MVN - Most Valuable Network

Collin Cowgill continues smashing start in Yakima

5th Round draft pick CF Collin Cowgill hit 3 homers and drove in 5 runs in the Bears’ comeback win over the Spokane Indians.  After striking out in his first at-bat, Cowgill hit 2-run homers in the 3rd and 5th innings.  The Bears led 5-4 heading into the 9th but the Indians scored twice off Bryan Woodall to take a 6-5 lead.  Cowgill’s 3rd homer of the day tied the game and forced extra innings.  The Indians seemed to have won it with 2 runs in the top of the 11th, but the Bears came back again with an improbable 2-out rally in the bottom of the inning.  A single, an error by the Indians and another single made it 7-8, and C Ryan Babineau became the hero with a walk-off 2-run double to right.

Cowgill finished 4-6 with 5 RBIs and scored 4 times.  For the season, he has now hit 10 homers and driven in 24 runs in just 15 games, leading the league in both categories.  He is slugging .803 with an OPS of 1.201 and has scored 18.

Other notable performances of the day down in the farm :

Matt Torra gave up just a run in 6 innings for the Sidewinders but didn’t get the win after the bullpen blew a 2-1 lead.  Tucson would beat the Fresno Grizzlies 3-2 though.  Reid Mahon pitched 2 scoreless innings for his first save in his Tucson debut.  Mahon pitched 33 games (41 innings) for the Mobile Baybears with 18 saves.

Evan Frey made his Visalia Oaks debut by going 2-3 with a triple and a double in the lead-off spot.  The CF also walked twice and scored twice.  The 10th round pick of the 2007 draft hit .327/.401/.417 in 309 at-bats for the South Bend Silver Hawks before his promotion.  He stole 20 bases and was caught 6 times.

Newly drafted D-back trio combine to pitch no-hitter for Missoula

Miles Reagan, Jesse Orosco and Bryan Shaw have been in the D-backs organization for less than a month, but they have already done something that many may never do in their entire careers. The 3 pitchers selected in the recent draft combined to pitch a no-hitter in the Osprey’s win over the Helena Brewers.

Winston Linton singled to lead-off the game for the Osprey and scored on a double from Ryne White. That would be the only scoring in the entire game as both sides put up zeroes on the scoreboard from that point. 7th rounder Reagan got things started for Missoula. The righty pitched 4 innings, allowing just 2 walks while striking out 3. At just 17, he was the youngest among all the D-backs picks in the draft. Since he also shares the same birthday as I do, I’ll be watching his career very closely :)

38th rounder Orosco, son of the former Major Leaguer with the same name, retired all 9 batters he faced, 2 via the strikeout. It was a great way to pick up his first pro career win.
Shaw, the highest pick among the 3 in the 2nd round, walked one and struck out 1 in the last 2 innings to get the save. The no-hitter was the 3rd in the Ospreys’ history and the 2nd since they became a Diamondbacks affiliate. Osbek Castillo and Hector Ambriz combined to achieve the same feat in August 2006. Unlike Castillo and Ambriz however, the trio had struggled to start the season and even after today’s game, they all sported ERAs above 5.

Linton CF 2-4, R, CS (1) (.258)
White 1B 2-4, 2B, RBI (.340)

Reagan 4 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 3 K, 2 BB (5.63)
Orosco (W 1-0) 3 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 2 K (5.19)
Shaw (SV 1) 2 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, K, BB (5.14)

P.S. Again, my sincere apologies for the lack of updates in June. Cancer is a scourge that needs to be exterminated from this world…

Baby Backs down time

Due to a family medical situation, updates will be spotty.  My apologies to all who make use of the site to follow the Diamondbacks minor league system.

08 June 5th D-backs Farm Roundup

Tucson 3 - Las Vegas 13

The Sidewinders start another series with the 51s by getting blown out.  They will be hoping history will repeat itself and they’ll come back and take the rest of the series.
Billy Buckner gave up 8 runs in 5 innings, though only 2 of those runs were earned thanks to 3 throwing errors made by the defense behind him, including 2 by 3B Jamie D’Antona.  A groundball pitcher like Buckner, who got 12 ground outs against just 2 flyouts, probably would do much better with a good defense behind him.  Brandon Medders was hit hard in his single inning of work, allowing 5 runs on 2 hits and 2 walks, including a 3-run homer.

