Mario Yepez broke a 1-1 tie in the eighth inning yesterday on an RBI single and the Jackson Generals won 4-1 behind that hit and five decent innings from Brandon Mauer.
Decent: 1 R allowed. Not Decent: 7 hits, 3 walks and only 2 strikeouts.
But there are three pitchers you want to watch pitch in Jackson and Maurer, no offense, isn’t one of them. (And is getting left in the dust by Andrew Carraway as well.) One of those pitchers, 2nd overall pick Danny Hultzen, will make his second start of the year at 4:15 this afternoon.
Hultzen wasn’t exactly bad in his first start of the year, striking out 7 in 4 innings, but he couldn’t get an out in the fifth inning and ended up allowing 5 runs.
Listen to the game here and if you have milb.tv, the game will be broadcast on there as well.
The AAA Tacoma Rainiers finished up their series with Colorado Springs with a 9-3 loss.
Trayvon Robinson went 1-for-3 with a home run, his first of the season. Luis Jimenez, Adam Moore and Johan Limonta each went 2-for-4.
The Rainiers top prospect, 3B/DH Vinnie Catricala, is showing that indeed he might need more time in the minors. He is currently hitting .219/.212/.250 to start the season with five strikeouts and no walks in 32 at-bats.
Perhaps the best pitching prospect in Tacoma is Mauricio Robles, and he walked four and allowed 3 ER in 4.2 innings pitched with 2 hits allowed and 5 strikeouts. Shawn Kelley was rather dominant, pitching 2.1 innings and strikeout out 5 without a hit allowed.
Chance Ruffin was rather not dominant (submissive?) and allowed 6 ER in 1.1 innings pitched, even though he only gave up a single hit. Ruffin walked three, hit a batter, and threw a wild pitch.
Forrest Snow takes the mound for the Rainiers at 7:05 PST tonight.
The High Desert Mavericks won surprisingly easy yesterday despite only scoring six runs, a 6-2 victory over Inland Empire.
Jack Marder was 2-for-3 with a walk and 2 runs scored and Julio Morban went 3-for-4 to join the .400 club on the year for the Mavs. Top HD prospect, SS Brad Miller, went 0-for-4 but drew a walk to maintain an “on-base” streak to start the year. He is currently hitting .371 but he committed his eighth (that’s got to lead the minors) error. High Desert is now 6-2.
George Mieses takes the mound for the Mavs at 7:05 PM PST.
Clinton picked up a rare win, beating the Beloit Snappers by a score of 5-2. Steve Baron, often touted as a huge draft mistake, went 2-for-4 with 2 doubles and is now hitting .333/.364/.524 on the season. It’s too early to say that Baron has improved much at the plate, but it’s not too early to say he hasn’t.
The strong Guillermo Pimental, one of the M’s top international prospects, is struggling in his first stint of full-season ball. He is hitting .154/.185/.308 in 26 at-bats with only 1 walk and 7 strikeouts.
Former 22nd round pick Stephen Landazuri had a pretty good for Everett last season but he’s off to an even faster start in 2012. He pitched 5.2 innings last night with 7 strikeouts, 3 walks, and 4 hits allowed after pitching a perfect four innings in his first appearance of the year. Landazuri now has 11 strikeouts, 3 walks, 4 hits allowed and a 1.86 ERA in 9.2 innings. He just turned 20 in January.
Jordan Shipers is another pitcher to watch and he gets the start at 4:30 this evening.