Round Rock got a stellar performance from Josh Miller to win 1-0. Miller pitched 8 shut out innings for the Express.

Chris Johnson’s arrival in RR has created a bit of a playing time dilemma with Marc Saccomanno and J. R. House.

You hate the fact that you the take at-bats from these guys because they’ve been doing a job for us all year,” Clark said. “But they understand the organization and they understand that he’s a prospect and that he’s got to be here to play.”

Saccomanno was disappointed but said there wasn’t any animosity.

“It’s out of my control and you try your best to not worry about things like that but obviously it’s a little discouraging,” Saccomanno said. “We’re teammates and there’s never any bad blood. It was a decision that came from up top and there’s nothing we can do about it except for try to win some ballgames.”

Lexington got a 2 run homer from Brian Pellegrini and solid pitching to lead to a 3-1 victory.

Corpus Christi got a 2 run homer from Billy Hart in the 10th to pull out a 6-5 victory over San Antonio. They also got good pitching from Bud Norris.

Tri Cities was the lone farm team to lose last night. Normally solid Shane Wolf struggled with his control and took the loss.

“A lot of people expect him to rip open his shirt with a big ‘S’ on his chest, but he’s human. I thought he pitched very well for not having his best stuff,” Rancont said.

Wolf (1-2) allowed a season-high four runs.

“One bad inning and I couldn’t get another shutdown inning, so, a little frustrating,” Wolf said.

Greeneville had the night off.

Greeneville took Bluefield to the woodshed Friday night 10-0. Ebert Rosario lead the offense with a double, a homer and 4 RBI. But the pitching continues to shine for Greeneville. Kyle Greenewalt allowed only 2 hits over 6 innings. He has allowed just 2 earned runs over his last 18 innings. Zach Grimmett pitched two solid innings of relief and was followed by Andrea Lucati making his U.S. debut pitching a one hit scoreless ninth.

Saturday, David Dinelli’s struggles continued as he walked 3 batters in 2 1/3 innings to take the loss after giving up an unearned run. Dinelli has now walked 17 batters in 15 2/3 innings pitched.

Sunday, Greenville won an afternoon tilt with Princeton. Jordan Lyles got his first win of his pro career, striking out 7 over 5 innings.

Tri Cities has found some wins recently. Friday, they won 7-1 over State College. Saturday, Jon Gaston hit a pinch hit walk off homer to lead the ValleyCats to a 9-8 victory.

“Hopefully, winning like that is going to give us a little spark. You look for little things to try and ignite your club a little bit. If a flame’s going to burn, you’re going to need a little spark,” Rancont said.

Sunday, the little spark was extinguished by Lowell starting pitcher Brock Huntzinger. He got his 4th win and lowered his ERA to 0.49 at the expense of the ValleyCats who only scratched one hit off of him.

48th round draft pick, Danny Meszeros joined the VallyCats this weekend. Here is the initial scouting report:

“I was pleasantly surprised by what I saw. He has a good arm, three pitches and a solid feel to get hitters out which in the end is what pitchers are supposed to do,” Heck told the Houston Chronicle….

“He’s going to be aggressive on the mound just the way his delivery sets up when he comes at you. I’m pretty excited to get him out there,” (Tri Cities pitching coach Don) Alexander said. “He’s been pitching in the Cape, so he’s in shape and ready to go.”

Salem had Sunday off and split the other games this weekend. Friday, Douglass Arguello pitched 6 strong innings to improve his record to 7-3 on the year. He has become the ace of the Salem staff.

Arguello is 7-3 and hasn’t pitched fewer than six innings since May. Eight of his nine outings since then have been quality starts, and even the outing in which he gave up five earned runs in six innings ended up as an Avalanche win.

Not impressed yet? Salem is 9-17 in the second half, 4-1 with Arguello on the mound.

“There is a confidence, there is an air, a feeling,” Avalanche manager Jim Pankovits said about Arguello’s mystique. “That if they keep up the good at-bats, if they keep playing good defense, he’d going to keep you in the game.”

Saturday, Corey Bass pitched better but didn’t get the run support in a 3-2 loss.

“He’s making progress,” Pankovits said. “His past couple of outings have been better. … We can’t rely on [Douglas] Arguello and [Erick] Abreu every night.”

Brian Bogusevic says his time as a pitcher is helping him in the transition to outfield.

“Like the other night, there was a man on third with one out, the infield was in and I knew they were going to try to get a ground ball. And I understand what the pitcher is trying to do,” Bogusevic said. “A hitter who has been around a while will know what they were going to try to do, but I knew how they were going to try to do it.”