D’Antona 3B 2-5, 2 K, 2 E (10) (.397)
Emilio Bonifacio LF 0-5 (.292)

Buckner (L 3-5) 5 IP, 8 H, 8 R, 2 ER, K, 2 BB (4.98)
AJ Shappi 2 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, K (0.00)
Medders 1 IP, 2 H, 5 ER, 2 BB (22.50)

Mobile 5 - Mississippi 4

The BayBears took advantage of 2 errors in the 9th inning to come back and walk off with the win over the Braves.  Trailing 3-4, Orlando Mercado reached on a 2 base error with 1 out.  Yunesky Sanchez ran for Mercado and took 3rd on a passed ball.  After a walk to Bryan Byrne, Sanchez scored on another throwing error to tie the game.  Chris Rahl followed with a double to left to win the game.  The rally made a winner of Forrest Cory who pitched 2 scoreless innings in relief.

Rahl CF 2-4, 2B, BB, RBI, K (.218)
Gerardo Parra RF 2-4, 3B, RBI, R (.263)

Howard 5 IP, 5 H, 4 ER, 2 K, 3 BB (4.65)
Jose Marte 2 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 2 K (3.94)
Cory (W 3-2) 2 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 2 K, 2 BB (3.66)

Visalia 4 - San Jose 2

Barry Enright tossed 6 no-hit innings and then almost lost the game when he allowed a 2-run homer in the 7th.  But the Oaks came back to score 3 times in the 8th to give Enright a well-deserved win.
Enright retired the first 14 batters he faced before an error allowed a runner to reach with 2 outs in the 5th.  The baserunner was quickly thrown out trying to steal and Enright faced the minimum through 6 1/3 innings.  Brad Miller’s solo homer in the 5th gave the Oaks a slender 1-0 lead and it quickly disappeared in the 7th.  A fielding error by shortstop Pedro Ciriaco gave the Giants their 2nd baserunner and with 2 outs, Enright made his only mistake of the game to give the Giants a 2-1 lead.  Enright would give up 2 singles in the 8th and looked headed for the loss.
However, the Oaks opened their half of the 8th with back-to-back singles and 2 outs later with the bases-loaded, Joey Side grounded a triple to right to clear the bases and give the Oaks a 4-2 lead.  Kyler Newby retired all 3 batters he faced in the 9th for his 6th save.  Both runs Enright allowed were unearned and he lowered his ERA to 4.54.  After an awful April where he was 1-2 with an 8.04 ERA, Enright is 5-1 in his last 7 starts, allowing just 10 earned runs in 41 1/3 innings.

Miller 1B 1-3, HR (5), RBI, R, K (.175)
Side RF 1-4, 3B, 3 RBI, K (.225)
Ed Easley C 1-4, R, K (.251)

Enright (W 6-3) 8 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 0 ER, 4 K (4.54)
Newby (SV 6) 1 IP, 0 H, 0 ER (3.00)

South Bend 10 - Dayton 3

The Silver Hawks had 10 hits and drew 11 walks on their way to a 10-run outburst against the Dragons.  Evan Frey hit a 3-run triple as part of a 5-run 2nd inning and the Silver Hawks never looked back.  Mike Mee also had 3 RBIs and Chance Wheeless hit his 4th homer of the season.
The run support was more than enough for Bryan Augenstein who pitched his 5th straight quality start to improve to 4-1.  Augenstein gave up 3 runs on 7 hits in 8 innings.  He struck out 4 and walked none.  For the season, he has a 65/9 K/BB ratio in 81 1/3 innings.  Augenstein is 2nd in the league in innings pitched, 4th in strikeouts, 4th in WHIP (0.93) and 6th in ERA.

Frey CF 2-5, 3B, BB, 3 RBI, 2 R (.232)
Mee LF 2-4, 2 BB, 3 RBI, K (.266)
Wheeless 1B 1-3, HR (4), 2 BB, RBI, R (.215)
Ramon Ramirez 3B 2-5, RBI, R, E (8) (.239)

Augenstein (W 4-1) 8 IP, 7 H, 3 ER, 4 K (2.21)
Josh Blake 1 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, K (10.22)