Angels Farm Daily 5/28: Cron-Magnon Man!

Thursday, May 28, 2015

Triple-A: Salt Lake Bees

The good news? Andrew Heaney's ERA is still under 4.00. The bad news? He gave up 7 ER and 10 H in 5.1 IP. He only walked one batter, so that's good, too, but the Dodgers really put a hurtin' on ol' Heandog. (We need to come up with a better nickname for this kid.) All four Salt Lake relievers who took the mound after Heaney gave up at least a run, Steven Hensley creating the lion's share of stink by giving up 4 ER in 0.1 IP.

Now, how about that offense? 11 runs! That's nice to see. Every single Bee had a hit, some had a handful. CJ Cron led the charge, going 3-for-5 with two singles and another bomb. He's batting .556 right now. That's probably sustainable. Either way, it's great to see him respond to adversity with a big, heavy baseball bat to the face...of the baseball...thrown by the pitcher...on the opposing team...What the %$@& am I talking about? Kyle Kubitza went 2-for-5 with 2 Ks, Daniel Robertson hit a double and two singles, Efren Navarro went 2-for-5 to raise his average to .353, and Roger Kieschnick hit a two-run whopper to right-center field. Maybe he wanted to show Jerry Dipoto that he called up the wrong journeyman minor-leaguer to help the Angels' anemic offense?

Full Game Story here.

Double-A: Arkansas Travelers

Jared Mitchell did work last night, going 3-for-4, and scoring the winning (read: only) run in the bottom of the ninth. He roped a double in the bottom of the third and hit a single in both the seventh and the ninth. He proceeded to swipe second in the ninth, an aggressive move to spark some offense and put himself in scoring position. And it paid off immediately when Missions' right-fielder Tyson Gillies misplayed a ball hit by Drew Maggi to end the game. The infield accounted for the rest of the offense: Second-baseman Sherman Johnson had a double, shortstop Eric Stamets and third-baseman Drew Maggi each hit a single.

Kyle McGowin was the real story of the night, though, pitching seven innings of shutout ball and giving up only three hits. Sure, one was a triple, but that was to uber-prospect Trea Turner, so we'll let him slide on this one. Kurt Spomer came in for the Travs to finish the game, earning the win after pitching two spotless innings and striking out two Missions. Break out the brooms! The Travelers sweep the Missions!

Full Game Story here.

Class A Advanced: Inland Empire 66ers

The Lake Elsinore Storm whooped up on our beloved 66ers last night. Jordan Kipper took the loss, but the offense and defense definitely had a part in the play, scoring zero runs and making two errors, respectively. Kody Eaves went 2-for-4 with 2 Ks, and recently promoted outfielder Quinten Davis went 2-for-3 with a triple. Neither of them crossed the plate, though. So that's gonna make it hard to win.

Class A: Burlington Bees

All right, I'm back, Bees. You got me. And with a walk-off victory like this, I might just stick around. It didn't look good to start the game, as the Beloit Snappers pounced on starting pitcher Austin Robichaux for four runs (three earned) in the first. The Bees answered back in the third with four runs of their own, on a grand salami from outfielder Natanael Delgado. Unfortunately, it proved to be a snappy (Snapper-y?) back-and-forth between the two teams when Beloit responded the very next inning with another run.

But oh, would the Bees have the last word! In the bottom of the seventh, shortstop Jake Yacinich hit an RBI double for his second hit of the night, scoring third-baseman Erick Salcedo from first and tying the game. Catcher Wade Wass was (say that three times fast) the walk-off hero last night after he blasted the sixth pitch he saw over the wall in right-center field. He probably felt bad for getting caught stealing earlier in the game. Alex Klonoski earned a well-deserved hold by pitching two innings of one-hit ball, and Ronny Muck (it's Ronald, but Ronny goes so much better with that surname) pitched two perfect innings for the save, lowering his ERA to 0.89 in the process.

Full Game Story here.