Corpus Christi say some good pitching Friday night as Casey Hudspeth was out dueled by Frisco starter Neftali Feliz. Hudspeth went six innings allowing only one run but Frisco’s Feliz was dominating striking out eight Hooks in six innings.

“He throws hard and he has a really, really good breaking ball,”(Chris) Johnson said. “That’s tough when you’ve got a guy throwing upper 90s, so you’ve got to, I don’t want to say you guess, but you pick one and stick with it.”

Saturday, the Hooks had better luck with the bats winning 9-4. Sunday, the Hooks Polin Trinidad fluctuated between brilliant and batting practice. He gave up 7 hits and no walks over 7 innings. He struck out 6 batters. But of the 7 hits, 3 were doubles and two left the ball park. That led to a 4-2 loss.

“You give up four runs in this ballpark — that’s not a lot of runs,” Corpus Christi manager Luis Pujols said. “I think (Trinidad) threw the ball well. If we average five, six runs a game, we win this game. It’s too bad.”

Round Rock’s Nick Gorneault hit two homers Friday night, including his second grand slam of the week to lead the Express to a 8-6 victory. Saturday, Gorneault hit another homer but the result wasn’t a victory. The Express lost 9-2. Sunday, Gorneault went 0-6 in a double header but the Express still swept the twin bill 5-4 & 2-1.

All or Nothing: Gorneault has hit six home runs in his last nine games. He has only had eight hits during that span.

Corpus Christi got the third win in three starts from former indy baller Andy Van Hekken. Jerrad Ball, another indy signee, went 3-4 with a couple of 2 baggers. The Hooks won 7-4.

Salem had the night off.

Lexington lost their 8th game in 9 tries. They struck out 13 times in doing so. It is so bad the local paper has resorted to writing articles about the visiting hitting coach and hiding the game story in it.

Tri Cities got shut out as Anthony Noguera gave up 7 runs (only one was earned) in the first 4 innings. Then Eduin Ciriaco added fuel to the fire giving up 6 earned runs in 1/3 of an inning. 13-0 was the final.

Greeneville parlayed 5 hits, 5 walks and 3 Elizabethton errors to a 6-4 victory over the Appy West leading twins. This win moves the G-stros over .500 (15-14) and puts them 4.5 games back of the Twins.

Greeneville bounced back from a 7 – 5 deficit in the 9th with a a three run comeback. Richardo Bonfonte hit a one out double and then with two outs he stole third. It was an unnecessary steal as 5’5″ Jose Altuve took the next pitch out of the park. With the game tied, Frank Almonte took the next pitch deep for the lead and his 3rd home run of the season. Nathaniel Pettus closed out the 9th for the save.

Altuve has played in 18 games. In his first 9, he hit .125 with one extra base hit a double. In the second 9, he has hit .441 with 6 extra base hits (3 2b, 2 3b, HR).

Four G-Stros homered in the game last night. Kody HInze & Ebert Rosario joined Altuve and Almonte in going yard.

Salem lost 7-0 last night. Not much went well for the Avs as they only mustered 4 hits at the plate. The highlight of the night for Salem might have been when Chris Salamida struck out rehabbing Ryan Zimmerman.

Corpus Christi was shut out for 11th time this season. They struck out 12 times in the 6-0 loss. They too only got 4 hits.

Lexington is in the market for a fill in hitting coach as Stubby Clapp will be leaving for the Canadian Olympic team soon.

“When you play for Canada, you compete for the love of the country and for the love of your sport,” he said. “There’s nothing better than wearing red and white with a big maple leaf.”

Frank Almonte is leading the Greeneville bats with the 6th best OPS in the league. He is currently on a 6 game hitting streak.

Jose Altuve hit .353 over his last 10 games with 4 doubles and two triples. Last night, he went 4 for 4 with two doubles and a triple. His defense has been outstanding.

A pair of 17 year olds continue to impress on the mound. Luis Cruz, a 5’9″ lefty, has an ERA of 1.59 through 5 starts. His most recent outing was his longest of the season at 5 innings against Bristol. He only allowed one hit and one walk, while fanning 4. Jordan Lyles has yet to get his first win but he is pitching well. He totes a 2.55 ERA and has fanned 19 in 17 2/3 innings.

Tri Cities have lost 4 straight and are simply struggling. Their season record is 9-17. The biggest news out of New York has been that Jason Castro will be joining them.

