AAA -- Tacoma 7, Sacramento 5  -- Box

Jack Zduriencik was reportedly in town to see the Rainiers, but he may have just been disoriented, what with Mike Zunino (Talk40 #1), Nick Franklin (Talk40 #7) and Carlos Triunfel (26intheMix) in the Seattle lineup, and Dustin Ackley, Franklin Gutierrez, Justin Smoak and Robert Andino in the Tacoma lineup.

Of course, he was there because more those kind of changes are still to come.

On the field, he got to see one of the best James Paxton (Talk40 #3) outings in a while.

He went 6.0 IP!  In under 100 pitches!  His line: 6.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 5 K.   "Puzzling Pax" be gone! (please)

Gutierrez homered, and Smoak delivered a double and a single.  Maybe they knew the boss was watching?

AA -- Birmingham 1, Jackson 0 [called in 6th]  -- Box

And, like Paxton, we finally got a good showing from Anthony Fernandez (Talk40 #23), but the game was called due to weather with the Generals behind.

An-Fernan: 5.0 IP, 7 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 3 K

He didn't get offensive help either, but our man Ji-Man Choi (Talk40 #19) doubled twice.

Short Season-A -- Everett 5, Tri-Cities 4 -- Box

AquaSox remain undefeated!  Everett is now 4-0 on the short season.

But they didn't do it by racking up extra-base hits.  Only catcher Christian Charmichel (Watch List) got a double, and no one got more bases than that.  But good ol' "timely hitting" got it done, with fresh draftee shortstop Jack Reinheimer getting two RBI on two singles.

Fellow 2013 draftee Tyler Olson got his first pro start, and it was a mixed bag for the lefty from Gonzaga: 3.0 IP, 2 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 5 K.  We like the strikeouts part.

Then returning lefty Steven Ewing came in and rung up six more strikeouts in the next 3.2 IP.

Looking Ahead

The schedule says Paxton for Tacoma, but obviously he won't pitch again.  But someone will surely pitch for the Rainiers.

And there will be five Mariners prospects slated to be in uniform for the Midwest League All-Star Game in Dayton.  Jabari Henry (26intheMix), Dario Pizzano (26intheMix) and Tyler Marlette (26intheMix) among position players, and Tyler Pike (Talk40 #14) and Dylan "Sharkie" Unsworth (26intheMix) on the mound.

They will join perhaps the most exciting player in the minors -- Byron Buxton of the Twins organization: .344/.431/.561 with 40 walks and 29 steals.  And the only other guy taken ahead of Zunino -- Carlos Correa of the Astro organization -- will also be on the West team.

I can't tell if the game is available to watch anywhere.