Chihuahuas 11 – New Orleans Baby Cakes 4
Key Stats: CF Auston Bousfield 3-for-5, 3 2B, 2K; 2B Luis Urias 3-for-5, 3B; RF Franmil Reyes 2-for-5, HR (16), 3K; LF Shane Peterson 1-for-3, HR (10), BB; LHP Jerry Keel 6IP, 6H, 2ER, 3K, 0BB
Prospect Watch: Outfielders Auston Bousfield, Franmil Reyes, and Shane Peterson each drove in three runs to pace El Paso’s offense as the club finally starts to close the gap between their performance at home and stellar road record. Reyes is 3-for-12 with two walks and eight strikeouts since returning from his most recent stint with the big league club. Bousfield’s three doubles leave him with 21 extra-base hits, one off his career-high total set last year. The 25-year-old Ole Miss product has provided solid production as a fourth outfielder in his first stint at Triple-A. … Lefty Jerry Keel has logged four Quality Starts in six outings since moving up to El Paso. The 24-year-old from Palmdale, California, hasn’t maintained the dominating groundball rates he’d put up at lower levels this year, but has continued to keep batters off balance and has held PCL opponents to a .258 average.
Midland RockHounds 8 – Missions 2
Key Stats: 3B Kyle Overstreet 1-for-3, BB; CF Buddy Reed 1-for-5, 3K, 2SB (10); RHP Lake Bachar 5IP, 10H, 8R, 4K, 2BB
Prospect Report: The Missions dropped their fifth straight as Lake Bachar once again struggled to get through his first inning of work and the offense continued to limp along. Missions hitters tallied only six singles on the night, scoring their only two runs on a groundout and error after they were already down big. Bachar, 23, has struggled to make his total performance equal the sum of his parts since arriving in San Antonio. Whether in relief or starting, his first inning of work has been rough. Thursday, the righty gave up a pair of earned runs in the first, bringing his ERA in his first frame over 15 games to 8.40. While Bachar possesses one of the highest fastball spin rates in the organization, he’s not been able to work off of it with his breaking stuff consistently, leading to an opponents’ OPS over over .900.
Rancho Cucamonga Quakes 8 – Storm 2
Key Stats: Jorge Oña 1-for-3, HR (6), BB; RHP Bryan Mitchell 2.2IP, 2H, 2ER, 3K, 1BB; RHP Carter Capps 1IP, 2H, 2ER, 2K, 0BB, HR
Prospect News: The biggest news of the game came before the first pitch, when trainer Ricky Huerta came out during Michel Baez‘s warm-up pitches and then escorted the big righty from the field. It’s the second time in seven weeks a Storm pitcher has gone down in that manner – Adrian Morejon turned out to have a minor impingement and was back in games in a bit over a month. There’s no report yet, but we’ll work on an update for you. … With Baez sidelined, the club had rehabbing big leaguer Bryan Mitchell scramble to make the start rather than piggyback as expected. He hit a batter, surrendered a homer and issued a walk in the first, but didn’t allow another batter to reach safely and struck out the final two hitters he faced. … Jorge Oña has finally managed to nudge his OBP over .300 again, homering and drawing a walk to move his on-base streak up to a modest five games. The high-profile 21-year-old has struggled to a disappointing .242/.304/.379 though, encouragingly, his K rate has moderated a bit over the last month and he’s drawn five walks in his last seven games.
TinCaps 5 – Dayton Dragons 4
Key Stats: LHP MacKenzie Gore 5IP, 2H, 0R, 8K, 2BB; RHP Austin Smith 1IP, 3H, 3ER, 1K, 0BB, 2WP; RF Jack Suwinski 1-for-3, HR (6), SF, 3RBI; C Jalen Washington 2-for-3, 3B, BB
Prospect Watch: Hunter Jarmon poked a fly ball single over a shallow outfield to drive in the winning run and get the TinCaps a walk-off victory Thursday. MacKenzie Gore though, was once again, the star of the show. The 19-year-old lefty blew through five innings of work, striking out eight overall, including five in a row from the first through third innings. With his fastball sitting easily around 95 and a sharp feel for his breaking balls, Gore allowed only a pair of hits. He briefly lost his feel in the fourth when he went to three-ball counts to the first three batters he faced, but the 19-year-old regrouped nicely and got out of the inning unscathed. He needed just 56 pitches to get through his work. Since returning from the disabled list, the Padres’ top pitching prospect sports a 2.48 ERA with over 12K/9IP and has held opponents to under a .200 average. … Two games into August, Jack Suwinski already has as many extra-base hits for the month as he tallied in May, and he came up just short of a second homer in Thursday night’s game.
Salem-Keizer Volcanoes 6 – Dust Devils 4
Key Stats: RF Luis Asuncion 2-for-4, 2B; CF Tre Carter 2-for-4, SB (8); RHP Angel Acevedo 7IP, 7H, 4R (2ER), 6K, 1BB
Prospect Notes: Since bottoming out on July 14, Luis Asencion is 24-for-58 with 13 extra-base hits to push his season line up to .275/.308/.477. The long-levered 21-year-old still isn’t drawing enough walks, but has cut his strikeout rate down to a workable 21 percent in that stretch. … Olivier Basabe and Owen Miller were both held hitless, but combined for three walks for the night. They continue to pace the team in on-base percentage. … Angel Acevedo became the first Tri-City starter to make it through seven innings of work, allowing just two earned runs on along the way. The 19-year-old from Venezuela has struck out 34 and held Northwest League opponents to a .216 average over 40.2 innings.
For the second time this week, the AZL games were knocked out by massive dust storms in the Valley. Both clubs are scheduled for an off day Friday as well.
