Danny Hultzen fanboys, get ready. The left-hander is set to make his third start of the season for the Jackson Generals tonight at 5:05. (Audio) The number two overall pick from last season has pitched 9.2 professional innings now and has 16 strikeouts against six walks. He only allowed one hit in his last start.
The Generals will try to get back onto the winning path after losing 3-2 to Mississippi last night. Jackson managed only three hits against right-hander David Hale. Brandon Maurer had six solid innings for the Generals (4 hits, 1 R, 1 BB, 2 K) but Yoervis Medina allowed 2 R in only 0.1 innings to take the loss.
The potentially fast-rising Carter Capps threw another scoreless inning, giving him 7.2 scoreless innings on the year with 11 strikeouts. 3B Francisco Martinez went 1-for-3 with a double. In the “Really Bad Streak” department, SS Nick Franklin is 2-for-his-last-24.
The Tacoma Rainiers picked up a 2-1 win over Sacramento last night to move to 6-8 on the year. Trayvon Robinson hit a sac-fly in the top of the tenth for the go-ahead run. Chih-Hsien Chiang, acquired in the Erik Bedard deal, went 3-for-4 and is now hitting .342/.359/.395. Not hitting so well are Vinnie Catricala (.182) and Mike Carp (.167)
Former Washington Husky Forrest Snow had his best start of the season: 6 innings, 3 H, 1 R, 2 BB, 8 K. He lowered his ERA on the year to 6.43.
Anthony Vazquez (2-0, 1.38 ERA) gets the start for Tacoma at 7:05 PST.
The High Desert Mavericks lost to Lancaster by a score of 8-6 but as usual there were a lot of hits: C Jack Marder went 3-for-4, RF Julio Morban went 4-for-5, 3B Mario Martinez went 2-for-5, and 1B Mickey Wiswall was 2-for-4. Morban and Wiswall also homered.
Stefen Romero went hitless but is still hitting .411 on the year. Brad Miller went 1-for-4 with a walk and an RBI.
Potentially the most interesting Maverick of the night however was starting pitcher James Gilheeney. Despite pitching in the most hitter-friendly league in the minors and at one of the highest-scoring parks in the league, Gilheeney went 5.1 innings, 5 H, 3 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 7 K, 1 HR.
On the year: 15.2 innings, 18 K, 4 BB, 1.15 ERA.
Gilheeney is 24-years-old, and was an eighth-round draft choice of the Mariners in 2009. He may just be too advanced for the league but there’s really nowhere for him to be promoted to with all of those talented pitchers in Jackson. If a pitcher from Tacoma gets called up however, it’s always possible that he could skip Jackson or replace a promoted pitcher from Jackson. Gilheeney seems like the most obvious candidate to leave the High Desert, which is only going to increase run-scoring in the league.
Finally, the Lumberkings of Clinton blew the lead in the ninth and then lost in the tenth to Quad Cities.
In exciting fashion, Clinton was down a run with the bases loaded and two outs in the top of the ninth when Jabari Blash and Ramon Morla each scored on an error after having earlier advanced on a balk. The bases were loaded again for Steve Baron but Michael Dowd was caught trying to steal home.
Quad Cities was then down to their last out with a runner second but Juan Castillo doubled that runner in. Wes Alsup came into pitch the 10th for Clinton and completely self-destructed: BB, Passed Ball, K, BB, BB, Flyout, BB the winning run in.
Jordan Shipers, probably the best pitching prospect in Clinton, got the start and was very good: 6.1 innings, 6 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 1 HR, 2 BB, 5 K. He now has a 1.04 ERA over three starts and 17.1 innings.
Blash was 2-for-5 with a home run.
Trevor Miller gets the ball for Clinton (3-10) at 4:30 this evening.