Eli Pitts hit a grand slam for the Arizona Complex League Reds in a blowout win that was shortened by rain and the DSL Rojos also picked up a win in a game shortened by rain on a day when just two of the farm teams took the field.
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The ACL Reds won 9-1. Box Score
- Steele Hall went 2-3 with 2 walks and a run.
- Adolfo Sanchez went 2-4 with a walk, 2 runs, and an RBI.
- Jirvin Morillo went 1-4 with a home run (11) and 2 RBI.
- Eli Pitts went 1-4 with a grand slam (3).
- Naibel Mariano went 4-4 with a steal (9) and a run.
- Yael Romero went 2-4 with 2 doubles.
- Hansel Jimenez went 2-3 with a walk, home run (3), steal (4), and 2 runs.
- Yojanser Calzado went 2-3 with a walk and a run.
- Aaron Watson allowed a run in 5.0 innings with a walk and 5 strikeouts.
- Bryan Salgado threw a perfect inning with 2 strikeouts.
Game Notes
This game didn’t make it through the top of the 7th. The Reds were up big and had the bases loaded with no outs but the wind started whipping like crazy and the rain rolled in and the game was put in a delay. They waited the least amount of time allowed before calling the game official.
Jirvin Morillo extended his hitting streak to 10 games. He’s homered five times during the streak and driven in 17 runs during it, too. His OPS on the season has jumped from .966 to 1.066 during the streak. That puts him at #4 in the league in OPS. The home run he hit was his 11th of the season, which ties him for the top spot in the league.
Adolfo Sanchez had a bit of a slump in early June. Since June 13th he’s played in 20 games (he missed nearly two weeks of time in this stretch) and has hit .351/.461/.500 with 19 runs scored and 15 RBI.
Eli Pitts had been hitting fairly well in July, but he hadn’t been showing much power. His last home run came on June 10th. But he came through in a big way on Monday night as he crushed a grand slam to really put the game out of reach for the D’backs as he turned a 4-0 game into an 8-0 game. Pitts is now hitting .302/.371/.511 through 41 games in his first professional season.
Naibel Mariano extended his hitting streak to 12 games. To start the year he hit .198/.274/.264 in his first 27 games this season. He had eight walks and 28 strikeouts without a home run. In the 30 games since then he’s hit .342/.408/.495 with three home runs, 13 walks, and 29 strikeouts.
The win pulled the Reds within a half-game of the Angels for 1st place in the division. The Guardians are tied with the Reds. There are just two games left for both the Angels and Reds. The Guardians have three games remaining. The Reds finish their regular season with a game on Tuesday and one on Wednesday. Both the Guardians and Angels play on Thursday to end their season, so depending on how the next two days go the Reds may have to wait and watch their playoff fate unfold without them being on the field.
The DSL Reds had the day off
They will get back on the field on Tuesday morning.
The DSL Rojos won 2-1. Box Score
- Angel Nunez went 1-2 with a walk, 2 steals (16), and a run.
- Alexander Cuello went 1-3 with 2 steals (9).
- Gilventon Josephina went 1-2 with a walk, steal (1), and an RBI.
- Jordan Ouanyou went 1-2.
- Nishentel Meyers went 1-2.
- Luis Vasquez threw 3.0 shutout innings with a walk.
- Raymond Cruz allowed a run in 2.0 innings with 3 strikeouts.
Game Notes
This game didn’t make it through the bottom of the 5th inning. But fortunately for the Rojos they were the home team and scored the go-ahead run in that 5th inning before the rain came through and delayed, and then ultimately put an end to the game. That winning run came on a failed pickoff attempt that allowed Angel Nunez to score from third base (he singled then stole second and third).
Gilventon Josephina extended his hitting streak to six games. He’s had a hit in 13 of his last 14 games. In his first 12 games of the season he hit .186/.271/.256. In the 14 since then he’s hit .449/.500/.571 with 10 runs scored and 11 runs batted in.
