The big news of the week has obviously been Clayton Kershaw’s rehab start for Rancho Cucamonga tonight, but there was plenty of Cal League action involving those climbing the minor league ladder. The two divisions are looking like two-team races, both North and South, as the schedule approaches the 25-game mark. Here are some of the highlights:
NORTH DIVISION BATTLE
The Visalia Rawhide took the lead in the North division, managing to stay just a bit hotter than the Bakersfield Blaze. After tonight’s action, the Rawhide held a half-game lead with a record of 15-6, while Bako checked in at 15-7. The Rawhide had their home game against Modesto halted by rain in the 4th inning with Visalia leading 6-1. The game will resume on Saturday at 5PM to complete the nine innings, followed by the regularly scheduled game which will be a seven-inning contest. Pending these results, the top of the division could go either way.
Up in San Jose, the Blaze were cruising with a 3-o lead tonight when the Giants struck for five runs in the seventh inning and finished it off for a 5-3 win. With the Rawhide rainout, Bakersfield fell to a half-game out of first place and will look to get hot again over the weekend. LF Kyle Waldrop had another big night with three hits and two runs scored, but pitchers Drew Cisco and Jake Johnson gave up the five runs in the seventh as San Jose rallied for the win.
SOUTH DIVISION BATTLE
High Desert and Lancaster have been battling closely atop the South division most of the early going and the two clubs finished tonight with identical records at 14-8. The Mavericks fell back even by losing a 3-2 decision in Stockton despite five shutout innings from starter Matt Anderson and 1B Jordy Lara’s fourth homer of the season.
Lancaster pulled off a win in Rancho Cucamonga, but they had to get past 2011/2013 NL Cy Young Award winner Clayton Kershaw to get it. The Jethawks got very little done off of the Dodger ace who was making a rehab start down on the farm. But once Kershaw gave way, three relievers, including #3 prospect Julio Urias, let the flood gates open and the Jethawks turned a 2-1 deficit into a 6-3 victory.
NOTABLE
PERDOMO GOES YARD – Make no mistake, Clayton Kershaw pitched for Rancho on a rehab assignment and he was facing live batters in a game situation in an effort to get back to the front of the Dodgers’ rotation. Over the first few innings, he was every bit the elite MLB pitcher mowing down minor league batters.
But Lancaster SS Carlos Perdomo had a night.
Perdomo had a single off of Kershaw in the midst of a dominant run for the nasty left-hander that saw the rest of the Jethawks go down on very few pitches. But Perdomo yanked one out of the yard in the fifth inning and, rehab start or no rehab start, that was a special moment.
WILLIAMSON HAS 5-HIT NIGHT FOR GIANTS
OF Mac Williamson is ranked by Baseball America as the San Francisco Giants’ #5 prospect and on Thursday night he showed that elite talent with a five-hit night. It was a loaded box score for Williamson who had two doubles, two RBI and three runs scored in a wild 10-9 victory over the Visalia Rawhide. The numbers are starting to get pretty big for Williamson, who is back in San Jose after a 25-homer season in 2013.
WEEKEND MATCHUPS
The Rawhide and Nuts resume their rain-shortened game from tonight on Saturday at 5PM, followed by their regulary scheduled game which has been scaled back to seven innings. The two teams play again on Sunday to complete the series.
Bakersfield finishes out the weekend with two games in San Jose and the Blaze have 4-0 ace Ben Lively pitching on Sunday. The two results in Visalia Saturday combined with Bakersfield’s game could make for a big swing in the standings. Ultimately, they’ve both played the same amount of games, but three half-games going into the standings on one day can be pretty dramatic, even this early in the season.
Lancaster continues the series with Rancho Cucamonga over the weekend and won’t have to worry about Kershaw any further. The Quakes are just 6-16 and have been done in by their bullpen several times this early season so the Jethawks will look to make hay and put the pressure on High Desert.
The Mavericks finish out the series in Stockton and will need to win both weekend games to take the series after dropping tonight’s contest. The High Desert offense is second in the Cal League in homers (27), OBP (.352), batting average (.279) and runs scored (135).
