Lexington

Asheville beat the Legends 5-4 in 11 last night. Astros pitchers did well with one exception. Leandro Cespedes struck out 6 and walked 3 during his 4 innings of work, allowing only one run and two hits. Abad, Robinson and Kelly combined for 5 innings of shutout ball with Kelly tallying four k’s along the way. Pacella took the loss without an earned run. The exception of the night was Mike Koons who allowed 3 runs on 4 hits and a walk in 1 inning. He and Max Sapp allowed 3 stolen bases in that inning. Overall Asheville runners were 5 out of 6 against Sapp. This is a trend we will be watching.
At the plate, Nick Moresi accounted for all of Lexington’s runs with a grand slam in the 7th that tied the game. The Legends struck out 11 times during the game. They also committed 3 errors.

Corpus Christi

Brad James gave up 2 home runs in the 2nd inning but still ended up with a quality 6 inning start.

“I thought he did a nice job. He gave up two home runs, but other than that he did a good job,” Pujuols said. “He gave us six good innings there and hopefully we can get that all the time.

The Hooks bats responded and gave the Hooks a 5-2 lead going into the 8th. Sammy Gervacio, who had pitched a scoreless 7th surrendered 2 runs in the 8th to make it 5-4. Gervacio appeared to have struggled with his control as he hit a batter, and had a wild pitch in the 8th on back to back batters. Kyle Middleton blew the save in the 9th allowing 3 runs.

The Hooks rallied for a run in the 9th and one in the 11th for the win.

Luis Pujos’ reaction:

“The way the guys played, that’s what I want to see all year. I told the guys in our big meeting yesterday that the only thing I’m asking of them is the four hours they’re going to spend here with me and the coaching staff, to give their best,” Pujols said. “If they give their best, we’ll end up winning the game. We didn’t make any errors. I don’t think it’s going to happen every night, but at least they’re going to try.”

Iorg is paying attention:

“I knew the guy wasn’t going to come in on me. He hadn’t come in on me in two at-bats so I was looking for something out,” Iorg said. “He loved his curveball. He only threw me one fastball my first at bat . . . I just wanted to stay on it and hit it to right field. Sure enough, he threw me a curveball and I hit it. That happens very rarely but I guessed right and that’s what happened.”

Corpus Christi Caller writer Greg Rajan discusses that the relationship between Corpus Christi and the Hooks has moved from the honeymoon stage to the marriage stage. He mentions the challenges of keeping attendance up when the talent maybe lacking based on what he calls a farm system “dry spell”.
Salem

Roanoke.com features Chris Salamida as one of the returning faces of the Avs this year. Chris will start in the pen to get stretched out before moving into a starter role after “throwing exceptionally well in spring training.”