minor lines 8/21/10

Highlight of the Night: Kendry Flores continues to indicate that there's more than one worthwhile pitcher in the AZL with five innings of one-run ball.  Also (And I'm scrounging here): Ryan Scoma gets on base all four times he comes up for the Volcanoes, and the big bats (Belt, Neal and Joseph) all hit home runs in their only hits of the night respectively.

Fresno Grizzlies (AAA): Colorado Springs 2, Fresno 0

1B Brett Pill - 1-3, 1 2B

SP Henry Sosa - 5.1 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 4 BB, 5 SO, L (7-7)

Not much to highlight in this game.  The Grizzlies got just three hits, and no one got on base more than once.  Pill has mostly been getting just a hit per game over the last couple of weeks, but his double was his third of the last week, giving him 31 on the season.  Sosa had his best start of the season, in terms of not giving up runs, but he also matched his season high in walks allowed (set three days ago).

Richmond Flying Squirrels (AA): Richmond 7, Bowie 6

RF Brandon Belt - 1-4, 1 R, 1 HR, 3 RBI, 1 BB

LF Thomas Neal - 1-3, 2 R, 1 HR, 2 RBI, 1 BB, 1 SO, 1 SF

3B Conor Gillaspie - 2-5, 1 R, 1 2B, 1 SO

SP Craig Westcott - 4.0 IP, 4 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 2 BB, 5 SO

RP Rafael Cova - 1.0 IP, 2 SO, S (21)

Brandon Belt picked up his second home run in three days.  He now has nearly as many home runs in the Eastern League (9) in 42 games, as he had in the hitting friendly California League (10) in 77 games.  He also has four walks against one strikeout in the last three games.  Neal has a five game hit steak going, but picked up his first home run of the month.  Neal is batting 6-for-18 (.333) with a .667 slugging percentage over those five games.  Gillaspie has four doubles in his last three games, giving him 24 on the season.  His .423 slugging percentage is third among Richmond regulars (second if you don’t count Belt).

Westcott had his shortest start of the last ten.  He has given up 13 earned runs in 15 1/3 innings over his last three starts.  Cova picked up his 21st save of the season.  Cova has a 3.12 ERA with six saves since the break.

San Jose Giants (High-A): Stockton 9, San Jose 6

2B Charlie Culberson - 2-4, 3 R, 1 BB, 2 SO

C Matt Klimas - 1-3, 1 R, 1 HR, 3 RBI

RF Juan Perez - 2-5, 1 RBI, 1 SO

SP Andrew Romo - 1.0 IP, 3 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 2 BB, 1 SO, 1 HR

Culberson had his first multi-hit game since August 27th.  Culberson is batting just .254 in August with 17 strikeouts against eight walks in 18 games, but picked up just his first walk since August 11th.  He has 10 strikeouts in that span.  In his last two starts, Klimas has picked up seven RBI, thanks in part to his three-run home run today.  In 22 games this season, he has ten total RBI between San Jose and Richmond.  Perez has five multi-hit games in the last ten, and his average is back up to an even .300.

Andrew Romo got pushed up to San Jose from Salem-Keizer...and ouch.  It was his first start, but five earned runs on three hits and two walks?  His overall ERA before this game was 3.28, and it’s now 4.42.

Augusta GreenJackets (Low-A): Lexington 7, Augusta 6

DH Tommy Joseph - 1-3, 1 R, 1 HR, 4 RBI, 2 SO, 1 SF

3B Chris Dominguez - 2-4, 1 R

CF Skyler Stromsmoe - 3-5, 2 R, 1 SO

SP Brian Irving - 5.0 IP, 8 H, 7 R, 7 ER, 1 BB, 4 SO, 1 HR

RP Jeremy Toole - 3.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 SO, 2 HBP

Joseph’s home run was his first since August 8th.  He now has 15 on the season, and 62 RBI in 104 games.  Dominguez broke a three-game hitless streak.  Skyler Stromsmoe had his first three-hit game in Augusta.  He has an overall .246 average with a .299 on-base percentage this season between Augusta and Richmond.

Irving had the roughest start of his season, and he now has a 4.92 ERA as a starter in 11 starts this season.  Toole made his third straight relief appearance, each longer than 2 2/3 innings.  He has a 0.75 ERA in four relief appearances, compared to a 4.62 ERA as a starter.

Salem-Keizer Volcanoes (Short-A): Yakima 5, Salem-Keizer 2

RF Ryan Scoma - 2-2, 2 BB, .322

SS John Eshleman - 1-3, 1 RBI

SP Edward Concepcion - 5.0 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 5 SO, 2 WP

Scoma now has four walks against six strikeouts in the month of August, giving him 19 walks and 31 strikeouts in 51 games.  Eshleman picked up just his second RBI with the Volcanoes in 14 games.  Concepcion had his best start since early July, with just one earned run.

AZL Giants (Rookie): Cubs 4, Giants 3

RF Rafael Rodriguez - 2-4, 1 R, .286

C Derek Dibbens - 2-3, 1 2B, 1 RBI

SP Kendry Flores - 5.0 IP, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 3 SO, L (5-3)

Rodriguez picked up his fourth multi-hit game in his last nine.  However, in 12 hits over those nine game, he has just one extra-base hit, a double.  In 39 games, his slugging percentage is .331 over a .250 batting average.  Dibbens’ double is his first extra-base hit of the season in 11 games.  Flores has a string of five starts of at least four innings with one earned run allowed or less, and seven of the last eight.  He’s given up 17 of his 20 earned runs allowed in his first four starts.  Since then he’s got a 0.75 ERA.

DSL Giants (Dominican): Nationals 5, Giants 3

2B Cesar Soto - 1-3, 1 SO

SP Luis Angeles - 5.0 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 2 SO

Not much to speak of in this game: the team got only seven baserunners, and no single batter got on base more than once.  Soto has a .382 batting average over his last ten games, despite his .226 batting average.  Angeles has five consecutive starts of five innings or less with allowing just one earned run or less.