Herrera
Triple-A: The Bats lost to Columbus in 13 on an RBI single by former Bat Ray Olmedo. The win went to Mike Bacsik, the modern-day Tracy Stallard who who gave up Barry Bonds' 756th home run. Gary Majewski allowed the winning hit, but then we'd only be surprised if he didn't. My opinion is that Majewski and Todd Coffey are spies for another team sent to ruin the Reds' system. At that they're performing splendidly. Jay Bruce was 1 for 4, and Danny Ray Herrera was terrific in his first appearance in AAA: 2.1IP, 2H, 4K, 0R. A lot of the forgotten guys Wayne picked up might make his tenure look sunnier. UP NEXT: Columbus at Louisville, 1:15 today.
Double-A: Jose Castro scored Shaun Cumberland in the bottom of the 8th as the Lookouts beat Carolina 5-4. B.J. Szymanski busted out of his slump with 2 home runs -- one from each side of the plate -- for 5 on the season. I just noticed that when the Lookouts have Drew M. Anderson, Szymanski and Castro as the 6-7-8 hitters, like they did last night, that's three straight switch hitters. 25-year-old Ramon Ramirez had perhaps his best start since joining the rotation, striking out 8 in 5.2 innings. Josh Roenicke walked 3 and struck out 3 in 1.2 innings for the win. UP NEXT: Game 3 vs. Carolina, 2:15 today.
Watson
High A: Two hits each from Justin Turner, Chris Valaika and Drew Stubbs as Sarasota beat Dunedin 6-4. Stubbs had a double and a triple, and Valaika went 2 for 5 but saw his batting average go down. Rafael Gonzalez had a nice start in his Sarasota debut, allowing 3 hits and no runs in 5 innings. Sean Watson's peculiar season continued. He faced 6 batters, struck out 3, walked 1, allowed a home run and another hit. Of the 33 batters he's faced this season, he's struck out 11, walked 8 and allowed 4 home runs. That's 23/33 three true outcomes -- 70 percent. He also threw his first 2 wild pitches of the season. UP NEXT: Game 2, today at 1.
Low A: Dayton split a doubleheader with Kane County, losing 7-2 and winning 7-5. Matt Klinker was a clunker in Game 1 (hold your applause), and the Dragons got just 5 hits. In the nightcap, Zach Cozart was 2 for 3 and Todd Frazier doubled, and Jeff Jeffords threw 2.1 scoreless innings for the win. UP NEXT: Rubber match, today at 2.