Astros Prospect Report: Games of May 25, 2016

Carlos Gomez had himself a ballgame in Corpus Christi, but he wasn't the only player who earned praise this day.  Let's get to the action and take a look.

AAA Fresno Grizzlies: WON 8-1 over the Oklahoma City Dodgers (LAD)

Joe Musgrove.

My goodness, Joe Musgrove.

He'll be in Houston relatively soon, folks.  In this game, he went seven strong innings and allowed five hits (all singles), one run (which was earned), issued no walks (for a change, amirite?), and fanned seven batters.

The lone earned run came at the end of his day in the seventh: he allowed a lead off single, then a sac fly moved the runner to second, a ground ball out moved the runner to third, and finally another single scored the run. He had nine ground outs – one of which was a double play ground ball – to two fly ball outs. Seventeen of twenty-one outs were recorded via strikeout or ground ball.  Another out came in the top of the fourth, when Micah Johnson singled to left field (on a ground ball) and was then thrown out at second by Eury Perez attempting to stretch it to a double.  Yet another out was recorded on a pop out in foul territory to first baseman Jon Singleton, which doesn't count in Musgrove's ground outs-fly outs ratio but which is absolutely considered weak contact.

Basically, Mighty Joe Musgrove turned in yet another performance that was just plain ridiculous.  His Triple-A ERA is down to an even 2.00 after the start.

Also important to give credit to several hitters who all had big days for Fresno.  Preston Tucker was 3-3 with a double and two singles, one of which was an RBI single in the six-run fifth inning.  Andrew Aplin, another hitter who's scuffled quite a bit this year, drove in the first run of the game in that same fifth inning with a single and hit a two run home run in the eighth inning to complete the scoring.  Danny Worth had three singles, and Tyler Heineman had a two-RBI triple.

In another bout of good luck, it was announced this morning that the Dodgers would call up all-world pitching prospect Julio Urias before his scheduled start - against Fresno - which would have occurred today, the 26th.  Hopefully the Grizzlies can ride that good news to another win in their next game.

Box Score:

AA Corpus Christi: WON 2-1 over the Arkansas Travelers (LAA)

Basically, Carlos Gomez was the difference in this game.  In truth, that's not an an exaggeration at all.  Yes, other players contributed, and we'll discuss them all, but first, let's show proper respect to a player who made a great diving catch, had three outfield assists - including two at the plate - and hit the decisive, game-winning home run in the fifth inning in a 1-4 effort.

See?  Not an exaggeration.  This game was literally won because of Carlos Gomez.  Hopefully it was a bit of a "Eureka!" moment for him, and he can build a head of steam in the next few games with the Hooks.

The Corpus website dutifully posted some great highlight videos for us to check out.

First, Gomez's diving catch:

This is just one of three outfield assists for Gomez on the night, but you can see how valuable his presence was.  Clearly, the Travelers had never seen an outfielder with ability like his before:

And here is the absolute bomb (422 feet) he hit to win the game with his bat:

As promised, let's take a look at notable contributions from others in this game.  Alex Bregman only just missed his thirteenth home run of the season in the first inning, watching his fly ball to left land in a glove right at the top of the wall.  Bregatron would add a trio of singles to finish his night 3-4 with solid defense played at the hot corner.

So, Bregman flew out loudly in the first, just missing a home run.  The next batter in the first inning, Derek Fisher, did not miss his (ninth) home run, however, blasting a 417 foot monster shot to right to make the score 1-0 Hooks.

Keegan Yuhl pitched very well (in font of his family, no less), allowing two first inning singles and then a Cal Towey single in the third which resulted in Gomez gunning Towey down at second for his first assist on the day.  Basically, Yuhl cruised through four innings.

In the fifth, he allowed a lead off walk followed by a fielder's choice ground out to advance the runner to second.  Then Angel Rosa singled to center and Carlos Gomez gunned the runner down at the plate for the second out, and Yuhl induced a 6-3 ground out to escape the frame.  Yuhl's only base runner after that point came on a hit by pitch in the top of the sixth.  His final stat line on the day was seven innings pitched with just four hits allowed, no runs scored, one walk, one hit batter, and two strike outs.

Brendan McCurry got a five out save, his ninth save of the season.  He allowed just one hit and struck out two batters and should generally be considered filthy in relief.

Box Score:

High A Lancaster: LOST 16-7 to the Stockton Ports (OAK)

Let's save some time here and say that the first five innings of this game were basically humiliating.  Elieser Hernandez was bombed out of the game after two and one-third innings pitched, allowing nine runs (eight earned).  Matt Bower, he of the highest rising stock in the Astros' system this year, was dismantled in just two-thirds of an inning after a pair of three run home runs.

Stupid run scoring environment in Lancaster.

Anyway, the Ports scored sixteen unanswered runs in the first five innings of this game, but the Jethawks roared back with seven unanswered runs of their own late, including an inside the park home run by Drew Ferguson.

At the end of the day, when the dust settled, several players emerged with solid days.  Jason Martin went 2-4 with a single and a double, Ferguson had a single to go with his inside the park home run, and Garrett Stubbs had a double.

Otherwise, just about the only positive in this game was that the 'Hawks were able to roar back to avoid complete, utter, abject humiliation...and the fact that despite twenty-three total runs, it was still mercifully over with in under three and a half hours.

Games in Lancaster that are like this will always be best summed up by this Twitter gem from Keith Law:

Baseball as played on one of Jupiter's smaller moons pic.twitter.com/W8rsSEl9xT

— keithlaw (@keithlaw) May 8, 2016

Box Score:

Low A Quad Cities: POSTPONED (rain)

The River Bandits will do it for Ernie Banks today in a doubleheader.