photo: Scott Politz (Steve Manuel/State College Spikes)
It was a 2-4 Monday for the St. Louis Cardinals farm system with final-inning wins by Peoria and Johnson City. Memphis went down to defeat despite the ongoing heroics of Harrison Bader and top prospect Dylan Carlson. Player of the Day Scott Politz spun seven shutout innings for State College but did not get enough support for a win.
Results for games played Monday, August 19th.
Memphis fell behind by three runs and never quite caught up, losing 5-4 to Round Rock on Monday evening at AutoZone Park and falling to 59-67 on the season. In what looks to be his final game with the Redbirds, center fielder Harrison Bader homered for the seventh time in his last nine games and gunned down a runner at second base. 20-year-old left fielder Dylan Carlson reached safely four times on three singles plus a walk, but the rest of the Redbirds could muster just four singles, a hit-by-pitch, and a free pass among them.
Lefty Genesis Cabrera started and took the loss despite allowing fewer than three earned runs for the first time since June, twirling six sturdy innings and permitting two earned tallies on half a dozen hits. The 22-year-old fanned five, walked three, and plunked a man while expending 111 pitches. Righty Seth Elledge followed with two shaky frames, yielding two runs on a trio of hits. Southpaw Chasen Shreve was stellar in the ninth, whiffing two in a 1-2-3 stanza.
Tuesday’s game: vs. Round Rock, Daniel Ponce de Leon (6-4, 2.95) 6:35 CT.
Springfield OFF
Springfield (26-30, 3rd place) had Monday off. The S-Cards are five games back of the twin leaders of the North Division of the Texas League and have a second-half elimination number of 10.
Tuesday’s game: at Frisco, Tommy Parsons (4-4, 4.86) 7:05 CT.
Palm Beach OFF
Palm Beach (19-38, last place) had Monday off. After narrowly missing a first-half playoff berth, the Beach Birds struggled after the break and have already been eliminated from post-season contention.
Tuesday’s game: vs. Bradenton, pitcher TBA, 5:30 CT.
Peoria improved to 17-39 for the second half, winning 5-4 in walkoff fashion Monday over the visiting Timber Rattlers. First baseman Brady Whalen had the winning hit, plus another single and free pass, to lead the Chiefs. Also collecting multiple safeties were center fielder Jonatan Machado (double, single, stolen base), as well as second baseman Edwin Figuera and hot corner resident Josh Shaw, with a pair of singles apiece.
Working around six hits and four walks, starter Dalton Roach went 5 1/3 innings and surrendered just two earned runs. Reliever Franyel Casadilla pitched 1 2/3 innings of shutout ball, and fellow righty Freddie Pacheco had the distinction of getting both the blown save and win, going two innings and permitting one run while whiffing a pair and passing the same.
Tuesday’s game: vs. Wisconsin, Colin Schmid (6-5, 3.93) 6:35 CT.
State College slipped to 33-31 with a 3-1 home defeat to the Doubledays. The tilt was a double shutout until the fateful eighth frame, when Auburn scored three times off reliever Cameron Dulle. Hard-luck starter Scott Politz tossed seven scoreless innings, extending his shutout streak to 17 stanzas. The 22-year-old righty from Texas via Yale needed just 88 pitches on the night, and fanned four while walking just one. Dulle was the loser of course, and southpaw Fabian Blanco mopped up with 1 1/3 clean innings.
Second baseman Donivan Williams (two singles and a steal) and right fielder Andrew Warner (walk, plunk) were the only Spikes to reach twice on Monday, and Warner was picked off once he reached second base. The club went 1-for-7 with men in scoring position, undercutting their meager attempts to patch a rally together.
Tuesday’s game: OFF
Johnson City 6 at Pulaski 3 (10 innings)
Scoring all of their runs from the seventh inning on, Johnson City raised their record to 30-29 on Monday with a 6-3 win in 10 innings over the homestanding Pulaski Yankees. There were hitting heroes aplenty, as shortstop Mateo Gil singled three times, backstop Aaron Antonini homered and coaxed a walk, and right fielder Jhon Torres doubled, walked, and went deep. It was Antonini’s third home run since the last time he struck out, 12 days ago. The 21-year-old Venezuelan is slugging .630 while fanning less than 8% of the time, and on the road he has all five of his homers and is yet to strike out.
Righty Jake Sommers started and went five innings, allowing two runs on four walks and just three hits — but all for extra bases (two doubles and a homer). Starring out of the bullpen was tiny righty Dylan Pearce, who fanned five over 3 1/3 innings. The 5′ 9″ 22-year-old didn’t walk a man, but did permit one run. Picking up the victory was John Witkowski, who whiffed two Yankees in 1 2/3 scoreless innings. Witkowski walked no one, per usual. He has not issued a free pass since late July.
Tuesday’s game: at Pulaski, Jose Moreno (3-4, 8.10) 10 a.m. CT.
The Gulf Coast League Cardinals’ record fell to 20-27 on Monday as they were blown away 11-1 at the GCL Mets. Consistently inconsistent starter Inohan Paniagua followed his eight-inning gem of five days earlier with a clunker, as he was unable to complete the first inning. The 19-year-old righty surrendered five runs, two earned, while retiring just two batters, neither on strikes. Following Paniagua and faring little better was recent draftee Thomas Hart (age 18, 16th round this year) who yielded four more tallies, but at least logged 3 1/3 innings for his team. The bullpen star on Monday was strapping 18-year-old Tyler Statler (6′ 6″ 230) with two spotless innings and a pair of strikeouts.
With a pair of singles, Gulf Cards left fielder Diowill Burgos had his club’s only multi-hit game. Fellow 18-year-old outfielder Patrick Romeri had the sole extra base knock, tripling for the second time this season. Romeri also drew one of his team’s three walks, and his innocuous slashline of roughly .230/.340/.420 is deceptively solid for a player of his age in that league. (Dylan Carlson batted .251/.313/.404 in the GCL when he was four months younger, back in 2016.)
Tuesday’s game: OFF
DSL Cardinals Red RAIN
The DSL Cardinals Red squad was rained out Monday. The seventh place Red (28-38) have already been eliminated from playoff consideration.
Tuesday’s game: at DSL Mets2, pitcher TBA, 9:30 a.m. CT.
DSL Nationals 4, DSL Cardinals Blue 3
The DSL Cardinals Blue team (39-19) led the entire game, only to fall 4-3 after blowing a 3-0, eighth-inning advantage over the DSL Nationals Monday. With their second straight loss, the Blue are tied for first with the Rockies. Just four games remain in the regular season.
Darlin Moquete led the Blue batters with four singles, and 6′ 4″ first baseman Fernando Diaz continued his scorching second half with a double and two singles. Since the DSL All-Star game, the 17-year-old Diaz is hitting .398/.485/.663. (23 games). Also reaching three times were 17-year-old second sacker and leadoff man Elvin DeJesus (two singles and a hit-by-pitch), and third baseman Erik Pena (two plunkings and a single).
Venezuelan righty Reinys Portillo had his third strong start in a row, allowing no runs on six singles and a walk. The 18-year-old fanned five over six frames, and has permitted zero or one earned run in seven of 12 starts this year. The relief corps was not nearly as effective, as righty Americo Lugo and lefty Nelson Prada combined to cough up four runs, three earned, on six hits and a base on balls in only 2 2/3 innings. Prada was charged with a blown save, and the loss.
Tuesday’s game: vs. DSL Mets1, pitcher TBA, 9:30 a.m. CT.
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