Sunday Stories Let's play 2 in Midland, Michigan! Singleton & Santana Show. Jio Mier Redemption Tour is on. Could Lancaster finish their first road series of the year with a sweep? Recap Oklahoma City 4, New Orleans 3 in 10 innings After dropping the opener, OKC has responded by taking the last 2 games in the series. Jon Singleton went 3-4 and kicked off the game with an RBI single in the 1st. After New Orleans scored a run in the top of the 6th, he untied it with a solo homer (4) in the bottom half of the inning. The Zephyrs would take a 3-2 lead in the 8th after Kyle Jensen hit a 2-run double off of Jason Stoffel. Chris Hatcher came on to close the game for them, but that immediately went out the door as Domingo Santana took him deep to lead off the 9th (1) to tie the game at 3. Santana also delivered the game-winning single off Hatcher in the bottom of the 10th. Austin Wates was 2-3 with a run scored, 2 walks, and a steal (5). Carlos Perez went 2-4 with a double as the DH, and Ruben Sosa finished 2-3 with 2 steals, his first 2 stolen bases of the season. Nick Tropeano got the win with 5 shutout innings, allowing 2 hits, walking 1, and fanning 4. Collin McHugh pitched 2 innings and allowed a run on 2 hits. As I mentioned earlier, Stoffel gave up the 2-run double that gave New Orleans the lead. Josh Zeid pitched 2 scoreless and got the win; he allowed a hit, walked 2, and struck out 2. David Martinez and Bobby Doran will be the pairing for the series finale. They'll take on Bryan Evans at 7:05. Corpus Christi 9, Springfield 1 The Hooks mauled the Cards in the series opener as they pounded out 14 hits and scored the game's first 9 runs. It all started when Delino DeShields led off the bottom of the 1st with a single. He advanced to 3rd when an error was committed during a Nolan Fontana groundout, and he would score the first run of the day on an Andrew Aplin single. Another Springfield error in the 2nd on a Jio Mier fielder's choice resulted in another 2 runs. Leo Heras was 2-4 with 2 runs scored; one of those runs came when he stole home in the 4th as part of a double steal with Mier, who took 2nd. Preston Tucker went 3-5 with a solo homer (2) in the 5th, and Jio added a 3-run blast (2) later in the inning. DeShields, who finished a triple shy of the cycle (in 4 at-bats), wrapped it up with a solo homer (2) in the 8th. David Rollins issued a walk to begin the game, and he left after that. <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Word is David Rollins left his <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23cchooks&src=hash">#cchooks</a> start today with an oblique injury.</p>— Greg Rajan (@GregRajan) <a href="https://twitter.com/GregRajan/statuses/455424536448483328">April 13, 2014</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p><a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23cchooks&src=hash">#cchooks</a> manager Keith Bodie said David Rollins' injury wasn't to pitching arm and that he'd be re-evaluated. Removal was "precautionary."</p>— Greg Rajan (@GregRajan) <a href="https://twitter.com/GregRajan/statuses/455458610558930944">April 13, 2014</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> So, in his stead, Jordan Jankowski came on, and he allowed a hit, walked 1, and struck out 2 over 3 scoreless innings. Aaron West tagged in and threw 5 scoreless innings, allowing a hit and fanning 2. The Cardinals got a consolation run in the 9th in the form of a James Ramsey solo homer off of Travis Ballew. Luis Cruz and Ross Seaton will be the pairing for the middle game of this series. Springfield will go with Kurt Heyer. First pitch is at 7:10. Lake Elsinore 3, Lancaster 2 in 11 innings The JetHawks couldn't finish the sweep, and they'll be rueing the missed opportunities (2-15 with RISP, 11 left on base) and the miscues (2 errors leading to 2 unearned runs). Josh Hader went 5 innings and allowed an unearned run in the 1st on 3 hits, walked 1 (1st of the season), and struck out 6. Teoscar Hernandez misplayed a ball on center field, which resulted in the run. Chris Devenski tagged in for 4 innings, and he allowed an unearned run on 3 hits and walked 1. In the 8th, Danry Vasquez called off Tony Kemp to catch a popup from Corey Adamson, but failed to do so. Adamson ended up scoring the tying run. Dan Minor worked around a single and a walk to keep the game tied at 2 in the 10th, but Diego Goris ended it by taking him deep to begin the 11th. Vasquez hit a 2-run double in the 6th that gave Lancaster a 2-1 lead. He, Carlos Perdomo, Rio Ruiz, and Tony Kemp all went 2-5. The JetHawks will now begin a 3-game series in High Desert. Mark Appel and Mike Hauschild will face TBA at 7:05 Pacific. Game 1: Quad Cities 11, Great Lakes 0 QC thrashed the Loons in the first game of the twinbill. Score seems self-explanatory. After 2 rough outings to open the season, Andrew Thurman threw 5 shutout innings and allowed 4 hits while fanning 5 to get the victory. Tyler Brunnemann threw 2 innings to complete the shutout; he allowed 2 hits and struck out 2. Everyone had a hit except for Jack Mayfield, who was 0-4 with a sac fly in the 5th. However, not everyone who had a hit drove in a run; Chan-Jong Moon went 3-4 with 2 runs scored, but was the only River Bandit without an RBI. Brian Holberton hit an RBI single in the 2nd to open the scoring. One batter later, Tanner Mathis also hit an RBI single. He would go on to steal 