Seattle Mariners: Minor League Report, August 30

Spoiler alert: JULIOOOOOO didn’t get a hit. Time to hit the panic button.

I’m sure someone on Twitter or in the comments section of this post is actually going to take that last sentence seriously. You shouldn’t. Julio Rodriguez has been, by far, the best hitter in the California League over the last two weeks, and yes, he’s going to have nights where he ‘comes back down to Earth,’ if you will. But hey—Stockton couldn’t entirely keep him off the bases, walking him in his third at-bat of the night.

Outside of Julio, Modesto had themselves quite the entertaining game. They were no-hit until the eighth inning when Ariel Sandoval pushed through a single; fortunately, the game remained tied at zero-all, thanks in part to a dominant five inning, three hit, five strikeout performance from Penn Murfee, whom the Mariners will be sending to the Arizona Fall League next month alongside Julio and several others.

Modesto and Stockton made it to extra innings with a pair of goose eggs on the board, but the latter finally added a run in the 10th. Things were far from over, however, as Jake Scheiner looped in a RBI single to tie the game, then Jack Larsen followed up with a walkoff RBI double to send the Ports packing. The Nuts are still games out of a playoff spot behind San Jose with just five games to go. It’ll be a stretch, but they have a solid team who’s playing some great ball lately.

Now to a team that is already guaranteed a spot in the playoffs, the Arkansas Travelers. Going up against the Houston Astros’ Double-A affiliate Corpus Christi, the Travs sent out top prospect Logan Gilbert. But for one of the few times in his young professional career, it didn’t go great. It’s been extremely hot and humid during Arkansas’s series with Corpus Christi and it’s quite possible that played a great deal into Gilbert’s struggles, considering reported temperatures came in around 80 degrees with 94% humidity. Yuck.

Gilbert finished the day by tying his career-high in allowed runs at five, though he still managed to strike out five in his 4.1 innings of work. The Travelers’ offense, which has struggled quite a bit lately, fortunately had Gilbert’s back last night and put across eight runs with big nights from Cal Raleigh (3-for-5, HR, 2 2B, 2 RBI), Nick Zammarelli III (2-for-2, 3B, 3 RBI), and Luis Liberato (3-for-4, HR).

If you haven’t heard yet, you’ll be able to see the Travelers for yourself on ROOT Sports next week. The network will be broadcasting the Travs’ first playoff game next Wednesday, September 4, at 5:00 PM PT. Brad Adam will have the call of the game, but what makes this broadcast so unique is that he will be joined by Mariners GM Jerry Dipoto, who will certainly provide his insight on an Arkansas team that carries 15 of our top 40 Mariners prospects.