Down on the Farm…First & Usuals!

AAA OKC, AA Tulsa, and Single A Ontario all won their games last night.  The Comets scored six times in the sixth inning to beat Reno. The Tulsa Drillers got a big night from  Josue De Paula, and the Ontario Tower Buzzers scored eight runs in the ninth inning to run away from Inland Empire. Great Lakes entered the 8th inning down 5-0, then had the bases loaded with just 1-out down just 5-4, but struck out twice and couldn’t quite get over the hump.

Alex Freeland had another multi-hit performance, Josue De Paula hit a home run and a double, Mike Sirota got his first hit in AA, and then Emil Morales got his first hit at High A with Great Lakes. Easton Shelton had a big night with 4 RBIs, including a home run to dead center, and Joendry Vargas is getting hot.  Cole Irvin, the lefty veteran, turned in a GREAT start for AAA OKC, while Carson Hobbs and Cam Day were efficient, if not electric, out of the pen for Tulsa. And then, again, the Loons fought back, but couldn’t quite catch up.

Hobbs threw 15 strikes out of the 23 pitches he threw, and, while Cam Day isn’t striking out as many hitters as he has in the past, he’s been much more efficient, and his stuff is proving to be good enough to allow him to do that. 

Oklahoma City Comets (25-20) — Six-Run Sixth Powers Comets Past Reno

The Oklahoma City Comets broke open a scoreless game with a massive six-run sixth inning and went on to beat the Reno Aces 6-3 Tuesday night at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark.

Alex Freeland and recently acquired Tyler Fitzgerald both went 2-for-3, Kike Hernandez had an RBI triple, and Noah Miller added an RBI single. Miller has been playing very good offense, hitting .316 so far in May, and that’s to match his ELITE defense. His bat speed looks great, he’s confident, and he’s playing well.

Cole Irvin turned in a great outing, tossing six shutout innings while allowing only four hits and striking out six. Irvin had a really good sinker/cutter combo working, and the cutter was a particularly good pitch. Carlos Duran was DURTY. He was throwing a shorter slider that had cutter tendencies, and pairing that with a hard-turning and sinking sinker. He stuff looked REALLY good and that led him to two scoreless innings before Keynan Middleton had one of those nights, allowing three runs in the ninth. Middleton has not been great, but he’s been better than what he was last night. His stuff just looked flat.

Freeland raised his batting average to .429 with OKC, and his OPS to 1.393, and while James Tibbs III did not get a hit, he did walk twice and is still hitting .310 with an OPS of 1.033 and a WRC+ of 160.

Tulsa Drillers (23-17) — Josue De Paula Drives In Four in Comeback Win

The Tulsa Drillers erased an early 3-0 deficit and defeated Wichita 7-5 behind a four-RBI night from Josue De Paula, pure electricity from Kendall George, thunder from Zyhir Hope, and then great bullpen work from Carson Hobbs and Cam Day.

De Paula hit a game-tying two-run homer and a double on the evening, and the home run was his sixth of the season.  DePaula is hitting .275 but his BB% and K% are exactly the same, both at 15.3%. Zyhir Hope also had an RBI double into right-center and had 2 hits on the night, raising his average to .270, with an OPS of .813. His ISO has risen significantly lately, so his power vs. swing and miss tradeoff is climbing into the “very good” category.

Kendall George beat out a fairly routine ground ball to the 2nd baseman and made it from home to first in less than 4 seconds, something he routinely does. He’s impacting games using his “carrying tool”, his speed. He stole his 20th base and is 20 for 22 in stolen base attempts on the year. Sean McLain, whose off to a fairly slow start, had two hits and scored twice. Mike Sirota also got his first AA hit on an infield hit to the shortstop’s right. 

The bullpen locked things down, as Carson Hobbs and Cam Day were both very impressive and combined for three scoreless innings to close out the win.

Patrick Copen struggled as the starting pitcher, giving up 4 runs in 4 innings, and that continues a trend for him lately. Just a patch, though, he’ll work through it, probably starting with his next start.

Great Lakes Loons (25-14) — Late Rally Falls Short 

The Great Lakes Loons nearly erased a five-run deficit in the 8th inning, but fell short and ultimately fell 6-4 to the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers at Dow Diamond.

The starter for the Loons, Sterling Patick, is going to be a rock star, but had a rough night, giving up 4 runs in 5 innings. Isaac Ayon did a good job relieving him, especially considering he was making his High A debut. Ayon gave up 2 runs in 4 innings and had 4Ks and gave up 3 hits.

The Loons are loading the bases with walks from Nico Perez, Eduardo Quintero, and Charles Davalan, and the first hit for Emil Morales at the High A level on what was, in essence, a swinging bunt. The pitcher, Yerlin Rodriguez, threw it somewhere where first base wasn’t, the Loons circled the bases and looked poised to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. But those jaws closed when Gio Cueto, who is off to a very slow start, and Jose Hernandez both struck out. When the dust settled, the Loons were still down 5-4, then Braylon Payne added a home run in the top of the 9th off of Ayon, and that was that. chopped an infield single that plated two runs after a throwing error by reliever Yerlin Rodriguez. Eduardo Guerrero then lined an RBI single into left before Samuel Munoz followed with another RBI single to cut the deficit to 5-4.

Eduardo Guerrero continued swinging the bat well, finishing with two hits, including a double and an RBI. Samuel Munoz also collected two hits and an RBI, while Nico Perez and Eduardo Quintero each reached base multiple times.s.

Sterling Patick battled, but was doomed by two home runs, 4 runs in total, while Isaac Ayon did a good job in relief in his High A debut.

Ontario Tower Buzzers (19-20) — Eight-Run Ninth Inning Buries Inland Empire

The Ontario Tower Buzzers scored eight runs in the ninth inning and ended up stomping Inland Empire 12-4.

Ontario trailed 4-3 entering the seventh before Brendan Tunink drove home Mairoshendrick Martinus with a game-tying RBI fielder’s choice, and then in the ninth, they put up the game-winning snowman to win 12-4. 

Martinus reached to begin the inning on a throwing error to begin the 8-run inning, then Kellon Lindsey and Tunink both had singles. Tunink’s RBI single gave Ontario a 5-4 lead before Ching-Hsien Ko added another RBI single to make it 6-4.

Joendry Vargas and Landyn Vidourek both worked bases-loaded walks, Easton Shelton lined a two-run single into center, Anson Aroz ripped a two-run double, and Mairo Martinus capped the rally with a two-run single to push the lead to 12-4.

Shelton had a BIG night with a 2-run homer, and then, also a 2-run single, both hit right back up the middle. He ended the night with four RBIs. Mairo Martinus went 3-for-5 with two RBIs and three runs scored, while Brendan Tunink had two hits and three RBIs. Joendry Vargas has gotten hot and has multiple hits in 3 games in a row. Ching-Hsien Ko added an RBI single, and Kellon Lindsey went 2-6 on the evening as well.

Cam Leiter started and did a good job, going 2.1 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 2 K. Jhonny Jimenez came in relief and went 0.2 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 2 K. Will Gagnon, who has really good stuff, but had an atypical line for him, giving up 6 hits in 2.1 IP and 2 runs. Jecsua Liborius went 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 3 BB, 2 K. Seamus Barrett had a good outing, going 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 2 K. Barrett is a big dude out of Loyola Marymount who was hurt last year and has a ++ changeup. Robby Porco, the 6’8 righty out of West Virginia, finished things off with a really good outing, going 1 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 2 K.