Despite taking the loss, Daniel Corcino put together another strong start as he allowed just two runs over 7.0 innings with two walks and seven strikeouts. Over his last four starts he’s thrown 26.0 innings with a 2.77 ERA, six walks and 23 strikeouts. After an up and down season, August has been a strong month for the right hander. He had not gone three straight starts all season without walking at least three batters in one of three games, but last night made it four in a row with less than three walks.
A home run derby of sorts broke out in Bakersfield. Beau Amaral and Jeff Gelalich each hit two home runs in the game. Amaral has been on fire lately, going 14-40 (.350) with a double and four home runs over his last nine games. That’s a slugging percentage of .675 in that stretch. Gelalich extended his hitting streak to seven games where he has hit .375 and slugged .719 over that stretch.
Joe Hudson got in on the action by hitting a walk-off home run for the Blaze. In the four games since being promoted to Bakersfield from Dayton, the catcher has hit .333/.333/.800 with a double and two home runs. To top things off, he’s tossed out 50% of the six attempted base stealers. That is on top of the 52% he tossed out while in Dayton.
Not wanting to be outdone, Billings also played a bit of the home run derby as they combined for four home runs in their game. Aristides Aquino hit a 2-run shot in the ninth inning as part of a 2-4 day where he tied for the league lead in home runs with his 14th. It was a moonshot too, going over the light tower just beyond the fence in left-center field. I used google maps to measure out how far the ball went, and with probably a 10 foot give-or-take estimate, it looks like it went around 430 feet. Given that the ball landed on a hill well beyond the wall, a true estimate would be a bit more than that. Over his last three games Aquino has had six hits with a double, triple and a home run.