Diamondbacks' Outfield Prospect Finds Power Swing for Hillsboro

The Arizona Diamondbacks affiliate minor league clubs combined for a 2-2 record on Saturday night. Here's how each team fared:

Triple-A: Reno Aces 3, Oklahoma City Comets 4

The Aces lost in walk-off fashion despite a solid enough start by recently-promoted left-hander Spencer Giesting. Giesting's outing lasted just four innings, and he walked four batters while allowing four hits, but he was able to limit the damage to just one earned run.

Giesting did have to labor, throwing 89 pitches (only 51 for strikes), but ultimately held Oklahoma City down enough to give his team a chance.

Offensively, Reno wasn't able to string together much. Jorge Barrosa was 2-for-4 with a double. Blaze Alexander had an RBI triple and a walk. Tristin English was 2-for-3 with two RBI.

But English would do something more puzzling than that in the ninth inning.

After the Aces turned to four relievers in the contest (surrendering two runs and allowing a 3-3 tie heading into the ninth inning), English was brought in to pitch the ninth. The natural first baseman allowed an RBI single and the Comets walked off the contest. A strange ending to a close game.

One can only speculate why Reno was forced to use a position player to pitch, but with the Diamondbacks using six relievers on Sunday a roster move could be in the works for Sunday morning.

Double-A: Amarillo Sod Poodles 6, Tulsa Drillers 4

Amarillo rapped out 11 base hits en route to a sturdy victory over the Drillers. Outfielder and No. 20 prospect Kristian Robinson went 3-for-4 with a walk, a game-tying home run and two RBI. No. 8 prospect Tommy Troy was 2-for-5 with a homer of his own, and infielder Jesus Valdez also left the yard and went 3-for-4.

LuJames Groover, Gavin Conticello and Ivan Melendez each collected a base hit.

The Sod Poodles' pitching staff wasn't exactly excellent, but the bullpen was able to preserve a lead through the final four innings of the contest.

High-A: Hillsboro Hops 8, Spokane Indians 15

Arizona's High-A club fought valiantly at the plate, but a poor night of pitching spelled their ultimate demise. Most notably, outfielder and No. 4 prospect Ryan Waldschmidt went 3-for-5, knocking in two runs and logging his seventh home run of the season.

Waldschmidt has struggled to hit for power of late, so a surge Saturday was an encouraging sign for the high-ranked prospect.

The Hops actually out-hit Spokane 14-13. Struggling prospect Druw Jones went 3-for-5, first baseman Ben McLaughlin went 2-for-3 with two walks, a double and a homer. Jackson Feltner went 2-for-4, as all but one member of the Hillsboro lineup recorded at least one hit.

But a rough High-A debut for righty starter Lorenzo Encarnacion set the Hops in an early hole. Encarnacion threw four innings and allowed seven earned runs on six hits and four walks. Six of those runs came in a troublesome fourth inning.

His bullpen followed that up with eight more, and McLaughlin became the second first baseman of the night to serve as a relief pitcher, throwing 1.1 scoreless, hitless innings with a strikeout — ironically the best pitching performance of the night.

Low-A: Visalia Rawhide 3, Inland Empire 66ers 2

The Rawhide were held to just five hits, but came away with a close victory. They stranded eight and went 1-for-8 with runners in scoring position. Modeifi Marte went 2-for-4 with an RBI, and Abdias De La Cruz homered — the only Visalia extra-base hit of the night.

Despite the shaky offense, it was a solid night of pitching for the Rawhide. Left-hand starter Wilkin Pareded tossed five innings of one-run baseball, and left-hander Grayson Hitt threw three innings of relief with one earned run of his own.

Hitt was awarded both a blown save and the win, as he surrendered the game-tying run, but was rewarded for his effort by his offense one half-inning later.