Sounds crush four homers in rout
The Nashville Sounds homered four times and Jharel Cotton threw well in what is likely his last rehab start in a feel-good 10-4 rout of the Las Vegas 51s.
In his first game back from the big leagues, Matt Olson crushed a two-run homer in the first to get the Nashville offense rolling. The homer was Olson’s 20th in Triple-A this season (he has four in the big leagues). Mark Canha hit two homeruns, his 10th and 11th in Triple-A on the year, and went 5-5 in his best game of the year. He drove-in four runs. Renato Nunez extended his MiLB homer lead with his 26th of the season. Nunez’s career-high for homeruns is 29, which he established in 2014 with the Stockton Ports.
Cotton struck-out nine in six strong innings in his rehab start. He walked one and allowed two hits. Bobby Wahl made his first rehab appearance as a member of the Sounds after throwing two rehab innings with Stockton. He allowed a run on two hits and a walk in two-thirds of an inning. Wahl struck-out two. He was moved to the 60-day DL by the A’s earlier today, although it was merely a procedural move to allow the team to re-add Chris Bassitt to the active 40-man roster. Wahl has already been on the DL for 60 days and can still come off at any time.
Franklin Barreto had three hits to raise his average back up to .274. Chad Pinder, playing second base in his rehab start, collected a triple. Yairo Munoz, Jaff Decker and Beau Taylor each had two-hit games. Munoz played third base and Nunez played left field. Taylor’s two hits brought his Triple-A average to .300 in 20 games played for the Sounds. This is Taylor’s first taste of the Triple-A level. The A’s 2011 fifth-round pick could earn his first big league call-up in September if he continues to perform as he has thus far this season.
Midland wins fifth straight behind Fillmyer’s strong start
Heath Fillmyer went seven strong innings in the Midland RockHounds’ 7-2 win over the Frisco RoughRiders. The RockHounds have now won five straight games.
Fillmyer allowed two runs on seven hits and one walk in seven innings. He struck-out four. The outing lowered his ERA to 3.86 for the season. Fillmyer has gone at least six innings in three of his last four starts. Brandon Mann threw the final two innings to close out the win.
The game featured several hit-batsmen, as Fillmyer plunked two and Frisco starter Pedro Payano hit three Midland batters. J.P. Sportman was the last HBP and he had to leave the game after he was hit in the left hand. There was no immediate word on whether Sportman will be out for an extended period of time. Sportman is batting .289 this season and .317 over his last 10 games. The RockHounds have had bad luck with players being hit by pitches this season: Richie Martin missed time with a broken nose sustained on a hit by pitch and Tyler Marincov is still recovering from a broken hand after being hit by a pitch.
B.J. Boyd had another two-hit night to continue his red-hot streak. Boyd has a six-game hitting streak and a three-game multi-hit streak. He is batting .318 on the year and is a strong candidate to move up to Nashville if the A’s make trades that allow them to promote some of their Triple-A players to Oakland.
Viosergy Rosa had two hits and two RBI to extend his Texas League lead in RBI to 81. Tyler Ramirez extended his hitting streak to nine games with a single in three at-bats. He also walked.
Five-run first catapults Vermont to another win
The Vermont Lake Monsters moved to 20-15 on the season with an 11-3 rout of the Tri-City ValleyCats on Tuesday afternoon. Ryan Gridley and Payton Squier each had three hits as part of a 14-hit attack for the Lake Monsters.
Parker Dunshee worked a career-high four innings as the starter. He allowed only a hit and two walks and he struck-out six. Wyatt Marks earned the win — the first of his pro career — with 3.2 innings of work. He allowed only a solo homerun and one walk and he struck-out four. Marks, the NCAA leader in K/9 this season, has 26 strike-outs in 16.2 innings between Vermont and Arizona.
Gridley added a walk to his three-hit game and he is riding a five-game hitting streak. He is batting an even .300 for the season and .302 over his last 10 games. Gridley also has a 12:12 K:BB. Jordan Devencenzi, Will Toffey and Jesus Lage each had two hits. Toffey’s two hits were both doubles. Greg Deichmann also doubled and he has nine extra-base hits in 15 games with Vermont.
Duno leads Ports to win in pitcher’s duel
Angel Duno allowed just an unearned run in six innings and the Stockton Ports eeked out a 2-1 win over the Visalia Rawhide in a pitcher’s duel on Tuesday night.
Duno, whose own error led to the unearned run, allowed just four hits in his six frames. He struck-out six. The right-hander hasn’t allowed a run over his last three outings (16 innings) and he has 19 strike-outs and two walks over that stretch.
Armando Ruiz threw two scoreless innings in relief of Duno, allowing two hits and two walks. Nolan Blackwood earned the save with a 1-2-3 inning. The save was Blackwood’s 11th of the season.
The Ports managed just five hits of their own, but they strung together two hits and a walk in a two-run fourth inning. One of the runs scored on a fielding error and Seth Brown knocked in the game-winning run with a double. He had two doubles in the game. Nate Mondou, Sheldon Neuse and Santiago Chavez had the Ports other three hits.
The Ports are four games back of Visalia for a potential Wild Card spot (assuming that Modesto wins the second-half title after winning the first-half crown).
Luzardo strong but AZL A’s bats quiet in shutout loss
Jesus Luzardo impressed once again, but he received no run support in a 2-0 loss to the AZL Padres 2 squad.
Luzardo, acquired in the Sean Doolittle / Ryan Madson deal, threw four innings on Tuesday. He allowed one unearned run on four hits and no walks. He struck-out four. In 20.1 innings of Rookie ball between the A’s and Nationals’ organizations, Luzardo, 19, has allowed three runs. He has struck-out 23 and walked just one in those 20.1 innings. Luzardo, the Nationals’ 2016 third-round pick, is working his way back from Tommy John surgery, which he had last spring while he was a high school senior.
Raul Alcantara made another rehab appearance in relief of Luzardo, and he threw two scoreless innings. He didn’t allow a hit and he struck-out three. Alcantara has been out since late May with bicep tendinitis. In four rehab appearances for the AZL A’s, Alcantara has allowed no runs on two hits and one walk in 5.1 innings. He has seven strike-outs.
The A’s managed just four hits, two coming from first baseman Alonzo Medina. Lazaro Armenteros and Enrry Pantoja had the other two hits. Lazarito’s hit was a double, his fifth in the AZL. He has eight extra base hits in 80 AZL at-bats.
