Phillies MLR 8/7/18: Ranfi Casimiro loses no-hit bid in 7th, Jose Pujols’ lifts Reading once again

Today’s Probables:

LHV: TBD (1:35pm start)
REA: Felix Paulino
CLR: Ramon Rosso
LWD: Damon Jones
WIL: TBD

Indianapolis 12, Lehigh Valley 6

Cole Irvin - 5 IP, 9 H, 6 R, 5 ER, 4 K, HR, 8 GB, 2 FB
Jesmuel Valentin - 2 for 4, RBI, SB
Mitch Walding - 1 for 5, RBI, 2 K
Joey Meneses - 1 for 5, HR, 2 K
Aaron Altherr - 1 for 4, R, 2 K (two outfield assists, 2B & 2B)
Zach Green - 0 for 4, 2 K

It’s been an uneven second half of the season for Cole Irvin, who struggled last night in arguably his worst start of the season. The bullpen was no better in his place as Tyler Gilbert, Edubray Ramos and Jake Thompson gave up the other 6 runs. Joey Meneses swatted his 22nd HR of the season. Zach Green continues to do about as well as Damek Tomscha did in his AAA callup. He is hitting just .188 in 69 at-bats.

Reading 2, Akron 1

Ranfi Casimiro - 7.1 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 6 K, 6 GB, 7 FB
Adam Haseley - 1 for 4, K
Cornelius Randolph - 0 for 3, BB
Darick Hall - 1 for 3, R, 3B, 2 K
Jose Pujols - 2 for 4, 2B, RBI, K
Jan Hernandez - 0 for 4, R, 2 K
Deivi Grullon - 2 for 4, 2B, RBI, K
Malquin Canelo - 0 for 3, K

Ranfi Casimiro took a no-hitter into the bottom of the 7th inning. That was broken up after allowing two walks to start the inning, then giving up a groundout to score the lone run. Kyle Dohy shut things down and earned his 1st AA save of the season. Jose Pujols’ adjustment to AA has been seamless so far. He is 8 for 16 with 2 homers and only 4 strikeouts to 1 walk.

Clearwater 4, Tampa 3

Bailey Falter - 6 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 2 K, WP, 10 GB, 3 FB
Arquimedes Gamboa - 0 for 2, RBI, 3 BB
Mickey Moniak - 2 for 4, RBI, BB, CS
J.P. Crawford - 0 for 4, BB, 2 K
Edgar Cabral - 2 for 4, RBI, BB, K (throwing error)
Luke Williams - 1 for 5, R, 2 K, SB
Daniel Brito - 1 for 5
Raul Rivas - 1 for 3, R, RBI, BB, K (throwing error)
Kevin Markham - 2 for 4, R

Bailey Falter makes his return to the Clearwater starting rotation following a lengthy stint on the DL. Falter looks like he never left, picking up his 6th win and lowering his ERA down to 3.10. You always take pause to say a player has finally “figured it out”, but Mickey Moniak is giving me some feelings at the moment. Over his last 206 plate appearance he is slashing .292/.337/.465 with 4 homers. Considering what he did last season and his first couple months of this season, we should all be pretty happy.

Lakewood 2, Charleston 1

Spencer Howard - 6 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 6 K, 4 GB, 2 FB
Dalton Guthrie - 4 for 4, R, CS
Nick Maton - 0 for 4, K
Jake Scheiner - 1 for 4, R, 3B, RBI
Rodolfo Duran - 1 for 4, 2B, RBI, K (passed ball)
Jhailyn Ortiz - 0 for 4, 2 K
Matt Vierling - 1 for 4, 2 K
Colby Fitch - 0 for 2, BB, K
Madison Stokes - 0 for 3
Josh Stephen - 0 for 3

As a big Spencer Howard fan, these starts give me power. After a rough May/June, Howard looks to be dialed right back in. The stuff can be filthy when he is actually locating his pitches. He has a 4.05 ERA with 116 strikeouts to 36 walks in 91 innings this season. Jake Scheiner knocked in his team-leading 52nd RBI, which is 13th best in the South Atlantic League.

Williamsport 4, Auburn 2

Francisco Morales - 4 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 4 BB, 4 K, 3 WP, 4 GB, 1 FB
Ben Aklinski - 1 for 4, 2B, RBI, K
Rafael Marchan - 2 for 4, R, RBI (passed ball)
Ben Pelletier - 1 for 3, RBI, K
Edwin Rodriguez - 1 for 4, K
Jake Holmes - 1 for 4, RBI, K (fielding error)
Brayan Gonzalez - 1 for 4, 2 K
Jonathan Guzman - 0 for 4, K
Matt Kroon - 1 for 3, 2 R, BB
Keudy Bocio - 1 for 3, R, K

This was just one of 2 starts this season for Francisco Morales in which he hasn’t given up an earned run. The command remains a disaster with 26 walks in 35.2 innings this season, though 40 strikeouts at least show that when he does locate he can miss bats. Rafael Marchan is 13 for his last 37 and I’m not sure how much more I can say about a 19 year old catcher hitting .322 through 146 at-bats in the NY/Penn League. I’m not sure we’ve had a catcher in the minors that has shown this type of proficiency for contact.