Minor League Recap: Drabek finds control, Gose hits homer

Las Vegas (won 2-1)

How often do you see games in Vegas ending with only 3 runs scored? In fact, after 9 innings it was just 1-1 and Chris Woodward had to make it 2-1 with a walkoff homer in the 10th.

Kyle Drabek brought us some great news by making his first start without a walk this season. He went six strong innings, striking out three and getting 45% groundballs. Hopefully this will give him some confidence.

Travis Snider was back on the field and flew out three times, he was IBB'd his last time up.

New Hampshire (lost 6-10)

Robert Ray will want to forget the day he gave up 8 runs in 4 1/3 innings, but since that's only yesterday it's probably still fresh on his mind. Chad Beck seems to have been relegated to a relief role for now, he gave up the other two runs.

Anthony Gose got the 4th inning started nicely with a solo shot (his sixth), which was followed up by a three-run shot from Mark Sobolweski after Travis d'Arnaud (walk) and Michael McDade (single) had gotten on base to be driven in.

Here's a little table to show how NH's hitters did in June (not too well):

Dunedin (lost 1-5)

Deck McGuire was back from the DL and pitched decently. He went six innings allowing a single run, walked two, struck out six, but he gave up a lot of balls in the air, one of which went for a home run.

Sean Ochinko went 2-for-2 with a walk, finishing June with a .322/.386/.622 line, which is very nice. If he hadn't hit .148 in April and .237 in May his overall line would look a lot better. A.J Jimenez was 2-for-3 with a double, finishing June .263/.326/.338.

Lansing (lost 1-3)

Lansing's hitters set a record on Wednesday for consecutive strikeouts, and they were not that much better yesterday. Garis Pena hit a solo homer for the 'Nuts' only run. K.C. Hobson was 2-for-2 with two walks, finishing June with a .282/.436/.359 line.

Jake Marisnick went 1-for-4 and finished the month with a .310/.360/.440 line. Michael Crouse was .237/.330/.342 in June, and Marcus Knecht, who had a day off, hit .282/.400/.482. Meanwhile Carlos Perez had a bad month: .187/.259/.240.

With Sean Nolin's injury on Wednesday after just one completed inning, and Danny Barnes' short outing the day before that, the Lugnuts needed their starter to go long, and Egan Smith delivered, going seven innings with just two strikeouts, but no walks and lots of grounders.

Vancouver (won 2-1)

They won, good for them. How on earth is Shane Opitz not playing every day? I guess this leaves me the room to say Justin Nicolino started on Wednesday and gave up a run in 5 innings, striking out 4 and walking 2 in a decent but unexciting start.

Bluefield (won 6-4)

Kellen Sweeney went 0-for-3 with 2 walks, which is notable because he didn't strike out. That was his first Bluefield game without a strike out. Before this game he struck out at least twice in seven of his eight games, in more than 50% of his at bats! He does have a 9/17 BB/K rate, so he's showing the good eye he's reported to have.

Chris Hawkins was 2-for-5 with his first homer and two line drives (one caught) and a strikeout. He's now hitting .278/.308/.472 but he could improve on his 1/6 BB/K rate. He's playing LF, and has 6 stolen bases (1 caught stealings) already so he's showing his speed.

Cody Bartlett, a late pick from this year's draft, is hitting .417/.533/.667 in just 4 games with three walks and a strikeout. He's 22 and will soon be 23, so he'd have to move quickly and probably would be a utility player at best, but what a nice start he's having to his pro career.

GCL Jays (won 6-5)

Dalton Pompey's start had been rough, but going 2-for-4 with two doubles, a walk and a strikeout is nice to see. He has a 6/9 BB/K ratio, which is also good to see. Jorge Vega-Rosado had a 3-for-4 night, also drawing a walk and striking out. He's hit .306/.386/.472 so far. Santiago Nessy had 1-for-4 night with a double and also a walk and a strikeout, with his line now at .296/.367/.556.

Tucker Jensen (21) is an undrafted free agent who has been good, starting off his pro career with 9 strikeouts in 9 innings and just one walk. UDFAs don't have big chance to make it to the bigs, especially with the Jays' deep farm, but Tucker deserves his praise on here.