photo: Elehuris Montero (Allison Rhoades/Peoria Chiefs)
Player of the Day Elehuris Montero’s two home runs gave Peoria one of the St. Louis Cardinals system’s six victories on a busy 10-game Thursday schedule. Palm Beach won behind Andy Young’s long ball while Kevin Woodall and Donivan Williams went yard in Johnson City’s victory. Andrew Warner’s blast was crucial to the GCL Cards’ win, the DSL Cardinals Blue also won and Memphis split a pair behind another excellent effort by Dakota Hudson.
Results from the games played Thursday, July 19th.
Memphis 4 vs. Iowa 1 (7) – Game one
Iowa 3 at Memphis 0 (7) – Game two
The Redbirds split a pair with the Cubs, taking the opener, 4-1, but dropping the finale, 3-0. Memphis (62-35) took the home series, three games to one, and remain 14 games up on second-place Nashville (OAK) in the standings.
Dakota Hudson (W, 13-2) hurled his usual strong performance, striking out eight over 6 1/3 innings while giving up a run on five hits and a walk. The righty threw 66 of his 97 pitches for strikes. Edward Mujica went the last 2/3 of an inning, leaving Hudson’s final runner on base, for his 11th save.
Half of the team’s scores were generated by Tyler O’Neill’s 20th Triple-A home run. It came with Max Schrock (double) on base and was his only hit in three at bats. Adolis Garcia singled and doubled in three at bats with one driven in, the only Redbird with more than one of nine team hits.
Game two was a make-up of Wednesday’s rain out and became only Memphis’ second loss in 16 games versus Iowa (34-62) this season. Home runs were the difference as each team had just four hits but the Cubs launched two solo blasts.
Kevin Herget took the complete game loss, his seventh against six wins. Herget allowed a single and RBI double in the third plus single bombs in the sixth and seventh. He did not issue a free pass.
Patrick Wisdom had half of his squad’s hits, going 2-for-3 with a double while batting cleanup. But the next three hitters went a combined 0-for-8 while the number three bat went 0-for-3 just ahead of him.
Friday’s game: vs. Colorado Springs (53-43) (MIL), 7:05 pm CT, Chris Ellis (2-1, 3.52)
The S-Cards opened their four-game series at Arkansas by absorbing a 10-4 loss that halted their four-game winning streak. Springfield (9-18) is in third place in the North Division, 10 ½ games in back of Tulsa (LAD).
Five Springfield pitchers took the mound and all were scored upon. Sam Tewes went the first four innings, allowing two runs on six hits including a solo long ball. Landon Beck (L, 2-3) tossed the fifth, surrendering a two-run bomb that was one of his three hits yielded.
Austin Sexton and Junior Fernandez each retired a batter, Sexton permitting three tallies on two hits and a plunked batter while Fernandez’s four free passes issued brought across all three of Sexton’s runners plus one of his own. Hector Mendoza left the bases jammed in the sixth but was touched for two runs on three hits and a base-on-balls over the last two innings.
Springfield’s offense matched the Travelers’ 14 hits and 4-for-14 with runners in scoring position result, but lacked that one big inning of results. Ramon Urias’ four-hit night led the club. As a stellar example of the lack of results, the second baseman went 4-for-5 including two doubles but neither scored nor drove in a run.
Third baseman Evan Mendoza went 3-for-4 with a double and walk out of the three spot but, again, no runs scored and none knocked in. Number two bat Randy Arozarena singled and doubled in in four at bats with a base-on-balls and was driven in twice by John Nogowski, who went 1-for-3 with three RBI.
Friday’s game: at second-place Arkansas (15-10) (SEA), 7:10 pm CT, Connor Jones (5-3, 3.86)
Andy Young’s two-run home run in the late innings lifted the Beach Birds over the Mets, 3-1, in the home series opener. Palm Beach (13-15) remains in third place, two games in back of Charlotte (TB) in the tight South Division.
