Athletics Minor League Baseball Blog

In a very interesting piece at Baseball America, columnist Chris Kline caught up with a National League scout to talk about Athletics first round draft pick James Simmons.  Simmons put up solid numbers as a reliever for the Rockhounds and he’s had a solid campaign for the Desert Dogs in the Arizona Fall League.  The scout talks about Simmons workload and he thinks the big thing with Simmons will be whether he can refine his breaking ball or not. He talks about he’s shown improvements in his breaking ball but whether he can perfect will determine the extent of Simmons major league career.

Lou Merloni and Brant Colamarino combined to drive in all seven runs for the River Cats as they dispatched the PCL champion Richmond Braves to win the Bricktown Showdown.  Merloni went two for five with a homerun and four RBIs while Colamarino went three for five with a homerun and three RBIs.

Shane Komine didn’t finish the second inning and he came out after an injury and Kazuhito Tadano took over from there to pick up the win.  He gave up one run on three hits with four strikeouts in 4 1/3 innings.

The River Cats won their sixth straight playoff game to capture their third PCL championship in five years in a 4-3 win over the Zephyrs.  Brad Knox was cruising along until he gave up a three run homer in the eighth inning that made it close but the River Cats buckled down and pulled of the win.  Knox gave up three three runs on three hits and three walks with six strikeouts in 7 2/3 innings.

Brian Stavisky went two for four with a run and an RBI.  Brant Colamarino doubled, drove in a run and scored.

The River Cats scored two runs in the top of the ninth inning to turn a one run deficit into a one run win as they came one win closer to winning the Pacific Coast League championship.  Jorge Piedra belted a solo homerun to tie the game up and then Brian Stavisky doubled home the game winner as Sacramento squeeked out the win.

Michael Madsen had a decent start and he gave up just two runs in 6 1/3 innings.  Jerry Blevins picked up a win with 1 2/3 innings of shutout relief.  He gave up just one walks and he struck out four.

The River Cats took game one in their quest of the PCL title with a 5-3 win over the New Orleans Zephyrs.  Shane Komine was the winning pitcher and was solid in his six inning start.  He gave up two runs on four hits and two walks with four strikeouts.

Nicholas Blasi had a big day at the plate for the River Cats.  He went three for four with a double, an RBI and three runs.  Jorge Piedra went one for four with two RBIs and a walk.

The River Cats came back from a 2-0 deficit in their series with Salt Lake but they won their last three games to pull off a dramatic come behind series win to move on to the PCL championship.  Daric Barton had the big hit of the game with a huge three run homer in the fifth inning that turned out to be the winning runs.

Shawn Kohn got it done after a shaky start by Bobby Cramer.  Kohn gave up just three hits in four shutout innings to pick up the win.

Next up for the River Cats is a five game series with the New Orleans Zephyrs.  The Zephyrs beat Nashville three games to one to move into the championship series.

The River Cats lived to fight another day as they took care of Salt Lake to force a winner take all gave all five in a ten inning, 7-4 win.  Salt Lake jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the third but the River Cats answered and tied the game up in the bottom half of the inning.  The River Cats then took the lead in the fifth only to have Salt Lake tie it in the eighth, which sent things into extra frames.  Then Danny Putnam belted a big three run homer in the bottom of the tenth to win it.

It was Putnam’s second homer of the day and he finished with five RBIs.  Nicholas Blasi accounted for the rest of the offense and he belted two solo homers.

Brad Ziegler pitched an impressive game and he picked up the win.  He threw 2 2/3 shutout innings in which he didn’t give up a hit.  He walked two and struck out three.

The River Cats needed a win and that’s what they got although they still have a tough road to climb.  Brad Knox got it done on the mound and he gave up four runs on seven hits and four walks with four strikeouts in 7 1/3 innings.  Julio Manon struck out four batters in 1 2/3 innings as he closed out the game.

Gregorio Petit went three for four with two runs in the win.  Lou Merloni went two for four with a double, a solo homer and two runs.

The River Cats led their game against Salt Lake all the until the ninth inning in a tough 11-10 loss that now puts them two games down in a five game series.  The River Cats had leads of 5-0, 7-4 and 10-6 but Salt Lake scored three in the bottom of the eighth and two in the ninth to blow it.  Brad Ziegler was tagged with the final three runs and he took the loss but the game winning run actually came with Jeffrey Gray on the mound.

Nicholas Blasi went four for six with three runs.  Jorge Pierda went two for four with a double, three RBIs and a run in the loss.

Talk about a tough loss.  The River Cats came back from a 6-2 deficit to tie the game and send it into extra frames.  Then, they take a two run lead in the tenth inning only to have Jeffrey Gray give up three runs in the bottom of the tenth to seal the River Cats fate in a 9-8 loss.   Gray didn’t get batter out in the tenth, he just gave up five consecutive hits.

Daric Barton had a big day at the plate with two homers and four RBIs.  Nicholas Blasi doubled twice and he scored three times in the loss.

Three different pitchers gave up at least two runs a piece in an 8-5 loss to the AZL Angels.  Hector Garcia took the loss and he fell to 0-1.  He gave up three runs (one earned) on two hits and two walks with three strikouts in 1 1/3 innings.

Michael Lissman went three for four with a double and two RBIs.  Jareck West went two for three with a double, two walks, two RBIs and two runs.

A single error led to four unearned runs in the Canadiens 4-2 loss to Tri-City.  Jose Guzman took the loss and he gave up the four unearned runs on four hits and three walks with one strikeout in five innings of work.

Dusty Napoleon was the hitting star in the loss.  He went two for four with a double and an RBI.

