Prospect Watch: Kuhl Looks Solid in Return; Keller Continues Recent Struggles

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Altoona has off on Monday.

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Bradenton lost 2-1 on Monday night, as Yeudy Garcia labored through five innings. Garcia needed 85 pitches to get through his outing, with 50 going for strikes. He allowed both runs, giving up five hits, three walks, and he hit a batter. With five strikeouts, he extended his Florida State League lead to 108 on the season. Garcia was coming off one of his more efficient outings last time out, going 6.2 innings on 87 pitches. Tate Scioneaux followed Garcia and faced the minimum over three innings, striking out three batters. He allowed a single, but that runner was thrown out trying to steal.

The Marauders scored their only run in the fourth, as Kevin Kramer started the inning with his 22nd double, then scored after consecutive ground outs to second base, with Chase Simpson picking up the RBI. Elvis Escobar hit his 18th double and also walked, carrying his hot hitting from July (.868 OPS) into the first day of August. Connor Joe had a single and a walk in four trips to the plate.

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HAGERSTOWN, MD – Mitch Keller had another early exit in West Virginia’s ten-inning, 5-4 win over Hagerstown. Keller lasted only three and two-thirds innings, allowing three runs on seven hits. He walked none and struck out three.

Keller breezed through the first two innings, allowing only an infield hit. He ran into trouble with one out in the third. It started with a bunt single and a hit batsman. Two hard-hit, RBI singles followed, both off changeups. In the fourth, Keller hit the lead-off batter, then allowed three straight, one-out singles to bring in a run. Another infield hit loaded the bases and ended Keller’s night.

In both the third and fourth innings, he threw a lot of pitches, running his total to 85. Throughout the outing, Keller was able to get two strikes on hitters but couldn’t put them away. One problem was that he wasn’t able to get his curve over for strikes, and another was that his change wasn’t very effective, which probably accounts for the fact that he didn’t throw it much. His fastball started off at 94-97 and he was still reaching 96 toward the end of his outing. At times he was able to get swings and misses on high fastballs and he also threw it inside effectively, with a lot of pitches popped up or fouled off. Keller’s curve was in the low 80s and his change about 89, which may not have been enough separation from his fastball. His control was fine but a few fastballs caught too much of the plate, mainly in the fourth inning.

Cesilio Pimentel followed and threw four and a third shutout innings. Pimentel often struggles with his command, but didn’t in this game. He allowed just one hit, walked nobody and fanned five. Seth McGarry inherited a 4-3 lead in the ninth, but gave up a long HR with two outs to tie the game. McGarry’s fastball was sitting at 92 and he threw a lot of low 80s curves.

The bottom two-thirds of the Power lineup mostly hit the ball hard. Logan Hill seems to have recovered from his earlier problems. He went 2-for-5 and had two long drives caught in the outfield. Carlos Munoz, Ryan Nagle and Christian Kelley had two hits apiece, with Kelley driving in the game-winner in the top of the tenth. Casey Hughston struggled to make contact, getting fooled repeatedly by off-speed pitches and striking out three times while going 1-for-6.

Kelley showed a strong arm behind the plate. The Suns stole two bases while Keller was on the mound, but both runners had good jumps. On the second steal, the pitch was in the dirt and Kelley had to make a lunging pickup and throw from his knees while falling forward. Despite the extremely awkward situation, he narrowly missed catching the runner. Kelley made another strong throw to catch a runner with Pimentel on the mound. – Wilbur Miller

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Morgantown lost 2-1 on Monday night, as Danny Beddes had some control issues we haven’t seen from him recently. The 15th round draft pick from this year now has a 2.32 ERA after allowing one earned run over five innings. This wasn’t his best outing, throwing just 44 of his 80 pitches for strikes. He walked three and gave up five hits, while finishing with two strikeouts. In his previous three starts, Beddes went six innings each time and walked a total of two batters. Cristian Mota finished off the game, throwing three shutout innings after Beddes left.

The lone run for the Black Bears scored in the sixth inning, as Stephen Alemais reached on an error, then scored four batters later on a two-out single by Kevin Krause.

Austin Meadows played his third rehab game and went nine innings for the first time. He played center field and went 1-for-4 with a single. Will Craig also went 1-for-4 with a single, as he now has his batting average up to .248 through 36 games. Kevin Krause had two hits, with Morgantown collecting just four hits in the game.

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Bristol lost 10-2 to Johnson City, with starter Nicholas Economos and reliever David Whitehead allowing five runs each. Economos lasted three innings and allowed seven hits. He now has a 6.09 ERA in 34 innings over eight starts. Whitehead went just 2.1 innings and allowed five hits and two walks in his limited time. Despite pitching in Altoona this season, he has a 9.58 ERA in ten appearances with Bristol. Evan Piechota joined Bristol from the GCL Pirates and threw a scoreless inning. He replaced fifth round pick Blake Cederlind, who went on the disabled list with arm soreness.

Bristol scored a run in the third inning before they collected their first hit of the game. Raul Siri walked, which was followed by a throwing error and then a sacrifice fly from Garrett Brown. In the fourth, Jhoan Herrera led off with a double, then scored the second run for the Pirates on a single by Alexis Bastardo. Herrera finished with two doubles, giving him nine on the season. Bastardo had two singles and a walk.

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The GCL Pirates won 3-1 on Monday to maintain their top spot in the division. The Pirates saw their lead cut to a 1/2 game on Saturday, and that’s despite a 14-18 record coming into play on Monday. The Pirates got 3.1 shutout innings from starter Miguel Hernandez, who was very wild in this game, reaching his pitch count well before his limit of five innings. He gave up three hits, two walks and hit two batters, while picking up five strikeouts. Two of the hits were infield hits, and he got three ground ball outs, so the opposition wasn’t doing much when he did throw strikes. Hernandez now has a 2.25 ERA and he has thrown shutout ball in five of his seven starts.

Chris McDonald followed Hernandez and allowed one run over 3.2 innings for the win. Francis Rodriguez threw two innings of shutout ball for the save.

The Pirates trailed 1-0 going into the seventh inning. Melvin Jimenez reached on an error. He stole second, then went to third on a wild pitch. Raul Hernandez then walked and stole second, which was followed by a two-run double from Felix Vinicio. The Pirates added an insurance run in the eighth on a single from Paul Brands, who moved to second on an Andrew Walker walk, then scored on a throwing error.

Raul Hernandez walked three times in four trips to the plate. Edison Lantigua connected on his fourth double. He also has five triples this season, which ties him with teammate Henrry Rosario for the second most triples in the league.

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The DSL Pirates were rained out on Monday.