Minor League Game Thread:Sunday 5/15/16 Ides of May (or close enough) Edition

[texasdave]

Louisville (20-15/W1) 1:05PM EDT - And so it seems that the roadie that never ends, is going to actually end. Game 11 of the trip is on tap today, and then the boys are headed home. Sweet. The Bats are 5 up and 5 down, making this the rubber game of the trip. Per Bats twitter, Jon Moscot will be making a rehab start today. Daniel Wright (3.60) is scheduled to pick up the baton around the fourth inning. Louisville has the second-best record in the I.L., but is second in their division. You do the math. (What an excellent chance to use that algebra!) It is absurdly early, but the Bats are leading the Wildcard race. If the race ended today, that would be plenty bad news for all of us. Jesse Winker is second in the league with 22 free passes. He is probably close to leading the league in free passes (to the shower) handed out by the umpires. He has been ejected at least twice that I know of. Jumbo Diaz has stretched is skein of scoreless innings to 10, striking out 15 over that time. Make room for him in Porkopolis soon. I look at Hernan Iribarren's numbers, then I look at Ivan De Jesus's numbers, and I keep thinking, "Why not switch the two?" Juan Perez cracked his first home on the year yesterday. It would not surprise me to see him wearing the Wishbone C one day. Perez is from Winnetka, California, a neighborhood in Los Angeles. Winnetka started out as a one-acre egg farm, which is quite apropos, since Perez is making chicken salad out of his baseball career. Steve Selsky is OPSing over .800, has reached base safely in 15 consecutive games, and never turns off his cell phone. Just in case The Show places a call.

[texasdave]

Dayton (8-28/L1) 2:00PM EDT - I thought that this iteration of Dragons was going to be a stern test for the franchise's consecutive sold-out streak, however, I was mistaken. During the streak, currently at 1,139, an average of 8,375 fans have been in attendance. This is 116% of capacity, so they have quite a bit of wiggle room. The team has homered in 3 games in a row, and has plated 10 runners over the last 2 games, so perhaps the offense is awakening from its season-long slumber. Austin Orewiler (3.20), today's man in the middle, would have no problem with that at all. This is Austin 'Smoke and Mirrors' Orewiler's fourth start for Dayton. In his previous 3 starts, he has worked 14 innings, and struck out just 1 batter. How does he do that? On the plus side, he has only issued 1 walk over that same stretch. Gavin LaValley has stumbled out of the gate, with just 1 hit in his first 2 starts. He has fanned 4 times. Just knocking the rust off. Shed Long homered (4) yesterday, which is a good sign. Dayton has some, to me, odd promotions. Today is 'Strike Out Stroke' day. Ah, it's for a good cause. Ray Olmor, a stroke survivor, will throw out the first pitch. Legal advice: 'Strike Out Stroke' is a registered trademark. So, don't be using it willy nilly. Not so fun fact: It is amazing to think that you could fill about 15 major league stadiums with the number of people who suffer a stroke every year roughly 800,000. Sorry, sometimes the nerd in me takes over. I think the poster with the Dragon clutching the baseball is awesome.
Attachment 10792

[Tom Servo]

Winker and Schebler both have singles for Louisville so far. Moscot has thrown two scoreless innings. 0-0 game after two.

[OnBaseMachine]

Scott Schebler solo HR

[texasdave]

LOUISVILLE - has jumped all over Columbus, leading 5-0 in the fourth.
Moscot has pitched 3 scoreless innings on an economical 33 pitches.
Schebler (1), Perez (2) and Lopez (1) all have gone deep.

[texasdave]

Pensacola (22-14/W1) 4:00PM EDT - is currently just one half a game out of first. Jackson Stephens (3.78) will try to do his part to push Pensacola atop the division. Stephens is on a mini-roll, being reached for just 2 earned runs over his last 2 starts, covering 12 innings. The Blue Fish should have the momentum after overcoming a 4-1 deficit with 2 outs in the ninth yesterday, and winning 5-4 in extras. Phillip Ervin was back in the lineup, after 3 days off. He is third in the league in runs scored with 25 (in just 29 games). The Blue Fish pitching crew is still leading the league in ERA (3.14), strike outs (309), and bases on balls (98). Family fun is on the menu today as Bboy McCoy the breakin' bat boy will entertain the crowd with dance moves galore. After the game, the fun continues. Kids can run the bases, and families can toss the ball around in the outfield courtesy McDonald's.
Attachment 10793

[texasdave]

