Around the Minors: 5/19/2013

Norfolk 3, Durham 2: If you squint, you can take away some positives from Zach Britton's start. He only allowed one earned run and his sinker worked to great effect (ten groundouts), but he walked five Bulls in six innings. Travis Ishikawa hit another home run and Little Jerome went 2-3 with a double. If you're wondering how Zelous Wheeler's been doing since he moved up to Norfolk, I'll tell you all he does is get base hits. No extra bases, no walks, no strikeouts. After getting hits in six straight games since going hitless in his Tides debut, Brandon Wood was hitless and had an error. Russ Canzler and Buck Britton were held hitless as well.

...a trend we shall see repeated.

Bowie 3, Trenton 2: Devin Jones allowed seven baserunners and two earned runs over seven innings and struck out four. Chris Petrini and Zech Zinicola pitched perfect innings to close the game out. Once again, the X Man proved to be the engine that makes the Baysox go. Avery was 2-5 with an RBI and is posting a very solid wOBA of .373 (of the 21 players in the Eastern League that have higher numbers, only eight are his age or younger). Ty Kelly had a double and two walks while Garabez Rosa had his periodic offensive breakout going 3-4 with a steal and two runs.

Frederick 6, Salem 4: The Keys pounded Salem with 16 hits, including three from new kid Christian Walker. Walker had three three hit performances in his first week in the Carolina League. Jerome Pena continued his excellent May with two more hits (slashing .302/.415/.547 on the month) and Steve "the Baby Bee" Bumbry hit an Earl Special. Brenden Webb struck out three times and was caught stealing, but also had a base knock and an outfield assist. Eduardo Rodriguez didn't turn in his greatest outing, but induced nine groundouts and struck out four in seven innings while allowing four earned runs.

Delmarva 1, Hickory 4; Delmarva 0, Hickory 1

At this point, I want to say a little bit about the Shorebirds. They were swept in an abbreviated doubleheader by the Hickory Crawdads. Getting swept stinks, but what's worse than that, is only getting one hit in a doubleheader. The performance calls to mind the quote from Bucaneers coach John McKay who, when asked what he thought about his team's execution in a particularly grim loss quipped, "I'm in favor of it."

This, of course, is a touch harsh because shining lights Josh Hader and Brady Wager took the mound today. Wager struck out seven and allowed seven baserunners in seven innings. Wager induced twelve groundball outs. Going into today's start, Wager was ninth in the Sally League with a 2.73 FIP. Hader was possibly more impressive, striking out nine in six innings and allowing five baserunners, but also, a home run. The Old Mill grad has 23 strikeouts in his last three starts. Roderick Bernadina made an uneventful return from the disabled list going 0-2. Greg Lorenzo also got caught stealing for the second time this year.