Mariners Minor League Game Action Recap for August 17
AAA -- Tacoma 5, Colorado Springs 3 -- Box
Walk-Off Grand Salami Time!
Not something you see every day. The Rainiers trailed 3-0 going into the 9th. Veteran catcher Jason Jaramillo homered off ex-Rainier Steven Hensley, who went to the Colorado organization for Aaron Harang.
After Hensley gave up a double and a walk, he was yanked, but another walk loaded the bases for Carlos Peguero (Watch List).
We've never viewed C-Peg as having the consistency to be much of a major-leaguer, but, boy, can he swat the baseball sometimes. And no better time than with the bases loaded in the bottom of the 9th and your team trails 3-1.
Lost in the shuffle: James Paxton (Talk40 #3): 7.0 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 3 BB, 4 K.
I'll take the fewer strikeouts if it means he can go more than five innings. But I sure didn't think it would take him this long to put all the pieces together.
AA -- Montgomery 8, Jackson 2 -- Box
Interesting note: our man Ji-Man Choi (Talk40 #19) had his second stolen base of the year.
But when that's the highlight, you know it wasn't a great game.
Choi also had two hits and a walk.
Ramon Morla tripled for the only extra-base hit for the Generals.
High-A -- High Desert 13, Lancaster 9 -- Box
Can he do it again? Ketel Marte (26intheMix) already had a mind-blowing hit binge at Clinton. Can he do it at High Desert too?
Well, he had four singles Saturday night, and has eight hits in his first five Cal League games. Interesting.
Then again, everyone was hitting in Lancaster.
- Patrick Kivlehan (Talk40 #33): 4-for-6, double, HR
- Steven Proscia (26intheMix): 4-for-6
- Guillermo Pimentel (26intheMix): 3-for-5, HR
- Jabari Henry (26intheMix): 1-for-4, HR
- Jamal Austin: 2-for-6, 37th stolen base
Low-A -- Kane County 7, Clinton 6 -- Box
D.J. Peterson was back on the field after dinging his wrist again, and went 2-for-3. He was replaced on defense in the late innings.
Dario Pizzano (26intheMix) had two hits and a walk, but the LumberKings couldn't hold off Cougar rallies in the 7th and 8th.
Short Season-A -- Eugene 8, Everett 7 -- Box
Jacob Zokan rung up the strikeout total, but couldn't keep the Emeralds off the scoreboard: 5.1 IP, 6 H, 5 ER, 2 BB, 9 K.
The hitting star was Kyle Petty, who had a homer and two singles. But the Aqua Sox offense couldn't quite keep up.
Rookie -- Greeneville 6, Pulaski 5 -- Box
Last year, Kristian Brito (Watch List) was completely lost (.193/.226/.266), but he was only 17.
This year, the big (6-5, 240) kid obviously is getting a clue. All of the sudden he has four homers in his last seven games, and is hitting .319/.385/.617 for August.
Still striking out too much? Ooooooh yeah. But striking out a ton while being good is a vast improvement over striking out a ton while being terrible.
Jesus Ugueto had two doubles, but the offense was not quite enough.
AZL Rookie -- Rangers 7, Mariners 1 -- Box
OK, we don't need any more lopsided scores with the names "Rangers" and "Mariners" in them. At least when the big number is attached to the "Rangers" side.
On the slightly brighter side, only two of the seven runs given up by Ugueth Urbina (the younger) (Watch List) were earned.
Looking Ahead
Two of the bright young hopes: Victor Sanchez (Talk40 #12) for Clinton; Lars Huijer for Everett.