Young’s blast, his 12th of the season, came with Brian O’Keefe (single) aboard in the bottom of the eighth and snapped a 1-1 tie. It was his only hit in three at bats to go with one free pass and the team’s only extra-base hit. Chase Pinder, Stefan Trosclair and O’Keefe all singled twice with O’Keefe working a base-on-balls and adding an RBI to his run scored.
A quartet of PB-Card pitchers joined forces for an excellent effort in which the only run yielded was unearned. Jake Walsh gave up the unearned tally, permitting four hits and three walks over 5 1/3. All three outs recorded by Jason Zgardowski came via the K, as he stranded two inherited runners.
Colton Thomson retired three batters, like Zgardowski giving up a hit and base-on-balls but stranding an inherited runner. Yeison Medina (W, 2-1) set down all five batters faced, leaving Thomson’s two runners aboard.
Friday’s game: vs. sixth-place St Lucie (10-17) (NYM), 6:30 pm ET, TBA
Player of the Day Elehuris Montero went yard twice as the Chiefs defeated the Lugnuts, 7-3. Third-place Peoria (15-10) will go for a three-game road series sweep when the two teams meet Friday evening.
Home runs accounted for five of the visitors’ seven scores with Montero launching two two-run bombs and Bryce Denton adding a solo shot. Both had three hits, in five and four at bats, respectively. Denton had a 50/50 game on the base paths, swiping his fourth base but being picked off second too.
Yariel Gonzalez and J.R. Davis had two hits apiece in four at bats with a run scored, with Gonzalez doubling once and Davis adding his first triple. Designated hitter Zach Kirtley went 1-for-5 while touching home twice in his first action since being activated off the disabled list.
Angel Rondon (W, 2-0) pitched a quality effort, yielding three runs on eight hits and two walks through six. Kodi Whitley permitted a hit and base-on-balls during his two innings on the mound and Ben Yokley worked around a one-out free pass in his full-season debut.
Friday’s game: at Lansing (13-14) (TOR), 7:05 pm ET, Johan Oviedo (5-7, 5.11)
State College 4 at West Virginia 7
Woeful pitching left the Spikes to absorb 7-4 loss to the Black Bears in the road series finale. Fourth-place State College (13-20) took the set over sixth-place West Virginia (12-21), two games to one, but are still seven games off the pace set by Mahoning Valley (CLE).
Three of the four Spikes’ hurlers in action Thursday gave up runs, beginning with Jacob Schlesener. The starter (L, 0-3) permitted four tallies, three earned, on four hits and three walks in just three innings.
Franyel Casadilla, who has come out of the bullpen since his return from Peoria, surrendered a two-run bomb that was one of his two hits and two walks allowed over 2 2/3. Edgar Gonzalez recorded four outs but gave up a run on a double, ground out and fielder’s choice. Troy Montemayor broke the scoring string by tossing a clean eighth.
State College garnered six hits with catcher Cameron Knight the only player with more than one. Knight singled twice in four at bats out of the nine hole and crossed home once. Stanley Espinal went yard with the bases empty, his only hit in five at bats and Brady Whalen tripled in four at bats with a walk and three RBI. Defensively, first baseman Whalen was charged with his second miscue and Knight had a passed ball.
Friday’s game: vs. second-place Auburn (17-15) (WSH), 7:05 pm ET, Jim Voyles (2-2, 3.19)
Johnson City 7 vs. Bluefield 6
Early tallies gave the JC-Cards a 7-6 victory over the Blue Jays, clinching the three-game home set with one contest to go. Johnson City (12-15) moved into third place with the win but still trail first-place Elizabethton (MIN) by five games in the standings.
Johnson City scored six times in the first two innings and took a 6-2 lead. But four runs off Appy Bird starter Noel De Jesus knotted the game up 6-6 going into the home half of the fourth. That tie was broken almost immediately on a solo shot by Kevin Woodall, his fourth home run in his last two games, that gave Johnson City its winning margin.
The long ball was the JC-Cards’ second of the game. Woodall joined Donivan Williams, who went yard with Carlos Soto (double) aboard in the first. Soto and Zach Jackson were the only two Appy Birds with a multi-hit performance. Soto went 2-for-4 with a double, run scored and two driven in while Jackson doubled twice in four at bats.
