Minor League Baseball Featured Series Review: Rancho Cucamonga vs. Lake Elsinore
Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports
Future NL West Rivals clashed in a minor league baseball series over the weekend. Who came out on top?
Our MLB coverage at Call to the Pen is fairly well-balanced, but in an effort to give you better breadth and depth of coverage of minor league baseball, we will begin a number of weekly posts.
The first will examine the big news items along with the top performers in the minor leagues each Monday. Tuesday will bring a review of the weekend highlight series. Wednesday will bring draft news and college baseball news until that is complete. Thursday will preview the weekend series of note in minor league baseball to watch. Friday will feature a new series, "The Video Room", where CTTP contributor Benjamin Chase will examine one game from the week from a scouting perspective and break down the game.
Scouting Reports will be scattered throughout the week and weekends as well, so keep on the lookout for those as well. As always, if there is anything you would like to see covered more thoroughly here at CTTP, let us know in the comments section below!
Let's get started with a review of our highlight series that we previewed last Thursday, the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes versus the Lake Elsinore Storm.
Game 1: Rancho Cucamonga 6, Lake Elsinore 3
Rancho Cucamonga made a statement over this series with a big three-game sweep, and set the tone in the first game.
Cal Quantrill got the start for Lake Elsinore, and he is rated #1 in the Padres system by a number of places. He struggled on this day, however, going five innings, allowing five runs on six hits and two walks, striking out four. He got hit hard as well, giving up three doubles in the six hits he gave up.
The Storm did have a rehab appearance by Carter Capps, the right-handed reliever with the eclectic delivery. He threw a scoreless inning, allowing no hits, one walk, and striking out one.
Lake Elsinore did get a solid hitting performance from Taylor Kohlwey, who went 2-3 with a walk. Javier Guerra and Chris Baker each had a single and a walk.
Rancho Cucamonga will be the likely destination for top Dodgers pitching prospect Yadier Alvarez, but to manage his innings, he's opening the season in extended spring training. In his rotation spot, Caleb Ferguson got the start and threw just three innings, allowing one run on two hits and a walk with five strikeouts.
The Quakes bullpen combined to throw six innings, allowing two runs on six hits and two walks, striking out 10 Storm hitters.
The Quakes had a number of excellent hitting performances, led by their top prospect, outfielder Yusniel Diaz, who went 3-4 with a double. Drew Jackson went 2-3 with a double and two stolen bases. Ariel Sandoval had a single, a walk, and a stolen base. Luke Raley had two walks and stole a base. Erick Mejia had a double.
Game 2: Rancho Cucamonga 5, Lake Elsinore 4
Rancho Cucamonga used a four-run fifth inning to secure their victory as Lake Elsinore committed four errors in a sloppy game that had six errors overall.
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Lake Elsinore gave the start to Pedro Avila, who threw four innings and allowed three runs (two earned) on six hits and three walks, striking out five.
Miguel Del Castillo led the Storm offense with a 2-3 day, topped by a ninth-inning home run that fell just short of a full comeback. Taylor Kohlwey had two singles. Michael Gettys had a double and a stolen base.
Rancho Cucamonga saw Dennis Santana continue his impressive progress as a starter, throwing four innings, allowing one unearned run on one hit and a walk, striking out four.
DJ Peters had a big day at the plate, going 3-4 with a triple and a walk. Omar Estevez went 3-5 with a double. Ibandel Isabel and Brandon Montgomery each had two singles. Yusniel Diaz had a single and a walk.
Game 3: Rancho Cucamonga 5, Lake Elsinore 3
While the Storm couldn't do anything with Quakes starter Walker Buehler, they finally broke through once he was out of the game, but it was too little, too late to avoid the three-game sweep.
Jean Cosme made the start for Lake Elsinore and went 3 1/3 innings, allowing five runs on seven hits and a walk, striking out one. The Storm bullpen shut things down from there, going 4 2/3 scoreless innings, allowing just two hits with no walks and seven strikeouts.
Edwin Moreno and Michael Gettys each went 2-4 to lead the Storm offense, with Moreno picking up a double. Peter Van Gansen had a single and a walk. Josh Naylor had a double. Taylor Kohlwey had a triple.
Buehler led the way for the Quakes in an awe-inspiring performance, going three scoreless innings, allowing two hits and no walks, striking out eight hitters. Wes Helsabeck recorded a two-inning save by striking out six as the Quakes pitching staff struck out 20 batters in the game.
The Quakes lineup was diverse in its attack as well, as Drew Jackson, Yusniel Diaz, and Luke Raley each had two singles. Jackson added a stolen base. Logan Landon had a double. Will Smith had a triple.
Top prospects for the series
From the Call to the Pen top 125 offseason list, here's how players in the top 125 performed:
#57 Yusniel Diaz .545/.615/.636, 3 R, 2B, 2 RBI, 1/4 BB/K
#90 Walker Buehler 3 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 8 K, 0.00 ERA, 0.67 WHIP, 72.7 percent strikeouts!
#109 Cal Quantrill 5 IP, 6 H, 5 R, 2 BB, 4 K, 9.00 ERA, 1.60 WHIP
