Minor League Player of the Day: Jeremy Hermida (Louisville) 3-4, double, walk, run scored
AAA
Louisville 8 – Rochester 3
The Bats scored 7 times in the 2nd inning and then cruised to a 5-run victory. Dave Sappelt and Jeremy Hermida had 3 hits apiece while Chris Valaika, Denis Phipps, and Felix Perez each had 2. Valaika hit his 3rd homerun of the season in the 3rd inning and scored 2 runs.
Starter Matt Maloney failed to make it to the 5th inning, allowing 2 runs on 4 hits and 2 walks in 4 innings pitched. Jared Burton picked up the win in relief by throwing 1.2 scoreless innings, allowing a hit and walking 2 while striking out 2. The outing was Burton’s first AAA appearance of the season after pitching in 3 games for the Arizona League Reds.
AA
Carolina 6 – Jacksonville 2
Neftali Soto homered in a 2-3 night at the plate. Soto’s homerun was his 20th of the season, the first Minor League player for the Reds this season to reach the 20 homerun mark. He scored twice and drove in an RBI. Quintin Berry, Yasmani Grandal, and Bill Rhinehart each went 2-4 at the plate last night. Rhinehart doubled and drove in 2 RBI with Grandal scoring twice and driving in a run.
Justin Freeman picked up the win in relief by going 2.1 innings, allowing only 1 hit and striking out 4. The win pushed his record to 2-3 on the season.
High A
Modesto 11 – Bakersfield 10; final 13
In the top of the 13th inning, Jorge Jiminez hit his first homerun of the season, a 2-run shot to give the Blaze a 2 run lead. Jiminez and the Blaze hoped the homerun would be the game winner, but it was not to be. Jiminez finished the game 2-5 with 2 RBI and 3 runs scored. Dayne Read finished the night 3-7 with a double, 2 RBI, and a run scored. Ryan LaMarre and Brodie Greene each had 2 hits and 2 runs batted in.
The Blaze used 7 pitchers in the contest, with Scott Gaffney having the best night on the hill. Gaffney pitched 3 shutout innings of relief, allowing 2 hits and striking out 5. Doug Salinas blew his 4th save of the season and dropped to 4-2 overall on the year by allowing 3 runs on 2 hits and a walk. The big blow was the 3-run, walk-off homerun Salinas allowed that cost the Blaze the win.
A
Fort Wayne 2 – Dayton 1
Donald Lutz went 1-4 with a triple and an RBI. No other Dragons player had more than 1 hit.
Mitch Clarke allowed 2 runs on 3 hits and a walk in 4 innings of relief to pick up the loss. Brian Pearl came in after Clarke and pitched 3 scoreless innings of relief, allowing 2 hits and struck out 7. Billy Hamilton committed his 30th error of the season at shortstop.
Rookie
Helena 10 – Billings 7
After falling behind 9-0 after 5 innings of play, the Mustangs rallied back to make it a game by scoring 7 runs in the 6th inning to cut the lead to 9-7. Unfortunately, that would be all the runs the Mustangs could muster in a losing effort. Drew Poulk and Nick O’Shea each hit 3-run homers in the 6th inning giving Poulk 6 homeruns on the season, and O’Shea 5.
Wes Mugarian walked 5 batters and surrendered 4 hits which allowed 6 runs to score in his 3.1 innings pitched. The loss dropped Mugarian’s record to 2-4 on the season.
AZL Cubs 24 – AZL Reds 4
The Reds committed 6 errors in the field. Two Reds relievers allowed 8 runs each (though many were unearned) in a span of 2 innings pitched. Not much more I can say about this one.