Lexington is doing even worse. Their second half record is worst int he Sally League at 5-18. They are 3-8 to begin the month of July. During that span, they have only been outscored by 11 runs and their pitchers haven’t given up more than 5 runs in a game.

Salem is off to a 7-15 start to the second half, tied for worst in the Carolina League. Their offense is doing pretty good. Mark Ori has stopped making changes to his swing and is seeing the results:

“Hitting is consistency,” said Avalanche hitting coach Keith Bodie….

Bodie didn’t know Ori last year when the left-handed hitter kept a pitch-by-pitch log of his every at bat. He tinkered with his stance and his swing. He had been an all-fields type of hitter in college, but had turned so “pull happy” in the pros that opposing teams shaded their defenses to the right against the left-handed bat. He spent his offseason working on hitting to the opposite field.

Now that he is not tinkering any more, here is what Bodie has to say about the consistent Ori:

“He knows himself well. He can make adjustments very well,” Bodie said. “He has mastered this level. He needs to be challenged.”

Corpus Christi has begun the second half 8-14. They had a pretty good week, winning 3 of 4 from Frisco over the weekend. Casey Hudspeth got a win in his AA debut last night but it was over shadowed by Ole Sheldon’s evening. Sheldon went 2 for 2. Both hits were homers. One was a solo shot and the other a grand slam. Add a RBI sacrifice fly and you get a 6 RBI night.

Round Rock went 2-5 over the last 7 games. After hitting .333 with 3 homers in 16 games at CC, Val Majewski was promoted to RR. However, the top story of the week was the victorious return of Brian Gordon to Round Rock.

What to expect to see of him:

One of the main goals of Bogusevic’s trip to Salem is to get back into everyday playing condition.

He said he will likely play a system of two games on, one game off, beginning with playing five-inning pairs, then seven and then nine.

“It’s not going to come right away, but it hopefully will come,” he said in a phone interview from Springdale, Ark., where the Hooks were playing.

BB on the difference between wooden & metal bats:

Bogusevic said even fielding balls hit to the outfield off a wooden bat will be different than those he chased down in college.

“It’ll be different reads off the bat, and the speed of the game,” Bogusevic said. He admitted to a little bit of nervousness, “but I’m mostly excited.

“At least it’ll be a lot of fun.”

On the field, the Avs split a double header last night. In Game one, Douglas Arguelo pitched all 6 innings in the shortened game. He took the loss with a the only run allowed coming on a wild pitch from Arguelo in the second. He also walked two batters that inning.

In game two, the Avs bats came alive and they won 6-1. Mark Ori, Jordan Parraz and Jimmy Van Ostrand all had multiple hit games and all are now batting over .300 for the season. Kevin Carkeek also had a multi hit game and raised his average to .189. Carkeek is currently riding a 4 game hitting streak.

Brad James was pulled out of the Corpus Christi game after a visit from the trainer in the 3rd inning of the Hooks 9-2 loss. In the 3rd inning, James gave up two singles, two walks and hit a batter without getting anyone out. Prior to that, he had not allowed a hit and had walked a batter who was erased on a double play. Val Majewski had a home run for the Hooks. He has hit in 9 of his last 10.

Tri Cities lost 5-2 and have now dropped 8 of their last 10 games. The local paper has a feature on T. J. Steele and Joe Gaston who were teammates and road roommates at U of Arizona. They are now teammates and apartment mates at Tri Cities.

“I was pretty happy,” Steele said. “It’s always good to have someone on a team that you trust and you’ve grown up playing and used to playing with them.”

Bobby Heck, the Astros’ director of amateur scouting, said Steele has all five tools — hitting for average, hitting for power, running, throwing and fielding — to be an outstanding player, and that his athleticism stands out. Gaston, he said, was a clutch player with very good makeup.

J. B. Shuck is also getting some local love from his home town paper.

For the first month of his professional career, Shuck has been left to his own devices. The coaching staff doesn’t tinker with new players until they get an idea of what they have.

“They have a 30-day rule in place,” Shuck said. “The coaches don’t mess with us much at all. They want to get an idea why we were drafted.

“The coaches have told me they are pleased with my progress so far.”

Lexington was shut out 2-0 in Charlston last night. Round Rock was rained out and Greeneville had the night off.

Round Rock went 2-1 over the weekend. Friday night, Chad Reineke pitched 7 solid innings giving up just one run in the 4-3 win. Saturday, the Express used 4 home runs to beat Nashville 10-5. Sunday, Mark Saccomanno hit his 20th homer of the season in a 7-4 loss.