The Cougars ran up the scored on the Lugnuts and won their fourth straight game in a 16-4 win.  Greg Dowling went four for six with two homers, five RBIs and two runs.  Michael Massaro went five for six with two RBIs and two runs.

James Heuser improved to 10-6 with the win.  He gave up three runs on seven hits and one walk with six strikeouts in five innings of work.

Vincent Mazzaro fell to 9-11 on the season in a rough start in the Ports 8-5 loss to Lake Elsinore.  He gave up six runs on six hits and four walks with one strikeout in five innings of work.

Michael Affronti doubled, drove in two runs and scored.  Steve Kleen went two for four and he drove in a run.

The Rockhounds dropped a tough eleven inning game to Wichita 3-2.  Jerry Blevins took the loss and he fell to 0-2 when he gave up a run in the top of the eleventh inning.

Richie Robnett was the hitting star in the win.  He went two for five with a double and two RBIs.

Lou Merloni had a nice day at the plate in the River Cats 9-7 win over Las Vegas.  He went two for five with a homerun, three RBIs and two runs.  Dee Brown went two for three with a double, a walk and three RBIs.

Brad Knox improved to 9-5 despite a pretty poor start.  He gave up six runs on nine hits in five innings.

Vancouver lost 8-2 to Salem-Keizer, and all eight of those runs were scored in the first two innings.  Leonardo Martinez gave up all eight runs on four homers and he fell to 2-2 on the season.

Corey Brown was the only Vancouver hitter to really do anything at the plate.  He went two for four and he drove in both runs with a two run homer in the sixth inning.

Benjamin Fritz was hit hard and he fell to 8-6 in the Rockhounds 14-3 loss to San Antonio.  He gave up eight runs on ten hits and two walks with three strikeouts in just 3 2/3 innings.

Javier Herrera was the hitting star in the loss.  He went three for five with a double and a run.

Just about everyone was a hitting star in the River Cats 10-3 win over Fresno but Kevin Melillo had an exceptionally good day at the plate.  He went two for four with a homerun and three RBIs.  Daric Barton also had a great game and he went two for three with a homerun, two RBIs and two runs.

Dan Meyer improved to 5-1 with the win.  He gave up three runs on nine hits and three walks with two strikeouts in 5 2/3 innings.

Inoel Deaza was hit hard in the Cougars 9-3 loss and he fell to 0-6 on the season.  He gave up four runs on four hits and two walks with three strikeouts in two innings.

Haas Pratt was the hitting star in the loss.  He belted two solo homeruns.

The Ports used three pitchers in their 7-3 loss to Visalia.  All three games up at least two runs and Eric Sheridan took the loss.  He gave up two runs in 2 1/3 innings.

Justin Sellers went two for four with a double, a walk and a run.  David Castillo hit a solo homerun.

Trent Peterson fell to 0-2 on the season in the Rockhounds 6-3 loss to Springfield.  He gave up four runs on seven hits and four walks in 6 1/3 innings.

Richie Robnett went two for four and he drove in two runs.  Cliff Pennington went one for four with two runs.

Vancouver topped Yakima and it was Jose Guzman who shut down the opposition.  He gave up four walks and he struck out four in seven innings of no-hit ball.

Dusty Napolean went two for three in the win.  Corey Brown drew a walk and he scored one of the two runs in the 2-1 win.

You know you’re usually going to lose when you have more errors (3) then you have runs (1) and that’s just what happened to Kane County in their 8-1 loss to Clinton.  While the pen gave up the bulk of the runs, it was starter Trevor Cahill who took the loss.  He gave up three runs on seven hits and two walks with five strikeouts in six innings and the loss drops him to 3-2 on the season.

Gustavo Rosendo was the only Cougar with two hits.  Christian Vitters drove in the only run in the ninth inning.

Michael Rogers improved to 1-2 on the season with a nice start in Stockton’s 5-2 win over Visalia.  He gave up two runs on five hits and one walk with three strikeouts in five innings.

David Castillo tripled and he drove in two runs in the Ports loss.  Raul Padron walked twice and he scored two runs.

Benjamin Fritz improved to 8-3 on the season with a nice start in the Rockhounds 3-1 win over San Antonio.  He gave up four hits and two walks with two strikeouts in six shutout innings.

Richie Robnett went one for three with a solo homerun and two runs scored.  Myron Leslie went two for four with a triple and two RBIs.

The River Cats beat up on Salt Lake 8-6 and it was Daric Barton who got it done at the plate again.  He went four for five with a double, an RBI and two runs.  Dee Brown went two for five with a three run homer.

Brad Ziegler picked up the win with 1 2/3 innings of shutout relief.  He gave up one hit and he struck out one and the win pushes his record to 2-2 on the season.

Juan Nunez was one of the hitting stars in  the AZL Athletics 9-5 win over the AZL Royals.  He went one for four and he drove in three runs.  Carlos Morales went two for three with a homerun and two runs.

Despite getting shelled for five runs, Jonathan Joseph picked up the win because he initially gave up the lead in the sixth inning.  Jorge Arrioja threw five shutout innings in the win.

Vancouver won their first game of the season with a 7-3 beat down over Tri-City.  J.P. Pruitt led the way at the plate for the Canadians.  He went two for four with a homerun, two RBIs and two runs.

Loenardo Martinez improved to 1-0 with a nice start in the win.  He gave up one run on three hits and one walk with six strikeouts in six solid innings.

Trent Petterson dropped to 0-1 on the season with a rough start in the Rockhounds 6-3 loss to Frisco.  He gave up six runs on eight hits and two walks with four strikeouts in six innings.

Vasili Spanos was the hitting star in the loss. He went two for five and he drove in a run.