All eyes were on Winston-Salem for Carlos Rodon’s Class A (Advanced) debut, where he flashed his potential and some nerves in his inning of relief work. But his performance was overshadowed by the starting pitcher he took over for – JB Wendelken set a Dash-era record for strikeouts in a game.
Durham 4, Charlotte 1
Jordan Danks tied Charlotte’s all-time record for career hits, but not much else exciting happened in this one. Reliever Ryan Kussmaul has settled in nicely after a rough start to the season, as he’s got 31 K vs 9 BB, 1.11 WHIP and allowing just 5 ER in 24.1 IP in June and July.
Birmingham 7, Tennessee 3
Jared Mitchell went 4-4 with his 9th home run for Birmingham as his resurgence in AA continues. Mitchell has a .923 OPS in Birmingham this year, and we’re left wondering if this is a real turnaround or another tease. Trayce Thompson hit his 12th home run (leads the team), and Chris Curley had a 3-hit day. Starter Myles Jaye tossed 8 innings of 1-run ball, walked one and struck out one.
Winston-Salem 12, Frederick 2
The many scouts, reporters and bloggers watching the Dash game waiting for Rodon’s A+ debut were given a nice show before Carlos even started to warm up. JB Wendelken, acquired from Boston in the Peavy trade last year, struck out 13 batters in 7 innings giving up just 2 hits and 2 walks in his dominant start. Courtney Hawkins went 3-4 with an inside-the-park home run and a walk to lead the Dash assault. Jacob May, Jason Coats and Mike Marjama had two doubles each and Keon Barnum also homered as Winston-Salem piled up nine extra-base hits.
Rodon’s inning of work provided some interest as well. He struck out the first two batters, but the second batter reached on a wild pitch 3rd strike. After issuing a walk and getting a fly-out, he gave up another walk and a 2-run single before closing the inning with a third strikeout. Final line: 1 IP, 1 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 3 K.
Missoula 10, Great Falls 9
This game featured a whopping nine home runs, with the Voyagers getting four, and their rally fell just short. Jake Peter just keeps hitting, adding his first home run and another double to his resume and upping his average to .364. Zach Fish is also on fire, having posted a 1.417 OPS in his last 10 games after another 2- hit effort. On the pitching side, Matt Ball got knocked around (8 H, 6 ER in 2.1 IP) but Jon Bengard and Devon Davis were solid out of the pen.
DSL White Sox 7, DSL D-Backs 3
Starter Jaider Rocha struck out 7 against 1 walk in 5 innings. Carlos Perez, Carlos Gonzalez and Anderson Tejeda contributed 2 hits each.
**Kannapolis and the AZL team were off.