Cristian Mena matched his highest strikeout total of the Winston-Salem portion of his season on Friday night, but his start was halted by an injury concern before he could try to beat it.
After striking out seven batters over 2⅔ innings, Mena issued a five-pitch walk to Bowling Green's Alexander Ovalles, with ball four coming on a backdoor slider that just missed the corner. Mena's only reaction reflected a desire for the strike call.
Danny Farquhar came out for a mound visit, which wouldn't have struck me as odd if I weren't watching the game knowing he was about to be pulled. It only grew strange when more and more people came into the scrum -- Luis Mieses from the outfield, and eventually manager Lorenzo Bundy with trainer Carson Wooten.
Mena didn't look like he was in any rush to give up the ball, but as Bundy signaled to the bullpen for Ty Madrigal, Mena patted his right shoulder.
As I was watching him pitch during the third inning, I saw only one reaction that signaled any kind of discomfort -- a quick twitch after a 1-2 fastball to the previous batter, Mason Auer, missed low and away (I left in the Marvel cutaway to show the extent of what could be seen).
Mena struck out Auer on the next pitch, then issued the five-pitch walk to Ovalles. There weren't any radar gun readings provided, but Mena continued working quickly and seemed to throw those six pitches with conviction, so if he was truly battling something, he did a great job of hiding it.
The 19-year-old Mena has thrown 92⅓ innings between Kannapolis and Winston-Salem after throwing 48⅓ for the ACL White Sox in his debut season last year. He has a 3.51 ERA between the two levels, with 111 strikeouts against 36 walks and only six homers allowed. Hopefully this hook was more out of an abundance of caution, because Mena has already accomplished all anybody could ask from him this year, so there's no point in pushing him unnecessarily.
Charlotte 4, Lehigh Valley 1
- Yolbert Sánchez is reheating: 3-for-5 with a strikeout and a stolen base.
- Jake Burger was 1-for-4 with a walk and a strikeout.
- Carlos Pérez was 0-for-3 with a sac fly.
- Romy Gonzalez, 1-for-4 with a strikeout.
- Adam Haseley, 0-for-4.
Pensacola 6, Birmingham 3
- José Rodríguez went 1-for-5 with his sixth homer and two strikeouts.
- Oscar Colás was 2-for-4 with a strikeout.
- Yoelqui Céspedes struck out thrice and was plunked once.
Winston-Salem 4, Bowling Green 2
- Colson Montgomery went 1-for-3 with a walk and a strikeout.
- Luis Mieses was 1-for-4 with a homer.
- Adam Hackenberg struck out twice during an 0-for-4 night.
- Cristian Mena: 2.2 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 7 K, 29 of 50 pitches for strikes.
Salem 11, Kannapolis 9
- Jordan Sprinkle made his A-ball debut, going 0-for-5 with two strikeouts.
- Wes Kath was 1-for-3 with two wlaks and a strikeout.
- DJ Gladney, 1-for-3 with a walk and a strikeout.
- Wilfred Veras was 2-for-4 with a double.
- Jacob Burke's A-ball debut: 2-for-3 with a stolen base and an HBP.
- Brooks Gosswein: 6 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 2 BB, 4 K
ACL White Sox 4, ACL Rangers 3 (11 innings)
- Brooks Baldwin was 0-for-5.
- Luis Pineda and Dario Borrero both came off the bench and walked.
- Emerson Talevera: 2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 4 K
- 2020 fourth-round pick Kade Mechals finally made his pro debut: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 0 K
- Same for this year's 18th-rounder Tristan Stivors: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K
DSL BAL Black 3, DSL White Sox 1 (7 innings)
- Guillermo Rodriguez wore the collar and silver sombrero.
- Loidel Chapelli went 2-for-3 with his 10th stolen base.
- Carlos Jimenez was 0-for-1 with two walks.
- Ronny Hernandez, 0-for-2 with a K and an HBP.
