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Free agent 2B Grant Green was signed by the Marlins to a minor league contract, then assigned to the Baby Cakes.
Triple-A
Pacific Coast League
New Orleans Baby Cakes 0, Round Rock Express 3
Mike Kickham (2-2, 6.14) tossed a quality start for the Baby Cakes (50-73), but the effort went to waste against the Express (57-66). 7,639 were in attendance at Shrine on Airline to see the visiting Round Rock club shutout the Cakes by a 3-0 final score.
Kickham surrendered two earned runs on three hits and a walk, with three strikeouts in six innings for a 65 GameScore. Opposing starter Nick Martinez (4-0, 2.15) allowed three hits and whiffed eight over seven shutout frames to finish with an 84 GameScore. Clayton Mortensen got two to wave in a perfect relief inning for New Orleans.
The big knock for the Express came in the second inning, when Ryan Rua doubled home Will Middlebrooks and Ronald Guzman for a 2-0 lead that Round Rock wouldn’t relinquish. Willie Calhoun (28) added a solo homer in the ninth inning. Offensively, the Baby Cakes’ Moises Sierra collected a single and a walk to lead the club.
Double-A
Southern League
Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp 4, Mobile BayBears 10
The second-half split-season leading Jumbo Shrimp (57-65) dropped a 10-4 decision to the BayBears (57-65), and currently lead the Mobile club by just a half game in the standings. 1,772 were in attendance at Hank Aaron Stadium.
Trevor Richards (4-5, 3.41) surrendered five earned runs in 2⁄3 of an inning, on five hits and two walks. Both of his outs came via strikeout before he was lifted, but the Shrimp wouldn’t recover enough to make up the deficit. Tyler Higgins allowed two runs in 3 1⁄3 innings, Jose Quijada tossed two scoreless and hitless innings, and Andy Beltre allowed three more earned runs in two innings of work.
After the BayBears sprinted out to a 6-0 second inning lead, Jacksonville put up three in the third inning to get the Shrimp back into it. After David Vidal led off with a double, Rodrigo Vigil was awarded first base via HBP, and Kyle Barrett singled the bases loaded, pitcher Jake Jewell uncorked a wild pitch which allowed Vidal to cross the plate. Then, Braxton Lee singled home Vigil and Austin Dean scored Barrett on a groundout to pull the Shrimp to a three-run deficit. A Vigil RBI-single in the fourth got them closer, to 6-4, but that was all she wrote. Mobile added a run in the bottom of the inning and three more in the seventh.
Vidal led the Shrimp offense with two doubles, a single, and a walk. Lee also collected three hits and a walk.
High-A
Florida State League
Jupiter Hammerheads 2, Florida Fire Frogs 0
James Buckelew (2-4, 2.41) earned the win, but James Needy’s no-decision was the driving factor in Jupiter’s (62-61) 2-0 win against Florida (42-73) with 739 present at Osceola County Stadium.
Needy struck out four over 4 2⁄3 shutout innings. He gave up a hit and a walk before getting lifted for Buckelew, who collected only one out. Merandy Gonzalez earned his first save for Jupiter, with four shutout innings. He struck out four and gave up three hits and zero walks.
Jupiter did all of their damage in the sixth. Justin Twine reached second on a fielding error by 1B Matt Gonzalez to lead off thinning, then took third on an Oriel Caicedo wild pitch. Gunner Pollman had struck out on the offering, but the wild pitch allowed him to take first on the play. Twine scored a pitch later when Caicedo balked him home, then Zach Sullivan later knocked Pollman in on a sacrifice fly.
Despite scoring only twice, the Hammerheads collected 10 hits for the game, to just four for the Frogs. Corey Bird led the club with four singles, and Colby Lusignan hit two.
Single-A Level
South Atlantic League
Greensboro Grasshoppers 11, Hickory Crawdads 0
The Grasshoppers (66-54) pwned the Crawdads (59-65) with 6,033 on hand at First National Bank Field by an 11-0 sandblasting. Evan Beal (3-0, 1.93) earned the win with three shutout two-hit innings. Michael Mertz, Dustin Beggs, and Carlos Diaz combined to strike out six in the other six innings, and allow only one hit between the three of them.
The rout was on early for Greensboro. Jarett Rindfleisch (5) jacked a three-run shot in the first inning, then in the second, Rony Cabrera (1) hit a solo shot to left field. Luis Pintor doubled home Aaron Knapp and Eric Gutierrez singled Pintor home to make it 6-0 in the second.
The Hoppers would truly put it away in the third, scoring on a Cabrera single, a Brian Miller groundout, a two-run Gutierrez single, and a defensive error by 2B Brendon Davis.
Greensboro outhit Hickory by a 9-to-3 count, led by Cabrera, who hit a single, a double, and a home run. Pintor hit a single and a double, and Gutierrez hit two singles for three RBI.
Short Season A Level
New York Penn-League
Batavia Muckdogs 2, Mahoning Valley Scrappers 8
Ryan Lillie (0-5, 5.19) surrendered seven runs (six earned) on five hits and a walk in 2 1⁄3 innings for the loss as Batavia (20-33) lost to the Scrappers (30-24), 8-2. There were 1,018 at Dwyer Stadium on Friday night.
Edward Cabrera hit a batter in three innings of relief, but didn’t surrender a run, a hit, or a walk. Jeremy Ovalle also pitched two scoreless and hitless innings, allowing a walk.
