2013 Astros Minor League Thread

Joe Bircher with an excellent outing as he tagged in for Velasquez as he tossed 4 scoreless, allowing 2 hits and striking out 4.

 

High Desert CF Jamal Austin is the older brother of former Astros prospect Jay Austin.

 

Folty serves up a grand slam

 

and now an inside-the-park homer. Andrew Aplin was hurt on the play.

 

Aplin remained in the game, though.

 

Fontana solo shot!

 

Well there's something you don't see every day... a 2-run sac fly from Preston Tucker.

 

DeShields RBI triple! And he scores as the cutoff throw gets away from the High Desert 3B!

 

http://bbs.clutchfans.net/showpost.php?p=7794467&postcount=166

 

Thursday's Top Story

Finally!



Pretty good way to open up the minor league season.

Recap

OKC and Memphis was postponed due to rain. They'll play a doubleheader beginning at 5:05 tomorrow, and the first challenge to the tandem starting system arises. What the hell will they do, considering that minor league doubleheaders are 7 innings?

Corpus topped Springfield 3-2, as George Springer sent a 2-run shot out in the bottom of the 3rd that broke a scoreless tie. Rene Garcia went 3-3 with 2 doubles and scored twice. Domingo Santana and Michael Burgess had doubles. Ross Seaton went his requisite 5 innings and allowed 2 runs on 4 hits while walking 1 and striking out 2. Jake Buchanan tagged in and threw 3 scoreless, allowing 3 hits. Jason Stoffel, who for some reason is still in Corpus, got the save as he struck out 2 in a 1-2-3 9th.

In a game which lasted 3 hours and 45 minutes, Lancaster began the defense of their California League championship by outlasting High Desert 10-9. The Jethawks put up 2, 4, and 2 in the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th innings respectively.

The least suprising story of the game was that Nolan Fontana managed to draw a multi-walk game. He reached base safely in all of his plate appearances. He went 2-2 with a 2-run homer in the 3rd, singled, stole a base, walked twice, and was hit by a pitch. Everyone had at least one hit except for Andrew Aplin, who still scored twice; his second run in the 8th came off a balk and proved to be the game-winner, and Preston Tucker, who hit a 2-run sac fly in the 3rd. No, that's not a typo. That's what really happened. Tucker added another RBI on a force out in the 8th which tied the game at 9.

Matt Duffy kicked things off with a 2-run homer in the 2nd. Tyler Heineman went 3-5 with a double, Delino DeShields was 2-5 with a double and a triple, Zach Johnson was 2-4 with a double, and Drew Muren added a triple. Muren also fired a laser from right field to third that did not bounce once.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>A <a href="https://twitter.com/search/%23JetHawks">#JetHawks</a> batter reached base by either a walk or hit by pitch in 8 of 9 innings tonight.</p>&mdash; Jason Schwartz (@jasondschwartz) <a href="https://twitter.com/jasondschwartz/status/320054094322614272">April 5, 2013</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Pitching-wise.... well, it's the California League. Mike Foltynewicz got knocked around. He only lasted 2 2/3 innings, as the Mavericks lit him up for 5 in the 3rd. He served up a grand slam to Kevin Rivers, and then Steven Baron followed that up with an inside-the-park homer. Both homers occurred with 2 outs. Besides those blasts, he allowed 4 other hits, walked 4, and struck out 4. Carlos Quevedo held down the fort, pitching 2 1/3 scoreless, allowing a hit and striking out 1. Foltynewicz's partner, Alex Gillingham, didn't fare too well either, as he gave up 3 runs on 5 hits in 1 2/3, walking 3 and striking out 2. Blair Walters, despite relinquishing the lead in the 8th, got the win. He allowed a run on 2 hits and struck out 1 in 1 1/3. Travis Ballew walked 2, but was able to pick up the save, striking out 1.

Quad Cities put up a 5-spot in the 2nd on Pierce Johnson, and they ended up winning comfortably, 7-2 over Kane County. Roberto Peña went 2-5 with 2 RBI singles, and his first RBI single opened the scoring. After Jordan Scott singled and Joe Sclafani got hit by a pitch, Teoscar Hernandez legged out an infield single that scored Peña. Scott scored as Cougars shortstop Marco Hernandez's throw to 1st was errant. Hernandez would go on to steal 2nd, and Carlos Correa sent him and Sclafani home with a 2-run double. Correa would add an RBI single in the 4th. Peña's 2nd RBI single came in the 7th. Vince Velasquez had a solid opening start to the season, as he went 5 innings and allowed 2 runs (both on a 2-run homer) on 3 hits, walked 1, and struck out 5. His partner, Joe Bircher, was excellent, allowing 2 hits and striking out 4 in the final 4 innings. He was credited with a save.

Three Stars

A lot of strong performances to open up the season. Really hard to whittle it down to 3.

3.



Carlos Correa, SS, Quad Cities
2-5, 2B, 3 RBI

2.



Joe Bircher, LHP, Quad Cities
Save (1), 4 IP, 2 H, 4 K

1.



Nolan Fontana, SS, Lancaster
2-2, 2-R HR (1), 2 BB, SB, HBP

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>Congrats to Nolan Fontana. First player to receive the "You're a Really Good Player" Player of the game award. <a href="http://t.co/mgmJBRZeRd" title="http://twitter.com/MorganEnsberg/status/320053021612589056/photo/1">twitter.com/MorganEnsberg/…</a></p>&mdash; Morgan Ensberg (@MorganEnsberg) <a href="https://twitter.com/MorganEnsberg/status/320053021612589056">April 5, 2013</a></blockquote>
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Honorable Mentions

Rene Garcia
George Springer
Roberto Peña
Matt Duffy
Preston Tucker
Delino DeShields

Goat

No Goat. First game, so everyone's exempt.

Looking Ahead

OKC will look to get underway as they play 2 in Memphis. The first game is scheduled to get underway at 5:05. Jordan Lyles will take the mound; we'll see whether the tandem rules are in effect.

Corpus and Springfield are back at it tomorrow at 7:05. Nick Tropeano and Bobby Doran will face off against Scott McGregor.

Lancaster and High Desert will play game 2 of their 4-game set tomorrow at 7 Pacific. Brady Rodgers and Chris Devenski will be teaming up.

Quad Cities and Kane County will get back together at 6:30, with Lance McCullers and Dan Minor taking on Tayler Scott.