Durham 4, Charlotte 2
In what was suppose to be a match-up of two the best pitchers in the minor leagues, Erik Johnson was a late scratch and the Knights fell to Blake Snell and the Durham Bulls. Johnson is likely headed to Chicago to start against Minnesota, which left Terence Marin to make the spot start against the Tampa Bay Ray’s top pitching prospect Blake Snell. Marin gave up four runs over 4.2 innings, but the Charlotte bullpen worked 3.1 scoreless innings the rest of the way. Leury Garcia tripled and Jason Coats hit his 17th home run of the season to lead the offense. Coats has been on a power trip recently, his home run was his 3rd in his last ten games.
Chattanooga 10, Birmingham 4 (Game 1)
The Barons were thumped in game 1 of a double header as Mark Blackmar, Tyler Barnette, and Kyle Hansen were all roughed up in their appearances. Shortstop Tim Anderson provided a bright spot by hitting his 5th home run of the season in a losing effort.
Chattanooga 3, Birmingham 0 (Game 2)
Unfortunately things didn’t improve for the Barons in game two, as they were two-hit by Chattanooga starter Brett Lee. Barons starter Tony Bucciferro matched Lee through five innings but reliever Zach Isler gave up the three deciding runs over his two frames. Third baseman Ryan Leonards made his Birmingham debut and went 0-1 with a walk.
Frederick 4, Winston-Salem 3
A late rally spoiled a masterful start by Yency Almonte and snapped the Dash’s seven game home winning streak in the process. Almonte, just 21 years old, struck out a career high 12 batters over six shutout innings while only allowing two hits and two walks. The right-hander is flourishing in his first full season with the White Sox after being acquired last season from the Angels, and he has a 2.01 ERA with the Dash. The Dash held a 3-0 lead into the 8th where Matt Cooper allowed an unearned run to score and then Brad Goldberg had a meltdown by allowing three more runs to score while just retiring one batter. It was uncharacteristic for Goldberg, who had been scored upon in just one August appearance coming into the game.
Shortstop Eddy Alvarez went 3-5 with a stolen base in his first game back since last Monday due to a shoulder injury. Trey Michalczewski went 1-3 with a walk and drove in all three of Winston-Salem’s runs. Michalczewski now has 74 RBI’s which is 2nd overall in the Carolina League.
Kannapolis 5, Hagerstown 4
Starter Luis Martinez pitched five innings and allowed one earned run and outfielder Louie Lechich hit a three run home to lead the Intimidators to the victory. Kannapolis committed four field errors but was able to overcome them. 2015 33rd round draft pick Johnathan Frebis closed the game with 1.2 scoreless innings and has yet to allow a run over three appearances for the Intimidators.
Missoula 7, Great Falls 1
Starter Tanner Banks had a rare bad outing as he was roughed up for five runs over six innings. Johan Cruz went 1-4 with a double and Landon Lassiter went 1-3 with a double and an RBI to lead the offense.
AZL White Sox 1, AZL Dodgers 0 (11 innings)
The AZL White Sox won a thrilling single-elimination playoff game against the AZL Dodgers to advance to the semi-finals. 18 year-old Yosmer Solorzano pitched seven innings of one-hit ball, allowing no runs and two walks while striking out eight. Solorzano gave up way to 2015 5th round draft pick Jordan Stephens who struck out three over two shutout innings. Stephens was followed by Taylore Cherry who pitched two more scoreless innings, which allowed for Corey Zangari (who else?) to drive in Daniel Mendick for the walk-off winner.
The Sox will next face the AZL Royals in the semi-final game on Monday night.
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