Mahoning Valley took an 8-0 lead into the bottom of the ninth before the Muckdogs could scratch out a pair of runs on a Tyler Curtis two-out triple. Ricardo Cespedes also allowed a pair of hits to lead the Batavia offense.
Rookie Level
Dominican Summer League
DSL Marlins 7, DSL Dodgers1 4
The Marlins (35-26) defeated the Dodgers (41-22) by a 7-4 margin on Friday morning in a nine-inning contest which lasted nearly four hours.
No Marlins pitcher went as many as three innings. Jonaiker Villalobos (4-1, 0.99) earned the win with a two-inning, two-run relief appearance. He walked two and gave up two hits. Yeremin Lara struck one out in two perfect innings for his first save.
The Marlins took the lead in the third on a Jorge Caballero RBI-single and a Daniel Paulino RBI-double. By the sixth, the Dodgers had pulled to within 3-2, but Alvaro Montero hit an RBI-double to extend the lead to two runs.
The Dodgers scored in the bottom of the sixth and the seventh to tie the contest at four runs each. The Marlins answered in the top half of the eighth inning, scoring a run on a Gervin Ramones passed ball. They added two more in the ninth, scoring on a Miguel Pena bases-loaded walk and a Walner Espinal fielder’s choice groundout.
Fish Stripes Top 30 Prospect Watch
#1 Trevor Rogers
#2 Braxton Garrett
#3 Brian Anderson
#4 Dillon Peters
#5 Tyler Kolek
#6 Merandy Gonzalez earned his first save for Jupiter, striking out four in as many shutout innings. He allowed three hits.
#7 Brian Miller went 0-for-3 with two walks, two runs, and an RBI to drop to .318 batting leadoff for Greensboro.
#8 Brayan Hernandez
#9 James Nelson
#10 Jeff Brigham
#11 Cody Poteet
#12 Colton Hock
#13 Thomas Jones batted third for Batavia, and struck out three times with a walk in four plate appearances. His BA decreased to .192.
#14 Joe Dunand
#15 Riley Mahan
#16 Ryan Lillie started for Batavia and lost, surrendering seven runs (six earned) in 2 1/3 innings on five hits and a walk.
#17 Sam Perez
#18 Trevor Richards allowed five earned runs in 2⁄3 of an inning, on five hits and two walks. He struck out two and now sits at a 3.41 ERA.
#19 Brandon Miller
#20 Edward Cabrera struck out three in three hitless and walkless innings, dropping his ERA to 5.40.
#21 Sean Reynolds
#22 Pablo Lopez
#23 Ricardo Cespedes batted second for Batavia and improved his average to .220 by going 2-for-4 with a run.
#24 Isael Soto
#25 John Norwood batted third for Jacksonville and went 0-for-3 with a walk and a whiff to drop to .273.
#26 Austin Dean batted second for the Shrimp and went 0-for-5 with an RBI and two strikeouts to drop to .297.
#27 Ynmanol Marinez
#28 Albert Guaimaro
#29 Stone Garrett
#30 Roy Morales
Fish Stripes 20
The top 20 players (by user vote) not already represented in the “official” Top 30 prospects:
#1 Bryce Howe
#2 Braxton Lee led off for Jacksonville and went 3-for-4 with a walk and an RBI to improve to .322.
#3 Ben Meyer
#4 Michael King
#5 Ethan Clark
#6 Mike Kickham
#7 Kyle Keller
#8 Kolton Mahoney
#9 Yeral Encarnación
#10 Matt Givin
#11 Max Duval
#12 Brian Schales went 1-for-4 with a walk and two whiffs batting second for Jupiter. He’s hitting .251 so far.
#13 Colby Lusignan batted third for Jupiter and went 2-for-4 to improve to .313.
#14 Gerardo Nunez
#15 James Buckelew earned a win in 1⁄3 of an inning, improving to 2.41 for Jupiter.
#16 Chris Mazza
#17 Dakota Bennett
#18 Michael Mertz tossed two perfect innings in relief for Greensboro to drop to 2.09 for the season. He struck out one batter.
#19 Christopher Rodriguez
#20 Omar Lebron led off for DSL and went 1-for-4 with two runs to improve to .238 for the season.
Later
10:00AM - The GCL Marlins (22-22) host the GCL Cardinals (23-20).
10:30AM - The DSL Marlins (35-26) host the DSL Dodgers1 (41-22).
5:05PM - Batavia will host the Williamsport Crosscutters in a doubleheader. Muckdogs starters are scheduled to be Remey Reed (1-3, 5.91) and Colton Hock (0-1, 8.64).
7:00PM - Max Duval (2-0, 2.84) will follow up his last two starts which have seen him allow three hits and strikeout 16 in 14 innings. He will make his appearance opposite the Crawdads.
7:05PM - Merandy Gonzalez (5-2, 1.81) will start for Jupiter against the Fire Frogs.
7:35PM - Omar Bencomo (0-1, 6.55) will make a road start against the Memphis Redbirds (82-44).
8:05PM - In a fight for first place, the BayBears host the Shrimp at Hank Aaron Field. Jacksonville hasn’t announced their starter.
Birthdays
None
Minor League History
Courtesy of MILB.COM:
In 1998:
San Antonio hitters combined for five homers in the 11th inning, setting a Texas League record. Wichita added a homer of its own in the bottom of the frame as the teams combined for the most long balls in a single inning.
Vote in the poll below if you think a player is too low or too high. It currently runs 236 Marlins deep, and is updated at least daily as players enter or leave the system. Players who are no longer considered “prospects” are not included.