Neil Ramirez walked the first two batters he faced in the 9'th inning to set up a walk-off win for the ChiSox to spoil a fine start by Ty Blach. Key Lines:
Jimmy Rollins 2B- 2 for 4, 2 2B. BA= .125. Is there still a battle between Rollins and Kelby Tomlinson for a reserve MI roster spot? Rollins looked good on a pair of doubles but got himself thrown out at 3B trying to stretch one into a triple.
Chris Marrero LF- 1 for 3, BB. BA= .278. Marrero continues to look good at the plate, but let me tell you, a LF he is not. Got a look at him running the bases on TV and if he and JT Snow ran a 60 yd dash, I'm not sure Marrero would win! There was probably nothing he could do with on rocket that went past him to the wall, but then he took a long time finding it after it bounced back.
Conor Gillaspie 3B- 1 for 3, 2B. BA= .333. Gillaspie continued his hot hitting with a ringing double that split the RF-CF gap. He also made several excellent defensive plays. Gillaspie was not a good fielder at 3B early in his career, but he's really turned that part of his game around!
Justin Ruggiano CF- 1 for 2, 2 BB. BA= .243. While Gorkys Hernandez was down in minor league camp getting extra AB's, Ruggy was starting in CF and continuing his hot hitting. Advantage Ruggiano in the race for 4'th OF.
Kelby Tomlinson SS- 1 for 3. BA= .279. Kelby might not have helped his cause when he muffed what should have been a fairly routine play to set up a 2-run 5'th inning, the only inning Blach allowed runs in.
Ty Blach LHP- 6 IP, 7 H, 2 R, 1 BB, 1 K, GO/AO= 10/4. ERA= 4.43. Blach was given an opportunity and he made the most of it. The 1 K does not look so impressive, but he kept ChiSox hitters off balance all day with a mixture of locations and speeds. He really only gave up 1 hard hit ball which came right after Tomlinson's muff. Whether he is the 5'th starter or not, Blach probably locked up a roster spot for himself today.
Cory Gearrin RHP- 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K's. ERA= 7.88. Gearrin had his slider working to perfection and dominated his inning.
Neil Ramirez RHP- As already mentioned, Ramirez walked the first 2 batters he faced to set up the walk-off win for the ChiSox. Ramirez and Gearrin are probably battling for the last bullpen spot and Gearrin's stock went up while Ramirez' went down today.
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Madison Bumgarner starts against the Reds tomorrow in Scottsdale for the Giants final home game of the Cactus League season.
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I checked the score in the 8th and was pretty happy with Blach's performance though I was concerned about the 1K. Then I went on my merry way as Blach's performance was what I was interested in. Too bad about the 9th.
ReplyDeleteMarrero's fielding wasn't the only thing that wasn't good in that game. How about when he got caught sleeping at third base and was picked off by James Shields in the second inning for the first out.
ReplyDeleteWhat are folks thoughts on Hwang as backup OF/INF to keep the bat on the ML side? Defense will need some work but I think it's manageable - I just don't see how they're going to work out the logjam of semi-starter-quality 3Bs and plenty of utility guys, and then next year Arroyo hoping to take over..??
ReplyDeleteIt's a big transition. The strike zone is called more liberally in the US than Korea. The pitching talent pool is bigger in MLB than in Korea. In the end I like him. I'd like to see him on the roster. But I think he needs some polish.
Deletesaw cove chatter's top 20 today and was wondering about CJ HInojosa. Heard a lot of positive reviews about him at beginning of last year but since then I haven't heard a lot about him. How's he doing and what's his projection?
ReplyDeleteLZK