Despite the loss in Pensacola last night Michael Lorenzen had a nice all-around game. On the mound he allowed just two runs over 5.0 innings on just 68 pitches where he recorded eight outs on the ground compared to just two via the fly ball. Of course that is par for the course for Lorenzen, who has a 60% groundball rate this season. At the plate he also went 1-2 with an infield single.
The California League pitchers should probably stop pitching to Marquez Smith. On Saturday night the third baseman went 2-4 with a 3-run home run. The home run was his 27th of the season and the three runs batted in pushed his total on the season to 121. Smith is now hitting .316 on the season with an OPS well over 1.000.
For the second day in a row Jose Ortiz hit a solo home run and walked, but last night he added a single as well. His solo homer in the second inning extended his hitting streak to five games where he is 8-17 (.471) with three walks, a double and two home runs. The home run he hit last night was an absolute blast. It went out over the 381 mark, where the wall is about 12 foot tall. The ball landed to the right side of the concession stand and on one bounce left the stadium. Using google maps measuring tool, it looks like the home run went somewhere between 430-445 feet depending on the exact spot where it landed at.
Alex Blandino had a walk-off double in a big night for the Dayton Dragons, going 3-5 with two doubles. His first hit of the night, a single to left field, extended his hit streak to 11 games where he is now 16-38 (.421) with five walks and five doubles. The shortstop is now hitting .338/.407/.500 with Dayton in 18 games since being promoted from Billings.
Zac Correll made his professional debut a week ago, tossing a shutout inning with two strikeouts. Last night he made his second appearance, tossing 2.1 shutout innings with three more strikeouts. He’s been limited in action after signing out of high school, but now has 3.1 shutout innings pitched with five strikeouts and no walks.
Correll was followed by Ty Boyles who tossed 4.1 innings with just one run allowed where he walked two batters and struck out five as he lowered his ERA on the season to 3.57. The outing put Boyles at 40.1 innings on the season with just 15 walks and 45 strikeouts. The 18-year-old left hander has been strong over the course of two seasons with the AZL Reds.