MiLB Recap: Games of August 6th, 2014

Oklahoma City Redhawks: Off

Northwest Arkansas Naturals (KC) 9, Corpus Christi Hooks 8

Delino DeShields: 2-5, 2 R, 2B, 2 RBI, K

Tony Kemp: 0-3, 2 RBI

Teoscar Hernandez: 1-5, RBI, 3 K

Colin Moran: 2-5, R, 2B, RBI

Jonathan Meyer: 1-5, 2B, RBI, K

Leo Heras: 2-4. R, 2B, 3B, BB

Conrad Gregor: 2-2, 2 R, RBI, 3 BB

Brandon Meredith: 1-2, R, 2 BB

Mike Hauschild: 4 IP, 7 H, 4 ER, 3 K

Kyle Smith: 2 IP, 1 H, 4 ER, 3 BB, 2 K

Kyle Weiland: 1 IP, 3 H, 1 ER

Tyson Perez: 1 IP, 2 K

Rough ending for the Hooks. They rallied for a 3-run eighth to bring it within one, and with men on the corners after a Leo Heras triple and a Conrad Gregor walk, Heras broke for home on a pitch in the dirt...and was thrown out. Still, a great game for Heras, who now has reached base at least twice in five of his last six games. Gregor also had an awesome game (coupled with awesome games by Meredith, Moran, and DeShields), reaching first base every time he had a plate appearance.

Not a great night for pitching in Northwest Arkansas, and especially not for Kyle Smith, whose 6th inning went groundout, walk, walk, walk, popout, hit by pitch, three-run double, strikeout. His last 4 starts have been ugly, with 16 ER in 16.2 innings together with a 7/10 BB/K ratio. This control issue will hopefully go away soon, as Smith has had a mostly-excellent season up until this bump in the road.

Lancaster Jethawks 3, Modesto Nuts (COL) 2

Brett Phillips: 2-4, R, 3B, SB

Rio Ruiz: 2-4

Jon Kemmer: 2-4, 2 R, 2B

Ronnie Mitchell: 1-3, 2B, BB

Austin Elkins: 2-3, RBI, BB

Kent Emanuel: 8 IP, 6 H, 1 ER, K

Jamaine Cotton: 1 IP, 1 H, 1 ER, 2 K

Superb night for Emanuel. He didn't get a strikeout till the last batter, yet still shut the Nuts down. He's allowed just 4 ER in his last 28 innings. He's improving, and thriving when he doesn't have to pitch in the Hangar.

Brett Phillips has made the adjustment to A+ really, really quickly. Speed always plays, and he's one of the fastest players in the Cal League. His hit tool is also really impressive, as he always seems to churn out hits that he then stretches into extra bases.

Quad Cities River Bandits 5, Burlington Bees (LAA) 3

James Ramsay: 1-4, R, K

Marc Wik: 0-2, R, 2 BB, K

George Springer: 1-1, R, 2B, BB, SB

Chase McDonald: 1-2, R, 2B, 2 RBI, K

A.J. Reed: 2-3, 2 2B, 2 RBI, BB

J.D. Davis: 0-4, 3 K

Thomas Lindauer: 1-3, 2 K

Edison Frias: 7.1 IP, 4 H, 3 ER, BB, 6 K

Chris Cotton: 0.2 IP, K

Frederick Tiburci: 1 IP, 2 K

I freakin' love this team. Everyone gets hits and walks and all the stuff that make a team really, really good. It's a mix of 2013 draft picks like McDonald, 2014 picks like Reed, org guys like Springer (the guy's 25, needs to get through the minors quicker than he has thus far) and all the rest of the fun guys that make me wish I could see them play live. Oh, that's right, I will see them play live this Sunday! Any suggestions/requests/whatever are welcome.

I'm really not sure A.J. Reed knows what happens if you stop at first after hitting the ball. He might not even know how. In a miniscule sample size, his QC OBP is .278 and his SLG is .647. That is insane.

Tri-City ValleyCats 3, Auburn Doubledays (WAS) 2

Bobby Boyd: 2-5, K, SB

Jamie Ritchie: 1-4, R, 2 K

Nick Tanielu: 3-5, R, 2 K

Terrell Joyce: 2-4, R, 2B, 2 RBI, 2 K

Mott Hyde: 2-4, K

Ariel Ovando: 1-3, BB

Joe Musgrove: 6 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 8 K

Bryan Radziewski: 2 IP, 1 H, K

Derick Velazquez: 1 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 2 K

Good game by Tri-City, scoring early and holding on tight against a Doubleday 9th-inning rally. The team is missing its pedigree players, what with Davis and Reed promoted and Fisher sidelined, but they still are the ValleyBats. Jamie Ritchie is especially impressive, slashing an otherworldly .411/.531/.534 on the season. If he can stick at catcher (I have no idea if he can, just putting it out there) then we might have a legit catching prospect. That BABiP is going to go down (.462!) but if he can keep his average around .300 that'll be fine.

Joe Musgrove has a 7.96 K/9 to go with a 1.36 BB/9 on the season, both of which are very impressive numbers for his first season out of rookie ball. If he keeps it up, maybe the forgettable (on both sides) Happ trade could be memorable.

Greeneville Astros: Off Day

Probable Pitchers:

AAA: Owens vs. Pimentel

AA: Devenski vs. Binford

A+: TBD vs. Vander Tuig

A-: Houser vs. Trivino

SS: Ordosgoitti vs. A. Williams

RK: Nicely vs. TBD