Corpus Christi went 1-2 over the weekend. Friday, CC lost their 5th game in a row. Saturday, Andy Van Hekken made his Hooks debut in a 4-2 victory. He went six innings giving up one runs on seven hits and one walk. He struck out four. Sunday, Bud Norris returned to the mound from the DL. He pitched two scoreless innings. Tip Fairchild took the loss pitching 4 innings in relief giving up 4 runs.

Salem went 1-1 with a postponement on Sunday. Friday, Casey Hudspeth pitched 7 solid innings but go no decision in the 2-1 loss. Saturday, Nick Moresi, Colin Delome & Jimmy Van Ostrand all hit solo home runs but it was small ball in the 9th that won the game 8-7.

Lexington went 1-1 on the weekend as they had Sunday off. Friday, Robert Leonhardt pitched 7 shut out innings and Lexington held on for a 3-2 win. Saturday, they got good pitching from Leandro Cespedes and Carlos Ladeuth but the outcome was to be determined by two plays at the plate. Lexington threw their chance to get the runner out away and they got thrown out trying to score.

Tri Cities went 2-1 on the weekend. Friday, the ValleyCat pitchers struck out 12 batters and the offense responded with 9 runs in a 9-2 romp. Saturday, was an 7-1 loss filled with miscues:

Tri-City committed three errors (two by pitchers) and had two passed balls while the pitching staff uncorked three wild pitches, walked seven and hit three batters, which led to seven unanswered runs by the Renegades and the ‘Cats’ seventh loss in eight games.

Sunday, Chris Jackson’s double in the 10th plated the winning run.

Greeneville went 1-2 on the weekend. Friday they got their lone win as they got big games at the plate from Ebert Rosario and Kyle Miller. The losses were by scores of 5-2 and a rain shortened 4-0. The game on Sunday was the first that Ebert Rosaio had not gotten a hit in since his demotion from Tri Cities. He has hit .438 since his return to Greeneville.

Corpus Christi was off last night but the local paper has a nice piece on the Hooks recent independent streak. The Hooks have added 3 players, Jarrod Ball, Val Majewski and Andy Van Hakken, from independent leagues in the last two weeks.

Majewski has made his mark since joining the team hitting in all 8 of his starts.

“When I talked to (Astros farm director) Ricky Bennett, he said, ‘Listen, we expect you to play every day and we’ll mix you around and throw you into different positions.'” Majewski said. “It’s awesome. The guys are great and helped me fit in right away. I’m glad I can participate and help the team win a little bit.”

Salem lost to Lynchburg last night 10-4. Mark Ori continues his hot hitting. He went 3-4 with a homer and a double last night. He is hitting .452 over his last 10 games. His .318 batting average ranks 4th in the league but his 58 RBI’s rank 1st.

Lexington lost 4-2 last night. They had their first 8 batters make it to first base but didn’t score a run. Here is how the first two innings broke down according to MILB.

Lexington Bottom 1st

• Craig Corrado walks.
• Matthew Cusick grounds into a force out, first baseman Michael Durant to shortstop Freddy Galvis. Craig Corrado out at 2nd. Matthew Cusick to 1st.
• Eric Taylor walks. Matthew Cusick to 2nd.
• Brian Pellegrini walks. Matthew Cusick to 3rd. Eric Taylor to 2nd.
• Maxwell Sapp grounds into a force out, third baseman Travis Mattair to catcher Joel Naughton. Matthew Cusick out at home. Eric Taylor to 3rd. Brian Pellegrini to 2nd. Maxwell Sapp to 1st.
• Jonathan Fixler grounds into a force out, second baseman Dennis Winn to shortstop Freddy Galvis. Maxwell Sapp out at 2nd.

Lexington Bottom 2nd

• Russell Dixon hit by pitch.
• Brandon Barnes singles on a ground ball to left fielder Karl Bolt. Russell Dixon to 2nd.
• Catlin Everett grounds into double play, shortstop Freddy Galvis to second baseman Dennis Winn to first baseman Michael Durant. Russell Dixon to 3rd. Brandon Barnes out at 2nd.
• Craig Corrado called out on strikes.

That pretty much captures the evening for the Legends. Brandon Barnes had half of the Legends six hits.

Tri Cities, who have yet to have an error free game this year, lost again 5-3 last night. Two home runs given up in the 9th inning were the difference in the score.

Greeneville lead 6-0 after an inning an a half but that lead was short lived. After 4 innings, Elizabethton had pulled ahead 7-6. Greeneville tied it in the 6th but couldn’t score any more. Elizabethton won the game 11-4. It was a mixed bag for the middle infielders as Altuve & DeLeon combined to go 6 for 8 with 4 runs scored and two batted in, but combined for 3 errors in the field.

