St. Louis Cardinals Prospects Report: Zach Petrick dominates as Memphis shuts out Fresno

Memphis beat Fresno 1 - 0

• Thomas Pham (CF), 0 for 3, BB
• Randal Grichuk (LF), 0 for 4, 3 Ks
• Mike O'Neill came in as a defensive substitute for Grichuk.
• Stephen Piscotty (RF), 0 for 4, K
• Xavier Scruggs (1B), 1 for 4, K, R
• Pete Kozma (SS), 2 for 3, BB, SB
• Zach Petrick, 5.0 IP, 7 Ks, 0 BBs, 1 H, 0 ER
• Kevin Siegrist, 2.0 IP, 4 Ks, H
• Eric Fornataro, 2.0 IP, K

Notes:

An undeniably fantastic outing for Zach Petrick, following his disaster last week when he failed to retire a single batter. It has been a bumpy season for Petrick, after breezing through AA, however, in his last 10 games he has 31 Ks to 10 BBs and a 3.32 ERA. Hopefully that's reason for some optimism that Petrick will close the year on a positive note.

I am curious about the decision to sub Grichuk for O'Neill. Grichuk is supposed to be a borderline CF, and O'Neill has spent the bulk of his playing time in LF.

Among the handful of guys for Fresno that shut down the bulk of the Redbird offense, was Adam Reifer, whom some may remember as an 11th round pick out of UCR. Reifer was rising as a dominant reliever in the Cardinals system before having knee surgery in 2011. His numbers didn't quite recover in 2012. Despite posting a 1.42 ERA for 41 IP for the New Orleans Zephyrs last season, he has yet to make an appearance in the major leagues. His ERA this year has more than quadrupled to 5.92, despite a K:BB ratio of 69:38 that bests last season's mark of 37:25.

Springfield lost to Tulsa 3 - 4

• Breyvic Valera (2B), 1 for 4, R, CS
• Alex Mejia (SS), 2 for 3, K, RBI
• Cody Stanley (C), 0 for 3, 2 Ks, BB
• Charlie Tilson (CF), 1 for 4, 2B, R
• Rafael Ortega (PH), BB
• Kyle Hald, 6.0 IP, 8 Ks, 2 BBs, 5 Hits, HR, 2 ER
• Mitch Harris, 1 IP, 2 Ks, 2 Hits, ER

Notes:

Mejia is hitting .342 in his last 10 games, with five multi-hit games.

Palm Beach and Peoria's games were suspended.

State College beat Mahoning Valley 4 - 3

• Darren Seferina (2B), 1 for 2, BB, RBI, CS
• Danny Diekroger (3B), 1 for 5, K
• Nick Thompson (RF), 0 for 2, BB, RBI
• Alex De Leon (DH), 0 for 4
• Jake Stone (1B), 1 for 4, K, R
• Nick Lomascolo, 1 1/3 IP, 3 Ks, H, 0 ER

GCL Cardinals beat GCL Mets 4 - 0

• Magneuris Sierra (CF), 2 for 5, R
• Edmundo Sosa (SS), 1 for 5, 3 Errors
• Malik Collymore (DH), 1 for 3, BB, K, R, CS
• Elier Rodriguez (1B-C), 1 for 4, 2B, 2 Ks
• Jack Flaherty, 5.0 IP, 4 Ks, 0 BBs, 1 Hit, 0 ER

Notes:

In just 22 2/3 IP, Flaherty has 28 Ks against 4 BBs. Solid for a high school pick, even in the Gulf Coast League. I'm excited to see what he does next season, hopefully in a full season league.

Johnson City beat Kingsport 5 - 3

• Casey Turgeon (SS), 1 for 4, 2B, 2 Ks, R, Error
• Blake Drake (CF), 3 for 5, K, R
• Chris Rivera (2B-3B), 0 for 5, 2 Ks

Tonight's Starters:

Memphis: Boone Whiting

Springfield: Sam Gaviglio

Palm Beach: Tyrell Jenkins

Palm Beach: Nick Petree (2nd Game)

Peoria: TBD

Peoria: TBD (2nd Game)

State College: Dewin Perez

Johnson City: Matt Pearce