Highlights from Connecticut! Er...um, well, the highlights weren't here in CT... (A) The team in Salem-Keizer combines for ten doubles, including three players (Dominguez, Lollis, and Anders) with two doubles; (B) Ben Copeland goes 3-for-4 with a double and a stolen base in a losing effort in Fresno; (C) Scott Barnes gets his tenth win, going only five innings but striking out a two-month low (!) in seven with no walks.
Fresno Grizzlies (Triple-A): Sacramento 10, Fresno 7 (12 Innings)
RP Steve Palazzolo - 1.0 IP, 3 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 0 BB, 0 SO, 5.27 ERA
Game Notes: Fresno just can't beat Sacramento. Fresno fell behind 4-0 after four innings, but came back in the fifth. Copeland led off with a triple, and scored on an error on Jake Wald's ground ball. Velez then had a 2-RBI single, and after a Timpner single, Downs hit a 3-run home run, followed by Guzman's home run. The result was a seven-run inning, and a 7-4 lead. However, Sacramento scratched back, and a two-run home run in the top of the ninth off of Alex Hinshaw tied the game. The game stayed tied until the 12th. In that inning, Palazzolo gave up back-to-back doubles, hit a batter, and then gave up a two-RBI single to give the Rivercats their winning margin.
Game Notes: Fresno just can't beat Sacramento. Fresno fell behind 4-0 after four innings, but came back in the fifth. Copeland led off with a triple, and scored on an error on Jake Wald's ground ball. Velez then had a 2-RBI single, and after a Timpner single, Downs hit a 3-run home run, followed by Guzman's home run. The result was a seven-run inning, and a 7-4 lead. However, Sacramento scratched back, and a two-run home run in the top of the ninth off of Alex Hinshaw tied the game. The game stayed tied until the 12th. In that inning, Palazzolo gave up back-to-back doubles, hit a batter, and then gave up a two-RBI single to give the Rivercats their winning margin.
Team Notes: Fresno has gone 3-8 against their division rivals. They have five games left to play...Copeland went 9-for-22 with a triple and a home run in the five-game Sacramento series. He also drew two walks and stole a base...Guzman now has a 15-game hitting streak. He is 24-for-59 with 6 doubles, a triple and two home runs on the streak...Downs hit his first home run since his return to Fresno. He has nine RBI in nine games since coming back...Ray made his first start of the season, and lasted less innings than he does in some relief appearances, such as when he went three innings back on July 3rd...In contrast, both Hammond and Kinney made their first relief appearances. Hammond has a 6.79 ERA over his last ten appearances with 25 walks against 22 strikeouts. Kinney has a 5.61 ERA over his last ten outings, but has 36 strikeouts against 12 walks...Edlefsen made his second appearance in Triple-A since being promoted from San Jose. Overall, his ERA is 1.48 over three levels...Hinshaw allowed his first runs since June 20th. He still has a 1.84 ERA over his last ten games...Palazzolo has allowed runs in each of his last five appearances, collecting an 8.64 ERA over that period.
Connecticut Defenders (Double-A): Trenton 9, Connecticut 2
Game Notes: The Defenders got into a really bad start. Two errors in the first inning by Crawford led to one unearned run, although Connecticut came back with two unearned runs in the bottom half. The big inning, though, was the second inning, as McNiven gave up a double, single, hit batter and a triple on consecutive batters. After a sacrifice fly, a single and a home run iced a six-run inning for the Thunder. That would be enough, as the Defenders would be unable to mound more than a single hit in any inning for offense.
Team Notes: Martinez-Esteve had his first multi-hit game since July 4th...Mooney is batting 5-for-20 with two doubles over his last ten games, but he has only six starts in that span...McBryde has hits in nine of his last ten games, but has only one hit in seven of those games...Bond is batting .436 over his last ten games, and had only his second game in the last eight without multiple hits...Crawford has 11 strikeouts over his last ten games. In 58 games in Connecticut, he has 60 strikeouts and thirteen walks...McNiven allowed the most runs he had since May 13th. In the seven games between then and this one, he had given up eight runs in 27 innings, a 2.67 ERA...Griffin has struck out 51 in 43 innings this season in relief, with 16 walks...In June and July, Joaquin has a 1.33 ERA, after posting a 4.56 ERA in the season's first two months...Otero heads into the All-Star break having allowed no runs in his last seven games...Paterson posted a 2.51 ERA in June, but is unscored upon in three July appearances.
San Jose Giants (A-Advanced): San Jose 5, Visalia 4
CF Darren Ford - 2-5, 1 R, 1 3B (3), 2 RBI, 2 SO, .239
PH-LF Shane Jordan - 2-2, 1 RBI, .210
1B C.J. Ziegler - 2-4, 1 R, 1 2B (1), .211
SS Ryan Lormand - 1-3, 2 R, 1 RBI, 1 BB, 1 SO, .256
2B Nick Noonan - 1-4, 1 R, 1 3B (6), 1 SO, .242
SP Scott Barnes - 5.0 IP, 8 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 0 BB, 7 SO, 3.07 ERA, W (10-3)
RP Trey Webb - 1.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 SO, 0.00 ERA, H (2)
RP Dan Turpen - 0.1 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 SO, 1.36 ERA, H (8)
RP Dan Runzler - 1.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 SO, 0.00 ERA, H (2)
RP Mike Musgrave - 0.1 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 1 SO, 6.75 ERA, H (1)
RP Wilmin Rodriguez - 0.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 SO, 1.86 ERA, S (2)
Game Notes: San Jose took the lead in the third, as Ford singled home Lormand, who walked earlier in the inning. Visalia took the lead in the fifth, with back-to-back RBI doubles to make the game 3-1. San Jose responded in the sixth, with Ziegler started off the inning with a double, and scoring on a Lormand single. Ford then tripled him home, and scored on a Jordan single. A Noonan triple in the top of the eighth led to an important insurance run, as Musgrave gave up a double and two singles to give Visalia their fourth run in the ninth, but Rodriguez came in with the bases loaded, and got a double play to end the game.
