After spending the first half of the season pushing around younger pitching, Laz Rivera's unique brand of baseball is still highly productive at Winston-Salem. It's just that his flaws are thrown into starker relief:
- At KAN: .346/.395/.502, 3.8% BB, 18.1% K over 265 PA
- At W-S: .300/.335/.500, 1.7% BB, 16.4% K over 177 PA
He's also been plunked 20 times on the season, but at a lower rate at High-A.
The good news is that his contact has improved, especially in August (10-for-27, two strikeouts). That's one of two ways a player can avoid being weighed down by such an aggressive approach. The other is defense, and he's in the right place to improve as a shortstop.
“[Omar Vizquel is] always working with me defensively before and during BP on things that I do that he thinks I should be doing differently,” Rivera said of the first-year Winston-Salem manager. “In this game you have to change things a lot, always take in what other people have to say. Not everything you do, just because it’s comfortable for you, is right. I always listen to him. He had a great career professionally. I love him having him as a manager.”
Buffalo 8, Charlotte 7
- Charlie Tilson went 0-for-4 with a sac fly and stolen base.
- Ryan Cordell, 1-for-5.
- Eloy Jimenez was 1-for-4 with a three-run homer.
- Jose Rondon went 1-for-4 with a strikeout.
- Seby Zavala, 1-for-4 with a double and two strikeouts.
- Jordan Stephens: 5 IP, 8 H, 7 R, 5 ER, 4 BB, 4 K, 1 HBP
- Ian Hamilton: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K
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*Jimenez's homer was an opposite-field no-doubter:
Lexington 3, Kannapolis 1
- Luis Curbelo went 0-for-4 with two strikeouts.
- Steele Walker, 1-for-4 with a K and a stolen base.
- Carlos Perez, Justin Yurchak and Evan Skoug were all 0-for-3 with a strikeout.
Great Falls 10, Ogden 3
- Lenyn Sosa was 1-for-5 with a triple and a strikeout.
- Bryce Bush went 1-for-5 with a strikeout.
- Amado Nunez, 2-for-5 with a stolen base.
- Gunnar Troutwine went 2-for-4 with a double and a walk.
- Maiker Feliz singled all four times up.
- Jonathan Stiever: 2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 4 K
AZL White Sox 3, AZL Brewers 1 (Game 1, 7 innings)
- Anderson Comas singled twice, walked once and struck out once.
- Camilo Quinteiro was 0-for-4 with two strikeouts.
- Tito Polo homered, walked twice, struck out once and stole a base.
- Lency Delgado went 0-for-3 with a K and a stolen base.
- Harvin Mendoza, 1-for-3 with a double and a strikeout.
- Cabera Weaver went 0-for-2 with a walk and a strikeout.
- Bryan Herrera: 5 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 3 K
- Zack Burdi struck out all three batters faced to help with the no-hitter.
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*Burdi finally had an outing he liked:
"It felt really good," he said. "The first three weren't very good, plain and simple. I wasn't commanding the zone, falling behind hitters, letting hitters dictating the at-bat and letting them control it. Today, I upped my tempo and really focused on staying down in the zone and working all three pitches to be as sharp as possible, and got the results I wanted.
"The main thing right now is feeling healthy and the results kind of take second to that, but it's always good to have a clean inning and go out there and compete, so I was really happy with it."
AZL White Sox 3, AZL Brewers 2 (Game 2, 7 innings)
- Luis Mieses went 0-for-2 with a walk.
- Anthony Coronado went 0-for-3 with a K.
- Sam Abbott was 1-for-2 with a homer and a walk.
- Kleyder Sanchez went 0-for-2.
- Josue Guerrero, 1-for-3 with a strikeout.
- Kelvin Maldonado went 1-for-2 with a sac bunt.
- Brayant Nova, 1-for-2 with a walk and a CS.
DSL White Sox 6, DSL Padres 2
- Sidney Pimentel went 1-for-5 with a strikeout.
- Jose Rodriguez, 1-for-4 with a walk and two strikeouts. He also stole a base.
