Earning Their Stripes: 5/12/21

The Miami Marlins were set to play the Arizona Diamondbacks last night.

Well before that, their minor league feeder system had four games on tap, two in the afternoon and two in the evening, prior to their contest versus the Snakes. In Durham, the Bulls and the visiting Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp were rained out, with the makeup game scheduled for today. That means a planned seven-inning doubleheader between the two is set for later today, with the first game’s first pitch set for 5:30 PM. Both clubs are 5-2 in the early going.

Double-A

Pensacola Blue Wahoos 4, Birmingham Barons 1

Attendance: 2,265 at Blue Wahoos Stadium

After opening their series with a loss, the Wahoos returned the favor to the visiting Barons with a 4-1 final decision on Wednesday night. You’ll remember that Jake Eder started the season with five shutout one-hit innings in his season debut last week, a five innings during which he collected a dozen strikeouts. Although his second effort wasn’t as flashy, he still managed to strike out another seven batters in five shutout innings, giving up three hits and two walks. Eder placed 47-of-79 pitches over the plate.

Pensacola struck first, with a J.J. Bleday home run in the fourth inning. After a clean fifth inning, Eder was lifted in favor of Jose Mesa Jr., who allowed Romy Gonzalez to tie the score with a one out solo homer. Luckily, Jerar Encarnación gave the Wahoos the lead in the bottom of the inning with a three-run homer, scoring Bleday and Peyton Burdick.

The homer allowed by Mesa Jr. was the only mistake he made in three innings of work. He earned the victory and struck out four without giving up any more baserunners. In fact, the sixth-inning bomb was the final baserunner for the Barons, who also couldn’t get on versus closing pitcher Anthony Maldonado. Maldonado earned his second save with a perfect ninth, striking out one.

Encarnación was the only Pensacola player to finish with multiple hits, with a double and the aforementioned homer. Victor Victor Mesa’s double and a Demetrius Sims single were the only other safe base hits for the Wahoos, who improved to 5-3 with the victory. Brandon Leibrandt will get the start in the third game of the series, starting tonight at 7:35 PM.

High-A

Beloit Snappers 8, South Bend Cubs 3

Attendance: 272 at Pohlman Field

Bryan Hoeing started his second game of the season hoping to improve on his first start. To wit, he retired one batter and allowed five earned runs to close his debut with an ERA of 108.00. Couldn’t get worse, right?

Thankfully, Hoeing was far better in his follow-up performance, striking out three in 5 ²⁄₃ innings and allowing two runs on three hits and a walk. He put 55-of-83 pitches in the strike zone. Brady Puckett relieved and kept the Cubs scoreless on one hit over 2 ¹⁄₃ innings, along with three strikeouts. Joey Steele pitched the final inning in a non-save situation, giving up a run on two hits.

In the third inning, South Bend took the lead on a D.J. Artis double and a Delvin Zinn sacrifice fly off Hoeing, but that was his only trouble in the effort. In the bottom of the inning, the Snappers got one back on a Thomas Jones RBI-single, scoring Devin Hairston.

Most of Beloit’s damage was in the fifth inning, when the Snappers crossed the plate seven times. Ricky Aracena and Jones hit RBI-singles, Will Banfield added a sacrifice fly, then Nic Ready went yard with the bags full of turtles for a grand slam. Aracena and Jones finished with two hits apiece, while Hairston collected a single and two doubles. Beloit improved to 4-4, and will host Game Three starting at 7:35 PM.

Single-A

Jupiter Hammerheads 8, Palm Beach Cardinals 13

Attendance: Closed to the public at Roger Dean Stadium

Dax Fulton allowed six runs in two innings, Geremy Galindez allowed five in three, and the Hammerheads offense couldn't keep up as the Cardinals struck for 13 runs on 18 hits against Sharks pitching.

Trailing 6-0 in the third, Jupiter decided to make a game of it by cobbling together five runs. Federico Polanco hit an RBI-double, followed by a two-run double from Troy Johnston and a two-run single from Ashton Easley. The Hammerheads actually took the lead in the fourth on a Polanco RBI-single and a Johnston sacrifice fly, but Palm Beach scored five more in the fifth inning for an insurmountable lead. Johnston later added an RBI-double in the losing effort.

Johnston’s four-RBI game was a career-best. Nasim Nuñez hit safely twice and stole two bases to give him eight for the season, which leads the Single-A circuit. The loss dropped Jupiter to 3-5 for the season, but they have four more cracks at Palm Beach, with game three starting tonight at 6:30 PM.

Checking in with the Top 30 MLB Pipeline Prospects

1. Sixto Sánchez (JAX IL)
2. J.J. Bleday (PEN) 1-for-3, 1 HR, 2 R, 1 RBI, 1 BB, 1 SO, .630 OPS
3. Max Meyer (PEN)
4. Edward Cabrera (JAX IL)
5. Lewin Díaz (JAX)
6. Jesús Sánchez (JAX)
7. Braxton Garrett (JAX)
8. José Devers (JAX)
9. Dax Fulton (JUP) 2.0 IP, 6 H, 6 ER, 2 BB, 2 SO, 32-of-57 over the plate, 2.800 WHIP
10. Nick Neidert (JAX)
11. Victor Mesa Jr. (JUP)
12. Peyton Burdick (PEN) 0-for-1, 1 R, 1 SO, .561 OPS
13. Nasim Nuñez (JUP) 2-for-6, 2 SB, 1 CS, 1 E, .538 OPS
14. Monte Harrison (JAX)
15. Kameron Misner (BEL) 0-for-3, 1 R, 1 BB, 1 SO, 1 E, .620 OPS
16. Connor Scott (BEL) 1-for-4, 1 R, 1 BB, 2 SO, 1.006 OPS
17. Kyle Nicolas (BEL)
18. Griffin Conine (BEL) 1-for-2, 1 R, 2 BB, 1 SO, .646 OPS
19. José Salas (rookie)
20. Yiddi Cappe (rookie)
21. Jerar Encarnación (PEN) 2-for-3, 1 2B, 1 HR, 1 SB, 1 CS, 1 R, 3 RBI, 1 BB, 1 SO, .950 OPS
22. Jordan Holloway (MIA)
23. Zach McCambley (BEL)
24. Jake Eder (PEN) 5.0 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 7 SO, 47-of-79 over the plate, 0.900 WHIP
25. Eury Pérez (JUP)
26. Evan Fitterer (rookie)
27. Paul Campbell (suspended)
28. Will Banfield (BEL) 0-for-3, 1 RBI, 3 SO, .425 OPS
29. Jorge Guzman (MIA IL)
30. Osiris Johnson (JUP) 1-for-4, 1 2B, 2 R, 2 BB, .818 OPS