All things being equal, the rosters of Greeneville and Elizabethton are not. Elizabethton’s roster is comprised of 33 players. Only 5 are less than 20 years old and only 1 is 18. Greeneville’s roster is comprised of 35 players. Fifteen of Greeneville’s players are 19 or under and six of those are 18 or under. The starting 10 players for each team last night averaged 19.8 years for Greeneville and 20.8 for Elizabethton.

“I just wish myself good luck; I don’t want anyone to get hurt….I just came here to work on my swing and get on the right path,” Towles said. “This happened a lot faster than I expected.”

Yordany Ramirez is showing some improvement at the plate.  After hitting .192 in April and .217 in May, he hit .266 in June.  He has had multiple hit games in 3 of the last 6 and has hit homers in two of the last three.

Corpus Christi couldn’t get the big hit when they needed it in their 6-5 loss to Arkansas.  They also got hurt on the bases.

In the second inning, they got RBI singles from Orlando Rosales and Wladimir Sutil, the seventh and eighth hitters, to load the bases with no outs for the top of the order.

But Naturals starter Blake Wood struck out Drew Sutton and got Jarred Ball to hit into a fielder’s choice force at home. Richie Paz followed by drilling a single to left. That brought in one run, but Jose Lopez, the runner on second, somehow didn’t score on the full-count hit. Instead, he and Ball, the runner on second, were both caught between bases, with Lopez getting tagged out at home to end the inning.

“I didn’t think (Lopez) was going to make it, that’s why I put the (stop sign) up,” Pujols said. “He was going to be out at the plate. We know Lopez is not a speed guy and the ball was hit hard.

“I don’t blame (Ball) because he saw the high throw and normally, when you’re running the bases and see the high throw, you keep running. But he didn’t see me stop Lopez.”

Salem helped Jimmy Van Ostrand celebrate Canada Day with a 9-6 victory.  Jordan Parraz led the attack with a grand slam in the 2nd inning.

“That was my first grand slam in my whole life. I did it for Canada Day,” he said, with a nod to his roommate.

Lexington scored two in the 11th to earn a 5-3 victory.  Bryan Brown had the key sacrifice bunt to plate the 5th run in the 11th.  Prior to that, he had been been saddled with the golden sombrero on the evening.

Tri Cities stranded 10 runners and wasted a solid start by Shane Wolf who pitched 5 shutout innings before being lifted.

“It’s one of those nights. We did the best we could on the mound and I can’t blame the hitters — it’s happened to the pitchers before, too. We’ve had nights where we can’t pitch and they hit and vice versa,” Wolf said.

Greeneville jumped out to a 3-0 lead thanks to Rene Garcia’s homer in the 2nd.  The Greeneville pitching staff limited Princeton’s bats to only two runs as the G’stros win 3-2.

Corpus Christi got off to a fast start but faded just as fast. They scored 3 in the first but lost 7-3. The 3 runs came off a Chris Johnson homer. It was his 3rd homer in 4 games. Brad James gave up 4 runs in the second to take the loss. He went 6 innings giving up 4 runs on 7 hits and one walk. He struck out 6 in his first start since being sidelined with back trouble.

“His (velocity) was back and his delivery was good,” Pujols said. “Brad threw the ball well.”

Salem played catch up all night but couldn’t pull ahead. They mustered 14 hits in their 11-8 loss.

“Our offense did a hell of a job,” Pankovits said. “A lot of teams would have rolled over, but I guess we’ve used to it [falling behind]. Our players busted their [butts], they played hard, they’re working hard. But some guys aren’t making the progress they need to make to continue to play.”

Lexington lost a heart breaker 3-2 in 10 innings last night. Brian Pellegrini accounted for the Legends 2 runs with his 13th home of the season.

Tri Cities’ offense couldn’t get on track in the 4-1 loss last night.

Greeneville lost another close game last night 3-2. Leading 2-0 in the 8th, Princeton put together 3 runs on 4 singles and a walk. Two of the singles never made it out of the infield and another glanced off the glove of second baseman Jose Altuve. Starter Jose Trinidad pitched 6 innings of shutout ball but got no decision. He showed great compusure in the 6th when he had runners at 2nd and 3rd with no one out. He got the next two batters on strikeouts and then got the next batter to bounce back to the pitcher. He toted the ball to first to force the runner and keep his shutout in tact.