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Minor League Player of the Day – Luis Cruz - 4 for 5, 1 HR, 1 2B, 2 RBI's, 2 Runs. Cruz, who was among the last cuts from the Dodgers roster during spring training, has done nothing but hit since joining the Isotopes. The 28 year old infielder increased his average to .341 with his 4 hits on Tuesday, which ranks behind only Alex Castellanos for tops in the organization. He's spent almost all his time at shortstop this season and should be at the top of the minor league depth chart at that position if something should happen to Gordon.
AAA – The Isotopes almost created a perfect picket fence over the first 6 innings on Tuesday, with only a 2-spot in the 2nd preventing the perfection, yet they still barely escaped with a 7 - 6 victory over the RedHawks (Astros). Albuquerque scored their 7 runs on 14 hits, with 4 of them coming from Luis Cruz who went 4 for 5 with a double, a homer, and 2 RBI's. Matt Angle and Elian Herrera both went 2 for 4 with a double and a run driven in, while Scott Van Slyke came off the bench and connected on a triple. On the mound Michael Antonini made his first appearance since rejoining the Isotopes from LA, but had a sub-par outing as he gave up 4 runs on 5 hits and 3 walks over 5 innings. Ronald Belisario also struggled in his first AAA rehab appearance as he allowed 4 of the 5 batters he faced to reach base, but luckily the late inning relievers were solid and preserved the win. Scott Rice threw a hitless 8th and then Josh Wall continued his hot streak with 3 strikeouts in a perfect 9th. Wall has been so good, in fact, that he has allowed just 1 hit over his last 11 innings of work.
AA – The Lookouts started off many on the wrong foot as they lost to the Huntsville Stars (Brewers) 4 to 3. Chattanooga actually staged a late inning comeback as they scored two in the 9th to close the gap to 1 on a Travis Denker homer, a Kyle Russell double, and a Griff Erickson single, but Griff was eventually stranded at 3rd when Luis Nunez struck out to end the game. Outside of the 9th inning the only other offensive highlight for the Lookouts was a solo homer for Jake Lemmerman, who also walked twice and stole two bases. Chris Withrow started this game and while he allowed 8 his over 6 innings, he didn't walk a batter, limited the damage to just 2 runs, and struck out 7. Geison Aguasviva gave up the final two runs in relief to increase his ERA to 3.86.
HiA – The Quakes and 66ers (Angels) matched 3-spots in the 7th inning, but Inland Empire one up'ed Rancho by scoring 3 more runs in the 8th to secure a 7 - 6 victory. Quake starter Angel Sanchez showed solid improvement over his previous two starts as he limited the opposition to just 4 hits over 6.1 frames, but he still wasn't all the sharp as he walked 3 and gave up 3 runs. Reliever Jon Michael Redding was the real goat, however as the 66ers tagged him for 4 runs in just 1 inning of work. 3 of those runs scored after he left the game as Logan Bawcom allowed a pair of run scoring singles, but his ERA remains unblemished as none of the runs were charged to him. At the plate Austin Gallagher hit his 5th homer of the season, which leads the organization, but that was the extent of the excitement as there were no other extra base hits and none of the Rancho batters had more than one base knock.
LoA – Off day
Coming up – Should be a fun match-up in Rancho on Wednesday as Zach Lee takes on one of the hottest pitchers in the California League in Donn Roach. In a late change of plans Nathan Eovaldi will start for Chattanooga, while Jarret Martin will take the mound for the Loons. Finally Mike Parisi will try and continue his solid start to his season for the Isotopes.
Minor League Transactions - HiA: Brian Cavazos-Galvez was demoted from AA to the Quakes, Jarrad Page was removed from the roster, and Casio Grider was activated from the DL
Albuquerque Isotopes Box Score (AAA)
Chattanooga Lookouts Box Score (AA)