Games Played on 04/09/12
Minor League Player of the Day: Bakersfield SS Billy Hamilton went 2-5 with a double and 3 RBIs and stole 2 bases.
AAA
The Bats spent the night doing their Cincinnati Reds impression, getting 1 run on 4 hits (2 by Chris Valaika). About the only Bats hitting right now are Valaika and Paul Janish.
Jeff Francis had a nice start, 5 IP 4 H 2 R 2 ER 1 BB 9 K.
AA
Henry Rodriguez was the only Blue Wahoo (I know, what a name) with multiple hits, going 2-4.
Strong pitching (and bad defense) was the other story of the night. Pedro Villarreal had a good start, hurt by bad defense, going 6 innings, allowing 1 earned run (3 runs) on 4 hits, walking none and striking out 5. Mark Serrano came on and pitched 2 innings of scoreless relief (2 hits), striking out 4.
High A
The Blaze blew a 7 run lead, giving up two runs in the top of the 9th, to lose to the Ports 10-9.
Offensively, the Blaze were led by Billy Hamilton, who went 2-5 with a double, run scored, 2 stolen bases, and 3 RBI’s. Newcomer Travis Mattair went 2-4 with a homer.
The Blaze’s pitching efforts do not merit mentioning.
For the second night in a row, the Dragons were stymied by some very effective pitching. Lugnuts starter Jesse Hernandez allowed just 1 hit over 7 shutout innings. He walked 1, struck out 8, and didn’t allow a ball out of the infield in his 7 innings of work.
Dragons starter Carlos Gonzalez threw better than his line indicates, throwing 4 scoreless innings, and was only behind 2-0 when he left the game in the 5th. He was charged with 2 more runs after he left the game. Dan Jensen threw 2 scoreless innings, allowing 1 hit and striking out 2.
No Dragons hitter had more than one hit.