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Every hit in the four run fourth was a ground ball. Walker was fine. Gave up a solo to Mike (!) Wilson. Good for Mikey. Otherwise, 8 K'a and lots of ground balls.
Mariners Minor League Game Action Recap for July 25
Twin bombs for The Mayor ... DJ HR OK! ... brilliant outings from young arms Huijer & Flores ... etc.
If you only count the domestic leagues, it was a sweep for the organization ... including the Big Club, of course!
AAA -- Tacoma 6, Tucson 5 [10 innings] -- Box
We know that Taijuan Walker (Talk40 #2) won't be able to defy the Laws of Time and Space every time out. Just mostly. So Thursday was a slight misfire: 5.0 IP, 6 H, 5 ER, 3 BB, 8 K.
But the offense bailed the Rainiers out.
Mostly Rich Poythress (26intheMix), who hit two clutch homers, including the game-winner in the 10th, and added a double and a walk. The Mayor was in dire jeopardy when he got sent down to Jackson as part of the Jesus Montero shuffle earlier in the year, but he seems to have got himself back in the conversation: .261/.346/.482. He's finally come around to the "drawing-walks-and-still-producing-.200-ISO" guy that we'd hoped he'd turn into.
Of course, he does it right when Justin Smoak is looking legit ahead of him and Ji-Man Choi (Talk40 #19) is rocketing up behind him.
Carter Capps pitched 2.0 IP of scoreless relief with two strikeouts.
AA -- Jackson 7, Chattanooga 4 -- Box
Triples for everyone!
Well, at least most of the guys we like on the Jackson roster:
- New Mariners Prospect Talk icon Chris Taylor (Talk40 #28) (also a walk)
- Our man the aforementioned Ji-Man
- Recently promoted Daniel Paolini (Talk40 #26) (also three walks)
- Struggling but slightly reviving Jack Marder (Talk40 #17) (also a single)
Marder now has a triple and two homers in his last eight games, but, bizarrely, hasn't drawn a walk since June 23.
In non-triple news, John Hicks (Talk40 #27) got his fourth homer and Ramon Morla went 3-for-3 (all singles).
Anthony Fernandez (Talk40 #23) was good enough: 5.2 IP, 6 H, 4 ER, 3 BB, 5 K.
High-A -- High Desert 6, Lake Elsinore 4 -- Box
Jamal Austin led the way for the Mavericks, nabbing a near-cycle with a single, a double and a triple.
The Twin-Jabari Attack was batting 5th and 6th, but only Jabari Blash (Watch List) reached base, getting a double and a single.
But inconsistency is Blash's hobgoblin as usual:
April/May ISO: .388 [!]
June/July ISO: .133
Low-A -- Clinton 5, Wisconsin 1 -- Box
Deeeeeeeej!
It was the first Midwest League home run for D.J. Peterson, and his seventh overall in 132 plate appearances. That's absolute "slugger" territory if he keeps up anything like that pace.
And Tyler Marlette (26intheMix) had a double and two singles.
Ketel Marte (26intheMix) and Timmy Lopes (Talk40 #20) have identical .264 batting averages after each got two hits Thursday. And both averages are similarly "empty" with Marte slugging .318 and Lopes slugging .305. Both of them are only 19, though.
Short Season-A -- Everett 6, Tri-City 0 -- Box
The Aqua Sox jumped out with six runs in the first two innings, and that was all the scoring.
Lars Huijer spun another Dutch Master! with a line of 7.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 7 K.
In his first eight appearances, his ERA is 1.85 with a 0.87 WHIP, 2.3 BB/9 and 7.8 K/9.
He and Edwin Diaz (Talk40 #36) are winning the "most improved" awards.
Chantz Mack, who was promoted awhile back after a hot start in Arizona, had a single and a double.
Rookie -- Pulaski 2, Princeton 1 -- Box
And one more strong pitching performance, and another candidate for "most improved": Jose Flores.
The 20-year-old Venezuelan shut down the Rays: 6.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 9 K.
His overall line after six starts: 3.21 ERA | 1.07 WHIP | 3.2 BB/9 | 10.3 K/9.
Looking Ahead
More Tylers: Tyler Pike (Talk40 #14) for Clinton; Tyler Olson for Pulaski.
Comments
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Certainly for a college slugger. I've been to the park - the porch isn't that far. So while I'm a huge Peterson fan (Lonnie and I were discussing him in the fall LAST year before he came through here with his college team) I'm still a little wait-and-see when it comes to his actual HR power output.
Problem is, what park is he gonna get to that's gonna reduce his dingers? Clinton is a fair (read: not-pitchers) park in the Midwest League, and while the MWL is tough in April and May, by July offensive numbers go up all over the place. Not having to hit in freezing sleet probably helps. He should still be able to clear those fences.
And then it's High Desert, which is Arena Ball at any time of year. So until and unless he crashes in Jackson, I'm gonna assume that Deej can kill the ball like he's showing. Like I said, I've been a fan of his for a while now, and I wanted him or Renfroe badly. Both guys posted a .914 OPS in the Northwest League as of today, funnily enough. Seems fair.
And Walker is playing in front of Ty Kelly, Scott Savastano (at 3rd!) and Triunfel for his glove infielders. Them groundballs can be pretty pesky - no demerits to Chinese Taipei for getting unlucky on the wormburners.
~G
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Well I was impressed by the video of DJ's first home run because of the play by play guy. He was like "ahhh that was just .............wow that ball was crushed, That was a blast off the top of the scoreboard (in the power alley) that was aaah.......something else". I'm probably easily impressed and want DJ to do good but he went down and got a ball and hit it very hard. The opposing teams play by play reaction did make me smile!!!
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Hope that works for everyone.
Thanks for the input, sliv! Excellent.
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He kinda had to go down and golf it out, didn't he? Nice. Off a right hander, too.
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But it works for him. He does it because he can get to it and drive it. He's got the potential to be a great hitter for a long time. Glad to have him in our uni.
~G