John Nagel writes as the Prospect Preacher and is the owner of CardinalsFarm.com where he covers the Cardinals minor league system on a daily basis.
The Baby Birds finished Thursday with a 1-3 record as Palm Beach recorded the organizations only win. Ryan Sherriff and Richard Castillo had solid starts spoiled by lack of offense and a blown save. Tyrell Jenkins was removed from the Peoria Chiefs game in the third inning with shoulder problems. We should learn more to the extent of the injury on Friday. Anthony Garcia continued his hot hitting, hitting his 3rd home run in 4 nights. This is a great sign for one of the Cardinals top prospects who had been struggling all season. Another top prospect, Charlie Tilson, smashed his second home run of the year for Peoria and Xavier Scruggs hit his organization leading 15th round-tripper for Springfield.
Here are the results from Thursday’s action:
Nashville 2, Memphis (31-28) 1
The Memphis Redbirds struggled against the Milwaukee Brewers’ Triple-A affiliate, the Nashville Sounds. Adron Chambers led the way from the lead-off spot going 2-for-3 with a double, run scored, and walk. Ryan Jackson and Kolten Wong each added a hit and a walk with Jackson getting the lone RBI. Greg Garcia had the other Redbirds’ hit, a double.
Richard Castillo was the tough luck loser going 6 innings and allowing 4 hits, 1 run, 4 walks, and striking out 3. Marc Rzepczynski allowed a run on 3 hits over 2 innings and Michael Blazek pitched a scoreless ninth while recording 2 strikeouts.
Player of the Game: Adron Chambers
Arkansas 4, Springfield (28-29) 3
The Springfield Cardinals held the lead of 3-1 going into the top of the ninth. The Travelers scored 3 times in the ninth to take the lead and would eventually win it. The Cardinals were led by Xavier Scruggs who went 3-for-4 and hit his 15th home run. Scruggs also added a double. Cody Stanley had 2 hits including his first Double-A home run in the second. Ruben Gotay, Mike O’Neill, and Adam Melker each contributed a hit to the Springfield cause.
Ryan Sherriff started and was solid for 6 innings allowing just 4 hits, 1 run, 1 walk, and he struck out 3. The bullpen held the lead until the ninth when Deryk Hooker blew the save. Hooker allowed 3 run on 4 hits over an inning and 1/3. Hooker took the loss, his second of the year.
Player of the Game: Xavier Scruggs
Palm Beach (23-35) 4, Tampa 0
In another solid game by the Palm Beach Cardinals. Anthony Garcia continued his hot hitting. Garcia went 2-for-5 with his 7th home run (third in less than a week) and added 2 runs and 2 RBI’s. David Popkins had another solid night as well, getting 2 hits. Colin Walsh added 2 hits including a double out of the lead-off spot. Alex Mejia continues to struggle since his promotion to Palm Beach, hitting just .077.
19-year old Juan Bautista made his second straight solid start for Palm Beach. In 6 innings, Bautista allowed just 4 hits and a walk. After a horrendous first start, Bautista’s ERA is down to 3.21. Iden Nazario pitched 3 perfect innings of relief to pick up his second save.
Player of the Game: Juan Bautista
Clinton 8, Peoria (31-26) 5
The Peoria Chiefs got some bad news when Tyrell Jenkins was lifted in the third inning due to shoulder pain. We should know more on the injury Friday. For the offense, Charlie Tilson led the way going 2-for-3 with his second home run of the year and 3 RBI’s. Breyvic Valera added 2 hits out of the lead-off spot. Jacob Wilson, Patrick Wisdom, and Jesus Montero each had a hit.
Before being lifted in the third, Jenkins went 2 innings and allowed 5 runs on 5 hits and walked 2 while striking out 3. Thomas Lee relieved Jenkins and allowed 2 runs over 3 innings. Joe Scanio pitched 2 scoreless innings and Robert Stock closed it out allowing a run over 2 innings.
Player of the Game: Charlie Tilson