Cardinals Minor League Notebook – July 2, 2019

photo: Dylan Carlson (Springfield Cardinals FANatic Photos)

The lower levels bailed out the big boys Monday, as the St. Louis Cardinals farm teams went 3-4 with the wins all achieved by rookie-ball affiliates. The DSL squads swept their opponents and Johnson City won a terrific pitcher’s duel, while Springfield lost despite Player of the Day Dylan Carlson (homer, double, walk), and the Palm Beach, Peoria, and State College lineups could muster just six runs between them in a trio of defeats. Memphis played just an inning before being suspended for storms, and the Gulf Coast Cards had a scheduled off day.


Memphis vs. New Orleans suspended in 2nd inning

Memphis’ game was suspended due to rain with New Orleans up 1-0 against starter Harold Arauz heading into the second inning at AutoZone Park. The game will be completed on Tuesday starting at 5:05 p.m., with the regular game, reduced to seven innings, following.

Tuesday games: vs. New Orleans, TBA/Genesis Cabrera (3-3, 5.44) 5:05 CT.


Tulsa 6 at Springfield 4

Dylan Carlson (Steve Mitchell/Imagn)

Springfield lost to Tulsa at home on Monday night by a 6-4 score, dropping the S-Cards to 34-47 on the season and 4-7 in the second half. Leadoff man and Player of the Day Dylan Carlson did his part by homering, doubling, and drawing a walk for Springfield, which received no other multi-hit games. The only one other extra base hit was a home run from Justin Toerner, his third since being promoted. Center fielder Carlson leads the Texas League with 34 extra base knocks, three more than his nearest rival.

Johan Oviedo was improved but not good enough, as the 21-year-old starter surrendered three runs in six innings with seven strikeouts while taking a no decision. Reliever Will Latcham was lit up for the loss, allowing three runs of his own in just one inning as his ERA ballooned to 9.28 on the year. The sole pitching highlight was provided by Jacob Patterson with a 1-2-3 ninth inning featuring a pair of whiffs.

Tuesday’s game: vs. Tulsa, Tommy Parsons (1-2, 6.48) 6:30 CT.


Lakeland 9 at Palm Beach 1

Nick Dunn (Palm Beach Cardinals)

Palm Beach was slayed by the Flying Tigers 9-1 on Monday evening at Roger Dean Stadium, falling to 38-37 on the season and 3-9 in the second half. Starter and losing pitcher Perry DellaValle allowed 10 singles in four innings, leading to six runs, all earned. He did fan seven batters without walking a man, but the hits were far too well-bunched. Making his Florida State League debut, Edgar Escobar twirled three strong stanzas in relief, permitting one run while striking out two and conceding no free passes.

Second baseman Nick Dunn had two of his team’s four singles, and there were no Beach Birds’ extra base hits, no double plays turned, no bases stolen, and no opposing runners gunned down by backstop or outfielder, in the unusually uncompetitive and uninteresting tilt. Top prospect Nolan Gorman singled in four at-bats but whiffed twice.

Tuesday’s game: vs. Lakeland, Diego Cordero (0-0, 2.70) 5:30 CT.


Burlington 4 at Peoria 1

Brady Whalen (Peoria Chiefs)

Peoria fell to 33-47 overall and 3-8 in the half with a 4-1 loss at home to the Burlington Bees on a steamy 92-degree Monday night at Dozer Park. Cleanup hitter Brady Whalen led the meager offense with a double and single, accounting for half his club’s safeties and extra base hits, and their only RBI. The first baseman was supported somewhat by second sacker Edwin Figuera, who tripled but was left stranded.

Lefty Colin Schmid made the start and took the defeat, yielding four runs on four hits and four walks over 6 1/3 innings. Righty Michael Baird and southpaw Eli Kraus, both promoted from State College over the weekend, pitched quite well out of the pen, combining to put down five straight Bees, two on strikes.

Tuesday’s game: vs. Kane County, Michael Brettell (2-5, 5.00), 6:35 CT.


Batavia 5, State College 4 (10 innings)

Pedro Pages (State College Spikes)

Despite leading 4-0 entering the eighth inning, State College went down in 10 innings in Batavia 5-4 Monday evening, dropping to 10-7 on the young season. Hard to blame the pitchers, though, as all five Muckdogs runs were unearned. Undersized righty starter Adrian Mardueno tossed four shutout frames on just 46 pitches, oddly neither walking nor whiffing a batter. Jeremy Randolph was charged with three unearned runs from the bullpen, logging 3 2/3 innings and allowing three singles, a double, and a base on balls, while fanning three. Logan Gragg took a blown save with an unearned tally in the ninth. Taking the loss was recent 27th round draftee Eric Lex, who allowed a hit and hit batter in the 10th.