Daytona (14-22/L4) 5:35PM EDT - The force was not with the Turtles as they dropped their fourth straight game. When informed of this, Tyler Mahle (2.72) shrugged and said, "Force?!? I don't need no stinkin' force!" When you are striking out more than a batter per inning, and you are allowing less than a base runner per inning, you probably don't need the Force on your side. A special mention goes out to Ismael Guillon. Guillon, coming out of the pen for a spot start, worked 4 hitless innings, striking out 6. More importantly, Ismael walked just 1 batter. His control has been the main issue with Guillon to date. If he gets the ball over the plate, his stuff plays well. In 461.1 career minor-league innings, he has allowed just 390 hits, while striking out 497.
Attachment 10794

[texasdave]

LOUISVILLE - Jon Moscot's night is over: 5 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 3 BB, 4 K. Sharky Rogers has taken the ball in the top of the sixth. Daniel Wright will make the start on Monday.

Louisville leads 6-2.

[texasdave]

DAYTON - Austin Orewiler was reached for 2 runs in the top of the first.
Dayton struck back with a run in the bottom of the second when Vasquez laced a double, and was chased home by a Shane Mardirosian single.

Tyler Stephenson gunned down a would-be base thief in the first.

[texasdave]

LOUISVILLE - Rogers retired the first 4 batters that he faced. Since, Columbus hitters have smelled blood in the water, and have jumped the Sharky for 3 runs on 4 hits, including back-to-back dingers. Dayan (Jumbito) Diaz is on to stem the red tide.

Game tied at 6 apiece, as that 5-0 lead is but a distant memory.

[texasdave]

DAYTON - The Loons scored in the top of the third to move ahead 3-1. Dayton has answered with a run of their own in the bottom half of the frame. 3-2 Great Lakes now.
Bell reached on an error. Gavin LaValley singled him to third. James Vasquez ripped a run-scoring single, his second hit of the game to score Bell, but LaValley was out trying to reach third base to end the rally. Never make the first or third outs at third. Baseball 101. It is good to see Dayton scoring though.

[texasdave]

LOUISVILLE - After giving up 4 runs in the bottom of the seventh to tie the game up, the Bats hang a 2 on the scoreboard in the top of the eighth.
Waldrop singles, Lopez doubles him home. And then Iribarren caps the rally with a single. 8-6 Winged Mammals That Sleep Upside Down.

Stephen Johnson is doing his best to hairball that lead. He retired the first 2 hitters in the home eighth, and then has gone single, single, hit by pitch, hit by pitch. It is 8-7 now in a wild and wooly affair.

UPDATE: An now a walk ties the game back up. SMH.
ANOTHER UPDATE: A triple clears the bases, and then a throwing error allows the runner to come home. 12-8 Columbus. 6 runs came scored after there were 2 outs in the inning, and nobody on base. SMHH.
STILL ANOTHER UPDATE: A walk follows. And mercifully, Delino goes and gets Johnson. 32 pitches, 14 strikes. Wandy Peralta will make his AAA debut.

I have a difficult time understanding a number of the managerial moves made by DeShields.

[Tom Servo]

Pensacola BlueWahoos ‏@BlueWahoosBBall 6m6 minutes ago
5/15 Transaction: @jeffgelalich promoted from @daytonatortugas. Starts in RF today against the @mbraves! #WahoosLife

[OnBaseMachine]

Jesse Winker is now batting .281 with just a .750 OPS. Hopefully his bat comes around again soon.

[Tom Servo]

LOUISVILLE - After giving up 4 runs in the bottom of the seventh to tie the game up, the Bats hang a 2 on the scoreboard in the top of the eighth.
Waldrop singles, Lopez doubles him home. And then Iribarren caps the rally with a single. 8-6 Winged Mammals That Sleep Upside Down.

Stephen Johnson is doing his best to hairball that lead. He retired the first 2 hitters in the home eighth, and then has gone single, single, hit by pitch, hit by pitch. It is 8-7 now in a wild and wooly affair.

UPDATE: An now a walk ties the game back up. SMH.
ANOTHER UPDATE: A triple clears the bases, and then a throwing error allows the runner to come home. 12-8 Columbus. 6 runs came scored after there were 2 outs in the inning, and nobody on base. SMHH.
STILL ANOTHER UPDATE: A walk follows. And mercifully, Delino goes and gets Johnson. 32 pitches, 14 strikes. Wandy Peralta will make his AAA debut.

I have a difficult time understanding a number of the managerial moves made by DeShields.

Even before today's disasterpiece outing, it's looking a lot like Johnson is just a fungible arm just tenuously hanging on the 40 man. Disappointing, but he was just a scratch-off ticket in the Marlon Byrd salary dump.