Sunday Stories Go away, Brian Bass. More dramatics in Corpus... And some in Lancaster, too. Nothing too dramatic in Auburn, as Tri-City is still winning. But there was some in Bluefield, where Greeneville was the recipient of some good fortune. Recap OKC got torched by Omaha 11-1, as the Storm Chasers pounded Brian Bass to the tune of 9 runs on 11 hits in 4 innings. Bass walked 2 and struck out 2. Angel Sanchez's RBI single was the only run for the Redhawks. Corpus found themselves down 6-3 to Midland, then some really crazy stuff happened. Namely, a Midland bullpen meltdown in the bottom of the 8th that allowed the Hooks to score 6, and was capped off by a Jordan Kreke grand slam. Boy, nice time to hit your first home run of the season. Anyway, Corpus turned the game upside down and got the 9-6 win. Kody Hinze had a 2-run shot (11) in the 2nd. Drew Locke went 3-4 with an RBI single in the 3rd and kicked off the huge 8th-inning rally with a 2-run single. Robbie Grossman and Jose Martinez had 2 hits apiece. Asher Wojciechowski wasn't exactly on point, as he labored through 5+ innings while leaving 2 runners on in the 6th for Kevin Chapman, who allowed both of them to score, and for good measure, allowed 2 runs of his own. Wojo threw 98 pitches (52 strikes) in his outing, and allowed 2 runs (both inherited) on 4 hits, walked 3, and struck out 5. Chapman got 2 outs in the 6th, technically allowing 4 runs. Henry Villar served up a 2-run homer in the 8th, the only runs and hit he allowed in 2 1/3 innings. He got the win by virtue of the Hooks' 6-run 8th. Jason Stoffel got a K in a 1-2-3 9th for his 19th save. Lancaster avoided the sweep by topping Inland Empire 5-4, as Erik Castro's solo shot (16) in the 7th was the difference. Rafael Valenzuela went 2-3 with a 2-run homer in the 6th, his 3rd of the season. He also scored on an error in the 1st for Lancaster's 1st run. Carlos Perez added an RBI single. Bobby Doran went 6 2/3 innings and allowed 4 runs (3 earned) on 7 hits (2-run homer) and fanned 5. Andrew Robinson got the win with 2 1/3 scoreless, allowing a hit and striking out 2. Not much happened in Lexington as they were blanked 6-0 by Hagerstown. Brandon Meredith went 2-4 and has raised his average to .273 for the season. He's hitting .338/.418/.662 with 4 homers and 12 RBI this month. In a spot start, Tom Shirley allowed 2 runs on 3 hits, walked 2, and struck out 4 in 3 innings. Mitch Lambson, the 3rd Legends pitcher to work, threw 2 2/3 scoreless innings of relief, allowing 2 hits and striking out 3. Tri-City won again. Nothing to see here. In this latest installment of the Tri-City New York-Penn League Domination Tour, they battered Auburn 9-4. Everyone in the lineup had a hit. Catfish Elkins and Joe Sclafani each drove in 1. Andrew Aplin went 4-5 with a solo blast (4) in the 1st and an RBI single in the 4th. After Aplin went deep, Jobduan Morales added a solo shot of his own (5). He also had an RBI single, too. It happened right after Aplin's RBI single. Dan Gulbransen went 1-3 with 2 RBI. Joe Bircher got his 1st pro win, allowing 3 runs (1 earned) on 5 hits in 5 innings, walking 3 and striking out 4. John Neely allowed an unearned run on 5 hits in 3 innings, striking out 2. Jeremiah Meiners walked 1 and fanned 2 in the 9th. Greeneville just squeaked by Bluefield 8-7 in their series opener, as Jean Carlos Batista came through with an RBI single in the top of the 9th. The Blue Jays made sure that Michael Feliz's introduction to the Appalachian League was a rough one, as they tagged him for 5 runs (4 earned) on 7 hits in 3 2/3 innings. He walked 3 and struck out 3. Ariel Ovando hit a 2-run shot in the 2nd for his 4th homer of the season. Ernesto Genoves followed suit in the 3rd with a solo shot, his 3rd. D'Andre Toney went 3-5 with a 2-run single in the 4th. Brian Blasik added a 2-run single of his own in the 6th. Christian Garcia allowed a run on 4 hits in 2 innings, walked 1, and struck out 3. Andrew Walter served up a solo homer to Dickie Thon that tied the game in the 7th. That was the only run and hit he allowed in 1 1/3 innings while fanning 3. Jordan Jankowski improved to 4-0 on the season by retiring all 6 guys he faced, striking out 4 of them.
Any chance we've found something great in Jankowski? The k/9 is wonderful, but the (very few) scouting reports I could find by googling him said he operates in the 88/89 range while touching 92. Is he really more of a pitchability guy, or has he added some velocity recently (a la Tropeano or Aaron West)?
If anyone's interested, Jio Mier started in place of Carlos Correa in GCL action this morning. He's currently 0-1 with a walk. I believe this is his first action in over two months.
Baseball America's Weekend Report BA's Weekend report had several Stros mentions. Some good, some bad (lookin at you Blair Walters). I didn't even know a negative game score was possible
Heads up. Lancaster has a rare noon game (PST) today. So it'll be starting in a few minutes Houston-time. Nick Tropeano takes the hill against Taylor Siemens and the Visalia Rawhide.
David Rollins will make his Astros debut for Lexington in the Legends' series opener in Asheville tonight.
Mr. Fontana just smashed a 3-run shot in the 1st in Asheville. Zach Johnson sent a 2-run homer out earlier in the inning.
Stoffel just shut the door on the Midland Rockhounds. Corpus Christi Hooks: 3 Midland Rockhounds: 2 Rob Rasmussen put together a quality start: 7.1 ip, 5 h, 2 r, 2 er, 1 bb, 7 k New acquisition Bobby Borchering DH'ed tonight and went 1/3 with one rbi, one walk and two strike-outs.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>The <a href="https://twitter.com/search/%23Marlins"><s>#</s><b>Marlins</b></a> say they just aren't getting the offers they want for Josh Johnson, and are begging teams to take 1B Carlos Lee off their hands</p>— Bob Nightengale (@BNightengale) <a href="https://twitter.com/BNightengale/status/230112421900075008" data-datetime="2012-07-31T01:27:31+00:00">July 31, 2012</a></blockquote> <script src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> How did Luhnow get two decent prospects for Lee?!?!
don't know what exactly the marlins were expecting out of lee...he's performed like the exact player that he was before they acquired him.
Fun fact -- Jimmy Paredes is 100 games into the season and has 18 walks (he got another one today). Nolan Fontana reached 18 walks his 12th game, and is currently at 30 walks in 21 games.
They were hoping to get hot and back in the playoff hunt. Owing him only the minimum, he should be easy to move.