The Spikes offensive attack was led again by backstop Pedro Pages, who reached three times via single, double, and walk. Pages lifted his average to a cool .400 with a 1.036 OPS. (Perhaps best of all, the 20-year-old has fanned just twice in more than 30 trips to the plate.) Left fielder David Vinsky doubled twice and scored two runs for the State College cause, but committing the two critical miscues afield were third baseman Brylie Ware and right fielder Stanley Espinal.

Tuesday’s game: at Batavia, Enmanuel Solano (1-1, 5.94) 6:05 CT.


Johnson City 2, Greeneville 1

Francisco Justo (Robert Kell)

Johnson City raised its record to 8-4 Monday night with a 2-1 nail-biting home triumph over the Greeneville Reds. No Cardinal contributed more than one hit, but center fielder Jhon Torres, shortstop Mateo Gil, and right fielder Terry Fuller each drew a walk to supplement a base knock. (Torres and Fuller had a double apiece, and the former was also plunked once.) Left fielder Diomedes Del Rio gunned a runner at second base in the top of the first inning, and the play turned out to be critical as Johnson City limited the Reds to a single first inning tally, and grabbed the lead back in the bottom half, never to relinquish it.

Righty Francisco Justo was the winner and continued his excellent start to the season, going five innings and surrendering the one run on five hits and two walks. In his third start, the big Bronx native fanned four and saw his ERA go up, all the way to 1.10. Contributing a shutout bullpen inning each were Wilberto Rivera, outfield convert Walker Robbins, Alex Gallegos, and the University of Missouri’s own Cameron Dulle, who got the save with a popup, strikeout, popup ninth inning.

Tuesday’s game: vs. Greeneville, Julio Puello (0-1, 5.91) 5:30 CT.


GCL Cardinals OFF

On Monday, the 1-4 Gulf Coast League Cardinals had a scheduled day off.

Tuesday’s game: vs. GCL Astros, pitcher TBA, 11:00 a.m. CT.


DSL Cardinals Blue 5, DSL Rockies 4

The DSL Cardinals Blue team lifted their ledger to 16-7 on the year with a ninth inning walkoff win against the DSL Rockies 5-4 on Monday morning. Third baseman Brandon Hernandez tripled and homered for his first two extra base hits of the season, to spearhead the Blue attack. The 17-year-old Canadian drove in two and also plated a pair. Multi-hit support was provided by Fernando Diaz and Elvin DeJesus with two singles apiece, and catcher Jose Zapata with a pair of doubles.

Starter Reinys Portillo conceded just one earned run across six sturdy innings, permitting four singles, no walks, and a double, to go with his four strikeouts. The 18-year-old Venezuelan gave way to Nelson Prada, who yielded one run in two innings with three whiffs, and then finally winning pitcher Luis Tena, who allowed the tying (albeit unearned) run in the top of the ninth — but also received the victorious tally in the bottom half when first baseman Diaz singled in Darlin Moquette to end the game.

Tuesday’s game: at DSL Orioles2, pitcher TBA, 9:30 a.m. CT.


DSL Cardinals Red 8 at DSL Mets2 3

Diowill Burgos

The DSL Cardinals Red squad thumped the DSL Mets2 unit 8-3 on Monday, scoring five runs in the eighth inning to break the tie and raise their record to 10-16. In an odd distribution of innings, four hurlers went 2 to 2 2/3 innings each for the Red, all pitching effectively. Lefty Diorys Guerrero started and logged 2 1/3 innings, allowing one run. Fellow southpaw Hemerson Cordero followed, and the just-turned-17-year-old was solid, permitting only a solo homer over 2 2/3 frames. Two righties finished off the win, with 17-year-old Oliver Lopez and 18-year-old Miguel Maiz twirling two stanzas each and yielding one run total on five hits.

Left fielder Diowill Burgos once again led the Red offense, smacking his sixth longball and adding a single and walk for good measure. The 18-year-old (now batting .360 with a 1.092 OPS on the young year) had the only multi-hit game and scored a pair of runs to give him 20 tallies in 24 games, in addition to his league-leading 31 RBI. Also scoring twice on Monday was 16-year-old catcher and cleanup hitter Roblin Heredia, who went just 1-for-2 but continued to show improved plate discipline, walking twice without whiffing. At the risk of overanalyzing a mini-micro-sample, Heredia’s first eight games featured a dismal 3-to-14 walk/strikeout ratio, but his next seven games have been quite encouraging with a 7-to-4 advantage to the free passes. His overall raw batting line remains poor, but Heredia may be on the upswing.

Tuesday’s game: vs. DSL Rangers2, pitcher TBA, 9:30 a.m. CT.


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