Things have been busy down on the farm and I am behind a day so let’s play some catch up.
Round Rock has had a rough couple of days dealing with the Fresno Grizzles. Tuesday, they gave up 6 unearned runs in a 10-3 loss. Last night, they saw Chance Douglas make his first start since May. He pitched 3 shut out innings but that was about the only highlight as RR lost 5-1. J R Towles went 0-4 with 2 Ks in his return to the Express.
Corpus Christi got a good outing from Tip Fairchild but still lost on Tuesday.
“Today, I wasn’t really thinking about pitching as much as I was going out there and throwing the ball and letting my ability kind of take over,” Fairchild said.
“I wasn’t really ahead in the count a whole lot, but when I needed to throw a strike, I had the ability to do that tonight rather than the past few outings where I’ve been throwing a strike, but it’s a terrible one and it’s been getting hit in the gap. Sometimes you get breaks and sometimes you don’t.”
Last night, CC went down in defeat to San Antonio again. Bud Norris pitched fairly well as he builds up his pitch count but his error in the 3rd lead to 3 Missions runs. The Hooks only scratched out 3 hits in the 10-1 loss.
Salem got a bases loaded triple from Greg Buchanan to pace them to a 6-4 victory on Tuesday. Last night, Sergio Severino pitched 4 scoreless innings and allowed one run in the 5th before ending his night. That earned him the loss in the 2-1 defeat. It was Severino’s best outing since being promoted to Salem 10 starts ago.
Lexington got beat 5-2 on Tuesday snapping their 4 game winning streak but the buzz was still surrounding Fixlers’ 3 homer day on Sunday. Fixler has produced all season for the Legends.
Manager Gregg Langbehn points to a “pretty incredible” ratio of RBI to hits (36-51), an on-base percentage over .345 and a slugging percentage of about .460.
“He’s just produced. He just steps in and does a great job,” Langbehn said. “Defensively, he blocks balls very well. He’s been throwing runners out at about a 40, 45 percent rate … which is exceptional. And he’s done a super job calling games.”
Langbehn says anytime a catcher throws out more than 30 percent of would-be base-stealers, those are good results. Fixler has caught 18 of 37 (48.6 percent).
Wednesday, they started a new winning streak with a 2-0 victory over Columbus. Kyle Miller had his second homer for the Legends since being called up from Greeneville less than a week ago. In his 5 games since the call up, Miller is hitting .450 with 3 doubles, 2 HR and 8 RBI.
The local paper caught up with interim hitting coach Todd Self about his approach he will teach the players in Stubby Clapps absence.
“Especially the guys who are struggling, try to get them to finish on a good note,” he said before Wednesday’s game. “Because a lot of times (team executives) they look at ‘This guy struggled for four months, but how’d he finish? How was he in August?’”
Results may well be determined by plate “approach.”
“To be a good hitter, you’ve got to make the pitcher throw strikes,” Self said. “You obviously have to be aggressive but smart. I’m going to try to teach them to be aggressive in the strike zone. But try to really concentrate on the strike zone and, as soon as the ball shows up out of that area, let it go. … Most of the time it’s going to be a ball.”
Tri Cities is struggling. They lost Tuesday 2-0 and then lost 5-2 last night.
Greeneville was rained out on Tuesday. It was the 5th home rain out for Princeton this year. Princeton does have #1 overall draft pick Tim Beckham playing for them but my favorite name on that team is Burt Reynolds.
Last night, Greeneville took on East leader Elizabethton. Kyle Greenwalt continued his outstanding pitching, throwing his second consecutive 6 shut out innings, to lead the G-stros to a 7-2 victory. Greenwalt has now allowed only 2 earned runs in his last 24 innings. He has only walked one batter during that streak and has struck out 15. He now shares the league lead for wins. Last year, Greenwalt was 0-7 and lead the league in losses.
Jose Altuve hit his second homer of the season, which also was his second one hit at the E-Twins stadium. Frank Almonte also homered for the G-stros.