On Monday I named Taijuan Walker as the M’s Minor League Pitcher of the Week. It seems like he wants a repeat of that.
Walker went 6 innings, allowing 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB and striking out 7 Mississippi Braves. He has now made two starts and has 15 strikeouts and 2 BBs in 11 innings of work, and doing it while being 3-4 years younger than the competition. Jandy Sena pitched three shutout innings for the save.
Joseph Dunigan provided the offense with a HR and he is now 8-for-his-last-15 with 2 HR and only 1 strikeout. Dunigan is 26, however, and not considered a “prospect.” SS Nick Franklin continues to struggle and is now hitting .250/.313/.386.
Brandon Maurer gets the start for the 9-4 Generals at 9:05 AM.
Meanwhile, the Rainiers, Mavericks, and Lumberkings all lost yesterday.
Tacoma dropped the game to Sacramento by a score of 5-1. Carlos Triunfel went 2-for-3 and is swinging a hot bat lately with an eight-game hitting streak. He is hitting .286/.327/.429 on the year, not bad for a 22-year-old SS in AAA. Vinnie Catricala had a hit and an RBI but is batting .196/.222/.235 on the year.
Mike Carp went 0-for-4 with 3 Ks.
Mauricio Robles went 5 innings for Tacoma and had issues with command, walking 4. He also allowed 3 hits and 2 R with 4 Ks. The 5-8 Rainiers play again at noon today.
The HD Mavericks went to Lancaster and took an early 3-0 lead before allowing the JetHawks to score 9 runs in the bottom of the second in an eventual 11-3 loss.
Stefen Romero went 2-for-4 and is hitting .451 on the season still. Kevin Rivers was 3-for-4 and Jack Marder went 1-for-5.
Chris Sorce got the start for the Mavs and he had the opposite of a Taijuan Walker: 1.2 innings, 9 H, 9 R, 8 ER, 1 BB, 1 K. James Gilheeney (2-0, 0.87 ERA) gets the start at 7 PM tonight.
Finally, the Clinton Lumberkings lost again, this time a 2-1 defeat to Quad Cities. Kyle Hunter came into relief of Stephen Landazuri in the seventh inning after Clinton took a 1-0 lead but quickly allowed two runs and the Lumberkings couldn’t score again. Landazuri walked 5 batters in 6 innings but only 2 hits with 4 Ks. He now has a 1.15 ERA in 15.2 innings.
Five players in the Clinton lineup are hitting .200 or worse. Now that’s what I call “Mariners.”