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Minor League Player of the Day – Travis Denker - 4 for 5, 1 HR, 2 2B's, 2 RBI's, 4 Runs. Denker was upstaged by the Suns Kyle Skipworth who hit for the cycle, but Travis still had an outstanding game. The former big leaguer has gotten off to a slow start in 2012, but thanks to his big game he now has a 1.044 OPS over his last 10 games.
AAA – Alex Castellanos returned to the Isotopes lineup on Friday and helped lead Albuquerque to a 7 - 4 win over the RedHawks (Astros). Castellanos doubled twice and drove in a run, although he seemed a bit rusty at 2nd base as he committed two errors. Tim Federowicz also had a pair of doubles and also singled, while Trent Oeltjen was the 3rd member of the "two-double" club as went 3 for 5 with 2 RBI's. Jeff Baisley hit the only homer in the game and added a double for good measure. John Ely was solid for 6 innings as he allowed just 2 earned runs and struck out 7. Shawn Tolleson struck out 2 in a perfect 8th, then Josh Wall saved his 11th game of the season with a 7 pitch 9th.
AA – The Lookouts came out on the short end of a slug-fest against the Suns (Marlins), 13 to 10, despite a big game from Travis Denker. The 26 year old infielder went 4 for 5 with two doubles and a homer, driving in 2 and scoring 4 runs. Pedro Baez connected on his 3rd homer of the season and had 3 RBI's, while Matt Wallach's bases loaded double also plated 3. On the mound it was supposed to be Nathan Eovaldi who got the start, but he ended up throwing an inning of relief instead and struck out the side. It has been speculated that he could be getting a call up soon. Luis Vasquez started the game and got torched for 5 runs in just 2 innings, while AA newbies Eammon Portice and Bret Montgomery also got crushed for the rest of the game's runs. The good news is that Red Patterson and Steve Ames continued to impress with their relief efforts.
HiA – The Quakes smacked 5 solo homers on Saturday in route to a 7 - 1 win over the Storm (Padres). C.J. Retherford, Jonathan Garcia, Leon Landry, and Alexis Aguilar all took turns going deep in each of the first four innings, then Michael Pericht got into the action with a bomb in the 6th. Scott Wingo also had a big game as he went 3 for 5 with 2 doubles, while Austin Gallagher also had 2 hits including a double. Jon Michael Redding had by far his best outing of the season as he allowed just 2 hits over 6 innings and struck out 8. Freddie Cabrera worked around a hit and 2 walks in the 7th, then Scott McGough fired two innings of one-hit ball to finish off the win.
LoA – The Loons managed just 4 hits on Saturday and lost to the Silver Hawks (Dbacks) 5 to 3 in the battle of the birds. O'Koyea Dickson had two of those hits including his 5th homer of the season, while James Baldwin had a double and another stolen base. Starter Gustavo Gomez allowed all 5 runs in his 5.1 innings of work on 6 hits and 4 walks. Joel Lima was excellent in relief as he gave up just 1 hit over the game's final 3.2 frames.
Coming up – Ethan Martin will be the pitching highlight on Sunday as he'll go for his 6th win of the season. Michael Antonini will throw for the Isotopes, Brandon Martinez will get the ball for the Quakes, and Arismendy Ozoria will take the mound for the Loons.
Minor League Transactions –AAA: Alex Castellanos was activated from the DL and Kyle Russell was sent back to to the Southern League. AA: There was a flurry of moves, starting with the aforementioned addition of Russell. Matt Magill and Rafael Ynoa were removed from the roster for the time being, and Anthony Jackson was placed on the DL. Bret Montgomery and Eammon Portice were added to the active roster, as was the recently signed Miguel Pena. HiA: Carlos Frias was added to the roster to make up for the loss of Portice.
Albuquerque Isotopes Box Score (AAA)
Chattanooga Lookouts Box Score (AA)
Rancho Cucamonga Quakes Box Score (HiA)