Astros Weekend Minor League Recap

A few things have happened since the last post on Friday morning.  First, Ben Heath has dominated in his limited playing time in Corpus.  Timmy's head might explode from his man crush on Heath next season if he gets off to a hot start.  The second is Tri-City's playoff situation.

Tri-City only won a game over this three day span but the playoff race in the Stedlar division of the New York-Penn League went down to yesterday.  One of two things had to happen yesterday in order for Tri-City to win the division; Tri-City wins or Connecticut loses.  Tri-City lost but luckily Connecticut did too in extra innings.  This is a big step for the the system.  The last Astros affiliated minor league team to make the playoffs was Class A-Advanced Salem in 2007.  Tri-City last made the playoffs the year before in 2006.  Coming into this season there were concerns that the Astros were at risk of losing some of our affiliations because we weren't placing enough talent on the rosters to compete and that in turn was forcing those teams to lose revenue from reduced ticket sales.  Performing to this level shows that the Astros can put enough talent there to compete while still developing prospects.  I'm very confident that these guys in Tri-City will move on to help Lancaster and Lexington both compete next season in the win/loss columns.  Congratulations to the ValleyCats and good luck in the playoff game Tuesday!

Friday

Round Rock won 3-0

• Shane Loux (5.25)-9 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 6 SO-Huh?
• Collin DeLome LF (.222)-1-4, 2B, 2 SO
• Brandon Barnes RF (.364)-2-3, 2B

Corpus Christi lost 2-1

• Dallas Keuchel (4.70)-7 2/3 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 5 SO-Thirteen groundouts to just one flyout is a stellar.  He is very good at inducing groundballs.
• Evan Englebrook (3.08)-1 1/3 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 SO
• David Cook LF (.251)-1-3, 3B, BB, SO
• Jimmy Van Ostrand 1B (.246)-1-3, 2B

Lancaster lost 8-3

• Ross Seaton (6.64)-5 IP, 9 H, 7 R, 7 ER, 2 BB, 3 SO...Oh, look, a clump of hair that I pulled out of my own head.
• Jose Altuve 2B (.272)-2-5, HR
• Brian Pellegrini LF (.281)-1-4, HR
• Lee Crus DH (.351)-1-4, 2B

Lexington lost 1-0

• Juan Minaya (4.79)-8 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 7 SO-Nice...

Tri-City lost 5-4

• Robby Doran (4.67)-4 1/3 IP, 7 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 0 BB, 1 SO, 1 HR
• Ben Orloff 2B (.297)-2-4, SB
• Austin Wates CF (.345)-0-3, BB, 2 SB-He got on base just once but stole 2nd and 3rd base!
• Mike Kvasnicka RF (.233)-1-4, HR
• Telvin Nash DH (.200)-1-4, 2B, 3 SO
• Jacke Healey SS (.158)-1-3, 3B, 2 SO

Saturday

Round Rock won 6-2

• Andy Van Hekken (4.36)-8 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 6 SO, 1 HR
• Jack Shuck CF (.282)-2-3, BB
• Collin DeLome LF (.223)-1-4, 2B
• John Curtis C (.000)-0-2, 2 BB, SO

Corpus Christi lost 7-6

• Bubbie Buzachero (4.23)-7 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 2 SO
• David Cook LF (.251)-1-4, HR, BB, SO, SB
• Koby Clemens 1B (.242)-1-5, 2B, SO
• Jonathan Gaston CF (.247)-1-4, 2B, SO
• Ben Heath C (.750)-3-4, 2B, SO-This guy is raking!

Lancaster won 12-5

• Robert Donovan (5.73)-6 IP, 7 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 5 SO, 1 HR-Not bad at all.
• Brian Wabick (5.18)-2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 SO
• Jose Altuve 2B (.287)-3-5, HR-3 game HR streak.
• Andrew Simunic RF (.316)-2-4, 2B
• Brian Pellegrini LF (.282)-1-3, HR, SO
• Lee Cruz DH (.352)-2-5, HR, SO
• David Flores 3B (.267)-2-4, HR
• Bryce Lane CF-LF (.366)-3-4, 2 2B-He continues to impress me.  They have played him in all of the three outfield positions in Lancaster so he may be more versatile than I thought which only makes me like him more.

