For the second straight year, Noah Schultz will be happy to put the Futures Game in the past.
Schultz gave up all four runs scored by the National League in the Senior Circuit's 4-2 victory over the American League in Futures Game at Truist Field in Atlanta.
Schultz dealt with a little bit of bad luck, in that a grounder that would've been a 4-3 double play hit off his thigh for a second soft single to put two on with nobody out. But then he hung a 1-1 slider over the inner half to Jorge De Paula, and DePaula whomped it over the right-field wall for a three-run homer that put the NL up for good.
Schultz then gave up another infield single before finally finding some footing with a groundout and a lineout, but he still left unfinished business on second base, and Alimber Santa's inherited runner came home to score on a double.
That closed the book on Schultz's afternoon, and when you combine his line (0.2 IP, 4 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 1 HR) with his one-third of an inning in last year's Futures Game, you get one unenviable inning: 1 IP, 7 H, 7 R, 7 ER, 1 BB, 1 K, 1 HR, 1 HBP.
Unlike last year, when Keith Law wrote raves about Schultz's stuff despite the results, his impressions matched the numbers this time around:
Schultz gave up the homer to De Paula, and despite arm strength, Schultz’s stuff played way down on Saturday. He was 94-97 with a “sinker” that didn’t sink, and the slider at 78-81 wasn’t that sharp. He has a low three-quarters arm slot that should give him some deception; the NL hitters he faced were not deceived.
On the other side of the ball, Braden Montgomery went 0-for-3. He struck out looking, got jammed into a run-scoring 1-3 groundout, then flied out to left.
Charlotte 10, Memphis 9
- Cam Booser: 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K
- Wikelman González: 0.2 IP, 5 H, 6 R, 6 ER, 1 BB, 0 K, 19 of 30 pitches for strikes.
Birmingham 9, Biloxi 5
- Rikuu Nishida went 2-for-5 with a strikeout, HBP and a stolen base.
- William Bergolla went 3-for-5.
- So did Ryan Galanie, with a stolen base.
- Jacob Gonzalez was 1-for-4 with a sac fly and two strikeouts.
- Wilfred Veras, 2-for-4 with a walk.
- Riley Gowens: 5 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 5 K, 1 WP, 48 of 85 pitches for strikes.
Winston-Salem 15, Greenville 5
- Sam Antonacci went 2-for-5 with a walk and a stolen base.
- Jeral Perez was 1-for-5 with an HBP and a strikeout.
- Samuel Zavala, 0-for-3 with two walks, an HBP and two strikeouts.
Myrtle Beach 5, Kannapolis 0
- Caleb Bonemer went 0-for-4 with a strikeout.
- Ryan Burrowes and Lyle Miller-Green both were 0-for-4 with two strikeouts.
- George Wolkow had half the Ballers' hits by going 1-for-3.
- Luis Reyes: 6 IP, 7 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 4 BB, 4 K, 56 of 89 pitches for strikes.
- Pierce George: 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 K, 7 of 14 pitches for strikes.
ACL White Sox 6, ACL Brewers 5 (8 innings)
- Christian Gonzalez went 1-for-4 with two strikeouts, and was caught stealing.
- Adrian Gíl was 0-for-2 with two HBPs.
- Jurdrick Profar went 1-for-2 with a double.
DSL White Sox 9, DSL Yankees 4 (7 innings)
- Frank Mieses homered, singled, walked, struck out and stole a base.
- Eduardo Herrera was 0-for-3 with a walk and two strikeouts.
- Alejandro Cruz, 1-for-2 with a walk.
- Yordani Soto went 0-for-3 with a walk and two strikeouts.
