Pinstriped Performances: Garcia’s Two Homers Pace Somerset

We’ve now entered week four of the 2021 minor league season, and the question must be asked whether Dermis Garcia has restored some of his prospect shine. Garcia led Somerset to a win and Tampa followed suit, while Hudson Valley and Scranton started their weeks on a sour note.

Armando Alvarez (Matt Bufano)

Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders (16-6): Lehigh Valley put four runs on the board in the top of the first, and the RailRiders could not recover as they dropped the game to the visitors, 5-2.

• Star of the Game: Armando Alvarez – 2-for-4, 1 double, 2 RBI. Alvarez notched Scranton’s only extra-base hit of the game and drove in both runs
• Estevan Florial: 0-for-4, 2 strikeouts. Despite a fun cameo in New York, Florial is hitting just .182 at Triple-A
• Trey Amburgey: 1-for-3, 1 run scored, 1 walk, 1 strikeout
• Derek Dietrich: 1-for-5, 1 run scored, 2 strikeouts
• Nick Green: 4 IP, 8 H, 4 ER, 1 BB, 4 K, 67 pitches (45 strikes)
• Addison Russ: 2 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 3 K, 40 pitches (25 strikes)
• Braden Bristo: 2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 3 K, 34 pitches (22 strikes)
• Brooks Kriske: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K, 10 pitches (9 strikes)

JP Sears pitching for the Somerset Patriots on May 7, 2021. (Chris Jones)

Somerset Patriots (16-7): The Patriots rode five solo home runs by three different players to a 6-1 win over the visiting Reading Fightin’ Phils.

• Star of the Game: Dermis Garcia – 2-for-2, 2 home runs (2), 2 RBI, 2 runs scored, 1 strikeout. After a 12-game hitting streak was snapped, Garcia got right back to his mashing ways on Tuesday. He’s still only hitting .221, but he’s made his 21 hits count: 13 of them have been for extra bases
• Pitching Star of the Game: JP Sears – 5 IP, 3 H, 1 R (0 ER), 0 BB, 10 K, 72 pitches (54 strikes). Sears made his first start of the season and absolutely dominated Reading. Tag teaming with his usual partner Janson Junk, the two held their opponents to just four hits and zero earned runs while striking out 15
• Diego Castillo: 1-for-3, 1 home run (2), 1 RBI, 1 run scored, 1 walk. Castillo’s solo home run in the first inning was the first run for Somerset
• Donny Sands: 2-for-4, 2 home runs (3), 2 RBI, 2 runs scored. Sands followed Castillo with another solo shot and then hit yet another in the third inning, right before the first of Garcia’s two bombs
• Max Burt: 2-for-3, 1 walk
• Janson Junk: 4 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 5 K, 74 pitches (49 strikes)

Frederick Cuevas (Paul Pagnato III)

Hudson Valley Renegades (13-11): The Renegades managed just four hits – and only one for extra bases – in a 4-1 series-opening loss on the road at Wilmington.

• Star of the Game: Frederick Cuevas – 1-for-2, 1 run scored, 1 walk, 1 strikeout. Cuevas scored the only Renegades run of the night and was one of just two players on his team to reach base more than once
• Oswald Peraza: 0-for-2, 1 RBI, 1 walk. Peraza drove in the lone HV run with a sacrifice fly
• Josh Breaux: 1-for-4, 3 strikeouts
• Anthony Seigler: 0-for-3, 2 strikeouts
• Eric Wagaman: 1-for-2, 2 walks
• Evan Alexander: 1-for-3, 1 double
• Jhony Brito: 5 IP, 2 H, 3 R (0 ER), 1 BB, 5 K, 65 pitches (45 strikes). A key error by Peraza in the fifth contributed to Brito’s long night
• Tanner Myatt: 1 IP, 1 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 2 K, 25 pitches (15 strikes)
• Justin Wilson: 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K, 16 pitches (9 strikes)
• Nelson L. Alvarez: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K, 16 pitches (10 strikes)

Yankees infield prospect Josh Smith at the plate for the Staten Island Yankees (Robert M. Pimpsner/Pinstriped Prospects)

Tampa Tarpons (18-7): Josh Smith has had an excellent start to his full-season career, and his late-game heroics led Tampa to a 5-4 win over Lakeland.

• Star of the Game: Josh Smith – 1-for-4, 1 home run (3), 2 RBI, 1 run scored. Smith’s seventh-inning, two-run home run gave Tampa a lead they’d preserve. He has played six games with Tampa and has a hit in every one
• Anthony Volpe: 0-for-4, 1 strikeout
• Austin Wells: 0-for-3, 1 run scored, 1 walk, 2 strikeouts
• Jake Sanford: 2-for-4, 1 run scored, 1 strikeout
• Chad Bell: 2-for-3, 1 strikeout
• Pat DeMarco: 1-for-3, 1 run scored
• Beck Way: 1.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 K, 30 pitches (17 strikes)
• Edgar Barclay: 2.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 5 K, 40 pitches (26 strikes). Barclay didn’t get the win in this one but he probably deserved it. He shut down Lakeland in relief of Way
• Blane Abeyta: 3 IP, 2 H, 3 ER, 2 BB, 4 K, 57 pitches (32 strikes). Abeyta backed into a win with three shaky innings
• Derek Craft: 1.2 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 3 K, 40 pitches (26 strikes)
• Michael Giacone: 0.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K, 4 pitches (3 strikes). Giacone relieved Craft and quickly recorded the final out for his first save of the year