Buddy Reed gets out of the box as fast as anyone in the system. (Photo: Grant Wickes)
Fresno Grizzlies 7 El Paso Chihuahuas 4
Key Stats: 3B Ty France 2-for-4; 1B Aderlin Rodriguez 1-for-4, HR (4); LF Matt Batten 1-for-4, HR (4); LHP Dillon Overton 3.2 IP, 9 H, 6 R (5 ER), 8 K, 2 BB, HBP; RHP Eric Yardley 2.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 3 K, 0 BB; RHP Tyler Higgins 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 K, 0 BB
Prospect Watch: John Conniff pushed himself away from his dining tour of West Texas and beyond long enough to file a game story as El Paso’s Copa de la Diversión alter-ego Margaritas fell to Fresno.
Sod Poodles 11 Corpus Christi Hooks 6
Key Stats: CF Buddy Reed 2-for-4, 2 2B; LF Taylor Kohlwey 2-for-4, BB, 2 R; 2B Ivan Castillo 1-for-4, 2B, BB; RF Edward Olivares 1-for-3, BB, SF; SS Owen Miller 2-for-4, BB; RHP Ronald Bolaños 5.2 IP, 4 H, 3 ER, 8 K, 3 BB, 2 HBP; LHP Travis Radke 1.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 4 K, 0 BB
Prospect Watch: Corpus got to Ronald Bolaños for two runs in the top of the first, but Amarillo’s offense came roaring back, Bolaños settled in and the Soddies cruised to a win. … Bolaños wasn’t at his best, but turned in a solid enough performance for the win. The 22-year-old righty has picked up his K rate since moving to Double-A, striking out 30 in 24.1 frames. However, his walk rate hovers just over 4 BB/9 That all adds up to an ERA just below six and plenty of inconsistency from game to game. … Buddy Reed snapped an 0-for-18 stretch with a double in his first at-bat and came back with another two-bagger for Amarillo’s final RBI in the game. The fleet centerfielder had just one extra-base hit in 13 games coming in as his OPS had slid to .650. Away from Hodgetown, his batting line sits at just .161/.248/.212. … Taylor Kohlwey continued his hot restart coming out of the break, reaching base three more times. The 24-year-old outfielder finished the series 7-for-16 with a pair of walks.
Roster Notes: Third baseman Hudson Potts was activated Sunday, but didn’t arrive in time to play. The 20-year-old has struggled to catch up with Texas League pitching. He missed exactly one month on the IL. Infielder Ruddy Giron was placed on the Injured List.
Inland Empire 66ers 6 Storm 4
Key Stats: 2B Eguy Rosario 1-for-4, 3B, BB, SB (11); Allen Córdoba 3-for-4, HBP, SB (16); C Jalen Washington 1-for-2, BB, HBP, 2 PB; RF Tirso Ornelas 1-for-2, 2 BB; RHP Elliot Ashbeck 6 IP, 6 H, 2 ER, 10 K, 0 BB; RHP Franklin Van Gurp 0.2 IP, 4 H, 4 ER, 1 K, 2 BB
Prospect Watch: The Angels affiliate jumped Franklin Van Gurp for four runs in the seventh to split the four-game series. … Allen Cordoba collected three more hits Sunday to finish the month with a stellar .345/.395/.491 line. He’s had at least three hits in five of his last 10 games. Elliot Ashbeck bounced back from a rough outing to strike out 10 while giving up only two runs over six innings. The 25-year-old righty sports a solid 64:20 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 57.1 innings for Elsinore and has held opponents to a .211 average.
Great Lakes Loons 9 TinCaps 4
Key Stats: 2B Xavier Edwards 1-for-4, 3B; LF Dwanya Williams-Sutton 2-for-4, HR (4); SS Justin Lopez 3-for-4; RHP Angel Acevedo 3 IP, 7 H, 7 ER, 7 K, 2 BB, WP, HBP; RHP Jose Quezada 2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 4 K, 0 BB
Prospect Watch: The Loons got to Angel Acevedo early and often for seven runs on as many hits – five for extra-bases – over the first three-plus frames as Fort Wayne dropped their third straight and seventh in 10 coming out of the break. … Acevedo, 20, had been relegated to the bullpen for over a month. After a strong showing in his first few outings, the wheels have come off on his campaign as he’s posted a 6.53 in a swing role for the TinCaps and allowed 1.75 runners per inning. While the big-bodied righty has struck out 55 in 51 frames, he’s often struggled with sequencing and location in the zone, giving opposing hitters too many looks at hittable pitches. … Dwanya Williams-Sutton connected on his fourth homer of the year and scored a pair of runs. The powerful corner outfielder is 5-for-20 with five walks since coming off the IL. Xavier Edwards tripled leading off to push his OPS for June just back up above .700. Edwards his his first cold stretch of the season around the All-Star break, but has bounced back nicely and hasn’t struck out in his last 23 plate appearances.