Woodall went 1-for-2 with a walk and home run that was one of his two runs scored. Williams’ blast was his only hit in three at bats, but the second baseman also worked a free pass and participated in one of his team’s two double plays.
On the mound side, De Jesus did not finish the fourth, yielding six runs on eight hits and three walks. Mike Brettell struck out five over the next 3 1/3 scoreless frames, putting him in line for his first professional win against one loss. Enrique Perez and Evan Sisk each tossed a one-two-three inning, with Perez fanning the side and Sisk earning his second save.
Friday’s game: vs. Bluefield (19-10) (TOR), 7:00 pm ET, Dionis Zamora (0-2, 6.87)
GCL Cardinals 2 at GCL Astros 0
Brian Pirela tossed seven outstanding frames as the Gulf Birds shut out the GCL Astros, 2-0. It was the fourth consecutive win for the Cardinals (19-7) who lead the East Division by 3 ½ games over the Mets.
Pirela (W, 4-0) held the Astros (14-13) to three hits and a free pass while hitting one batter. The 20-year-old Venezuelan struck out three with seven ground- and seven fly-ball outs.
Making just his second appearance since being drafted in the 35th round of the June 2017 First-Year Player Draft, Alex Gallegos wiped out the lead-off single he permitted with a double play. Edgar Escobar struck out the side in the ninth.
In a game featuring just nine hits in all, scoring was scarce. The Gulf Cardinals got on the board when Andrew Warner launched a solo bomb in the fourth. Raffy Ozuna walked and scored in the eighth, touching home on Josh Shaw’s second single of the game.
Friday’s game: vs. fifth-place GCL Marlins (8-18), 12:30 pm ET, TBA
DSL Cardinals Blue 8 vs. DSL Yankees 2 (7)
Enmanuel Solano had a successful return to the DSL as the C-Blue flew past the Dominican Yankees, 8-2, in a game called after seven due to rain. The win propels the Cardinals Blue (27-12) into a first-place tie with the Twins and five games up on the third-place Mets1.
Solano (W, 3-0), who was making his first C-Blue start since being re-assigned from the Gulf Coast League, held the Yankees (16-24) scoreless in four of his five innings on the mound. The only mark against 19-year-old was a two-run fourth inning, the tallies generated by four of the eight total hits yielded. Solano issued two free passes. Angel Cuenca gave up two hits over the final two frames.
The home team generated 11 hits, paced by first baseman Freddy De Jesus, who went 3-for-4 with two doubles, a run scored and three driven in. Both of Carlos Soler’s two hits in three at bats went for extra bases – the centerfielder doubled and tripled with a base-on-balls, touched home three times and knocked in three. Soler is batting .369, 38-for-103, for the season and has a torrid .439 batting average in 41 at bats over his last 10 games.
Not to be overlooked in the offensive onslaught created by De Jesus and Soler were the fine efforts by second baseman Ramon Mendoza and right fielder Darlin Moquete. Mendoza singled and doubled in four at bats with two RBI while Moquete went 2-for-3 with two runs scored and his sixth stolen base.
Friday’s game: vs. fifth-place DSL Rockies (16-23), 10:30 am ET, Hector Soto (5-2, 2.65)
DSL Cardinals Red 0 at DSL Rangers2 8 (6)
The C-Red were on the receiving of an 8-0 shellacking by the Rangers2 (23-15), in a game mercifully called with one gone in the home half of the sixth due to rain. The fourth-place Cardinals Red (22-18) are only 2 ½ games behind the division-leading Brewers in the standings.
Luis Ortiz took the loss, his third in four decisions, permitting seven hits and four walks resulting in two tallies. Right-hander Augusto Calderon was charged with three runs on two hits, a walk, plunked batter and two wild pitches in the fifth.
Hector De Los Santos retired one batter the next inning, yielding three tallies on two hits, four walks and a wild pitch. Wilman Madera was slated to replace De Los Santos with two runners on when the game was called.
Friday’s game: at first-place DSL Brewers (24-15), 10:30 am ET, Jose Moreno (1-2, 4.42)
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