Rangers Farm Report: Games of 13 September 2019
Low-A: Hickory 1, at Lexington (KC) 3 (13)
Hickory loses best-of-five finals 1-3
SP Jesus Linarez: 4.1 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 SO
RP Hever Bueno: 1.2 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 BB, 4 SO
RP Kelvin Gonzalez: 3 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 SO
RP Tyree Thompson: 3.2 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 2 BB, 2 SO
1B Tyreque Reed: 1-5, walk
RF Pedro Gonzalez: 1-4, HR, walk
1B Reed Rohlman homered with two outs in the 13th to claim the Sally League title for Lexington.
Starting pitcher Abdiel Mendoza was scratched during warmups, making Jesus Linarez the last-minute starter with the season on the line. Linarez was up to the task, permitting only two singles in 4.2 innings. Hever Bueno stranded three runners in the 5th (one his own) but surrendered the game's first run in the 5th on three singles. Closer Kelvin Gonzalez took the mound in the 7th and fired three scoreless innings on 46 pitches, on the high side for him but not excessively so. Tyree Thompson entered in the 10th and allowed three runners up in 3.2 innings preceding the fateful homer. Pedro Gonzalez slammed into the wall catching the final out of the 12th with a runner on first. Hickory's bullpen would have been a mess today, but manager Matt Hagen was rightly playing to win.
Gonzalez also broke up a no-hitter with a game-tying homer in the 7th. Aside from that, Hickory put only seven other runners on base, and only two reached scoring position. The Crawdads batted .155/.247/.246 for the series and .143 with runners in scoring position. It just wasn't happening.
Texas's minor league season is over. I'll wrap the season next week.
Dallas attorney Jamey Newberg has been commenting on Rangers from the big club down through the entire farm system since 1998.
Scott Lucas was born in Arlington, Texas, to Richard and Becky Lucas. He lived mostly in Arlington before moving to Austin, where he graduated from The University of Texas. Scott works for Austin Valuation Consultants, Ltd., and has published several boring articles about real estate appraisal and environmental contamination. He makes a swell margarita and refuses to run longer than ten kilometres.
Eleanor grew up watching the AAA Mudhens in Toledo, Ohio. A loyal Ranger fan since 1979, she works "behind the scenes" at the Newberg Report.
