Stars of the Day: April 20

Frisco hit a road bump on getaway day in Corpus Christi as the Hooks abused Matt Harrison
en-route to a 10-6 drubbing of the mighty RoughRiders, but the great Chris Davis (.352 / .407 / .722) did his share,. belting out his fourth and fifth dingers of the year in a 3-4 outing to drive in three.   His 1.129 OPS leads the Texas League and his five jacks put him in a tie with teammate Max Ramirez for the league lead.

Two first-inning errors by Elvin Andrus contributed to Harrison’s woes and the lefty was chased having allowed six runs, three earned, on seven hits and a walk.  He needed 48 pitches to get through his two innings.

In front of the packed house of almost 9,000 in Dayton, Kennil Gomez (2-0;   2.12 ERA) took center stage with six shutout innings, allowing just two singles and no walks while fanning five as Clinton improved to 11-3.

The 6’3″,  170 lb. Gomez, who turned 20 two weeks ago, was one of those guys who came on to my radar unexpectedly in Surprise last month.   Anyone who sees the kid pitch, immediately falls for him. 

He features a low-90′s fastball with outstanding late life and a plus breaking ball that he locates well.  He appeared in 17 games for the AZL club last summer, allowing just 34 hits and 10 walks in 34.1 innings, racking up 38 K’s along the way.

Like Derek Holland, Gomez belongs in the conversation when discussing the more heralded top young arms in this system like Castillo, Feliz, Font, Main, Beavan, Ramirez….

Ian Gac’s (.426 / .500 / .907) rampage through the MWL continued with a 2-5 outing that included a grand slam — his seventh jack of the year.  

After a slow start, Engel Beltre (.263 / .311 / .404)  is starting to pick it up for the Lumberkings.  The toolsy center fielder went 3-5 with a double, drove in a run and scored three times from the top of the order. 

In Des Moines, the 14-4 RedHawks got another outstanding start from Doug Mathis (4-0; 3.12 ERA) who surrendered four runs on eight hits and no walks, needing just 87 pitches to get through his seven frames. 

Kaz Fukumori dealt a perfect eighth and, as usual, Frankie Frank (0.00 ERA) dominated a perfect ninth, fanning two to secure the 7-4 victory and earn his fifth save of the year.

Drew Edward Meyer (.294 / .368 / .324) went 2-4 with a walk and stole two bags.  Kevin Mench doubled in a 2-4 outing to drive in a pair.  Shortstop Casey Benjamin (.288 / .362 / . 481)   doubled, scored and delivered an RBI sac fly in four trips.

Scheduled starter Omar Poveda was pulled due due shoulder sorenes so Jared Hyatt got an emergency start for Bakersfield and held Lancaster to a run on two hits and three walks through four.  Chris Dennis and Ryan Falcon combined to surrender three  runs over the next four innings, but it wasn’t good enough as the Blaze fell by a 4-2 count.

Johnny Whittleman’s double was the only extra base hit among Bakersfield’s three hits of the day.   Jose Vallejo went hitless, but reached on an error in the ninth and stole his seventh base of the year.