2nd, advance to 3rd on a force out, and score when a pickoff attempt went awry. Mayfield's sac fly was the first run of the 5th; that would be followed up by a 2-run double from Conrad Gregor, who would score on a Tyler White double. James Ramsay hit a sac fly in the 6th. Jon Kemmer added an RBI double of his own in the 7th and scored on a Ramsay single, and Brett Phillips finished the scoring with an RBI single. Game 2: Great Lakes 5, Quad Cities 4 in 9 innings The River Bandits had to settle for the split as they walked off with the loss. They still won 2 of 3 in the series. Brett Phillips was 2-4 with a bases-clearing triple in the 3rd, which put QC up 3-1 at the time. Conrad Gregor hit an RBI single in the 6th to tie the game at 4. Gregor finished 2-4 as well; this was his 4th straight game with 2 hits. Chris Lee went 4.2 innings and allowed 4 runs (2 earned) on 5 hits, walked 1, and struck out 3. Zach Morton pitched 3.1 scoreless and allowed 2 hits, walked 2, and fanned 1. Pat Christensen got a groundout from the first batter he faced, but the next 2 reached, and Loons C Kyle Farmer poked one through into left field for the game-winning hit. Quad Cities is headed home; tomorrow, they'll begin 3 with West Michigan. Three Stars 3. Andrew Thurman, RHP, Quad Cities Game 1: W (1-2), 5 IP, 4 H, 5 K THIS IS WHERE THURMAN TURNS IT AROUND!!!! 2. Jio Mier, SS/3B, Corpus Christi 2-4, 3-R HR (2) The 9 games that he's played this season have probably been infinitely better than the 104 he played last year. 1. Jon Singleton, 1B, and Domingo Santana, LF, Oklahoma City Singleton: 3-4, 2B, solo HR (4) in 6th, 2 RBI Santana: 2-5, game-tying solo HR (1) in 9th, walk-off single Santana seems to be waking up from his first-week funk. Singleton has struck out in all but 2 games this year. On the flip side, he's had a hit in all but 2 games as well. Through 10 games, he's 9th in the PCL in OPS. Honorable Mentions Nick Tropeano, RHP, Oklahoma City: Seems to have settled in a bit after a rough first appearance. Delino DeShields, CF, Corpus Christi: Believe in DeShields. Preston Tucker, LF, Corpus Christi: Tucker has a hit in all but 1 game this year. The 8-game hitting streak is the longest active streak in the system. Brett Phillips, CF, Quad Cities: He's currently the only teen in the QC lineup but has more than held his own. I hope he can be a little more efficient in his basestealing, though; he'd be a real threat at the top if he can hone that. Conrad Gregor, 1B/OF, Quad Cities: Nice to see him get the bat going a little. Goat Pat Christensen couldn't preserve the tie in game 2. Neither could Dan Minor in Lake Elsinore. Dishonorable mentions go to Teoscar Hernandez and Danry Vasquez for their blunders in the outfield.
I disliked the Appel pick as well, but you need to be rooting for this guy. And just because a publication thinks he has a #2 ceiling, doesn't mean that it really his ceiling (similarly, like all players his real floor is to be a complete washout). FWIW, Gray has struggled (against our Hooks). Kris Bryant, OTH, looks like a star, and would probably be the best option in Chicago at 3B right now.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Springer puts one out to center field. About 400 feet. His second of the year.</p>— Evan Drellich (@EvanDrellich) <a href="https://twitter.com/EvanDrellich/statuses/455874486621851649">April 15, 2014</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Mark Appel tonight: 3IP 5H 3ER 4K 1HR Not exactly lighting the world on fire thus far... He really needs to pick it up.
Rio Ruiz just hit a 3-run homer to put Lancaster up 10-9 in the 8th inning in High Desert. Teoscar Hernandez is currently 3-5 with a pair of RBI doubles and an RBI single.
I've never really understood the concept of how a pitcher is a #1 or #2 is done in MLB. By definition, the top 30 pitchers in the league should be #1, and 31-60 #2, and so on. But I believe that it's more like saying whether a pitcher can be a #1 or #2 on a contender, right? So a #2 ceiling is like saying if he truly pans out, he's more like an Andy Pettite than a Roy Oswalt, to use old Astros comparisons.
Sure he's not "lighting it up" right now. But I think there are 2 big reasons why no one should fret over his start to the season. 1: he just had an appendectomy 2 months ago! He's still gotta work into pitching at his highest possible level. 2: It's Lancaster. Simple as that. No pitchers are supposed to pitch well in the Pacific league. Anything below a mid 4 era is fine in my opinion. Sure he's not at that right now but he would be if fully healthy. His stock hasn't taken a hit from a few starts coming off an appendectomy in a hitter friendly league. Let him get promoted to Corpus before we really start nitpicking at his stat lines.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Manager Tom Lawless said Springer was pulled because he had played every inning. It was cold and the game was lopsided. Logical</p>— Evan Drellich (@EvanDrellich) <a href="https://twitter.com/EvanDrellich/statuses/455914105669287937">April 15, 2014</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
So what are the odds that Singleton makes it to the majors before Springer? With the way of the Krause not looking good, there appears to be an opening unless Stros decide to try Guzman full time. OF hasn't looked good outside Fowler and part time Hoes, but still better than 1B.
