Minor League Player of the Day – Scott Van Slyke - 4 for 5, 1 2B, 1 3B, 2 Runs, 3 RBI's. Van Slyke has been solid all season, but he's really turned it on in August with a .436 average and a 1.074 OPS. He ranks 2nd in the Southern League in Average, OPS, OB%, and SLG%, and he continues to lead the league in doubles. I'll be honest I was never really sold on Van Slyke, but with the way he's been crushing the ball all year he's even starting to make a believer out of me.
AAA – A ground rule double by AJ Ellis off of Andy LaRoche (yes that Andy LaRoche) in the top of the 13th gave the Isotopes a 3 - 2 lead, but the River Cats (A's) answered back in the bottom of the inning and defeated Albuquerque 4 to 3 on a walk off single. Alberto Bastardo had started the game for the Topes 4 and half hours earlier, and threw a great game as he allowed just 3 hits in 5.1 shutout innings. Ramon Troncoso and Jon Link combined for 3.2 innings of scoreless relief, but then David Pfeiffer came in and gave up the winning runs. Ellis' aforementioned double was the only extra base hit for Albuquerque, but Russ Mitchell went 3 for 6 and Jamie Hoffmann extended his hitting streak to 15 games in his final at bat. Jerry Sands had a rough day at the plate as he went 0 for 6 with 2 K's.
AA – Scott Rice let the Mudcats tie the game at 6 in the top of the 9th, but all that did was set up the Lookouts for a walkoff 7 - 6 victory in front of the home crowd. Scott Van Slyke led of the bottom of the 9th with a triple, his 4th hit of the game, then after a couple of intentional walks Griff Erickson drove home the winning run on a sacrifice fly to left. Alex Castellanos had another multi-hit game as he went 2 for 4 with a double, while Brian Cavazos-Galvez scratched out 3 base knocks including a triple. Starter Michael Antonini struggled a bit as he allowed 5 runs on 7 hits through 5 frames, but Javy Solano was solid in relief as he allowed just a single hit in 1.2 innings. Steven Ames recorded the win after he took over for Rice in the 9th and retired both men he faced.
HiA – The never say die Quakes rallied for 4 runs in the bottom of the 9th inning for a 7 to 6 walk-off victory over the Ports (A's). Freaking Nick Buss was of course in the middle of the comeback and had another huge night as he went 4 for 5 with a double, a triple, and 2 runs scored. Wilberto Ortiz, who hit the walk-off hit single to win the game, went 2 for 3 with a couple of walks, and Tony Delmonico doubled and reached base 3 times via base on balls. Jon Michael Redding struggled through 4 innings as he allowed 5 runs, and his bullpen was also somewhat shaky except for Steve Smith who recorded the win with 1.1 scoreless frames.
LoA – Zach Lee didn't have his best stuff on Wednesday, but even if he had tossed a gem he still would have lost because his offense managed just 2 hits in a 5 - 1 defeat to the Dragons (Reds). The only good news is that Lee didn't walk a batter, but he was very hittable in his 3 innings of work as he allowed 8 base knocks and 4 runs while striking out 3. Ryan Christenson gave up 6 more hits and the final run of the game in relief before John Housey and Andrew Pevsner tossed back to back shutout frames. As I previously mentioned the Loons did practically nothing at the plate, although Nick Akins did prevent the shutout as his hit left the yard for his 11th bomb of the season.
Rookie Ogden – Raydel Sanchez had a nice rebound game after several terrible starts, but the Ogden offense could only muster up 6 hits in a 3 - 1 loss to the Brewers. Sanchez allowed 1 run on 5 hits while striking out 6, although he did walk 4. Joel Lima and Matt Shelton each gave up a solo homer in relief, but that was the only hit each allowed. On offense Justin Boudreaux slugged his first professional home run while Pratt Maynard went 2 for 3. Scott Schebler and Noel Cuevas both doubled to round out the offensive highlights.
Rookie Arizona – The Arizona Dodgers lost for just the 3rd time this month as they fell to the Angeles 10 to 2. Most of the damage came against the Dodger relievers as Luis Mesa allowed just 2 runs over 5 innings. Francisco Villa gave up 4 runs in relief, as did converted outfielder Chance Gilmore. The Dodgers collected just 6 hits at the dish, but one of them came from the rehabbing Blake Smith who doubled home a run. Chris O'Brien had the only multi-hit game as he went 2 for 4 with a two-bagger.
DSL Game 1 – It took 15 innings, but the Dodgers finally defeated the Pirates 5 to 4 in a game that started on July 28th. Victor Araujo threw the final 5 innings of this game in relief and was outstanding as he allowed just 1 hit to pick up the victory. Jorky Infante led the offense by going 4 for 7 with 2 RBI's,
DSL Game 2 – The Dodgers scored 3 runs in the final frame to beat the Pirates for a 2nd time on Wednesday 4 to 1. I'm not exactly sure how the DSL playoffs work, but it should be noted that the Dominican Dodgers are 5.5 games out of 1st place and just a half game out of 2nd place with just 3 games to play. If only the division winner makes the playoffs then the Dodgers are obviously out, but if there is a 2nd place wildcard then they still have a chance. Getting back to the game at hand, starter Jackson Mateo threw a gem in what will probably be his last start of the season as he allowed just 2 hits over 5 innings while striking out 6. The soon to be 19 year old's ERA is down to 1.62 through 72.1 innings, so it's pretty much guaranteed that he'll be moving to a US based league in 2012. Ricardo De La Rosa finished off the victory with 3 hitless innings. Greg Pena went 2 for 4 at the plate, while Webster Rivas and Josmar Cordero doubled.
Albuquerque Isotopes Box Score (AAA)
Chattanooga Lookouts Box Score (AA)
Rancho Cucamonga Quakes Box Score (HiA)
Great Lakes Loons Box Score (LoA)
Ogden Raptors Box Score (Rookie)
Arizona Dodgers Box Score (Rookie)
Dominican Dodgers Box Score Game 1 (DSL)