Before I get into the minor league news, I wanted to give a quick update on the 2011 Dodger draftees who are still playing in the college baseball postseason. 1st round pick Chris Reed (Stanford) threw 2.2 innings before a 3 and a half hour rain delay and had given up a couple of unearned runs, then he apparently came back out to pitch after the delay and gave up an RBI single which put the game out of reach for good. 11th rounder Scott Wingo (South Carolina) went 2 for 5 with 2 RBI's in the Gamecocks win.
Minor League Player of the Day – Jake Lemmerman - 4 for 4, 1 2B, 2 runs, 1 RBI. There were several great minor league performances on Saturday, but I'm giving this award to Lemmerman who had a perfect day at the plate. While Late Night hasn't been overly impressive this season, he's held his own and is hitting .296 for the season.
AAA – Albuquerque moved up the start time of their game by a couple of hours due to the impending onset of smoke from a close-by fire, but that didn't stop Isotopes from suffocating the Nashville Sounds (Brewers) in a 5 to 2 victory. The Topes pitching staff had a great all around game as three pitches combined to allow just 6 hits. Starter Randy Keisler picked up the win with 7 solid innings, giving up just 4 hits and 1 run while striking out 6. Joey Newby threw a shutout inning of relief, while Jon Link allowed a harmless homer as he finished off the game. The Albuquerque offense only had one extra base hit in this game, but it was a big double by Trayvon Robinson that scored two runs and gave the team a few precious insurance runs. Ivan De Jesus, Jerry Sands, and JD Closser all had 2 singles each to help out in the win.
AA – Chattanooga busted out the big sticks on Saturday as the Lookouts defeated the Braves 11 to 5. The recently outrighted Hector Gimenez went 3 for 6 with 2 doubles and a RBI, while Scott Van Slyke connected on a 3-run homer to give him 6 bombs for the season. Brian Cavazos-Galvez also helped out with 2 doubles and 3 runs, and Wilberto Ortiz went 3 for 3 with 3 RBI's. On the mound, David Pfeiffer made his 3rd start of the year and did enough to pick up the win, throwing 5 innings and giving up 4 runs on 5 hits. Allen Webster actually made a scheduled relief appearance to give his arm a bit of a break, and he picked a perfect inning. Kenley Jansen was also perfect in his rehab appearance which lasted 2 innings and included a couple of punch-outs, and as Eric mentioned he should be ready to be activated on Monday.
HiA – The Quakes doubled up the Visalia Rawhide on Saturday with a 8 to 4 victory at the Epicenter. Starter Matt Magill picked up the win with 6 innings of work in which he allowed 3 runs on 6 hits and struck out 4. Ethan Martin made his relief debut and pitched a perfect 7th inning, then Hong-Chih Kuo struck out all 3 batters he faced in the 8th. At the plate, the top two batters in Rancho's lineup combined for 8 hits as Nick Buss had 4 singles and Jake Lemmerman went 4 for 4 with a double and a RBI. J.T. Wise connected for his 7th homer of the year, while Austin Gallagher singled and hit his 6th jack of the season.
LoA – Garrett Gould continued his tradition of giving up unearned runs on Saturday in the Loons 5 to 3 victory over the River Bandits (Cardinals). Gould threw 5 innings and struck out 7 while allowing just 2 hits, and all 3 runs he allowed were not charged against him. After giving up 15 unearned runs in 2010 through 57.2 innings, Gould is on a similar pace in 2011 as he's given up 10 unearned runs in 2011 through 64 innings. The difference is that in 2010 Gould's batting average against was .292, while in 2011 that average is down to a miniscule .188. After Garrett left the game, Pete Budkevics picked up in relief and threw 3 innings of 1 hit ball which earned him the win. Logan Bawcom pitched a perfect 9th to collect his 7th save of the year. At the plate, Jonathan Garcia had an RBI double while Leon Landry contributed with an RBI triple. In addition, Michael Pericht, Joseph Becker, and Christian Lara all had 2 hits each.
DSL Game 1 – The Dominican Dodgers got crushed by the Pirates 11 to 5 in the first game of their double-header. Richardo De La Rosa took most of the damage as he gave up 8 hits and 7 runs in a couple of frames on the mound. At the plate, the Dodgers only multi-hit game and extra base came from 2nd baseman Faustino Oguisten who went 2 for 3 with a triple and 2 RBI's.
DSL Game 2 – The Dominican Dodgers gave up a couple of early runs and were never really in this game as they lost to the Pirates 6 to 1. 18 year old Abdiel Velasquez, who had a solid season in 2010, gave up 5 runs in 2.2 innings of work, but then soon to be 20 year old Luis Silverio allowed just 1 additional run over the next 4.1 innings. The Dodgers had just 5 hits at the plate, 2 of them coming from the same Faustino Oguisten who also had a couple of hits in game 1 of the double-header.
Albuquerque Isotopes Box Score (AAA)
Chattanooga Lookouts Box Score (AA)
Rancho Cucamonga Quakes Box Score (HiA)
Great Lakes Loons Box Score (LoA)
Dominican Dodgers Box Score Game 1 (DSL)