Cincinnati Reds Minor League Game Review: August 31, 2023 - redsminorleagues.com

Connor Phillips threw six shutout innings and Miguel Hernandez homered in a 3-hit day during Louisville’s win, Julian Aguiar set a career high with 12 strikeouts in Chattanooga’s victory, Edwin Arroyo and Ruben Ibarra homered in Dayton’s win, and Ethan O’Donnell had three doubles in Daytona’s split of a doubleheader.

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The Louisville Bats won 5-4. Box Score

• Jacob Hurtubise went 3-5 with a double, steal (36), run, and an RBI.
• Drew Mount went 1-3 with a walk and 2 runs.
• Eric Yang went 3-4 with a run.
• Miguel Hernandez went 3-4 with a home run (4) and 3 RBI.
• Connor Phillips threw 6.0 shutout innings with a walk and 6 strikeouts.
• Silvino Bracho threw a shutout inning of relief with 2 strikeouts.

Game Notes

Jacob Hurtubise continued to just embarrass pitchers in the International League. He extended his hitting streak to six games. He’s now hitting .484/.619/.548 with 10 walks and just 4 strikeouts in 15 games with the Bats this season. Between his two stops this season he’s hitting .326/.473/.498 with 58 walks and 53 strikeouts in 98 games.

Eric Yang hasn’t gotten much playing time since joining Louisville in mid-June, playing in just 13 games, but he’s made his opportunities count and on Thursday night picked up three hits to raise his average to .364 with Louisville. He’s got 14 hits in 13 games with Louisville. He only had 9 hits in 22 games with Chattanooga in the first half.

Miguel Hernandez had been in a bit of a slump before Wednesday night’s pinch hit single. He was 2-10 in the previous week – all with Louisville. But Thursday night he rode his pinch hit from the night before to a 3-hit night that included his first homer with the Bats (4th on the season in 24 games since returning from injury).

Connor Phillips put together an outstanding start and he needed it in the worst way. He had not gotten out of the 2nd inning in any of his previous three starts (he did throw 2.1 shutout innings of relief behind a rehab start by Ben Lively in the middle of this). He had also walked6 batters with just 4 strikeouts in those three starts. Thursday night he pounded the strikezone, throwing 52 strikes on 83 pitches as he breezed through six shutout innings and had six strikeouts. His fastball got five of the six swings and misses he had in the game.

Top Pitch Velocity: Connor Phillips – 97.3 MPH (ball)

Top Exit Velocity: Jason Vosler – 98.3 MPH (flyout)

Furthest Hit Baseball: Miguel Hernandez – 395 feet (home run)

The Chattanooga Lookouts won 7-1. Box Score

• Tyler Callihan went 1-4 with a home run (9), steal (25), 2 runs, and 2 RBI.
• Rece Hinds went 1-4 with an RBI and a steal (19).
• Quincy McAfee went 1-4 with a home run (12).
• Austin Callahan went 1-4 with a run.
• Nick Northcut went 1-4 with a home run (10) and 2 RBI.
• Ivan Johnson went 1-4.
• Julian Aguiar allowed a run in 7.0 innings with 12 strikeouts.
• Ryan Meisinger threw a shutout inning with a strikeout.
• Eddy Demurias threw a shutout inning with a strikeout.

Game Notes

Blake Dunn‘s hitting streak came to an end at 14 games. But he did walk and steal a base, giving him 49 steals on the season. He now needs just one steal to join Gary Redus in the 20 homer – 50 steal club in the history of the Reds farm system (back to 1960 when we have full data).

Tyler Callihan extended his hitting streak to seven games. He’s hitting .419/.526/.710 in his eight games since joining the Lookouts.

Rece Hinds has not had a strikeout in five of his last eight games.

Julian Aguiar put together arguably the best start he’s ever had. He matched a career high with seven innings pitched (which also came against Pensacola on August 8th). He set a new career high with 12 strikeouts. His previous career high was 9, which he had done twice – once this season (April 8th for Dayton earlier this season and July 12th of 2022 when he was with Daytona). Over his last five starts, Aguiar has allowed six runs in 29.2 innings (1.84 ERA) with just two walks and 33 strikeouts. His ERA is down to 2.54 on the season in 117.0 innings with 129 strikeouts between Dayton and Chattanooga.

