Bowie and Aberdeen got walloped in twin 9-0 losses, but Norfolk and Delmarva turned in solid performances on the mound.
Triple-A: Norfolk Tides 1, Worcester Red Sox 0
DL Hall pitched five innings and allowed a puny two hits while walking just one and whiffing 10. As Norfolk manager Buck Britton has said, when Hall is in sync with his mechanics and pounding the zone, it’s just not fair for opposing hitters. You can quibble with Hall’s pitch efficiency (81 in five innings), but not the sheer dominance. He’s on an innings limit this season; will he still get the MLB call-up after the All-Star break?
4 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 8 K. 65/42. pic.twitter.com/ZC9aXyrnK8
— The Verge- An Orioles MiLB Podcast (@BSLOnTheVerge) July 17, 2022
Beau Sulser got the (frankly sort of irrelevant, after what Hall did) win by pitching a clean sixth and seventh innings, and Nick Vespi earned the save and continues to protect a 0.00 Triple-A ERA.
A GUNNAR!-less Tides managed just six hits and three walks on the day, but thanks to the lockdown pitching, it was enough. One hit apiece was had by Jordan Westburg, Kyle Stowers, Yusniel Díaz, Kelvin Gutiérrez, Richie Martin, and Jacob Nottingham. Díaz scored the game winner on a Nottingham single.
Double-A: Akron RubberDucks 9, Bowie Baysox 0
Judging just from the boxscore, this one went about as badly for Bowie as a game can. The good news was that four runs were unearned, part of a seven-run eighth-inning meltdown on the combined watch of Justin Ambruester and Tyler Burch. Starter Ryan Watson (3.77 ERA) had a nice day actually, throwing 5.0 innings and allowing two runs on six hits and one walk.
Still, not much nice to say about the fact that the Baysox scored none and got outhit 12-4. The lone offensive bright spots were doubles from Andrew Daschbach and Shayne Fontana and a single each for Greg Cullen and César Prieto.
High-A: Jersey Shore (Phillies) 9, Aberdeen IronBirds 0
Aberdeen’s pitchers, so effective on Saturday, got clobbered on Sunday, and the offense mustered only two baserunners (a Collin Burns single and a Donta’ Williams two-bagger).
Carlos Tavera had a short outing (1.2 IP, 1 R, 2 H, 2 BB, 2 SO) but he wasn’t the weakest link. Unfortunately, that would be Jake Lyons (3.0 IP, 4 R, 6 H, 2 BB) and Carson Carter (2.0 IP, 4 R, 5 H, 2 BB). Scoreless innings were each tossed by Gregori Vasquez and Xavier Moore.
The good news is that Aberdeen still heads into the break 54-33.
Low-A: Delmarva Shorebirds 10, Carolina (Brewers) 4
Delmarva flipped the script on Carolina on Sunday, with plenty of offense, decent pitching and just one fielding error! A pair of 2021 draftees, Conor Grady (18th round) and Dylan Heid (11th round) each got taken out of the park and allowed two runs in 2+ innings. Heid struck out three hitters in two innings, though. Miguel Padilla (3-2, 3.00 ERA, 30 K in 31 innings) got the win with two scoreless.
Frederick Bencosme continues to put bat to ball and get on base. He went 2-for-5 with 2 RBI and a walk, and he’s still hitting .368 at this level. Notwithstanding a throwing error, Luis Valdez was even better, going 3-for-6 with two stolen bases.
There are no games scheduled for Monday.