Team Notes: Ford has gone 12-for-30 in his last eight games, with 12 RBI in that span...Jordan hadn't played since July 6th before coming into today's game as a pinch hitter...Zigler has gone 4-for-8 in his two games back with San Jose for his third stint, with a double and a home run. He had no hits in the four games from his previous two stints...Lormand got his first RBI since June 17th...Noonan has hit for the cycle in the last four games, going 4-for-14...Barnes actually had his lowest strikeout total since May, only once having as low as seven strikeouts in a start since the start of June...Webb made his second appearance in San Jose, after posting a 1.26 ERA in 24 relief appearances...Turpen has given up 16 hits in his last 9 2/3 innings pitched...Runzler has 12 strikeouts and two walks in his last 11 2/3 innings...Rodriguez got his first save since early June.
Augusta GreenJackets (A): No Game Scheduled
Augusta had one of those rare Sundays with no games scheduled, as did the rest of the South Atlantic League. After losing five of their last six games, Augusta is back in fifth place at 8-9 in the second half. They will pick the season up on Monday against the league's leading team, the West Virginia Power, for a four game set at home.
Augusta League Leaders:
Doubles: Josh Mazzola (19, T-11th with six players)
Triples: Dom Duggan (5, T-10th with eight players)
RBI: Josh Mazzola (59, 2nd [Yes, Really])
SO: Josh Mazzola (81, T-9th with three players)
ERA: Ari Ronick (2.78, 13th)
SHO: Kyle Nicholson (1, T-1st with five players)
IP: Kyle Nicholson (98.1, 3rd)
SO: Eric Surkamp (97, 5th)
WHIP: Ari Ronick (1.11, 4th), Kyle Nicholson (1.12, T-5th with three players)
Salem-Keizer Volcanoes (Short Season-A): Salem-Keizer 15, Yakima 2
1B Chris Dominguez - 3-6, 3 R, 2 2B (2), 4 RBI, 1 SO, 1 SB (1), 1 E (1), .500
RF Ryan Lollis - 3-6, 2 R, 2 2B (2), 2 RBI, .355
DH Luke Anders - 3-4, 2 2B (5), 2 RBI, 2 BB, .260
2B Joe Weeks - 3-6, 1 R, 1 2B (1), 3 RBI, .250
LF Dan Cook - 2-5, 2 R, 1 2B (7), 1 BB, .307
SP Jeremy Toole - 2.1 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 3 BB,4 SO, 0.90 ERA
RP Javier Hernandez - 3.2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 SO, 5.60 ERA
RP Chris Gloor - 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 SO, 0.00 ERA
RP Jose Casilla - 1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 SO, 1.23 ERA
Game Notes: This game didn't turn into a blowout until late, and Yakima even led for half of it. Yakima had built a 2-0 lead after three innings, but in the sixth, Dominguez and Anders each doubled to tie the game at 2. In the seventh, back-to-back doubles by Cook and Lollis with one out keyed a four run inning. That would be enough, but in the 9th, five doubles along with four singles led to a huge nine run inning.
Team Notes: Dominguez has only made two starts in Salem-Keizer after eight games in the AZL. He's gone 5-for-10 with two doubles, a home run and seven RBI. Overally, he's 16-for-44 (.408) with four doubles and three home runs...Lollis had his first doubles in 15 games at Salem-Keizer, but he still has as many triples (3) as doubles and home runs (1) combined...Anders had his first game with more than one hit since June 27th...Weeks has gone 5-for-10 in his last two games, with a double and home run...Cook has five doubles in his last seven games, as well as a home run...Toole made his second start, and gave up his first run of the season. Before this game, he'd given up two hits in 7 2/3 innings over four games...Hernandez, meanwhile, had his first appearance without giving up a run, which was also his first relief appearance of the season...Gloor has been dominating so far this season, giving up just two hits, one walk while striking out ten in eight innings over five appearances...Casilla hadn't appeared since July 3rd, when he gave up his first run. That appearance was also the only game in which he'd given up baserunners at all.
AZL Giants (Rookie): No Game Scheduled
It's so odd to say the Giants are in the East, but the rookie GIants are indeed second place in the AZL East division. At 8-7, they are 3.5 games behind the league-leading Angels at 12-4. The season picks up with the A's and then the Brewers, and on Wednesday, a pseudo- doubleheader against those Angles, with the firt game being a completion of the June 30th game having been suspended due to power issues.
League Leaders
AVG: Julio Izturis (.400, T-3rd with one player); Leonardo Ochoa (.378, 5th)
OBP: Julio Izturis (.467, 5th); Leonardo Ochoa (.440, 10th)
SLG: Leonardo Ochoa (.556, 10th)
OPS: Leonardo Ochoa (.996, 7th); Julio Izturis (.967, 10th)
3B: Leonardo Ochoa (2, T-8th with 13 players)
SB: Julio Izturis & Evan Crawford (4, T-15th with give players)
ERA: Cameron Lamb (2.37, 8th)
IP: Cameron Lamb (19, T-8th with four players)
BB: Edward Concepcion (9, T-6th with five players)
SO: Cameron Lamb (25, T-5th with one player), Edward Concepcion (22, 10th)
WHIP: Cameron Lamb (1.11, 8th)