Fish Farm Report: May 1st

Triple-A

Pacific Coast League

New Orleans Baby Cakes 4, Nashville Sounds 6, 12 innings

The Baby Cakes (8-16) dropped an extra inning affair in a four-hour road game to the Sounds (10-11) in front of 8,262 at First Tennessee Park.

J.T. Riddle had a four-for-six afternoon, hitting two singles, a double, and a triple with a run scored and an RBI to lead the Cakes. Catcher Ramon Cabrera went two-for-three with two bases on balls, reaching base four times in total.

Odrisamer Despaigne gave up just one hit over the first five innings of the game, earning a GameScore of 57 and dropping his ERA to 3.06. Hunter Cervenka then pitched a hitless sixth before things started to head south for the Baby Cakes.

New Orleans was leading by a 4-1 score going into the bottom of the eighth, but #9 prospect Drew Steckenrider gave up a run on three hits over two innings, Brian Ellington earned a blown save by allowing a pair of earned runs on three hits in the ninth, and Kelvin Marte earned a loss by giving up two more runs over his 2.2 innings.

Tomorrow at 8PM ET, the Baby Cakes will host the Iowa Cubs (11-12) in the first game of a four game set. Justin Nicolino (0-2, 3.71) will get the start.

Double-A

Southern League

Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp 12, Mobile Bay Bears 11

The Marlins’ lone victory of the day came on “Play Hookey” day, at the Baseball Grounds of Jacksonville. The 2,372 delinquents in attendance witnessed a back-and-forth game of one-upmanship that culminated in a 12-11 win for the Shrimp (11-14) over the Bay Bears (11-14).

#3 prospect Brian Anderson, John Norwood, David Vidal, and Alex Glenn, who represented batters three-through-six in the order, collected 11 hits, seven runs, two doubles, three homers, and 10 RBI, collectively hitting .550 for the afternoon.

After starter Mike Kickham gave up a pair of runs to the Bay Bears in the second inning, the Jumbo Shrimp erupted for eight in the bottom of the fourth. The inning featured a walk, two singles, and a grand slam home run from Alex Glenn (1), followed closely by another home run, by Taylor Ard (4). After a single and a walk, and still with no outs, the Bay Bears decided to replace starter Jake Jewell with reliever Jon Fitzsimmons.

Fitzsimmons induced consecutive flyouts to begin with, then gave up three more runs on three singles in a row to make it 8-2, Shrimp. Jacksonville added a run each in the fifth and the sixth before things started to get interesting. Reliever Chris Mazza gave up two singles and a walk, then allowed a Jose Briceno grand slam to get the Bears within four runs in the top of the seventh.

Jacksonville pitching allowed five more runs in the eighth inning to lose the lead, and trailed 11-10 before Brian Anderson (3) homered to lead off the bottom half of the inning to tie the score. Victor Payano struck out the side in the ninth for the Shrimp, setting the stage for an Anderson walkoff-RBI-double. The walkoff was Jacksonville’s second in a row, and also represented the Shrimp’s second bullpen victory in two nights after starting the season out 0-8.

Starter Mike Kickham struck out seven Bears in six innings, giving up two earned runs on two walks and seven hits. He earned a 59 GameScore by getting 65-of-96 pitches into the strike zone.

After starting the season with a 7-14 record, the Shrimp have now won their last four in a row. They’ll visit the Tennessee Smokies for a five-game set starting Wednesday night at 7PM.

Advanced-A

Florida State League

Jupiter Hammerheads 3, Clearwater Threshers 7

1,427 at Spectrum Field got to see their hometown Clearwater Threshers (17-8) (a Philadelphia Phillies affiliate) defeat the Hammerheads (11-14) by a 7-3 final.

Felipe Gonzalez took the loss, allowing six earned runs in five innings, on 11 hits and three walks. He earned a GameScore of 12 with 54-of-85 pitches in the zone. The duo of relievers Steven Farnworth and Garrett Cortright held the Threshers to zero baserunners for three innings after Gonzalez night was over.

Kyle Barrett and Brad Haynal each collected a pair of hits for the game, and were the only Hammerheads to earn multiple hits. Angel Reyes reached base three times (with a single and two walks).

Tomorrow, Clearwater will host the Hammerheads for the second game of this three-game series. Trevor Richards (2-2, 2.95) will take the hill opposite Clearwater’s Jose Tavares (3-0, 1.59).

Single-A

South Atlantic League

Greensboro Grasshoppers

After a day off, the Grasshoppers will host a four-game series starting tomorrow night against the Lexington Legends (9-16).

Prospect Watch

#3 Brian Anderson hit a single, a double, and a homer for three RBI, drawing a walk and scoring three times for Jacksonville.

#8 Stone Garrett went 0-for-4 for the Hammerheads, with a walk, a run, an RBI, and a strikeout.

#9 Drew Steckenrider gave up an earned run on three hits over two innings, striking one out in relief.

#12 J.T. Riddle went four-for-six with a double, a triple, a run, an RBI, and a strikeout. His average rose to .313 for the Cakes.

#27 John Norwood went three-for-five with a homer and two RBI for the Shrimp.

#28 Tomas Telis went 1-for-5 with a walk and is hitting .269 for New Orleans.

#30 Yefri Perez went 0-for-4 with two walks, a run, and a strikeout to lower his average to .118 for the Shrimp.

Transactions

The Jumbo Shrimp placed Hunter Adkins on the seven-day DL, got Raudel Lazo from the Batavia Muckdogs, and released right-hander Tyler Bremer. Bremer had seven walks and seven strikeouts in five innings this season.

The Hammerheads placed lefty Daniel Schlereth on the seven-day DL, and also received righty Steven Farnworth from the Muckdogs.

Keep it dialed in here at Fish Stripes for all of your developing Marlins’ news.