Astros Prospect Report: Games of April 27, 2016

Better late than never, Astros fans!  Let's get right to it.

AAA Fresno Grizzlies: LOST 7-3 to the Reno Aces (ARI)

This was a pretty good game until the bottom of the eighth inning.

Brad Peacock got the start and posted middling results.  He struck out nine hitters in his five and two-thirds innings pitched, which is encouraging, but he also gave up three walks and seven hits, including a pair of singles to lead off the bottom of the third inning followed by Peter O'Brien's seventh home run of the season to plate three total runs and give the Aces the lead.  It was O'Brien's fourth home run in three games.

There the score stayed until the top of the eighth inning.  Roberto Pena recorded a one out single, Danny Worth followed a Nolan Fontana strikeout with a two-out walk, and then A.J. Reed drew a walk against lefty reliever Scott Rice, who entered the game to face Reed, to load the bases.  Eury Perez pinch ran for Reed, and Colin Moran came to the plate to provide some salivation for Astros fans:

Note that Moran's double also came off the lefty, Rice, who promptly was pulled from the game after this pitch.

In the bottom of the eighth, however, things went very badly very quickly.  Kevin Chapman entered the game and gave up a lead off double to O'Brien followed by a single that advanced O'Brien to third, a ground out that advanced the runner to second while holding O'Brien at third, a walk to load the bases, and then a bases clearing double to pinch hitter Kyle Jensen.

Jordan Jankowski was brought in to put out the fire that Chapman started and promptly threw a wild pitch, allowing Jensen to advance to third, and then gave up a sacrifice fly, allowing Jensen to score but mercifully retiring the second out.  Jankowski then struck out Jason Bourgeois to end the frame, but Chapman had already allowed the fatal blow.

Moran's only hit in four trips to the plate was the double, and his slash line currently sits at .313/.357/.422 with a 25% K rate that has recently been trending a bit more positively.  As has been pointed out by some prospectphiles here on the site, many of Moran's strikeouts have been looking, and several of those have been questionable on the umpire's part, so it's possible the K rate is inflated some and will come down.

A.J. Reed was 1-3 with a single and a walk in the game, Jon Singleton was 0-4 with two strikeouts, a pop out to short, and a fly out to center field, and Matt Duffy - who has struggled terribly in Triple-A since his demotion from the Big League club - was 0-3 with a walk and two strikeouts.  Moran's double was the only extra base hit of the game for the Grizzlies, who managed just three hits and a walk off Aces starter Braden Shipley.  Juan Minaya was probably the brightest spot of the game for the Grizzlies from a pitching perspective, pitching a hitless inning and a third in relief of Brad Peacock.

Box Score: