Reds Minor League Thread for Thursday, June 03, 2021

[texasdave]

Louisville - 5:30 PM EDT - 8-16. - Ernie Banks should throw out the first pitch tonight. "Let's play two!" And they will. But, first, a peek back at last night. The Bats were the epitome of offensive ineptitude until there were 2 outs in the 8th. And, then suddenly, they weren't. Seven Louisville sluggers in a row reached base, resulting in 6 runs. And that was the ballgame. And that is baseball. With no clock, you are never out of it. Okay, first game tonight will be in the hands of Bo Takahashi (3.74). Takahashi must have one heckuva pickoff move, Over the course of the last three season (261 IP), he has allowed just 5 stolen bases, while 9 would-be thieves have been caught 9 times. No one has attempted to steal a base on him so far in 2021. In 50 starts, there have been just 14 stolen base attempts. They petty much don't even think about it. Alejo Lopez made his AAA debut last night, pinch hit for Joey Votto and singled. He has played in 26 games this year, and reached base in all of them. Kudos. I wonder how many times Joey Votto has been pinch hit for in the last decade or so? In Game 2 of the twinbill, Reiver Sanmartin (6.75)will give it another go. Tony Santillan was voted the team's Player of the Month for May. There have been 11 players who have played for both Louisville and Cincinnti so far in 2021. Mike Freeman, Brad Brach, Jose De Leon, Cionel Perez, Carson Fulmer, Vladimir Gutierrez, Art Warren, Mark Payton, Scott Heineman, Max Shrock, and wait for it, Ashton Godeau. If you are attending the proceedings tonight, try to get an aisle seat. Word to the Wise: They are combining 2 dollar beers with 2 dollar chicken tenders or tater tots or nachos, with 14 innings of baseball. That might not mix so well. Of the players currently on the roster, Alfredo Rodriguez leads the way with an OPS of .804. Second on the squad is Brantley Bell at .669. It gets worse, much worse.

[klw]

Well the NYT Crossword Puzzle theme today was double down, so the three double headers fits it with that idea.

[texasdave]

Chattanooga - 6:05 PM EDT - 15-10 - Chattanooga will also be playing a double dip tonight. Ricky Salinas (7.36) will start one of the games. It should be Hunter Greene's (1.91) day to go. But, who really knows. TBD is listed as of right now. Diomar Lopez has been added to the roster. Lopez pitched in Daytona in 2019, and pitched fairly well: 11.1 K/9. 1.9 BB/9. 0.2 HR/9. The diminutive righthander (5'11",165) started out in the Padres organization via Nicaragua. The Reds traded Matt Wisler for him. Lopez is from a tiny town of Larreynaga, named after Manuel Larreynaga, a Nicaraguan philosopher, humanist, lawyer and poet. In short, a jack of all trades. The municipality of Larreynaga is home to the Cerro Negro volcano, just 10 km from the city of Malpaisillo. Cerro Negro has erupted frequently since its first eruption. The last volcanic activity at Cerro Negro occurred on August 5, 1999 and lasted for a total of two days. In recent years, the Cerro Negro volcano has been a popular destination for sandboarding. This may or not be a picture of Lopez sandboarding. I'd like to think that it is. Attachment 17323 Jose Barrero has stumbled since coming back into the lineup. He is 1 for 12, with a .298 OPS. Not unexpected. On the bump, Dauri Moreta is having a fine season. He has gone 12.2 IP and struck out 18. He has been reached for just 7 hits and issued only 2 free passes. The end result is an ERA of 1.42 to go along with a WHIP of 0.71.

[Bourgeois Zee]

No chance they play in Louisville tonight.

It's been raining forever and a day. (Or at least 10 hours.)

Madison, AL (home of the Trash Pandas) looks iffy too.

Games at Lake County and Daytona look a bit more promising.

