Rory Shortell pitches through the grief of losing his Grandmother. Three other pitchers almost had enough for good outings last night.
Round Rock:
Juan Gutierrez took a no hitter into the 7th last night. The same guy who broke up the combined no hitter in last nights game, Carlos Quentin, broke up Juan’s no-no bid. Things fell apart quickly and the Express lost 6-1. Brooks Conrad accounted for the lone Express run with a HR.
Corpus Christi:
The Hooks fell 4-2 to Frisco last night. They couldn’t quite shake the rust off of 3 straight rain outs. Because of the rain outs, Jimmy Barthmaier missed his planned start and came out of the pen. He came in with 2 outs in the 4th due to Miguel Asencio’s ejection by HP Umpire Barry Larson. After back to back singles and a wild pitch, he settled down to got the 3rd out on a strike out. He then retired 9 of the next 10 batters he faced going into the 8th. He surrendered a walk and a double to start the 8th and was relieved by Gordan. Both of those runners came around to score and Barthmaier got the loss despite his second good start.
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“I lost the zone a little bit (against Benjamin) and normally when you walk a guy to lead off the inning, they wind up scoring,” Barthmaier said. “(Overall), I thought it was a pretty positive outing. I threw the ball pretty well, but I guess I’ll have to get them the next time.”
The Hooks batters were 0-10 with runners in scoring position through the first 7 innings. So they had their chances.
Salem:
Rory Shortell lost his Grandmother to a brain tumor on Wednesday. He said that helped put things in perspective for him.
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“I’m playing baseball,” he said. “It’s still the same game I played on the street corner for fun when I was a kid….“It’s so easy when you’re in the minor leagues to think that it’s life or death,” Shortell said. “It puts things in perspective. If I make a mistake, no one’s going to die. No one’s going to get sick.”…“My grandpa called me,” Shortell said. “He always said his favorite thing was to hear that I pitched well.”
Rory pitched well last night. He went 7 strong innings in the Avs 5-4 win over the Nationals.
Orlando Rosales is very hot for the Avs right now. He had hit .474 in his last 10 games and .402 for the month of July. He has scored 19 runs in 23 games this month.
Lexington:
Jordan Parraz hit for the cycle in Lexington’s 14 inning loss to Lakewood. It was the first time a Legend had ever hit for the cycle. He accomplished the 3 extra base hits in regulation and then got the single in the 14th inning.
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“Hats off to Jordan,” Langbehn said. “That’s not easy to do. A pretty special night for him, but I’m sure he would have liked to see us win.”
Relief pitchers Santo Luis and Kyle DeYoung retired 18 straight batters striking out half of them.
Tri Cities:
The ValleyCats were the victim of good pitching and fielding:
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Tri-City (12-22) hit into 17 groundouts in the first seven innings. Three of them led to double plays….”Give credit to their pitchers,” Tri-City manager Pete Rancont said. “They got us to hit the ball on the ground.”
The night saw the debut of the lastest free agent signee. Mike Koons was the bright spot according to Manager Pete Rancott
Greeneville:
What do you say after an 18-0 loss. I was a witness to the slaughter and through the first 4 innings, it looked like a good game. Robert Bono was sharp. However, beginning in the 5th it appeared he lost the feel for his curve. Through 4 innings he had given up 2 hits, 2 walks, 2 wild pitches (though I would have called on a passed ball), one strike out and one earned run. A definite improvement over his previous starts. In the 5th, he gave up two hits and two walks and was clearly loosing control and running out of steam. They sent him back out for the sixth inning. He gets the first batter out and then walks 3 straight before surrendering a single. What had been a close game was out of hand and the young Astros attitude shift was visible and the game was over at that point.
David Denilli made his Astros debut in relief of Bono. He gave up 2 hits and 2 runs in 2/3 of an inning with a walk & a strike out. His defense let him down. Andrew Darnell, who otherwise played a very good game in RF including throwing out one runner at home and freezing another at 3rd with excellent throws, miss judged a line drive that went for a double. He came in on the ball and by the time he recovered it was over his head.
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“We like what we saw. We’re looking for good things from him.”