Triple-A: Memphis (Cardinals) 10, Norfolk Tides 2
The Tides scored first in the game, with Enrique Bradfield’s leadoff walk turning into a run after a stolen base and an RBI single hit by Heston Kjerstad. Unfortunately, Norfolk’s starter, Trace Bright, had the opposite of a shutdown inning, allowing Memphis to score five runs in the next half-inning. Bright’s day ended after 4.2 innings with six runs allowed. Things did not improve from there.
There were a pair of errors as well, including one by shortstop José Barrero. He’s cooled off substantially
after his scorching April, now with a .779 OPS and 11 errors committed.
On the plus side, the guy Creed Willems just keeps on hitting. Two singles and a walk across four plate appearances in the game, bumping his season batting line to .279/.368/.495. That looks good. I don’t know what the Orioles are going to do with him, but that looks good.
Double-A: Altoona (Pirates) 10, Chesapeake Baysox 8
The Baysox made this one interesting later on, scoring a run in the eighth and three in the ninth and ending up with the tying run at the plate with nobody out. They could not get any closer, though. They’d been dug too much of a hole by a few of their pitchers, starting with my honorary hyphenated cousin, Juaron Watts-Brown, who was hit for five runs (four earned) in only three innings. Juan Rojas, once notable for being in the Jorge López trade, gave up two runs in an inning. Chesapeake’s pitchers gave up 15 hits and eight walks overall. Ouch.
Not much of the offense had the prospects of note here contributing to it. My guy Aron Estrada took an 0-4, striking out twice. Thomas Sosa had a double in four at-bats. Late in the game, Ethan Anderson pinch hit; he didn’t make anything happen. One guy who did make things happen for Chesapeake was outfielder Douglas Hodo, who homered twice. He’s 25 at Double-A, so other prospects are far ahead of him in the system, but the .922 OPS in 12 games so far is nice for him.
High-A: Brooklyn (Mets) 13, Frederick Keys 4
23-year-old righty Yeiber Cartaya has been on a good run since starting the season with the Keys. This one, however, was not good. He walked four guys and gave up five hits in a four inning outing, with six runs (five earned) surrendered.
Frederick was never in the game from that point onward, and only a late three-run home run hit by Ike Irish in the eighth inning kept this from being a total waste. The Irish homer was his ninth of the season. He was also credited with an outfield assist, nailing a runner at third base from right field. Nice work. Wehiwa Aloy and Victor Figueroa were among those who stayed hitless. All three of these guys have an OPS of at least .829, so hopefully this game is just a blip.
Low-A: Delmarva Shorebirds 9, Columbia (Royals) 6
We’ve finally got a winner here! The Shorebirds offense made sure this one ended up in the win column as they combined 11 hits and 12 walks. That’s a lot of traffic on the bases; the team was 5-17 with RISP and still managed to leave 13 men on base. It didn’t hurt them.
On base all six times that he batted was Jaiden Lo Re, a fifth round pick out of his Arizona high school last year. Lo Re recently joined the Shorebirds after mostly romping through the Florida Complex League. His night includes two hits, four walks, and two stolen bases. He is just seven games into his time with Delmarva, but for now the 19-year-old has a .975 OPS. Between the two levels, he’s walked 17 times while only striking out 10 this season. Maybe there’s another guy following the Nate George path. Lo Re did commit one of the four Delmarva errors. Low-A is a long way from the majors.
Two other Shorebirds also had multi-hit games. One was Elvin Garcia, also 19, who had two singles and a triple in the game. First baseman Miguel Rodríguez also had three hits.
Starting pitcher Christian Rodriguez also deserves a shout-out here, as he struck out nine batters over a 6.1 inning start. Rodriguez, a 2024 draft pick, is 24 years old and only got to make his debut with an affiliate this year. That’s old for the level. He has a 3.43 ERA after this start and has struck out 70 batters in 57.2 innings. Next time someone gets promoted out of Frederick’s rotation, maybe he’ll move up.
Saturday’s Scheduled Games
- Norfolk: vs. Memphis, 6:35. Starter: Christian Herberholz
- Chesapeake: at Altoona, 6:00. Starter: Evan Yates
- Frederick: at Brooklyn, 6:00. Starter: JT Quinn
- Delmarva: at Columbia, 6:05. Starter: Denton Biller
