The Barons, Dash, and Intimidators are off until Thursday but their representatives were in action the Southern, Carolina, and South-Atlantic League held their All-Star games Tuesday. The Arizona League kicked off on Monday night and I’ll cover the opening game and their Tuesday contest here.
Durham 3, Charlotte 1
Tyler Danish‘s Charlotte debut got off to in an inauspicious start, as he gave up a run in each of the first three innings. However, the 21 year-old composed himself to pitch a scoreless 4th and 5th inning. Terance Marin pitched brillantly in a cleanup role, throwing three perfect innings and striking out four.
Jacob May went 2-4 with a double and drove in the Knights only run in his second game back from a month long DL trip. Jason Bourgeois also added two hits and Carlos Sanchez and Matt Davidson chipped in a hit in the loss.
The Knights will send Anthony Ranaudo to the hill Wednesday for a day game.
SL South All-Stars 5, SL North All-Stars 1
Birmingham All-Stars Eudy Pina went 1-2 and Jake Peter went o-2 as their squad was defeated by the Southern All-Stars on Tuesday. Eudy Pina, signed as a minor league free agent in the offseason, hit .255/.312/.305 during the first half of the season. Jake Peter, a 2014 7th round draft pick of the Sox, is hitting .304/.378/.413.
Carolina League All-Stars 6, California League All-Stars 4
Winston-Salem sent OF Hunter Jones and RHP Matt Cooper to California to take on the California League All-Stars and were victorious. Hunter Jones started in right-field and went 0-2 and Matt Cooper struck out a batter over a scoreless inning. Hunter Jones is hitting .296/.374/.420 for the Dash and Matt Cooper has a 3.36 ERA and leads the Carolina League with 95 strikeouts over just 77.2 innings.
SAL North All-Stars 2, SAL South All-Stars 1
The Kannapolis Intimidators sent three representatives to the South-Atlantic League North squad and came away with a win. OF Landon Lassister went 1-2, 2B/3B Danny Mendick went 0-2, and RHP Zachary Thompson struck out two batters in a perfect inning. Lassiter is hitting .298/.389/.362, Mendick is slashing .293/.364/.378, and Thompson has a sparkling 2.96 ERA with 74 K’s over 70 innings.
AZL Dodgers 8, AZL White Sox 7 (Monday)
The Arizona League White Sox dropped their opening game in the bottom of the 9th inning in a seesaw affair. Sox starting pitcher Andres Sanchez struggled, giving up five run over 3.1 innings. However, three 2016 draft picks, Ryan Boelter, Matt Foster, and Ian Hamilton, made their professional debut and each threw a scoreless inning. Unfortunately, Pat Cashman’s debut was less successful, as he was victimized for two runs as the AZL Dodgers walked-off on him in the bottom of the 9th.
Dominican Summer League product 2B/SS Ricky Mota went 3-4 with a double and Amado Nunez went 3-5 with a stolen base to lead the offense.
AZL Dodgers 14, AZL White Sox 6
18 year-old Edinxon Arias had a 5.08 ERA in the DSL last summer and he was rudely welcomed to the United States in his AZL debut. Arias gave up eight hits and ten runs (six earned) over just two innings on Tuesday. A combination of five relievers did a good job finishing the game, but the deficit was too much to overcome.
Outfielder Micker Adolfo has been incredibly unlucky with injuries thus far in his short career, but the former top INTL prospect showed why he has such a high ceiling as he launched a home run to dead CF for his first long ball of the year. Adolfo also crushed a double and walked to finish 2-3 on the night. Shortstop Amado Nunez followed up his game on Monday by going 3-5 again and hitting his first home run of the season. Nunez was the gem of the White Sox 2014 international class and only appeared in 21 games last season for the AZL White Sox. Catcher Jacob Cooper, a 20th round pick in 2015, went 3-4 with a double.
The Arizona League Sox will be looking for their first win of the season against the AZL Mariners on Wednesday.
Great Falls 9, Missoula 3
The prolific Great Falls offense continues to bash as they routed the Missoula Ospreys on Tuesday night. Corey Zangari, fresh off a 4-4 performance on Monday, followed it up by hitting a two-run home run. The home run was Zangari’s tenth of the year at only the halfway point in the season. That type of power is extremely rare for a teenager like Zangari, which is why we are still bullish on him despite the ugly average and strikeout totals. 2016 3rd round pick Alex Call continues to produce, going 2-4 with a double, a walk, and a stolen base. The 21 year-old is off to a great start through the first five games, hitting .364/.481/.545.
Great Falls continues their series against Missoula on Wednesday.
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