Hopefully, the Tampa Tarpons will be able to get both games in down in Florida today. Meanwhile, at the other three affiliates, Hudson Valley and Somerset look to extend their win streaks and Scranton Wilkes-Barre has a pitcher making his first Triple-A start. Find out who is taking the mound on Saturday night with our Pinstriped Previews:
Matt Krook pitching for the Somerset Patriots on May 6, 2021 (Chris Jones)
Triple-A
Scranton Wilkes-Barre RailRiders (30-13) vs. Lehigh Valley IronPigs (21-25)
Coca-Cola Park I 6:35 PM ET
LHP Matt Krook (0-0, 0.00 ERA) vs. RHP Adonis Medina (3-4, 5.26)
After the first four games in this series, the RailRiders and the IronPigs have won two games apiece. On Friday, the RailRiders only had four hits and they found themselves down 6-0 after three innings due to another rough outing by Deivi Garcia.
Tonight, Matt Krook will make his first start at the Triple-A level. The 26-year-old southpaw made his Triple-A debut on June 20 against Syracuse, but it was out of the bullpen. While he tied his season-high with three walks, Krook did not allow a hit and struck out four over 2.1 scoreless innings (20 of 38 pitches for strikes).
The IronPigs will go with Adonis Medina in this game. The 24-year-old right-hander had a rough month of June as he is 0-3 with a 7.23 ERA in four starts with opponents hitting .325 against him. Despite the rough month, Medina had a season-high for strikeouts in a game in his last start.
Back on June 20 against Worcester, Medina went 5.2 innings, allowed two runs on five hits, walked two, and struck out seven on 91 pitches (60 strikes). Tonight will be the third time that the RailRiders have faced Medina. In two prior starts, he has combined to go 10 innings, allow 8 runs on 14 hits, 2 home runs, 4 walks, and 8 strikeouts.
In a start on June 2, Socrates Brito hit a two-run home run against Medina in the bottom of the third. This month, the outfielder is hitting .295 with three home runs and 15 RBIs and he has driven in six runs in the last four games.
Hayden Wesneski (Brian Blalock/Sam Houston State)
Double-A
Somerset Patriots (30-15) vs. Portland SeaDogs (25-20)
Hadlock Field I 6:00 PM
RHP Hayden Wesneski (0-1, 13.50) vs. TBD
The Patriots will be searching for their fourth straight win tonight after dropping Game 1 of the doubleheader on Wednesday. Last night, Somerset picked up a 7-4 win as Donny Sands and Diego Castillo each hit a home run and Sands and Oswaldo Cabrera each drove in a pair of runs. On the mound, Janson Junk continued his dominant season as he allowed one run on three hits over seven innings in a victory over former Yankees prospect Frank German.
Somerset will hand the ball to Hayden Wesneski for his second start at Double-A. Ken Waldichuk made improvements in his second Double-A start and the Patriots will hope Wesneski follows that trend.
In his Double-A debut on June 19, the 23-year-old right-hander had a rough outing on a night where the start of the game got delayed due to rain. He went four innings, allowed seven runs (six earned) on seven hits, walked two, and struck out four on 87 pitches (52 strikes) in a loss. There is no starter officially listed for the SeaDogs.
Jhony Brito (Photo Courtesy of the Brooklyn Cyclones)
High-A
Wilmington Blue Rocks (21-23) vs. Hudson Valley Renegades (29-16)
Dutchess Stadium I 6:05 PM
LHP Alfonso Hernandez (0-1, 4.50) vs. RHP Jhony Brito (2-2, 2.78 ERA)
The Renegades just keep finding ways to win. On Friday night, they found themselves trailing Wilmington 8-3 in the bottom of the seventh. They went on to score four runs in the seventh and eighth inning to win the game, 11-9, They have won seven games in a row and have built up their lead in the High-A Northeast to 4.5 games.
In last night’s comeback win, Anthony Seigler went 2-for-4 with a double and four RBI and Isaiah Pasteur hit a two-run home run for his first home run of the season. Ezequiel Duran also had a strong night at the plate as he went 3-for-5 with an RBI.
Hudson Valley will look to extend the win streak to eight tonight with Jhony Brito on the mound. With all of the promotions, the Renegades rotation has had a massive renovation with Brito now being the defacto ace of the team. This month, he has pitched like one. In four starts this month, he is 1-1 with a 2.45 ERA and has 20 strikeouts to 2 walks in 18.1 innings of work (2.95 ERA in May).
Brito picked up the win in his last start on June 20 against Jersey Shore. He allowed two unearned runs on two hits and struck out six over 5.1 innings (57 of 79 pitches for strikes). It was the longest outing of his career up to this point. Brito faced Wilmington on June 1 and ended up taking the loss in that game. He allowed three unearned runs on two hits, walked one, and struck out five over five innings on 65 pitches (45 strikes).
As for Wilmington, Hernandez has been in the Nationals organization since 2016. The 21-year-old from Venezuela began the season at Low-A Fredericksburg where he went 2-1 with a 2.81 ERA in eight appearances (five starts). He had 34 strikeouts to 12 walks in 32 innings of work before moving up to High-A.
Both of Hernandez’s starts in High-A have come against the Brooklyn Cyclones. After striking out eight and holding Brooklyn to one run over six innings on June 15, the Cyclones got him back on June 20. In that outing, Hernandez allowed five runs on 11 hits, walked four, and struck out four in six innings of work in a loss (62 of 93 pitches for strikes).
Low-A
Tampa Tarpons (30-14) vs. Lakeland Flying Tigers (15-28)
Publix Field at Joker Marchant Stadium I 4:00 PM (Game 1)
The reason we have no starters listed for this game is becsuse the rain in Florida has been crazy this week. These two teams have not played since Game 1 of their doubleheader on Thursday, a game in which the Tarpons won 10-2.
Beck Way is listed as the starting pitcher for this game, but that is subject to change. One of the rainout games this week will be made up on July 14. Due to not playing many games this week, Tampa’s lead in the Low-A Southeast West Division over Bradenton is down to one game. The Tarpons are in Lakeland for two more days before heading home to begin a series with Jupiter on Tuesday.
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