Aristides Aquino channeled his inner super hero on Saturday night in Louisville as the Bats were wearing their Captain Marvel jerseys. The Reds outfield prospect has been tearing the cover off of the baseball all season, except for the month he spent on the injured list while dealing with a shoulder injury. Entering the night he had an OPS of 1.030 and 18 extra-base hits in 37 games played. All of those numbers went up on the night.
In the 1st inning of the game The Punisher, as Aristides Aquino is known in many parts, took an 0-1 pitch and crushed it to left-center field for his 12th home run of the season. Later in the game, Aquino took a 1-1 offering and hit an absolute laser out of Louisville Slugger Field for his 13th home run of the season.
That was the second multi-homer game of the month for Aristides Aquino. It extended his hitting streak to 19 games. In that stretch he’s hitting .347/.395/.707 with 8 home runs. It’s the 3rd longest hitting streak in Louisville Bats team history (tied with Juan Francisco for 3rd – his streak came in 2011). Chris Sexton is next on the list at 20 back in the 2000 season. Brandon Larson tops the list at 26 in the 2003 season.
On the season, through 38 games played, the 25-year-old Aristides Aquino is now hitting .336/.386/.679 on the season with 7 doubles, a triple, 13 home runs, 10 walks, and 36 strikeouts. The new Triple-A rules where the leagues use the Major League Baseball has led to an offensive explosion, but there’s a difference between what most guys are doing and what Aquino is doing right now. Due to his time spent on the injured list he’s not qualified for the leaderboard yet, but if he were, he’s be second in the league in OPS.
Miguel Medrano is almost perfect in Billings
On Saturday night Miguel Medrano made his 2019 debut as he took the mound for the Billings Mustangs in their 2nd game of the year. The 21-year-old who was acquired from the Texas Rangers in February of 2018 in exchange for international cap space came out and dominated the Idaho Falls Chukars. Medrano took a perfect game into the 5th inning before a 1-out single by Chris Hudgins broke things up. The right-handed starter rebounded, striking out the next batter and getting a fly out to right fielder TJ Hopkins to end the inning.
That fly out to end the 5th inning also ended the night for Miguel Medrano. When all was said and done he had allowed just a ground ball single. He didn’t walk anyone and he racked up five strikeouts while throwing 64 pitches on the night – 45 of which were strikes.