The Dayton Dragons won 2-1. Box Score

• Edwin Arroyo went 1-5 with a home run (12).
• Sal Stewart went 2-4.
• Jack Rogers went 2-3 with a walk and a double.
• Ruben Ibarra went 1-4 with a solo home run (15).
• Cade Hunter went 1-4.
• Justice Thompson went 2-4.
• Jose Acuna was charged with an unearned run in 3.0 innings with 2 walks and 6 strikeouts.
• Brooks Crawford threw 2.0 shutout innings with 3 strikeouts.
• Jayvien Sandridge threw 2.0 hitless innings with 2 walks and 4 strikeouts.
• Zach Maxwell threw 2.0 shutout innings with 5 strikeouts.

Game Notes

The Dragons pitchers combined for 18 strikeouts on the day and the only run given up was unearned and came in the 1st inning. Ruben Ibarra’s 15th homer of the year broke a 1-1 tie in the 6th inning and Dayton held on for the win. They have nine games remaining in the season and are now 3.5 games out of a playoff spot. There’s almost no wiggle room for them the rest of the way.

Jack Rogers had been 1-20 in his last five games before picking up two hits and a walk on Thursday night to break out of his slump.

Justice Thompson was used as a pinch hitter on August 29th. In the two games prior to that he had two hits in each game. On Thursday he had two hits as he remained hot.

Brooks Crawford continued to pitch well, tossing two more shutout innings. Since the start of July he’s thrown 37.0 innings with an ERA of 2.19. He’s walked 12 batters and struck out 42 during that run. His ERA on the season is down to 3.42 in his 76.1 innings with Dayton.

Zach Maxwell added five strikeouts to his total on the season and now has 91 of them in 57.2 innings pitched (and 35 strikeouts). Between his time in Daytona and Dayton his ERA is down to 3.12 (2.05 with Dayton in 22.0 innings).

The Daytona Tortugas split a doubleheader

Game 1: 2-1 win. Box Score

• Jackson Miller went 2-3 with 2 doubles and a run.
• Ethan O’Donnell went 1-2 with a walk and a run.
• Johnny Ascanio went 1-3 with an RBI.
• Dominic Pitelli went 0-1 with a walk and a steal (4).
• Jared Lyons allowed a run in 5.0 innings with 4 walks and 5 strikeouts.
• Arij Fransen threw 1.1 shutout innings with 3 walks and a strikeout.

Game 2: 6-4 loss. Box Score

• Jack Moss went 2-4 with a run.
• Cam Collier went 1-2 with 2 walks.
• Ethan O’Donnell went 2-3 with a walk, double, run, and an RBI.
• Allan Cerda (MiLB rehab) went 1-4 with a home run and 2 RBI.
• Carter Graham went 1-3 with a walk.
• Frainger Aranguren allowed 1 earned run in 3.1 innings with 2 walks and 3 strikeouts.

Gameday Notes

Ethan O’Donnell extended his hitting streak to seven games with a hit in each game on Thursday. He’s now hitting .340 through 14 games with Daytona.

Jackson Miller remained hot, picking up two hits in the first game of the doubleheader (he did not play in the second game). He’s now 12-31 (.387) in 10 games this season between Arizona and Daytona.

Cam Collier finished up August hitting .333/.439/.483 with 15 walks, 18 strikeouts, 7 doubles, and 2 home runs in 25 games played. His .922 OPS was easily the best he’s had all season in a given month, topping the .744 he put up in April.

Since returning from the injured list on July 19th, Jared Lyons has a 2.30 ERA through seven starts. He’s struck out 38 batters with 16 walks in 31.1 innings while giving up just 20 hits.

Brody Jessee only threw 0.2 innings in game one, but that lowered his ERA to 1.48 on the season in his 18 games/30.1 innings pitched this year.

Top 25 Prospects Rundown

9/1 Game Preview