[texasdave]

Dayton - 5:00 PM EDT - 15-10 - Eduardo Salazar (2.81) steps onto the hill for Dayton in Game 1 of 2, hopefully. It looks like rain in the area up there today as well. Game 2 will feature (TBD (0.00). Lyon Richardson was slated to go last night, so maybe...... Dayton won the first game of the series 10-9. A quick look back makes it a headscratcher as to how they ever won the game. In one of the stranger statistical lines, the Dragons scored 10 runs in a game in which they batted .152 overall, had only one extra base hit, batted .176 with men in scoring position, and still stranded 12 runners. Someone get ahold of Ripley's. Relief pitcher Sam Hellinger over his last four outings: 7.2 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 3 BB, 11 SO, 1 Sv. Sam has a power arm at 93 to 96 mph, and seems really hungry to compete at a high level. Hellinger trained at Driveline Baseball in Kent, Washington where he developed more than seven miles per hour of fastball velocity. Hmm. Driveline Baseball. Where have we heard that before? Hellinger bounced around a little in the Indy Leagues, pitching for such teams as the Southern Illinoin Miners, and the Winnipeg Goldeyes. Did someone ask what the heck a goldeye was? Glad you asked. A goldeye is a freshwater fish from up in Canada, eh? Attachment 17324 Nice looking fish. Jacob Hurtubise is working on the second-longest hitting streak for Dayton this season at 10 games.

[texasdave]

Daytona - 7:05 PM EDT - 12-14 - The losing stops right here and right now. This 4-game Tortugas losing streak is history. Look up in the sky! Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No! It's Superstopper! James "No-No" Proctor (0.45) is 10 times the pitcher that his opposing number Mick Abel (4.50) is. All we are going to hear tonight is the gnashing of Thresher teeth. No Callihan? No Hinds? No Hendrick? No problem. I am willing to wager up to 1,000 Bitcoins on this contest. Just look at the numbers, people. Proctor has allowed the second-fewest hits (9) in the league. He has issued the third-fewest walks (6). He has struck out the third-most batters (30). And, he hates sharks with the intensity of a million suns. This is the Lock O' the Year. Juan Manuel Abril had him one for the ages last night. He either walked or struck out the first 10 batters that he faced out of the pen. Unfortunately, 6 of those 10 were walks. For the year, Abril has struck out 18 batters in 12.2 innings. He has also walked 22 in that same time frame. That works out to a pink slip-inducing 15.6 BB/9. Abril is from Hato Mayor, D.R. The only interesting two item that could be found about Hato Mayor are as follows: 1) Hato Mayor means Goat Herd, and 2) Some lady with a very long name and her husband with an equally long name donated one million square meters to the City Council of Hato Mayor. For that, they received this in return: Attachment 17325 Several days ago, Daytona was on the receiving end of 17 bases on balls. In a boomerang of good sportsmanship, they issued 16 free passes to the enemy last night. Karma.

[texasdave]

Louisville - The Punisher will be rehabbing along with Joey Votto down in Louisville today. If the game is played, that is.

[klw]

No chance they play in Louisville tonight.

It's been raining forever and a day. (Or at least 10 hours.)

Madison, AL (home of the Trash Pandas) looks iffy too.

Games at Lake County and Daytona look a bit more promising.

[JaxRed]

Delayed start in Louisville. I blame Bourgeois Zee

[texasdave]

Dayton GM 1 - Lyon is pitching well through the first three innings. He has struck out 7. His only blemish was a solo shot given up in the third.

Dayton got singles from Hurtubise and Siani to lead off the first. Quin Cotton grounded into a force out at second, with Hurtubise scampering home on the play.

1-1 in the bottom of the forth.

NOTE: Eric Yang just fouled out 5 full-count pitches in succession before drawing a walk. Michael Hernandez forced him at second on the first pitch that he saw.

[texasdave]

Dayton GM 1 -Francisco Urbaez cracked a 2-run shot (2) in the top of the fifth to give Dayton a 3-1 lead. The lead was shortlived, however, as Lake County posted a 2-spot of their own on the board. With 2 away, Miguel Medrano walked two batters and then allowed a run-scoring single. An error permitted the second run to score.

Lyon Richardson: 4 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 7 K. Just 56 pitches.

[texasdave]

Chattanooga GM 1 - Surprise! Connor Curlis is on the mound in the first of two. No score with 2 innings in the books.

[texasdave]

Dayton GM 1 - Things have turned bleak for the Dragons. Leading 3-1 in the top of the 5th inning, they now trail 6-3 in the bottom of the 6th. Remember, they are playing 2 7-innings games. Two walks followed by a home run, and Pedro Garcia has dug quite a deep hole.

[texasdave]

Louisville GM 2 - They won't be playing 2 in the River City tonight. Game 2 has been postponed.

[texasdave]

Louisville GM 1 - However, Game 1 is underway. Bo Takahashi is wheeling and dealing. No score through one.

Joey Votto grounded out 6-3. Alejo Lopez walked and reached base for the 27th game in a row. Aristides Aquino ground into a double play.