Minor League Player of the Day – James Baldwin - 5 for 5, 1 2B, 2 RBI's, 1 Run, 2 SB's. Could this be the turning point to Baldwin's season? After constant struggles, including a recent 3 for 40 stretch, Baldwin finally broke out with a perfect day at the plate and a pair of stolen bases. Let's hope he can turn this into a hot streak.
AAA – The Isotopes scored single runs in the 7th, 8th, and 9th innings, with the last one resulting in a walk-off victory and a 3 to 2 win for Albuquerque over the Grizzlies (Giants). John Ely started this game and was outstanding over 8 shutout innings, allowing just 4 hits and 1 walk. He left the game with a 2 - 0 lead and was in line for the win until Wil Ledezma blew the save thanks to a walk and a homer allowed. That set up the bottom of the 9th which saw Luis Cruz double home Josh Fields for the winning run. Brian Cavazos-Galvez hit his first homer in Albuquerque with a solo shot, while Jeff Baisley went 2 for 4 with a triple and a RBI. Ely also had a rare triple in this game and his all-around solid game almost earned him the player of the day award.
AA – The Lookouts scored their second walk-off win in three days as Chattanooga dimmed the Stars (Brewers) 3 to 2 in 12 innings. Ethan Martin started this game and had another excellent outing even though he was a bit wild. Martin allowed just 2 hits over 5 scoreless frames and struck out 5, but his 4 walks were his highest total since April 16th. Javier Solano and Allen Webster followed with scoreless frames (although Webster walked 2), and at that point it looked like a sure victory given the strong back end of the Lookouts bullpen. But Luis Vasquez gave up a run in the 8th, then Logan Bawcom allowed his first run in AA to blow the save. In the extra frames Chattanooga got a combined 3 perfect innings from Geison Aguasviva and Blake Johnson, then in the bottom of the 12th Angelo Ponte, an undrafted free agent signee from a few years back who was just added to the roster that day, walked with the bases loaded to win the game. There really wasn't a whole lot of offense in this game as the highlights were doubles by Luis Nunez, J.T. Wise, and Blake Smith. Pedro Baez also had a solid game as he went 2 for 5 with a walk and a RBI.
HiA – The Quakes lost 6 - 2 to the 66ers (Angels) on Monday in a game relatively light in prospect news. Brandon Martinez started this game and recorded his first HiA loss after allowing 3 runs on 6 hits and 4 walks over 5 frames, while striking out just 2. Steve Smith got rocked in relief to the tune of 5 hits and 3 runs, while Ryan Acosta pitched the final 2.2 innings and didn't allow a run. Rancho only had 5 hits in this game, and Austin Gallagher had two of them including the team's only extra base hit; a double. The three outfielders had a quiet game at the plate, but one cool thing is that Joc Pederson, Jonathan Garcia, and Leon Landry all recorded an outfield assist in this game.
LoA – The Loons were down early, and even though they mounted a steady comeback attempt they simply weren't able to overcome the deficit in a 7 - 6 defeat to the Dragons (Reds). Starter Arismendy Ozoria absorbed most of the damage early as he gave up 8 hits and 5 runs over 3.2 frames, but then Matt Shelton had his best outing of the season with 3.1 innings of hitless relief. Yimi Garcia hurt the Loons' chances of a comeback when he allowed a pair of runs in the bottom of the 8th, although his ERA still stands at just 2.16. At the plate, James Baldwin had by far his best game of the year as he went a perfect 5 for 5 with a double and 2 RBI's. He also stole 2 bases to give him 13 swipes for the season. O'Koyea Dickson and Joe Winker added homers in this game as Dickson had a solo shot and Winker hit a 2-run blast. Great Lakes actually had a very good chance to either tie or win this game in the bottom of the 9th as they had the bases loaded with just 1 out, but Scott Schebler and Nick Akins couldn't answer the call.
Coming up – There will only be two games on Tuesday as both the Lookouts and Loons have the day off. Michael Antonini will start for the Isotopes, while it looks to be Angel Sanchez's turn in the rotation for the Quakes.
Minor League Transactions – AA: Matt Wallach was removed from the roster while Angelo Ponte was activated from the DL. HiA: Apparently this happened a few days ago and I just completely missed it, but Zach Lee was removed from the Quakes roster. I have no other information at this time, so if you know something post it in the comments. This move has probably already been discussed in the comments of other posts, but I've been swamped at work so haven't been able to keep up.
Albuquerque Isotopes Box Score (AAA)
Chattanooga Lookouts Box Score (AA)
Rancho Cucamonga Quakes Box Score (HiA)