Just one win for Dodger affiliates on Sunday, coming on Ely's complete game masterpiece. Also, in case you missed it Aaron Miller was added to the Quakes roster and he is expected to throw tomorrow after the rehabbing Blake Hawksworth pitches an inning.
Minor League Player of the Day – John Ely - 9 IP, 3 hits, 1 run, 7 K's, 1 Win. This award had to go to Ely who rebounded from a rough outing last week to throw a complete game for the Isotopes. This was Ely's 3rd outing of the year in which he's thrown at least 7 innings and has allowed 3 hits or less.
AAA – John Ely needed just 107 pitches and a little over 2 hours to shut down the Aces on Sunday as Albuquerque defeated Reno (Dbacks) 3 to 1. Ely allowed just 4 base runners over 9 innings on 3 hits and a walk, and only 1 run scored against him. Ely also had 7 strikeouts on the day, and lowered his ERA to 3.78 for the season. At the plate, Eugenio Velez doubled and hit his first homer of the season to raise his average to .386. Dee Gordon also had a couple of hits, including a triple, and he scored 2 of the team's 3 runs. One final note is that Trayvon Robinson didn't play in this game, but I'm pretty sure this was just a planned day off for Tray because he has been struggling lately.
AA – The Lookout offense was quiet on Sunday as Chattanooga got buried by the Carolina Mudcats (Reds) 4 to 1. Starter Nate Eovaldi cruised through the first 3.2 innings on Sunday, allowing just 1 hit and striking out 7 batters, but he unraveled quickly and gave up 3 hits and 2 walks before getting the final out of the 4th. Overall Eovaldi still had a decent game as he threw 4 innings and struck out 8 while allowing 5 hits, 3 walks, and 2 runs. David Pfeiffer threw 2 shutout innings of relief, and Josh Wall did not allow a run for the 3rd straight outing. Chattanooga didn't do much at the plate as they had just 4 hits, and none of the offensive prospects did anything worth mentioning.
HiA – The Quakes were defeated by the 66ers (Angles) 5 to 2 on Sunday for their 3rd straight loss. Arismendy Ozoria made his 2011 and full season debut as the starting pitcher for Rancho, and overall did pretty well. Though he gave up 4 hits and 4 runs in just 4.1 innings of work, Ozoria did strike out 8. After having a solid 2010 season, Arismendy was a guy that DeJon Watson said to keep our eye on in 2011 so hopefully this is the start of something good. Robert Romero and Andy Suiter threw the final 4.2 innings of the game and combined to give up just 3 hits and 1 run. The Quakes had just 5 hits in this game, and 2 of them came from Blake Smith who singled and hit his 10th homer of the season. Angelo Songco also homered in this game which provided the team's only other offensive highlight.
LoA – In a game that endured a 1 hour and 55 minute rain delay, the Loons were eventually washed out by the Silver Hawks (Dbacks) 10 to 7. Starter Gustavo Gomez was perfect for the first 2 innings, but then couldn't find the strike zone in the 3rd as he allowed 4 walks which eventually led to 6 runs. Bret Montgomery was great over the next 1.2 innings, then converted outfielder Mike Drowne gave up 3 runs to put the game out of reach. The Loons offense actually collected 15 hits in this game but were only able to plate 7 runs. Roman Pena went 3 for 4 with 4 runs scored and finished just a single shy of the cycle, while Jessie Bosnik also had 3 hits including a double. Chris Jacobs had his first 2 hits of the season with a double and a single, and Casio Grider continued his hot hitting with a 2 for 5 game.
Albuquerque Isotopes Box Score (AAA)
Chattanooga Lookouts Box Score (AA)
Rancho Cucamonga Quakes Box Score (HiA)