan Kobre last night and prepared to discuss his turnaround over the course what I assume would be at least four innings. Instead, Davalillo expended 17 pitches while walking two of the first three batters, and I had to pivot to the unlikeliness of him even completing one inning. Not until pitch #28 did he record an out, and unlike during his earlier struggles, he was also hit exceptionally hard. After a four-pitch K for the second out, he was pulled. So much for my two pages of notes. Not much else to say except to hope it’s a just a bump in the road.
Jack Leiter had a rather uninspiring relief outing. The apparent idea was for two innings, but after after 25 pitches and four baserunners, he was done. I’m generally inclined to say the top-line results don’t matter much in rehab, but last night would seem to merit another outing in the minors. A tell into his 2026 future will be how quickly he makes his next appearance.
Albuquerque starter Valente Bellozo, objectively one of the worst pitchers in the minors in 2026, tossed three scoreless innings, his only scoreless outing of at least that many innings all season. In the other game I called with Rylan, Marco Gonzales, then with El Paso and holding a 9.16 ERA, had a season-best outing. Sorry, y’all.
Round Rock didn’t lose any ground to Sugar Land but fell into a tie for second with Sacramento.
AA: Frisco 11, at NW Arkansas (KAN) 2
Frisco: 16 hits, 5 walks, 11 strikeouts
Opponent: 8 hits, 6 walks, 5 strikeouts
Record: 26-27, 4 GB, 65-56 overall
SP D.J. McCarty: 4 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 4 BB, 1 HBP, 2 SO, 77 P / 42 S, 5.75 ERA
DH Sebastian Walcott: 3-5, HBP, .292/.376/.490
3B Rafe Perich: 2-4, HR (15), BB, .319/.400/.602
RF Yeison Morrobel: 2-3, 2B, 2 BB, .323/.366/.508
C Malcolm Moore: 2-4, 2B, BB, .219/.308/.411
LF Marcus Lee Sang: 2-5, HR (14), .296/.361/.470
Perich hit his 26th homer, five more than anyone in the system.
Only twice this month has the winning team in a Frisco games scored fewer than five runs.
Amarillo (30-23) leads the division by four over Midland and Corpus with 15 to play. Frisco is also four back but irrelevant to the standings as the first-half winner. 
Hi-A: Hub City 10, at Greensboro (PIT) 3
Hub City: 8 hits, 5 walks, 12 strikeouts
Opponent: 9 hits, 3 walks, 13 strikeouts
Record: 22-34, 7.6 GB, 56-66 overall, elimination number 3
SP AJ Russell: 4.1 IP, 5 H (1 HR), 1 R, 1 BB, 7 SO, 71 P / 42 S, 4.80 ERA
RP Wily Villar: 2.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 5 SO, 4.50 ERA
SS Evan Morrison: 3-5, 2B, 2 SB (4), .333/.370/.458
3B Gleider Figuereo: 1-3, 2 BB, .243/.345/.442
RF Maxton Martin: 1-4, HR (20), BB, .235/.299/.451
AJ Russell is getting a version of the Dalton Pence ramp-up. Last year, Pence spent spent nearly four months bouncing between three-inning starts and shorter relief until stretching out to as many as six innings and 90 pitches in August. Russell threw about a dozen fewer innings leading up to his currently heavier workload, and with one start remaining he hasn’t exceeded 71 pitches. He’ll probably finish with just over 60 innings, fewer than I would have expected entering the season, but he’s performed well despite some occasionally shaky control.
Martin is the fifth Ranger to reach 20 homers. He’s already surpassed last year’s total by six, but he’s going to end up with fewer hits and walks and more strikeouts.
Hub City’s elimination number is three, but I believe two losses would knock them out regardless of how other teams do, and one loss would require an outlandishly specific collection of wins and losses from others for Hub City to reach the postseason. 
Lo-A: Hickory 8, at Wilson (MIL) 3
Hickory: 11 hits, 3 walks, 5 strikeouts
Opponent: 3 hits, 5 walks, 10 strikeouts
Record: 39-17, 7 GB, 73-47 overall, magic number 4
SP Seong-Jun Kim: 2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 2 SO, 26 P / 14 S, 0.00 ERA
RP William Privette: 2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 4 SO, 0.00 ERA
RP Will Whelan: 2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 SO, 3.00 ERA
RF Marco Argudin: 3-5, 2 2B, HR (6), .269/.385/.422
SS Yolfran Castillo: 2-4, HR (7), HBP, .283/.386/.404
None of last night’s four pitchers (the three listed and Jake Barbee) have been with the team more than 12 days, and all but Privette for a week at most. By my rough count, seven active pitchers and six active hitters on the roster have no 2026 low-A experience pre-dating July 7th. Hickory has been good or better all season, but only a few have contributed to both the first-half and second-half versions.
I’d mentioned Pablo Guerrero didn’t play at all in yesterday’s quasi-doubleheder; today he was IL’ed.
Rivals Kannapolis and Augusta won as well. Columbia and Myrtle Beach are eliminated.
Today’s Starters
AAA: Santos
AA: Stasio
Hi-A: TBD
Lo-A: Siary
Five Years Ago Yesterday
A slow day. Texas signed 31-year-old indy right Dave Kubiak to help with Round Rock’s covid-gutted roster.
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