Thursday, May 3rd: Billings and Straily Lead Cats and Hounds To Wins as Ports and Bees Lose

A’s Farmhand Of The Day

 

 

TRIPLE-A PACIFIC COAST LEAGUE

Colorado Springs Sky Sox  1

Sacramento River Cats      6

(WP – Billings 2-1 / 3.05)

 

Farmhand Of The Game:

Pitcher Bruce Billings

(7 IP / 0 ER / 6 K / Win)

 

 

Worth Noting: Starter Bruce Billings had his best outing of the year for the River Cats, allowing no runs and striking out 6 over 7 innings for his 2^nd win. Reliever Fautino De Los Santos tossed his 4^th scoreless inning for Sacramento. Outfielder Collin Cowgill was the offensive star of the game, collecting 3 hits, including 2 doubles, and driving in 2 runs. First baseman Chris Carter and shortstop Adam Rosales both doubled and drove in a run, and Josh Donaldson, who got the start behind the plate, collected 2 hits, raising his average in 22 at bats for Sacramento to .500.

 

 

DOUBLE-A TEXAS LEAGUE

Corpus Christi Hooks   2

Midland RockHounds  10

(WP – Straily 1-2 / 2.83)

 

Farmhand Of The Game:

Pitcher Daniel Straily

(7 IP / 1 ER / 11 K / Win)

 

 

Worth Noting: Starter Daniel Straily turned in another impressive performance, allowing just 1 run and striking out 11 over 7 innings to earn his 1^st win of the season. Third baseman Josh Horton homered and drove in 3 runs, outfielder Shane Peterson doubled and drove in 2, and shortstop Dusty Coleman tripled and drove in 1 for Midland. In other breaking news, RockHounds outfielder Jeremy Barfield reported to us via Twitter the shocking news that 2011 first-round draft pick Sonny Gray “doesn’t like bacon.” Could this be possible – does anyone actually not like bacon? And it begs the question, how could A’s scouts possibly have missed this crucial bit of information in their pre-draft reports on the bacon-hating pitcher?

 

 

ADVANCED-A CALIFORNIA LEAGUE

Stockton Ports    2

San Jose Giants  3

(LP – R. Doolittle 0-1 / 27.00)

 

Farmhand Of The Game:

Pitcher T.J. Walz

(6 2/3 IP / 2 ER / 7 K)

 

 

Worth Noting: Starter T.J. Walz had another solid outing for Stockton, allowing 2 runs and striking out 7 over 6 2/3 innings, but right-hander Ryan – not Sean – Doolittle gave up a run in the 10^th inning to take the loss in his first appearance for Stockton. The Ports’ sluggish offense continued to have trouble scoring runs, pushing only 2 across the plate against San Jose on Thursday. As usual, infielder Miles Head was one of the night’s hitting stars for Stockton, collecting 2 hits, one of them a double, and scoring 1 of the Ports’ 2 runs on the night. Outfielder Myrio Richard also collected a pair of hits, and outfielder Rashun Dixon and catcher Max Stassi each drove in a run in the loss.

 

 

CLASS-A MIDWEST LEAGUE

Quad Cities River Bandits  3

Burlington Bees                 1

(LP – Murphy 2-2 / 1.57)

 

Farmhand Of The Game:

Pitcher Sean Murphy

(5 2/3 IP / 2 ER / 6 K)

 

 

Worth Noting: Last week’s Midwest League Pitcher of the Week, right-hander Sean Murphy, had another good outing for Burlington – but not good enough. Murphy allowed 2 runs and struck out 6 over 5 2/3 innings to take the loss. Outfielder Dusty Robinson and infielder Wade Kirkland both doubled, and Taiwanese infielder Chih Fang Pan contributed 3 hits in the loss.

 

 

Thursday’s Games:

Sacramento @ Tucson – 7:05pm PT

(Peacock vs. TBD)

Corpus Christi @ Midland – 7:00pm CT

(Cisneros vs. Gray)

Lancaster @ Stockton – 7:05pm PT

(TBD vs. TBD)

Game #1 – Quad Cities @ Burlington – 5:30pm CT

(Hald vs. Joseph)

Game #2 – Quad Cities @ Burlington

(Gaviglio vs. Granier)