Lexington won 6-0

• Jose Cisnero (3.65)-6 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 4 BB, 3 SO
• Brenden Stines (3.08)-3 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 SO
• Jimmy Paredes 2B (.288)-2-5, HR, SO, SB
• Jake Goebbert RF (.286)-2-4, 2 2B, SO
• Kody Hinze DH (.275)-2-4, 2B, HR, SO
• Grant Hogue CF (.282)-2-4, SB

Tri-City won 8-7

• Jake Buchanan (4.28)-3 IP, 6 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 1 BB, 1 SO, 1 HR
• Murillo Gouvea (6.30)-2 1/3 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 6 SO-Wow this guy can strike guys out!
• Ben Orloff 2B (.302)-2-3, 2 BB
• Austin Wates CF (.333)-1-4, HR, BB-That HR was off the hitters backdrop in CF that is 412 ft.  According to the announcer, that's only the second one ever!  Serious pop from Wates!
• Tyler Burnett 3B (.251)-2-4, BB
• Adam Bailey LF (.228)-3-5, 2B, SO
• Chris Wallace C (.258)-3-5
• Telvin Nash DH (.222)-1-4, HR, 2 SO
• Jacke Healey SS (.168)-2-4

Sunday

Round Rock lost 3-2

• Jordan Lyles (5.40)-5 IP, 8 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 3 SO-His GO:FO was 8:3 which is solid.  He doesn't exactly have a good defense behind him so this start doesn't worry me.
• Jonah Bayliss (3.58)-2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 4 SO
• Drew Locke 1B (.281)-1-2, 2 BB, SO, SB
• Collin DeLome (.224)-1-4, 3 SO-I'm done with this guy.
• Edwin Maysonet SS (.251)-1-4, 2B, SO
• Brandon Barnes RF (.278)-1-3, HR, BB, SO
• John Curtis C (.333)-2-4, 2B, SO

Corpus Christi lost 3-0

• Polin Trinidad (4.02)-6 IP, 10 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 3 BB, 4 SO, 1 HR
• Shane Wolf (3.18)-2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 SO
• Matt Nevarez (3.76)-1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 SO-Great outing.
• Wladimir Sutil SS (.278)-1-3-Only hit for the Hooks.

Lancaster lost 13-10 (in the 10th)

• Kyle Greenwalt (5.93)-3 IP, 10 H, 8 R, 5 ER, 0 BB, 1 SO-Thank goodness he's done with Lancaster! He still posted a solid GO:AO for the game but still got hurt with a lot of groundballs and line drives up the middle.
• David Berner (3.00)-1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 SO
• David Carpenter (3.52)-2 IP, 4 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 0 SO-His perfect ERA is over.  It could be that he was left in for a second inning which is when he got hit up.
• Jose Altuve 2B (.286)-1-4, 2 BB
• Jay Austin CF (.259)-2-4, 2B, 2 BB, 2 SO
• Brian Pellegrini 1B (.289)-3-6, HR, SO
• Lee Cruz DH (.359)-4-6, 2B, HR
• David Flores 3B (.271)-3-5, 2B, SO
• Andrew Simunic RF (.318)-2-5, 2 SO
• Jonathan Villar SS (.230)-1-4, HR, 2 SO
• Bryce Lane LF (.356)-1-4, BB, SO-Still going strong!

Lexington won 9-3

• Colton Pitkin (5.05)-5 IP, 7 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 5 SO
• Grant Hogue CF (.285)-2-4, 2B, BB
• Jake Goebbert LF (.290)-3-4, 2 2B, BB, SB
• Kody Hinze 1B (.277)-2-4, BB
• Jonathan Meyer 3B (.247)-2-4, BB, SB

Tri-City lost 6-5

• David Martinez (3.02)-3 2/3 IP, 8 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 0 BB, 2 SO, 2 HR
• Joan Belliard (3.72)-1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 SO
• Ben Orloff 2B (.307)-2-3, SB
• Adam Bailey LF (.235)-2-2, 3B, BB
• Telvin Nash DH (.308)-2-4, 3B, 2 SO