The farm went 3-2 on the night. The Batavia game was cancelled. Let’s get to it.
Hitting:
- Nick Stavinoha went 2-for-4 w/ 1 RBI
- Shane Robinson, Andrew Brown (1 R), Tony Cruz and Peter Kozma (1 RBI) all singled
- Tyler Greene went 0-for-3 w/ 1 BB, 1 R and 1 SB
Pitching:
- Adam Ottavino had one of his best starts of the season: 7.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 4 BB and 3 K
- Chuckie Fick and Victor Marte (1 K) pitched one scoreless inning apiece to close it out
Corpus Christi 5 @ Springfield 3
Hitting:
- Eric Duncan (1 R) and Zack Cox both went 2-for-5
- Audry Perez went 2-for-4 w/ 2 2B, 1 R and 1 RBI
Pitching:
- Michael Blazek allowed 3 H, 2 R and 3 BB in his 7.0 inning start, he also had 6 K
- Jermaine Curtis made, what would seem to be, a momentary position shift to pitcher in order to record the final two outs of the game
Hitting:
- Starlin Rodriguez went 2-for-5 w/ 1 2B and 1 R
- Xavier Scruggs went 2-for-5 w/ 1 HR, 2 R and 1 RBI
- Robert Stock had a double for his only hit in 5 PA’s
- Niko Vasquez went 3-for-4 w/ 1 2B and 2 R
- Alan Ahmady went 1-for-3 w/ 1 2B, 2 BB, 2 R and 2 RBI
- Adam Melker had 3 RBI, he went 1-for-3 at the plate
Pitching:
- Tyler Lyons followed up his sterling performance with a very good one: 6.0 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 2 BB and 2 K
- Justin Smith and Justin Wright (1 K) pitched a scoreless inning apiece
- Keith Butler imploded in the ninth giving up 2 R on 1 H and 3 BB while only recording two outs
- Jesse Simpson recorded the final out
Hitting:
- Oscar Taveras went 1-for-5 w/ 1 2B
- Geoff Klein went 1-for-3 w/ 2 BB and 2 R
- Christopher Edmondson went 2-for-3 w/ 2 2B, 1 R and 1 RBI
Pitching:
- Unfortunately all of the kind words on our website did not help Ryan Copeland out tonight, he went 5.0 IP that included 9 H, 5 R, 1 BB and 5 K
- Angel De Jesus got bombed to the tune of 7 runs in 2.0 IP
- Hector Corpas recorded the last three outs without the flare of his predecessors, his line included only 1 K
Johnson City 6 @ Elizabethton 4
Hitting:
- Matthew Williams went 1-for-4 w/ 1 2B and 1 R
- Tyler Rahmatulla (I think I am falling in love) went 3-for-3 w/ 2 2B, 1 R and 2 RBI
- Roberto De La Cruz went 1-for-4 w/ 1 2B and 1 R
- Neal Pritchard went 1-for-3 w/ 1 3-run shot and one other RBI
- Ronard Castillo went 2-for-4 w/ 1 2B
Pitching:
- Jose Pasen was a K machine: 6.0 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 0 BB and 9 K, Jose has a K/9 of just over 8 on the season
- Michael Santana did the near impossible, he gave up an unearned run without allowing a hit or a walk, he pitched 1.0 inning
- Logan Billbrough went 1.1 scoreless innings that included 2 H, 1 BB and 2 K
- Heath Wyatt recorded the final two outs for the save
Entries (RSS)
Bad loss for the S-Cards got popped for 4 RBI and 2 XBH from T.J. Steele off the bench who had a .555 OPS In 407 PA coming in but owns LHP taking Greenwood deep for a 3 run HR to go down 3-1, Luckily old friend Blake King walked the park in the 9th to let Springfield tie thing up to send it to extras. NW Arkansas won so the Cardinals or 3 game out.
Nice game from Ottavino despite the 4 BB’s. Wish he’d have a few more of these.
Before the all star break Ottavino was the best pitcher in Memphis, top 5 in the PCL in strikeouts and ERA. He leads Memphis in strikeouts and has for 99% of the year so please give him the respect he deserves!
I watches last night he was awesome.
Send him up, he deserves his roster spot back, they should either use him or lose him.
You should have watched the previous 4 games where he gave up 25 ER in 12.2 IP!
Fick and Marte are quite the combo in the backend of the Memphis bullpen. Fick now leads the PCL in holds with 12 and Marte is second in saves. Marte seems a little old, but Fick is 25 with a 3.0 GO/AO. Duncan has to be loving that. This is a protection year for him and should be protected. Free Chuckie Fick from Memphis and the Azru hatred!
I’m excited that Cox is continuing to hit, but I must say I’m beginning to find his lack of power a little troubling. It’s great that he’s hitting .312 in AA in his first full year but with an ISO less than that of Ryan Jackson and a SLG of just .428 in one of the best hitter’s parks/leagues in the minors he still has a long way to go.
That said, the fact that he’s fallen out of my top 5 says more about the performance of the rest of the system than it does about any failings on his part.
The thing I’m liking about Cox is that, at three different levels including the AFL, he’s gotten off to a dismal start and then made whatever adjustments he needed to to succeed at that level. It appears that he works hard to adjust and improve. It may be that he’ll be able to concentrate on improving his defense and power as he goes along. He’s also slipped out of my top five for the same reason you mention.
I don’t think there’s much utility in breaking up Cox’s year like that. You could just as easily break it up in other ways — Cox has had a .525 SLG% since the AA all-star break (last 160 ABs, .137 ISO) and he had a .439 SLG% in the hitter’s graveyard of Palm Beach. It’d be better just to cite his yearlong line of .320/.380/.432 and recognize he’s played in both hitter-friendly and hitter-unfriendly parks, while jumping levels. He’s also the youngest position player in SPR.
Rahmatulla makes it hard to recall the “it’s just johnson city” mantra.
I know. Still have to see how he does in QC before getting too excited. He’s 21. Though it doesn’t always happen, 21 year olds should own rookie league.
I dont care about his age (he’s younger than almost 1/3 of the league) but I looked at the Appy leaders over the last 6 years. Almost none of them are currently prospects and the ones that are were in the Appy at a younger age. Almost none of them were MI though so maybe there is hope.
The wind must not have been blowing out in SPFLD.
Nothing about Jordan Swagerty promoted to Springfield.
http://blogs.news-leader.com/cardinals/2011/08/12/airports-closure-may-hurt-cardinals-tonight/
Swagerty is on the Springfield roster #18.
So happy for Curtis who is playing much better and hitting the ball well in Springfield. Not anyone’s prospect but not only has he hit when asked to play, but he now has become a backup pitcher for the pitching staff. Last night he closed the game out and did well. I wish him the best. Cox is hitting much better and that’s a great sign however his defense continues to be an issue as others have written. He has time to improve and has a good coaching staff to help him, but if I’m not mistaken, this is a position that he has played all his career and in college. So I don’t think 3rd base is nothing knew too him other then it being the minors leagues. I still think Matt Carpenter is a better 3rd baseman. Maybe they should try him on 2nd.
Scruggs is hitting well in PB. Way to go.