Daily Farm Report: Woodford Makes Memphis Debut

Nearly all of Monday’s action down on the farm took place at the lower levels. Memphis was in play, but Springfield and Palm Beach had the day off. The GCL team and both DSL squads were in action. Johnson City was rained out an they will pick up action with a double header against Elizabethton later today.

Colorado Springs Sky Sox 8, Memphis Redbirds 3

Jake Woodford (SP): 5 IP, 6 H, 4 R, 1 BB, 5 K’s

Adolis Garcia (RF): 2-3, 2B, 2 RBI

Rangel Ravelo (LF): 2-3, RBI, BB

Luke Voit (1B): 2-4, R

Starting pitching prospect Jake Woodford made his Triple-A debut on Monday. The 39th overall pick in 2015 received the promotion in spite of an abysmal line at Double-A Springfield. Across 76 innings for the Cardinals, Woodford posted a 5.09 ERA while running a 6.28 K/9 and 4.14 BB/9. He’s been solid, if not spectacular, at every rung of the minors thus far but 2017 has seen his command back up. He’s still piling up ground balls with his sinker, but the rising BB/9 and HR/9 rates could mean he’s struggling to hit his spots.

The debut was solid for Woodford until his final inning of work. He held the Sky Sox to zero runs over the first four innings of work. In his fifth and final inning, he was burned for four runs. In all, he struck out five over five frames with only a single walk.

Adolis Garcia got the Memphis offense going early on Monday, adding an RBI in both the first and third inning. Rangel Ravelo’s bat has been hot of late, and he continued the mini-trend with a 2-3 performance in the box. Memphis attempted to threaten with a run in the seventh, but it wasn’t enough to overcome the Sky Sox lead.

The loss drops the Redbirds to 46-31 on the season. They’ll take on Colorado Springs again tonight at 7:40 CST.

Kane County Cougars 13 at Peoria Chiefs 0

Alvaro Seijas (SP): 4.2 IP, 10 H, 10 R, 1 BB, 2 K’s

Irving Lopez (2B): 2-4

Elehuris Montero (3B): 1-3, BB

Dennis Ortega (C): 1-4

Ouch. This one looks painful on so many levels. Young-righty Alvaro Seijas had his worst start of the season, getting beat up for eight earned runs over only 4.2 innings of work. He limited the free passes, but struggled to miss bats and gave up a pair of home runs. The tough season for Seijas continues, as his ERA currently sits at 5.13 (the FIP and xFIP aren’t much better) over 72 innings of work.

To add insult to injury, the Chiefs offense only mustered six hits in the contest and failed to paste a single run. The lineup also failed to tally a single extra bast hit. Third baseman Elehuris Montero managed to reach base twice on Monday. The 19-year old has followed up his 2017 campaign nicely this season, running a similar wRC+ (132 coming into the game, as opposed to a 134 wRC+ in 2017). He’s still making plenty of contact and hitting for modest power. The boxy frame suggests that there’s more untapped power still in the tank. His plate discipline numbers have gone in the wrong direction, but not drastically so. On the year, he’s slashing .303/.358/.474.

The loss drops Peoria’s record to 43-32 on the season. The Chiefs will take on Kane County today at 11:00 CST.

Batavia Muckdogs 4 at State College Spikes 3

Chris Holba (SP): 3 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 4 K’s

Wood Myers (2B): 2-5, RBI, R

Justin Toerner (RF): 1-3, 3B, RBI

Delvin Perez (SS): 1-4, 2B, RBI, BB, R

Edwin Figuera (3B): 3-5

The State College-Batavia matchup featured some pretty non-existent offense until late in the game. Chris Holba and Eli Kraus worked a tandem start, working 3 and 3.1 innings respectively and holding the Muckdogs to zero runs. Batavia was able to torch the State College bullpen in the top of the 8th. Gabe Gentner relieved Kraus and was tagged for two runs before being pulled in favor of Troy Montemayor. Montemayro gave up two runs of his own in the frame and ended up finishing the game.

The Spikes offense responded to the big Muckdog’s eighth but ultimately came up short. Delvin Perez got the rally going with a two-out double on a line drive to left field. Second baseman Wood Myers singled up the middle and Perez came around to score. Justin Toerner then tripled to center to plate Myers. Wadye Ynfante was unable to drive in Toerner, striking out to end the threat.

In the bottom of the ninth, third baseman Edwin Figure singled to load the bases for Delvin Perez. Perez walked, tightening the Batavia lead to 4-3. With the bases load and two outs, Wood Myers grounded into a force out to end the game.

The loss moves State College to 3-8 on the year. The Spikes will play Batavia tonight at 6:05 CST.

GCL Cardinals 12 at GCL Marlins 5

Brian Pirela (SP): 6 IP, 7 H, 4 R, 5 BB, 4 K’s

Ivan Herrera (DH): 1-5, 3B, 3 RBI

William Jimenez (CF): 2-3, RBI, 2 R, 2 BB

John Nogowski (1B): 2-5, R

DSL Cardinals Blue 3, DSL Angels 2

Angel Cuenca (SP): 5 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 0 BB, 6 K’s

Diowell Burgos (RF): 1-3, RBI

Ramon Mendoza (3B): 1-3, BB

DSL Cardinals Red 3 at DSL Mets 1

Jose Moreno (SP): 6 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 7 K’s

Adanson Cruz (CF): 2-5, 2 RBI

Joerlin De Los Santos (RF): 1-3, RBI, 2 BB, R

Franklin Soto (SS): 1-4, BB

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Tuesday’s Probables

MEM: Daniel Poncedeleon

PMB: TBD

PEO: Franyel Casadilla

SC: Winston Nicacio

JC (GM 1): TBD

JC (GM 2): TBD