Gone Fishin’ 4/7/19: Miami Marlins Minor League Report

The Miami Marlins were walked off at SunTrust Park by the vile and despicable Atlanta Braves, but there were other things afoot in their system below the major league level.

The Miami Marlins feeder system had five games scheduled for Sunday afternoon, including a makeup of a fogged out contest between the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp and the Jackson Generals. The good guys only won one out of those five, but in the minors, it’s not always about wins and losses. First a few notes.

Shortstop Eddy Alvarez, signed as a minor league free agent by the Miami Marlins on Tuesday and assigned to the Jumbo Shrimp, was placed on the seven day injured list on Saturday. Outfielder Corey Bird was promoted from the Jupiter Hammerheads and joined the Jumbos for yesterday’s twin bill.

Right fielder Connor Grant was moved from the GCL Marlins to Jupiter as well.

New Orleans Baby Cakes

Triple-A Pacific Coast League

With 1,373 faithful fans in attendance at Shrine on Airline, the visiting Round Rock Express defeated the Baby Cakes, 9-6 in 10 innings.

Wilkin Castillo got the good guys on the board first, with an RBI-single in the second inning. After a Round Rock home run in the third, Isaac Galloway returned the favor in the bottom of that inning to reestablish New Orleans’ one-run lead.

Round Rock scored two in the fifth to take a 3-2 advantage, but New Orleans again struck back in the bottom of the inning. Deven Marrero scored on an Isan Diaz strikeout when the Round Rock catcher made a throwing error. Austin Dean followed with an RBI-single to score Galloway.

Round Rock tied it in the seventh inning at four, but Dean answered in the bottom of the inning with a two-RBI single for a 6-4 lead. And that was the end of good things happening for the Baby Cakes.

New Orleans’ pitching allowed a solo homer in the eighth (Brian Moran), in the ninth, and a three-run jack in the 10th to lose. Tommy Eveld surrendered the last two.

Joe Gunkel put together a Quality Start, allowing three runs (two earned) over six innings. He struck out five, allowed five hits, and two walks. Gunkel put 55-of-73 pitches over the plate.

Dean led the way offensively with three RBI, and got on safely three times with a pair of singles and a walk. Galloway’s round-tripper was the only extra base hit for the Cakes.

Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp

Double-A Southern League

5,920 were on hand for a split-decision double-header at the Baseball Grounds of Jacksonville.

The first game, a nine-inning affair to make up Saturday’s fogged-out contest, was a Jumbo Shrimp win. Dustin Beggs “started” and pitched the first 2/3 of an inning, but when the game resumed a day later, Kolton Mahoney took the ball.

Mahoney struck out five and issued two walks in 5 1/3 innings, while keeping the Jackson Generals hitless. Jordan Milbrath pitched two scoreless innings, allowing only a hit, and Kyle Keller came in for the save.

Justin Twine and Joe Dunand led the Shrimp offense with a pair of singles each, while Stone Garrett had the lone multi-base hit in the contest, a double.

The Generals got their run in the top of the first, before the game was suspended. Brian Miller equalized it in the third on a single into right field, scoring Rodrigo Vigil. Garrett’s double scored Twine in the fourth.

Game two was scheduled as a seven-inning affair, and Jackson shut out the Shrimp, 2-0. Birthday boy Magneuris Sierra, who turned 23 years old yesterday, had the only multi-base hit of the game, a double. No Jacksonville player had more than one hit, collecting five in total.

Jordan Yamamoto took the loss despite whiffing nine in five innings of work. He allowed two runs on four hits and a walk. Parker Bugg pitched two perfect innings to finish the game.

Jupiter Hammerheads

Advanced-A Florida State League

The Hammerheads, hosting the Palm Beach Cardinals at their shared home in Roger Dean Chevrolet Stadium, also played host to 411 fans.

Riley Mahan, fresh off a two homer game on Saturday night, again collected a pair of hits, a triple and a single to lead the Hammerheads offense. Jeff Nelson also collected two hits, both singles.

Jordan Holloway started and lasted three innings, somehow managing to get less than half of his pitches in the strike zone. He put 36-of-74 over the plate, issuing six walks and allowing two runs on one hit. Daniel Castano relieved and surrendered one run in 3 2/3 innings, while Alejandro Mateo was charged with the loss after allowing one run in 2 1/3 frames.

Jupiter spotted Palm Beach a two-run lead before opening their scoring in the fourth inning. They struck for three on an Isael Soto RBI-single, a Cameron Baranek RBI-single, and a Micah Brown sacrifice fly to take a 3-2 lead. Unfortunately, they couldn’t hold the line, allowing an RBI-single in the seventh and a solo homer to Alexis Wilson in the eighth.

Clinton LumberKings

Single-A Midwest League

601 were in the house at Ashford University Field to see the hosting LumberKings drop a 4-3 decision to the Kane County Cougars.

Connor Scott was 0-for-5, dropping his 2019 average to .056 in a small sample size. Jerar Encarnacion, Bubba Hollins, and Demetrius Sims each collected a pair of hits, comprising Clinton’s total of six for the game. Encarnacion is eight-for-14 in the early going.

Peyton Culbertson started for Clinton, and came within one out of a Quality Start. He allowed just one run in 5 2/3 innings, striking out six and giving up five hits and a walk. Alex Vesia gave up two runs in 1 2/3 innings of work, and Tyler Jones took the loss despite a relatively clean 1 2/3 innings. He allowed only a solo home run to Alex King.

Behemoth first baseman Sean Reynolds has not collected a hit through four games thus far after leading the NYPL with 17 home runs (and 133 strikeouts) in 2018. Yesterday, he drew three walks, stole a base, and scored a run. So with a .000 average, he’s got a .333 OBP with six walks.

More from Marlins Prospects

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• Miami Marlins: Farm System rankings part 2
• Miami Marlins: Farm System rankings part 1

Today’s Games

Noon ET: Ben Meyer will close the series against Round Rock with his initial start of the campaign.

6PM ET: The Hammerheads will travel to Osceola County Stadium to take on the Florida Fire Frogs.

7:05PM ET: Cody Poteet will make his first start of the season in the Jumbo Shrimps’ series finale against the Generals.

7:30PM ET: The LumberKings remain at Ashford University Field to welcome the Quad Cities Bandits. Manuel Rodriguez will make his first start of the season. Rodriguez has started in only 25 of 85 career minor league outings, including only four-of-30 last season.

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