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Minor League Player of the Day – Alex Castellanos (AAA) - 3 for 5, 2 HR's, 5 RBI's, 2 Runs. Castellanos, who continues to play 3rd base despite the trade for Hanely Ramirez, crushed a pair of homers on Saturday and saw his minor league OPS rise to almost 1.100 for the season.
AAA – The Isotopes scored 12 runs after the 5th inning on Saturday as Albuquerque silenced the Sounds (Brewers) 13 to 3. Several Tope players had big games at the plate, but nobody was better than Alex Castellanos who crushed a pair of homers and drove in 5 to increase his average to .362. Jerry Sands also homered and finished the night with 4 hits, while Matt Angle and Elian Herrera combined for 5 hits and 4 RBI's. On the mound John Ely continued his strong season by winning his 10th game of the year, allowing 6 hits and 2 earned runs over 6 innings. Michael Antonini and the recently promoted Luis Vasquez threw a perfect inning each, while Scott Rice struck out a pair in the 9th.
AA – Ethan Martin struggled a bit for Chattanooga but he still recorded the win in the Lookouts 11 - 7 victory over the Barons (White Sox). Martin gave up 5 hits and issued 4 walks for the first time in over a month which resulted in 5 runs allowed, but he also struck out 6. Red Patterson gave up a pair of runs in relief, but Steven Rodriguez struck out the only batter he faced in his AA debut to get out of a jam. J.T. Wise had a big game at the plate as he went 3 for 4 with 3 RBI's and a pair of doubles for his team's only extra base hits. Wise also had the Lookouts' only multi-hit game, but Blake Smith drove in a pair of runs with a hit and Nick Buss reached base 4 times with a single and 3 walks.
HiA – Leon Landry had another big game on Sunday, but the Quakes fell to the Storm (Padres) 6 to 4. Landry had 2 singles and a triple for yet another multi-hit game, scoring 3 runs and stealing his 19th base in the process. Bobby Coyle continued his hot hitting with a triple and 3 RBI's, while Austin Gallagher rounded out the mulit-hit games with a pair of singles. Starter Jon Michael Redding got hit hard early as he gave up 5 runs over just 2.2 frames, and even though his relievers did well it didn't matter as his team still lost.
LoA – A pair of errors in the 8th cost the Loons the game as Great Lakes lost to the TinCaps (Padres) 5 to 4. 2nd baseman Pedro Guerrero started the 8th with a fielding error, then Yimi Garcia threw away a pick-off attempt which allowed the winning run to score. Going back to the start of the game, starter Raydel Sanchez allowed 8 hits and 3 runs over 5 frames while striking out just 2 batters. Juan Noriega threw the next two frames and even though he technically blew the save he kept his team in the game. At the plate Nick Akins had a solid performance in his second game back from the DL as he went 3 for 4 with a double and 2 RBI's. Gabriel Suarez had the team's only other multi-hit game, while James Baldwin stole his 39th base of the season.
Rookie Ogden – The Raptors clinched a Pioneer League playoff spot on Saturday as their walk-off hit resulted in a 8 - 7 win over the Owls (Angels). 2012 40th round pick Pat Stover went 3 for 4 with a pair of walks and connected on the game winning hit, while Jeremy Rathjen also had 3 base knocks. Corey Seager went 2 for 4 and his double was the Raptors only extra base hit of the game. Starter Jake Hermsen got hit hard early as he allowed 10 base runners over 3.1 frames and gave up 4 runs, while Michael Drown also permitted a few runs to score. Gregg Downing struck out 4 batters in 2 innings of scoreless relief, then Craig Stem collected his 3rd win of the year with a scoreless 10th.
Rookie Arizona – Postponed
DSL – Not much to write about in this game as the Dominican Dodgers lost to the Rays 5 to 2. Johnathan Linares had the only notable performance at the plate as he went 2 for 4 with a pair of doubles. Stater Abdiel Velasquez gave up 3 runs in 4 innings, but the big news was that 17 year old $300K signee Bryan Munoz made his professional debut and threw a scoreless frame despite giving up a pair of hits.
Coming up – The Isotopes play a doubled header on Sunday, with Blake Johnson and Derrick Loop starting the two games. Brandon Martinez will take the mound for the Quakes (with Ted Lilly and Rubby De La Rosa also expected to throw) while Lindsey Caughel is the only other scheduled starter (for the Raptors).
Minor League Transactions – AAA: Luis Vasquez was promoted to Albuquerque due to a shortage of arms. AA: Steven "Paco" Rodriguez was promoted to the Lookouts, while J.T. Wise and Brahiam Maldonado were activated from the DL. The bad news is that Kyle Russell was placed on the DL. LoA: 18 year old Miguel Sulbaran was promoted to the Loons from Arizona, answering the question about who is the better prospect between Sulbaran and fellow youngster Jonathan Martinez. DSL: Bryan Munoz, who signed with the Dodgers earlier in the year for $300K, finally turned 17 and has been placed on the Dominican Dodgers roster.
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)