Minor League Player of the Day – Alex Castellanos (AAA) - 2 for 3, 1 HR, 1 2B, 3 RBI's, 2 walks. Castle hit his first homer since returning from the DL and reached base 4 times on Thursday to earn player of the day honors. If this is the start of another one of his hot streaks he could find his way to LA sooner rather than later.
AAA – The Isotopes lost to the Sky Sox (Rockies) 4 - 3 on Thursday despite a strong performance from Alex Castellanos. Castle went 2 for 3 with a double and his first homer since returning from the DL. He also walked twice and recorded 3 RBI's. Tony Gwynn had 3 hits including a double and Nick Buss went 2 for 4 with a 2-bagger as well. Starter Matt Palmer allowed all 4 runs over his 5.1 innings of work, giving up 6 hits and 3 walks in the process. Steven Ames had the only notable relief performance as he struck out 2 in a perfect inning.
AA – The Lookouts offense recorded just 5 hits and while the club's pitchers allowed 14 base knocks, the Lookouts were still able to come away with a 5 - 3 win over the Blue Wahoos (Reds). Zach Lee threw very well as the allowed just 1 run on 6 hits over 5 innings, striking out 5 and walking just 1. Ross Stripling was the one who gave up a ton of hits as he permitted 7 of them, but to his credit only 1 run scored against him over his 2.2 frames. Scott Elbert allowed a solo homer in the 9th, but he still recorded the save. The offense scored 4 of their 5 runs in the 8th inning, with two of them coming on a based loaded double by C.J. Retherford. Yasiel Puig also drove in a run with a single and stole his 11th base of the year, but Joc Pederson went 0 for 3 with a walk.
HiA – The Quakes fell to the Rawhide (Dbacks) 8 to 5 in extra innings on Thursday. Despite the loss the Rancho offense connected on 3 homers in this game as O'Koyea Dickson, Angelo Songco, and Jonathan Garcia all his solo shots. Bobby Coyle also had a big game as he went 3 for 5 with a double and a RBI. On the mound Garrett Gould didn't have his best stuff as he walked 4 in 5 innings and allowed 5 hits, but overall he gave up just 2 earned runs. Eric Eadington was perfect in 2 innings of relief and while Jon Michael Redding took the loss after giving up a 3-run homer in the top of the 10th, all the runs were unearned thanks to Darnell Sweeney's 20th error of the season earlier in the inning.
LoA Game 1 – The Loons finished up their suspended game from Wednesday and beat Bowling Green (Rays) 4 to 3. Angel Sanchez started the game on Wednesday and did not allow a run in his inning of work, and when the game picked up on Thursday Miguel Sulbaran took over on the mound. The youngster had some trouble as he walked 5 and allowed 3 runs on 4 hits in just 3.2 innings, but Geoff Brown was solid in relief to help get the Loons the win. Tyler Ogle's bases loaded double in the 3rd cleared the bases and gave Great Lakes most of their offense, then in the 6th Jeremy Rathjen doubled and eventually came in to score the game winning run.
LoA Game 2 – The Loons pitching staff combined for a 1 - 0 shutout of the Hot Rods (Rays) in Thursday's nightcap. Starter Ralston Cash gets most of the credit as he allowed just 3 hits while blanking the opposition for 4 innings, though he didn't get win because he didn't throw the required 5 frames. Craig Stem stepped in and held Bowling Green scoreless over the next 2.1 innings, then Luis Meza recorded his first save of the year by getting the final 2 outs. The Great Lakes offense only had 4 hits in this one and scored their own run in the first inning when Kevin Taylor singled, moved to 3rd on a Jeremy Rathjen double, then scored on a Paul Hoenecke ground out. Aaron Miller went 0 for 2 in his 2013 debut as an offense player.
Coming up – The Loons play another doubleheader on Friday, and will send Jharel Cotton to the mound for one of the games. Chris Reed will throw for the Lookouts, Jarret Martin will get the ball for the Quakes, and the Isotopes starter is TBD.
Minor League Transactions – AAA: Catcher Jesus Flores has been released, meaning that Matt Wallach has rejoined the Isotopes. AA/LoA: As we've all heard by now, Aaron Miller has been converted back to being an outfielder and was sent back to the Midwest League. To make room for him on the team Elevys Gonzalez has been moved to the Odgen roster.
Albuquerque Isotopes Box Score (AAA)
Chattanooga Lookouts Box Score (AA)
Rancho Cucamonga Quakes Box Score (HiA)
Great Lakes Loons Box Score - Game 1 (LoA)