6/22/19 Minor League Happenings...

[texasdave]

Louisville (28-45). The Bats are in dead last, and sinking quickly. If that's possible. They have lost 7 of their last 10. It would take a miracle for this squad to make the playoffs, or even sniff .500 for that matter.

Keury Mella is on the hill. His ERA is 4.94, but that needs some context. In the International League to date, the league ERA is 4.95. So, Keury is a league average pitcher, or thereabouts. Mella's , ,mound opponenet is a familiar name in Justin Nicolino.

Aristides Aquino had a 22-game hitting streak snapped on Thursday. It was the second-longest streak in Louisville franchise history. Brandon Larsen holds the record with 26 in a row.

Joel Kuhnel has recently been moved up from Chattanooga. He made his AAA debut on Friday night, allowing one run in one inning of work.

Josh VanMeter has gone 6 for 10 since being returned to the Bats' roster.

[texasdave]

Billings fell to 1-6 last night. That's good for a seat in the cellar.

Ricky Karcher has drawn mound duties. Ricky has been, in a word, terrible in his minor league career to date. His ERAs in his first 2 seasons are 10.67 and 8.33. I suppose a glass-full kinda guy would say that shows improvement. After one start in 2019, it stands at 13.50.

There are some bright spots offensively for the Mustangs. Leonardo Seminati, Quincy McAfee and Jonathan Willems are OPSing 1.105, 1.101 and 1.044 respectively.

The pitching has been solid. The team's ERA of 4.29 ranks them third in the Pioneer League.

[texasdave]

Chattanooga sits in first place in their division. They have played just 2 games in the second half, and have won both contests.

The starter has yet to be determined today for the Lookouts. I stand corrected. Reiver Sanmartin is up from Daytona, and will be on the bump.

Alfredo Rodriguez is mashing. He has hit safely in 20 of his last 21 ballgames. His batting average is up to .315.

Chattanooga hitters lead the league in batting average at .262. The second-place squad stands at .246. The Lookouts also lead the league in OPS at .728. No real standouts, aside from maybe Mitch Nay, the hitters are just pretty solid up and down the lineup.

Tony Santillan is swooning in June to the tune of 16 earned runs in 19.2 innings. Ouch!

- - - Updated - - -

The DSL Reds are up and running. If this boxscore is correct, neither team has a hit through three innings of play.

[texasdave]

The Reds Dominican Dandies are about to up their record to 13-6 as they lead 4-2 in the 9th. The pitching staff has given up just 1 hit through 8 innings.

[JaxRed]

Schedule looks like Louisville is playing 2 games.

[texasdave]

Daytona stands at 2-3 in the second half, and will send Wendolyn Bautista out to the mound in an effort to square the record away at 3-3.

Bautista will be making just his second start of the season for the Tortugas. In 19.1 IP he has struck out 25 and walked just 4. He is also 26 years old in High A ball.

Stuart Fairchild leads the hitters with an OPS of .794. Jonathan India is on his heels at .770. Something clicked for Fairchild once April rolled over into May. He struggled in April with a .370 OPS. Since then he has been one of the better hitters in the league, compiling a .962 OPS. That .962 OPS would place him second in the FSL.

[texasdave]

It's over down in the Dominican, with the DSL Reds winning 4-2.

Jesus Rojas went the first 6 innings, and allowed a lone single. He did not walk a batter.

Elly De La Cruz and and Jose Acosta each singled twice. Acosta collected his 6th multi-hit game in the last 7. He is on a 7-game hitting streak. He is 14-24 over that stretch, which works out to a .583 batting average. For the season, Acosta has struck out just 6 times, while earning 8 bases on balls.

- - - Updated - - -

You are correct, sir. A day-night doubleheader. It looks like Eric Stout will go in the nightcap.

[Bourgeois Zee]

Acosta collected his 6th multi-hit game in the last 7. He is on a 7-game hitting streak. He is 14-24 over that stretch, which works out to a .583 batting average. For the season, Acosta has struck out just 6 times, while earning 8 bases on balls.

Acosta is now a 3B, apparently. (He's played all 10 games he's played in the field at the hot corner.) He may need to work more on defense, however. Six errors and a .750 fielding percentage will probably not play as he moves up the ladder.

[RiverRat13]

Louisville (28-45). In the International League to date, the league ERA is 4.95.

Yikes. That number in itself is reason to have a healthy skepticism of what Aquino, BOG, Van Meter, etc are doing at AAA this year.

[texasdave]

Old school game in the IL today between Louisville and Charlotte.

Louisville has sent the minimum up to the plate against Justin Nicolino after four. Alex Blandino did draw a walk, but was caught stealing. No hits yet.

Keury Mella is pretty much matching Nicolino, having held Charlotte scoreless through 3.

UPDATE: And I spoke too soon, as Mella has just been reached for a 3-run bomb.

[texasdave]

The Punisher left the yard for the Bats' first hit of the game. They trail at least 4-1 in the bottom of the fifth. It was the 14th time this season that Aquino has touched them all.

[Kingspoint]

They need to send all the Louisville coaches to Cincinnati to spend a week with Derek Johnson...heck, all the Minor League pitching coaches...take turns a week at a time and then study and learn what he's teaching.

[texasdave]

Louisville-Charlotte quickly swung from old school to new school. It is now 7-4 Charlotte after 7.

Aristides Aquino hit number 15 in the seventh, a 2-run shot.

Keury Mella was out after five innings plus. He gave up 7 runs (6 earned) on 8 hits and a pair of walks. He also struck out 6. 'Didn't You Use To Be' Sal Romano has given up 3 hits in his inning on the mound.

Something has gone haywire with the Louisville Gameday. After Aquino's second shot of the game in the 7th, it is showing that Scott Schebler batted about 13 times in succession. He does need the practice.

[texasdave]

Well, they finally got the Gameday straightened out. It turns out the Schebler only batted once. Surprise!

The Gameday seems to be stuck, or else game one is finished. I am not sure if they are playing 7 innings of 9. There has been no change for quite a while.

As it currently stands, Louisville trails 7-3 in the middle of the 7th. The Bats three hits are a single by Colon, and 2 massive, monstrous home runs by the Punisher.

[texasdave]

So, it turns out that they are playing 9 innings after all, much to the Bats' chagrin as they now trail 11-4 after 8.

Sal. Sal. Sal. Whatever happened to Sal Romano? 2 IP, 8 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 1 BB, 2 K. ERA up over 6.00 now.

Louisville goes 1-2-3 in the top of the 9th. That's all there is to see. There is no more.