Norfolk Tides 5, Syracuse (Walgreens) 2
It was singles night in Norfolk - I don’t mean for romance, I mean like base hits that aren’t for extra bases. The Tides had 15 hits and 12 of those were singles. They got some timely hits, going 6-15 with RISP, which was good enough to beat the Chiefs after David Hale limited them to two runs in five innings. A trio of relievers kept Syracuse off the board.
Left fielder Mike Yastrzemski finished a home run short of the cycle in the contest. That leaves him with a .733 OPS with Norfolk on the year. Another prospect who had a nice game was Trey Mancini, who turned in a 2-5. Mancini continues to look like a guy who deserves a big league shot eventually.
Bowie Baysox 7, Reading (Phillies) 2
With Chance Sisco on his way to San Diego to participate in tonight’s Futures Game - he’s the only Orioles prospect to be selected this year - there was really no one interesting in the Bowie lineup. Good job for them for racking up 11 hits to get the seven runs and take down the Fightin Phils.
Matthew Grimes, recently promoted to Bowie, had a much better second start at the Double-A level, holding Reading to just four hits and a walk over seven innings of work. Only one of the runs charged to Grimes was earned.
Jake Fox - yes, that Jake Fox - is apparently on the Fightin Phils and was 1-4 in the game.
Winston-Salem (White Sox) 13, Frederick Keys 11
Well, this looks like a wacky one. The teams combined for 30 hits, seven home runs, and four errors. That’s a heck of a lot of offense. D.J. Stewart and Jomar Reyes were two of the few Keys to rack up only a single hit. Each went 1-5 in the game.
Many people are at fault when you give up 13 runs, but it was a guy from the Brian Matusz salary dump trade, Trevor Belicek, who wore the loss after giving up three runs in one third of an inning. That’s taking inspiration from the original.
Two unearned runs scored off of Tanner Scott in the eighth inning. Scott pitched the final two innings of the game, giving up a hit and two walks with one strikeout.
Hagerstown (Walgreens) 4, Delmarva Shorebirds 2
Ryan Mountcastle keeps raking for the Shorebirds, going 2-4 in this game. The rest of the team combined for only four hits, so there wasn’t much scoring there. Mountcastle also committed his 15th error of the season at shortstop.
The Spawn of Mariano Rivera, also named Mariano Rivera, notched the save for the Suns.
A curious name has popped up in the Shorebirds box scores this week. Lex Rutledge, a lefty reliever picked in the sixth round back in 2012, seems to be trying to get back into the game after having said he was retiring (I think) prior to the 2015 season. Rutledge was handling Frederick OK before retiring before. Hopefully he can regain that form and push on up the ranks.
Aberdeen IronBirds 5, Williamsport (Phillies) 2
A noteworthy game because it marked the professional debut of this year’s first round pick, Cody Sedlock. In a planned short outing, Sedlock allowed only a hit and a walk over three innings, picking up four strikeouts. Sedlock threw 42 pitches in three innings - dig that efficiency.
This year’s third rounder, Austin Hays, continues to put up some quality numbers for the IronBirds, racking up a 3-5 game that included a triple and two runs driven in. Hays is batting .353 over his first ten games.
Another interesting young hitter, Jason Heinrich, the 2015 fifth rounder, was 2-4 with a double. Heinrich has a .756 OPS in his 13 Aberdeen games.
For complete box scores from Saturday’s games, including further adventures of “Itchy” Xu in the GCL and also both Dominican Summer League teams, check out here.
Today’s Scheduled Games
- Norfolk: vs. Syracuse, 6:05. Starter: Joe “The Gunk” Gunkel
- Bowie: at Reading, 2:05. Starter: Jayson Aquino
- Frederick: vs. Winston-Salem, 6:00. Starter: Mitch Horacek
- Delmarva: vs. Hagerstown, 5:05. Starter: Cristian Alvarado
- Aberdeen: at Williamsport, 5:05. Starter: TBD