Stars of the Day: May 22

More often than not, he's great, but Bakersfield starter Zach Phillips (4-3;  5.13) has had some inexplicably bad bumps in the road this year.  

Six days ago, the southpaw from Sacramento surrendered nine runs on a dozen hits at Lancaster, but he quickly put that wreck in the rear-view mirror with yesterday's complete game victory over Visalia where he held the Oaks to a run on three hits and no walks while recording five strikeouts in the Blaze's 5-1 victory. 

Phillips had a no-hitter through five.

The Blaze got a 3-4 performance from catcher Manny Pina (.283 / .336 / .368), who hit his first dinger of the season.  Sparingly used first baseman J.T. Restko homered twice and  drove in four runs in a 3-4 outing.

Up at the Brick,  another starter rebounded from a disappointing start in his previous outing as Eric Hurley (2-3;  5.93) gave the RedHawks faithful an all-too-rare glimpse at the pitcher many regard as the best prospect in the system, blanking New Orleans on six hits and three walks for seven frames, setting five down on strikes.

Hurley has a K/9 of 9.39 this year.  Other than his 18-start swim through the Cal League in 2006, Hurley has never surpassed 9 K's per 9 innings at any other stop in his career.   However, the PCL is hitting a robust .293 against the righty, which is a far cry from his career .235 opponents average.

Jason Ellison (.293 / .380 / .420) went 4-4 with a double and a walk from the top of the order and designated hitter Joaquin Arias (.317 / .345 / .396) went 2-5 with a triple to drive in two.

Clinton starter Kennil Gomez (7-1;  2.52) suffered his first loss of the year,  but still turned in what was technically a quality start as he yielded five runs, only two of which were earned, on five hits in six innings a the LumberKings fell 5-1 to Beloit.   Right fielder  Mitchell Moreland (.303 / .352 / .513) doubled in his second consecutive 2-4 outing.

Finally,  Max Ramirez (.390 / .464 / .701) tied Chris Davis for the Texas League lead with his 11th big fly of the year as Frisco topped Tulsa 7-5.   Ramirez finished 1-3 with a walk and took one for the team.   Ben Harrison's (.343 / .448 / .598)  excellent season continued as the left fielder went 2-3 with a pair of walks to drive in two.   Right fielder Dustin Majewski (.308 / .401 / .453) remained hot, going 3-5 with a double.