One quick minor league note to pass along before we get to tonight’s action. According to Lou DiPietro, the Yankees still have one Arizona Fall League roster spot to fill. It is a “taxi squad” spot, meaning the player will only be eligible to play Wednesdays and Saturdays. SS Kyle Holder would make sense after injuries limited him to 48 regular season games this year. Here are the seven players the Yankees are sending to the AzFL. We’ll find who the eighth is soon enough.
Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders (3-2 loss to Lehigh Valley in 13 innings, walk-off style) they still lead the best-of-five first round postseason series two games to one … one more win and they’re back in the International League Championship Series for the third straight year … in case you’re wondering, they do not use the “put a runner on second base” tiebreaker rule in extra innings in the postseason, so it’s regular old extra innings baseball
1. CF Shane Robinson: 1-7 — now 1-for-16 (.063) in the series
2. LF Mark Payton: 1-6
3. 3B Gio Urshela: 2-5, 1 BB, 2 K — 5-for-13 (.385) in the series
4. 1B Ryan McBroom: 3-6, 3 K — went 1-for-8 (.125) in the first two games of the series
5. DH Mike Ford: 1-5, 1 R, 1 BB — 2-for-12 (.167) in the series
6. RF Zack Zehner: 1-5, 1 2B, 1 BB, 2 K
7. 2B Bruce Caldwell: 1-5, 1 BB, 1 K
8. C Wilkin Castillo: 1-6, 1 K
9. SS Rey Navarro: 4-6, 1 R, 1 2B, 1 HR, 2 RBI — hit .242/.285/.409 in 62 games after signing out of an independent league in midseason
LHP Ryan Bollinger: 5.2 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 4 K, 7/4 GB/FB — 51 of 87 pitches were strikes (59%)
RHP George Kontos: 1.1 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 1 K, 1 HR, 1/2 GB/FB — eleven of 16 pitches were strikes (69%) … gave up the game-tying two-run home run that allowed the runner he inherited from Bollinger to score
RHP Cale Coshow: 2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 4 K, 1/0 GB/FB — 24 of 42 pitches were strikes (57%)
RHP David Sosebee: 2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 3 BB, 2 K, 1/2 GB/FB — 24 of 48 pitches were strikes (50%), though one of those walks was intentional
RHP Brady Lail: 1.1 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 0 K, 2/2 GB/FB — only eleven of 25 pitches were strikes (44%), though the walk was intentional … manager Bobby Mitchell saved closer RHP Joe Harvey for a save situation and got burned … I suppose the good news is they still only need one win to advance, and they’ll go into tomorrow’s game with Harvey and LHP Justus Sheffield ready to go out of the bullpen
Double-A Trenton Thunder (5-1 loss to New Hampshire) they were swept in their best-of-five first round postseason series, so the season is over … bummer … one or two of these guys might get moved up to Scranton should the RailRiders advance to the next round
1. 1B Gosuke Katoh: 1-4, 1 2B, 1 RBI
2. 3B Angel Aguilar: 1-3, 1 2B, 1 K, 1 HBP
3. DH Brandon Wagner: 0-3, 1 BB, 2 K — went 1-for-10 in the series
4. LF Trey Amburgey: 1-4 — went 1-for-11 in the series … hard to win when your 3-4 hitters go a combined 2-for-21 in the three games
5. SS Kyle Holder: 0-4, 1 K– he’s a guy I could see getting moved up to Scranton for the next round, assuming they advance … the RailRiders have been making do at short since Tyler Wade returned to the big leagues
6. RF Dom Thompson-Williams: 1-4, 1 K — threw a runner out at first base
7. C Jorge Saez: 0-4, 1 K
8. CF Rashad Crawford: 1-3, 1 R
9. 2B Wendell Rijo: 1-3
RHP Nick Nelson: 5 IP, 4 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 4 BB, 6 K, 2 WP, 4/2 GB/FB — 66 of 101 pitches were strikes (65%) … finishes the 2018 season with a 3.62 ERA and 150/67 K/BB in 126.2 innings
RHP Matt Wivinis: 2 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 2 K, 2/2 GB/FB — 26 of 38 pitches were strikes (65%)
LHP James Reeves: 2 IP, zeroes, 2 K, 1 HB, 0/2 GB/FB — 18 of 23 pitches were strikes (78%)
The season is over for the High-A Tampa Tarpons, the Low-A Charleston RiverDogs, the Short Season Staten Island Yankees, the Rookie Pulaski Yankees, and the two Rookie GCL Yankees affiliates. None of those teams qualified for the postseason.