Box Scores
AAA: Round Rock 9, Albuquerque (COL) 1
Round Rock: 10 hits, 5 walks, 5 strikeouts
Opponent: 5 hits, 5 walks, 3 strikeouts
Record: 33-24, 3 GB, 64-68 overall
SP Dalton Pence: 5 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 1 SO, 69 P / 46 S, 2.19 ERA
RP Carter Baumier: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 SO, 2.25 ERA
LF Alejandro Osuna: 3-4, 2B, .290/.390/.400
SS Keyber Rodriguez: 1-4, HR (13), .238/.310/.444
C Julian Brock: 1-3, HR (2), BB, .238/.407/.500
Pence fanned only one in five innings but did have the slider working: seven whiffs, seven fouls, three in play all for popouts, one call, four balls. He also mixed in more curves and changes than usual lately. As I’ve mentioned, his mix has shifted dramatically from game to game.
Carter Baumler appeared for the first time in four months. He needed only eight pitches to clear the inning. Depending on Texas’s competitive status, Baumler’s return could be either handy or a headache. Rehab assignments can be up to 30 days, so Texas does have the option of keeping him in the minors until the season ends. Regardless, Baumler will be well short of the required 90 active days in 2026, so if he maintains his 40 spot, he’ll be subject to the same Rule 5 requirements entering next season (unless they change in the new CBA).
Round Rock and Albuquerque split the series. The Express, OKC and Sacramento are three games behind Sugar Land. Round Rock hosts OKC this week. 
AA: Frisco 7, at NW Arkansas (KAN) 6
Frisco: 7 hits, 9 walks, 11 strikeouts
Opponent: 6 hits, 4 walks, 9 strikeouts
Record: 28-29, 5 GB, 67-58 overall
SP Thomas Ireland: 3.2 IP, 4 H (1 HR), 3 R, 1 BB, 3 SO, 63 P / 41 S, 9.78 ERA
RP Josh Trentadue: 2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 SO, 5.56 ERA
DH Sebastian Walcott: 2-4, HR (5), BB, .303/.387/.528
CF Dylan Dreiling: 1-3, 2B, 2 BB, .315/.387/.528
Walcott homered again. This one didn’t stray far from the ground. He’s reached half of last year’s 34 extra-base hits in only 22% as many games.
Frisco has used 14 different starters in 39 games since the All-Star Break, although the Riders have at least had a semi-steady quartet of Anderson, Curry, McCarty and Townsend.
In their final homestand, the Riders will face Amarillo, their likely first-round playoff opponent. The Poodles leads the division by five with 12 to play, although Frisco could make the final week more interesting by taking at least four of six. 
Hi-A: Hub City 7, at Greensboro (PIT) 10
Hub City: 11 hits, 6 walks, 8 strikeouts
Opponent: 10 hits, 10 walks, 10 strikeouts
Record: 23-37, eliminated, 57-69 overall
SP Anthony Astudillo: 3 IP, 2 H (1 HR), 2 R, 4 BB, 4 SO, 57 P / 30 S, 6.00 ERA
CF Paxton Kling: 2-3, 2 BB, .233/.372/.360
RF Maxton Martin: 1-5, HR (21), .236/.297/.452
Anthony Astudillo has an 11 ERA at the complex and Hickory, but Hub City needed some innings after Caden Scarborough was scratched Saturday and listed Sunday starter Enrique Segura took his place.
Per local reporting, Scarborough is perfectly healthy, just skipped in order to work at Texas’s pitching lab. As to why he was still listed as Hub City’s starting pitcher into the day of his ostensible outing, I couldn’t say.
Paxton Kling reached first safely four times but only once was in an ordinary base-stealing situation, and the batters behind him swung at every pitch until he reached second via a Casey Cook single.
Hub City’s season will end with six home games against Jersey Shore (45-79 overall, 19-40 second half).
Lo-A: Hickory 6, at Wilson (MIL) 2
Hickory: 7 hits, 8 walks, 8 strikeouts
Opponent: 4 hits, 4 walks, 13 strikeouts
Record: 43-17, division winner, 77-47 overall
SP Josh Owens: 2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 SO, 22 P / 13 S, 0.00 ERA
RP Jesus Lafalaise: 4.2 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 2 BB, 6 SO, 3.76 ERA
LF Paulino Santana: 1-3, BB, HBP, 2 SB (26), .263/.386/.436
DH Kaden Carpenter: 1-2, HR (6), 3 BB, .253/.410/.538
1B Brandon Crabtree: 3-5
Hickory has technically won ten straight. The loss of a suspended game completed during the week officially counts on the day it began in mid-July.
Starter Josh Owens breezed through two innings. His delivery is weirder than I recall, particularly with none on base. Owens stands with his back foot exactly perpendicular to the plate and then twists his front toes inward and away from the mound. (When I imitate that motion, I feel torque in my back knee and front hip that isn’t painful but doesn’t feel conducive to a smooth delivery at all. Caveat: I never pitched outside of rec-league softball.) He then briefly lifts his back foot to rotate into a slightly different position before delivering the ball.
OF Marco Argudin hasn’t played since being pulled mid-game last Friday with an apparent wrist or hand injury after swinging a bat, but he hasn’t been IL’ed either.
Hickory will conclude the regular season by hosting 71-53 Houston-affiliated Fayetteville, who like Hickory has already clinched the division and will enter the week with a 13-game win streak.
Five Years Ago Yesterday
I accidentally jumped a day ahead yesterday, but the day I skipped wasn’t interesting. Let’s stay ahead. Five Years Ago Today, Round Rock’s Josh Jung went 4-5 with three doubles and a homer, improving from .207/.303/.379 to .294/.368/.618 in a span of three hours.
Skip to content
tantamount to cordial