Brief wrap tonight. The first half races were decided heading into tonight’s action, but that didn’t mean there wasn’t the usual intrigue on the field. Two games were low-scoring nailbiters (Stockton 3 – San Jose 1, Inland Empire 3 – Visalia 1) and three games were more traditional offensive contests (Lancaster 7 – Rancho Cucamonga 4, High Desert 10 – Lake Elsinore 9, Modesto 8 – Bakersfield 5).
High Desert’s 10-9 win over Lake Elsinore was a walkoff, with the Mavericks coming back from the dead. The Storm held a commanding lead of 8-2 entering the bottom of the eighth, but High Desert struck for four runs, then four more in the bottom of the ninth (Lake Elsinore scored once in the top of the ninth) to end the game. Burt Reynolds capped the comeback with a two-run shot to send the fans home happy.
In San Bernardino, Inland Empire rose up from a 1-0 deficit with an Andrew Ray 2-run homer in the bottom of the seventh. The 66ers tacked on one more run in the inning to finish the scoring.
Despite the loss, Rawhide RHP Braden Shipley dealt with authority until the fateful 7th inning. Over his 6 2/3 innings, the Diamondbacks’ #2 prospect (MLB.com’s #64 prospect) was impressive with his fastball, slider and changeup:
@steve_wendt 97-99 fastball and 88-90 slider if you want the velocities.
— Ron (@Rontrarian) June 14, 2014
Braden Shipley’s changeup, by the way, is big-league quality. Hard to describe how filthy it is. His curveball’s very good too. #Dbacks
— Donny Baarns (@DonnyBaarns) June 14, 2014
At the end of the day, Shipley gave up the homer that decided the game, and Ray and the 66ers got the job done. But Shipley caused a buzz among learned observers tonight with his skillset and it was fun to watch the real-time commentary on Twitter.
I’ll be posting more on the first half of the California League season in the next day or two, if all goes to form. The races and playoff implications are always intriguing and the individual performances are the focus of so much commentary. A lot has happened since Opening Day and currently we have high-profile pitchers Trevor Cahill and Mark Appel on Cal League rosters. I’ll be talking about some of my points of interest as we break for the California/Carolina League All-Star Game.
What stood out for you over the first half of the season? Send any thoughts for discussion through email or Twitter.
