The GCL Bucs are still waiting to play baseball, but everybody else in the system got their games in:
-P- Indianapolis failed to convert numerous scoring chances and dropped a 4-3 decision to Toledo. Rudy Owens pitched shutout ball through five innings, but gave up three in the 6th. He finished with six innings, five hits, two walks and six Ks. Bryan Morris and Duke Welker each pitched a scoreless inning, with one and two strikeouts, respectively. Chris Leroux allowed a run, however, for the third straight outing and fourth in his last five. Starling Marte went 2-5 with a two-run HR, his 7th, off top prospect Jacob Turner. Gorkys Hernandez went 2-4 with a triple and threw a runner out at home. Jeff Clement was 2-4 with a double.
-P- Gerrit Cole lasted only one inning as Harrisburg beat Altoona, 8-3. Cole got a groundout and strikeout against the first two hitters, but then gave up five straight singles and hit a batter. He finally escaped the inning by fanning the pitcher. Although he threw 32 pitches in the inning, he left due to the aftereffects of getting hit in the neck by a line drive. Nate Baker continued to pitch much better in relief, allowing one run in four innings. Hunter Strickland allowed three runs in one inning, leaving him with an ERA of 12.00 in AA. Vic Black threw a scoreless inning, allowing one hit and striking out one. Robbie Grossman led off the game with his 6th HR and finished 1-3 with a walk. Grossman now has an .865 OPS in June. Brock Holt went 2-5 with a double and is now hitting .321 and wondering why he's still in AA. Stefan Welch also went 2-5 with a double and Matt Curry had a triple and a walk in three ABs.
-P- Bradenton dropped a laugher to Dunedin, 12-3. Tyler Waldron, Jhonathan Ramos and Zach Foster each allowed four runs, all of them earned except one of Waldron's. Foster managed to do it without allowing a hit. Utilityman Andy Vasquez then showed up the pitchers by throwing a scoreless inning. The good news was that Alex Dickerson went 2-4 with a double and his 5th HR. Dan Grovatt also went 2-4.
-P- West Virginia rode its two top hitters to a 9-5 win over Lakewood. Alen Hanson and Gregory Polanco each hit his 11th HR. Hanson finished 1-3 with two walks, two runs, two RBIs and no errors. Polanco went 3-5 with three runs, three RBIs and three steals, giving him 22 thefts. Zack Dodson gave up a two-run HR in the first but held the bad guys scoreless for the next five innings. For the day he gave up six hits and a walk, and fanned one. Rinku Singh allowed the other three runs in an inning and two-thirds, although he did fan three.
-P- State College dropped a 3-1 decision to Batavia in Luis Heredia's second outing. Heredia allowed two runs, one earned, on eight hits in five innings. He walked nobody as, so far, his control appears to be much-improved. He fanned three. Walker Gourley drove in the only run with a triple.
-P- MiLB.com hadn't bestirred itself to post a box score for the DSL Pirates1 as of 11pm. For some reason, the site generally has the box for the Pirates2 by mid-evening, but almost always lags with the Pirates1. I guess I should be impressed they can tell the two teams apart.
-P- The DSL Pirates2 lost to the Giants, 5-4, on a walkoff, 9th inning single. Reliever Francis Rodriguez found himself in a bases-loaded, no-out jam, then fanned two hitters before giving up the game-ending hit. Luis Rico, an 18-year-old Venezuelan LHP who got a $280,000 bonus, started but pitched only one inning, allowing no runs on a hit and a walk, and fanning two. Reliever Luis Santos, about whom I know diddly beyond his stats, fanned nine in five innings. Center fielder Maximo Rivera went 1-2 with his 3rd HR and two walks. I've noted before that Rivera, who's still only 19, got a moderately large bonus but struggled for two years, although he started showing some power last year. He could be a guy to follow. Francis Lopez, a 20-year-old catcher who's played only sparingly, hit his first pro HR.