The minor league teams lost 2 of 3 games on Wednesday, but the lone win was an exciting walk off win by the Arizona Dodgers. In addition, we got some bonus coverage of the Raptor game from Kenny Shulsen who writes for the blog Lasorda's Lair.
Minor League Player of the Day – Enlly Morales - 3 for 5, 1 2B, 2 game tying RBI's. It was relatively slim pickings for this award on Wednesday with just 3 games played, so I'm giving this award to Morales as he had the only 3 hit game and had a huge game tying double in the 9th. As I wrote in my preview just yesterday, Enlly had a standout season in the DSL in 2009, but then fell a bit flat in his 2010 US debut. He doesn't have much power, but maybe he can be a decent average guy.
AAA – The Isotopes were grounded by the RedHawks (Astros) on Wednesday 5 to 4 as Trayvon Robinson finally ended his hot streak. Robinson went 0 for 4 with 3 strikeouts, but fellow top prospect Jerry Sands stepped up as he went 2 for 4 and homered the first time in a while. The well traveled Joe Becker also homered for Albuquerque and Justin Sellers had 2 hits in 3 at bats, but the Isotopes rally fell just short. On the mound for the home team was John Ely, but he was average at best as he allowed 10 base-runners and 4 runs in 6 innings of work. Merkin Valdez had a solid day in relief as he threw 1.1 hitless innings with 2 K's.
AA – All Star Break
HiA – All Star Break
LoA – All Star Break
Rookie Ogden – The Raptors took a tough 10 inning 7 to 6 loss in the home opener against Idaho Falls (Royals), but as I mentioned above we got some extra coverage of this game from fellow Dodger blogger Kenny Shulsen. He has an outstanding video of James Baldwin's triple at his blog (click here), and you can see Baldwin's other hit here. He also filmed Scott Schebler's RBI single which can be seen here. What I like about these videos is that in addition to seeing the action on the field, you can actually get a glimpse of Ogden's home field, which has been named as one of the most beautiful rookie league fields in all of baseball. Another note from Kenny is that starter Raydel Sanchez, who started the game and threw 5 innings with 4 runs allowed (1 earned) and 5 K's, was only sitting in the high 80's with his fastball but showed a nice slider. One final report is that reliever Scott McGough was hitting in the mid 90's with his fastball and also showed a nasty slider. Besides Baldwin's solid game and the other reports from above, the only other thing to mention is that Scott Woodward went 2 for 4 with a couple of doubles. Again thanks Kenny!
Rookie Arizona – The Arizona Dodgers played a back and forth game that featured seven 9th inning runs, but luckily the Dodgers scored 4 of those runs and won the game against the Rangers in walk-off fashion 6 to 5. 2nd baseman Enlly Morales went 3 for 5 and has a huge 2 RBI double in the 9th to tie the game. Joe Winker then finished off the game with a infield single to shortstop that plated the winning run. Catcher Joe Lincoln went 2 for 3 with a double and a RBI, while Alex Santana went 1 for 4 with a couple of K's. Jose Dominguez started for the Dodgers and had a great outing, allowing just 4 hits and 1 walk in 4.2 shutout innings. Beyker Fructuoso also had solid 2011 debut with 1.1 perfect innings, but Garrett Bolt didn't fare so well as he allowed all three 9th inning runs to score.
DSL – Off day
Albuquerque Isotopes Box Score (AAA)
Ogden Raptors Box Score (Rookie)