Top 25 Prospect Rundown
7/21 Game Preview
| Team | Record | Time (ET) | Probable | Box Score | Listen | Watch |
| Louisville | 47-47 | 7:05pm | Leibrandt | Here | Here | Here |
| Chattanooga | 46-44 | 7:00pm | TBA | Here | Here | Here |
| Dayton | 48-40 | 7:05pm | Lorduy | Here | Here | Here |
| Daytona | 35-53 | 6:30pm | TBA | Here | Here | Here |
| ACL Reds | 33-24 | 9:00pm | TBA | Here | N/A | N/A |
| DSL Reds | 19-14 | 11:00am | TBA | Here | N/A | N/A |
| DSL Rojos | 17-18 | 11:00am | TBA | Here | N/A | N/A |
A good day for our top prospects in the complex leagues.
Aaron Watson going 5 strong is good to see. Seven hits is a bit much over 5 but he limited it to just 1 run and 1 walk against his 5 Ks and a whopping 8 ground ball outs vs just 1 fly out.
Steele Hall on base 4 times is great to see, especially if he’s going to continue forward in a leadoff role. Love the power he has shown this year, glad it’s part of his game, but leadoff men need to get on base more than anything else. The base running needs some work still, but keep refining that edge with his top of the line speed.
Jirvin Morillo with HR number 11 is great to see. If it were me, with the complex season ending Thursday (assuming the Reds don’t make the playoffs) I’d have Morillo (and Hall, Sanchez, Pitts, and maybe Mariano) on the next plane to Daytona and integrated into the lineup schedule.
Speaking of Mariano, great to see a 4 for 4 game from him, even if it was just 4 singles. I’m sure this season hasn’t been what he hoped, but the flashes have been there. Curious to see hear what his defense has been like this year, mostly at 3B.
Nice to see the power from Pitts again, the bat speed was evident when he was drafted, his K rate is solid at 18%, and a walk rate at a good 10.6%.
Adolfo Sanchez closing in on that .300 batting average mark. Not sure if there is enough games left to make it, but he made it close. K rate is a little high at 26.6% though.
Then Angel Nuñez and Gilventon Josephina also had a nice day down in the DR. It’s been nice to see Josephina turn around a slow start lately.
Hansel Jimenez has also been good since he returned. He could use additional AB so maybe they send him to Daytona next week. Daytona has a hole at 2B, SS, C and several SP and possibly a CF.
Kind of goes well with the strengths of the ACL Reds.
Bring up Hall, Morillo, Sanchez, Pitts, Merite, Watson, one or both of Mariano/Jimenez and possibly Redona.
Sheng-En Lin to the 60-day. I hadn’t seen this. Bummer.
He pitched back on 7/9 so this is likely something pretty serious if he went straight to the 60 day IL
I was just looking at the Daytona roster to see who might get bumped to Dayton in order to clear space for the AZ kids and draftees. Completely surprised.
Portes to the 7-day and Cruz to the 7-day then 60-day in Dayton
Portes’s velo was down some his last couple starts, so this doesn’t shock me.
On the transaction sheet it happened a few days ago, but it didn’t hit the transaction sheet until yesterday. Same with the other 60-day IL moves. I am reaching out shortly to try and find out about multiple injured players to see what’s going on.
If I may ask where would you have Mariano ranked in terms of prospect rank
Boy, you can feel this one opening a can of worms. If this is a major structural issue, ie TJ or a shoulder, and given how cautious they were in ramping Lin up, there are going to be some questions. Even if the injury is freakish, critics are still going to be asking how, what and wherefore. He had 47 innings last year and 61 this year (108 total over two carefully controlled half-seasons). I don’t know, i find it eye popping. Maybe others don’t.
Any word on Edgar Colon? He has some of the best raw arm talent in the system imo.
If trends hold we should expect Luke Holman tonight for the ACL Reds, Stharlin Torres for the Tortugas, and Jared Lyons for the Lookouts.
A decent Holman recovery would give me hope. And I like Lyons, thinking he could be moved into a decent bullpen option later next year. He’s got the fastball, just not always the control.
A return of Holman would be great, I’m already pleased that Floyd is pitching, but having both arms healthy to end the year would be awesome.
Redona pitched on the 14th and Holman on the 15th so I think it will be Redona tonight and Holman the last game of the season with Merite pitching the first game of the playoffs (if they make it) and Watson pitching the 2nd game.
If the ACL Reds win out they should make the playoffs, either via winning the division or getting the wild card.
Currently the Angels are a .5 game up in the division. Cleveland is tied with the Reds and are also .5 game behind the Angels in the division.
The Royals are .5 game up and the Mariners are 1 game up on the Reds for the wild card. But they play each other in the final game of the year.