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It was a long and successful weekend for the Reds farmhands as they all prepared to meet the newcomers once this week’s MLB Draft comes around.
Friday
Louisville Bats, 8: Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs, 5
It was singles night in Louisville on Friday, but in a good way. Newcomer CFer Darnell “McDonald” Sweeney went 2-5, Jesse Winker went 2-4 with a walk, Rob “Eazy no-E” Brantly went 2-4, Sebastial “El” Elizalde went 3-4, Dilson “alive!” Herrera went 3-4 and Zach “all D” Vincej went 2-4. That’s a lot of singles!
The pitching was just alright. Domingo “Pescado” Tapia went 4IP, 5H, 3R, 2ER, 0BB and 2K in his start. He was followed by three 2-run innings by Barrett Astin and a shutout by whichever Shackleford is the one pitching for Louisville these days.
Pensacola Blue Wahoos, 2: Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp, 7
“Inspector” Deck McGuire had good peripherals with 7K vs. 2BB, but he gave up 5 ER in 6 innings against Jacksonville. Ariel “Curvball Mermaid” Hernandez pitched a scoreless inning with two hits.
Angelo “Gumby” Gumbs went 2-4 with a triple and Aristides “Briand” Aquino went 2-4. If you don’t see your favorite prospect here, it’s because they didn’t play well.
Daytona was shutout by a perfect game by Mother Nature
Dayton Dragons, 6: Fort Wayne TinCaps, 8
Andrew Jordan gave up 6 runs in 6 innings – despite a 7K/1BB ratio – and then Aaron “Milt” Fossas managed to give up 6 hits in 2IP.
John Sansone went 1-3 with 2BB, Taylor Trammell went 2-5 with a triple and Columbus’ Own Cassidy Brown hit a dinger. But Robert Bolaños was a Savage Detective and kept the Tin Caps in the win column.
Saturday
Louisville, 3: Lehigh Valley, 5
Cody Reed was done in by his defense in this one. Dueling with Mark Appel, Reeder went 6IP, 5H, 4ER, 0ER, 3BB, 8K. A (an?) Hernan Iribarren throwing error bottled things for ‘em. Also notable is that Tony Cingrani did a clean rehab inning (with a walk given up) and that the Iron Pigs have a dude named Hoby Milner pitching for ‘em. My sources tell me that Hoby is the son of Brian Milner, the only catcher to ever go straight from the draft to the big show (he got 2 starts in Toronto and never saw the bigs again).
I digress. Hernan Iribarren tried his damndest to make up for the error with a 2-5 night with 2 doubles. Jesse Winker went 1-3 and Sebastian Elizalde went 2-4. Cedric Hunter is both still in baseball and in the Cincinnati part of baseball, and he had a pinch-hit double.
Pensacola, 11: Jacksonville, 6
Hoorah for Alex “Danger” Powers’ 3 inning save, containing 5K, 1BB and 3H. But Keury Mella gave up 6H, 4ER, 4R, 3BB against 1K in his five-inning start.
A lot of hitting, as you can imagine. Tyler “Trammell” Goeddel went 2-6, Gabby “Verbal” Guerrero went 2-5, Eric “Big Poland” Jagielo went 2-2 with 2BB, and Robert “literally a pitcher” Stock had a 2-out, 2-RBI single.
Daytona, 4: Dunedin Blue Jays, 2
Vladimir “Whispering Death” Gutierrez continues his murderous ways. He had 6.1IP, 5H, 2R, 1ER, 1BB, 7K this weekend. Zack “Lazarus” Weiss had 1.2 IP with 2K in his return to dominance and Jake Ehret had a clean inning as well.
Daniel “Swingzo” Sweet led the offense this time with a 3-4 night with a double. Nick Senzel went 2-4 and Shed Long went 1-5 with a double.
Dayton Dragons, 4: Fort Wayne TinCaps, 2
Matt “You Can Call me Al” Blandino had a great 2017 debut. He was called up from extended spring training and put up 5IP, 5H, 2R, 2ER, 0BB, 6K to get the win. The Connecticut Kid out of Felician College pitched for the AZL Reds last year. Also props to Ryan “Petey” Hendrix for the 2-inning, 4-strikeout save.
On the offensive side of things, TJ “Say Hey” Friedl went 1-3 with a walk and a CS. John “So tan” Sansone went 0-2 with 2 walks and 2 runs. Luis “Hero of the 2003 World Series” Gonzalez hit a dinger.
Sunday
Louisville, 5: Lehigh Valley, 4
Bob Steve back. The long-term project had a 4-inning start, giving up no hits but three walks to go with two strikeouts. Jackson Stephens, who I was not aware was back in AAA, pitched a scoreless inning after him.
Remember Philip Ervin? The outfielder version of Robert Stephenson? He went 2-3 with a walk. Brandon Dixon went 2-3 with a walk...and a dinger! Hernan Iribarren went 2-5 as well. Jesse Winker was double-switched on and hit a single, bringing his average up to .321.
The Bats come to Columbus tonight, where Austin Ross will line up against Berkeley-born Julian Merryweather at 7:05 p.m. ET. I hope it won’t get rained out!
Pensacola, 3: Mobile Bay Bears, 2
Tyler “Ben Lively, basically” Mahle went 6.1IP, 5H, 2R, 2ER, 0BB, 3K for the win. Jimmy Herget went 2.2 clean IP for the save.
Ty Goeddel went 2-4 from the top of the lineup. Alex “The infielder version of Philip Ervin” went 2-4 with 2 doubles. Aristides Aquino went 1-4 with a dinger, which is the most Aquino line out there. Eric Jagielo went 1-3 with a walk.
The P-colds will stay in Mobile tonight, where Jose Lopez will face Alex Blackford at 7:30 p.m. ET.
It took Jesus “Eyes” Reyes 90 pitches to get through 3.2 innings, which meant quite the bullpen day for the Dragonas. Most notable was Austin Orewiler’s 2.2 one-hit, zero-walk, 5K innings. Also, Tanner Rainey blew it, giving up 3H, 1BB and 2 runs in his inning of work.
Jake Ehret got the win after throwing 2 pitches, because baseball.
Nick Senzel was 1-4 with a walk and a stolen base. Shed Long was 2-6 with a double and a dinger. That was a walk-off solo homer. The Legend of Long continues.
Wyatt Strahan and the Tortugas will face Dunedin again, even if the Blue Jays haven’t chosen a pitcher. It’s Belly Buster Monday at Jackie Robinson Ballpark, meaning it’s all-you-can-eat for $12. First pitch is 7:05 p.m. ET.
Dayton is 36-20. That seems crazy, right? Anyways, Scott Moss pitched his usual gem: 6IP, 1H, 0R, 2BB, 6K.
TJ Friedl went 3-3 with a walk, a triple and a home run. Not shabby! Taylor Trammell went 2-3 with a double and a stolen base.
Dayton goes to Lansing tonight. Wennington “Teen dream” Romero will face Mike “Rosie sucks” Ellenbest at 7:05 p.m. ET.