No matter how hard you try, you can’t escape the Joey Gallo freight train this season. After going over a week without a home run, he has five over his past seven games and is closing in on the Texas League lead. His stretch of five in seven games included three consecutive games with a home run, and his 15 long balls are good enough for third place, despite playing 21 fewer games in the league than the league leader Telvin Nash. Gallo now has 36 total home runs this season, but also has 137 strikeouts and has yet to play his 100th game between two levels.
Kent Matthes really struggled in Triple- A this season, but has found his power stroke in Double-A. His average is still a measly .223, but with two home runs on Saturday and another on Sunday, he now has eight home runs in 47 games. In a system that was weak before the Oakland Athletics dealt away Addison Russell and Billy McKinney, any production in the minors is a welcoming sign.
Nate Smith may have only gone six innings in his outing against Tulsa earlier this week, but they were six dominant innings. He did not allow any runs and just three men reached base against him, meanwhile eight were set down via the strikeout. Tyler Anderson was his opposing pitcher for Tulsa, and also put in six scoreless innings with eight strikeouts. In a true pitcher’s duel, Arkansas finally beat Tulsa in the 11th inning 2-1and their pitchers tallied a total of 16 strikeouts.
Sam Gaviglio has had an up and down season for Springfield this year, with a 5-10 record and ERA of 4.53, but has put in six scoreless innings in two of his last three games. There may have been a six run outing, three earned runs, mixed between where he couldn’t survive the fifth, but he looked fantastic on Wednesday. In his six scoreless frames, he allowed just two hits and a single walk while striking out nine.
Frisco and Tulsa won the first half in their respective divisions, but Tulsa is four games under .500 thus far in the second half. Midland is currently atop the South Division, but Frisco is just two games back and certainly have their eyes set on a sweep of division crowns this season.