Dust Devils 11 Everett AquaSox 1
Key Stats: DH Carlos Luis 2-for-3, 2B, 2 BB; SS Jordy Barley 1-for-5, BB, PO/CS, E (6); 1B Nick Gatewood 1-for-3, 2 BB; LHP Ethan Elliot 2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 K, 2 BB; RHP Wen-Hua Sung 2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 5 K, 0 BB
Prospect Watch: Every Tri-City batter reached base safely multiple times Sunday as they cruised in a laugher and pushed their season record above .500 for the first time. Dust Devil hitters worked Mariner prospects for 10 walks in the game. … Carlos Luis had a single, double and two walks. The left-handed batter started the season 1-for-19, but has bounced back with multi-hit games in four of his last six starts. The 19-year-old has lightning fast wrists at the plate but will require a ton of development time. … Jordy Barley flashed both his prodigious abilities and rough edges Sunday night. After the fleet-footed shortstop singled with two outs in the sixth, he read the pitcher wrong and got picked off. However the throw got down the line and Barley raced all the way around to score. In the field, the 19-year-old started a pretty double play, but also committed his sixth error. Barley has made plenty of strong advances in his third campaign, but remains very much a work in progress. … When the Padres made Taiwanese hurler Wen-Hua Sung their first amateur free agent signee from Asia, they had visions of a workhorse starter. However, the big-bodied righty was sidelined by a series of arm maladies and got limited on-field work in his first two years with the organization. Now 22 years old, Sung is finding a groove in short burst outings from the Dust Devils bullpen. Sung struck out five in two perfect innings Sunday and has punched out 18 of the 44 batters he’s faced.
AZL Athletics-Green 6 AZL Padres-1 5
Key Stats: CJ Abrams 2-for-3, 2 BB, 2 SB (5), CS (1), E (2); 2B Chris Givin 2-for-4, BB; DH Hudson Head 1-for-4, BB, K; RHP Luarbert Arias 4.2 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 5 K, 1 BB
AZL Indians-Red 9 AZL Padres-2 2
Key Stats: C Gilberto Vizcarra 3-for-4, PB; DH Emmanuel Guerra 1-for-4, 2B; RHP Jeferson Garcia 2.1 IP, 5 H, 5 ER, 3 K, 1 BB; RHP Michel Miliano 1 IP, 0 H, 2 R (1 ER), 1 K, 4 BB, HBP
Prospect Watch: C.J. Abrams just keeps hitting in his professional debut. The 18-year-old has hit in all 10 of his professional games and, after drawing a pair of walks to go with two more hits Sunday, sports a .489/.520/.667 line with as many free passes as strikeouts. Xavier Edwards got the rare promotion to Tri-City after 21 games in the desert last summer. If he keeps it up, Abrams has a chance to follow the same aggressive timeline. … Mexicali native Gilberto Vizcarra managed virtually no production as an undersized 19-year-old in the desert last summer, but his underlying bat-to-ball abilities caught our attention. Now filled out a bit more, his strong approach is converting into on-field success. He added three hits to his ledger Sunday and is batting .357 while walking more than he’s struck out. The 20-year-old has the building blocks on both sides of his game to develop as a strong catching option. … Centerfielder Angel Solarte is also growing into enough strength to let his tools play. The 18-year-old Venezuelan, who has added at least 20 pounds since signing, has hit in nine of 10 games for the AZL-2 squad and sports an impressive .535 slugging percentage while striking out in just 10.9% of his plate appearances. … Michell Miliano was already an imposing physical specimen when he arrived stateside as a 17-year-old, putting himself on many early watch lists. However, his progression largely stalled out and he’s been working in relief outings trying to find repeatable mechanics this year. So far, that hasn’t worked either. In five innings, the righty has walked 7, including four to go along with a hit batter in a rough inning Sunday.
