Dodgers 4/13/12 Minor League Report - Winker Walk-off Wins it for Loons

Dodgers 4/13/12 Minor League Report - Winker Walk-off Wins it for Loons

With the Quakes game postponed, the Dodger minor league teams won all 3 of their games on Friday thanks to solid bullpen work.

Minor League Player of the Day – J.T. Wise - 2 for 3, 1 2B, 2 Walks, 2 RBI's, 1 run. Wise was over-shawdowed in 2011 by Griff Erickson, but so far in 2012 he's out-performed the young catcher. J.T. reached base in 4 of his 5 at bats on Friday and drove in a pair of the Lookouts' runs.

AAA – The Isotopes finally had their home opener on Friday, and treated the Albuquerque crowd to a 7 - 4 victory over the Omaha Storm Chasers (Royals). Josh Fields started the scoring in the 2nd inning with a 2 run homer, and Jerry Sands added to the early lead with a solo jack of his own in the 3rd. Both Fields and Sands finished with 2 hits a piece, while Luis Cruz tripled and led the Topes with 3 base knocks. Joe Becker recorded 3 RBI's, although he only had 1 hit and drove in 2 of the runs via ground outs. Starter Fernando Nieve showed significant improvement over his previous start as he picked up the win by allowing 7 hits and 3 earned runs over 6 innings, but it was his bullpen that really deserves the credit as Will Savage and Josh Wall recorded the final 9 outs while allowing just 1 hit.

AA – The Lookouts won their 4th game in a row against the Suns on Friday as Chattanooga defeated Jacksonville (Marlins) 7 to 3. Matt Magill got the start for the Lookouts and had another solid outing despite lasting just 4 innings and issuing 4 walks. The Simi Valley native allowed just 3 runs and struck out 8, although he did walk 4 and had to be pulled prior to the 5th inning because he had already thrown almost 100 pitches. His bullpen was excellent, however, as Geison Aguasviva, Blake Johnson, and Steve Ames combined to allow just 1 base-runner over the final 5 innings of the game. Despite scoring the 7 runs the Lookouts didn't really have a standout offensive player as the hits were spread among 8 different batters. J.T. Wise again led the team with a pair of hits and 2 RBI's, and he actually reached base four times in the game if you include his two walks. Kyle Russell and Griff Erickson had the other extra base hits in the game as they both doubled, while Erickson had the only other mulit-hit game besides Wise.

HiA – Postponed due to rain

LoA – The Loons flew back into the win column on Friday as Great Lakes defeated the Tin Caps 5 to 4 on a walk off single by Joe Winker. Winker's game winning hit was his only base knock of the night, but his game winner scored 2nd baseman Jesus Arredondo who led the club with 3 hits and finished just a homer shy of the cycle. Right fielder Scott Schebler also had a big game as he tripled, singled, and drove in 2 runs. Starter Matt Laney had a mediocre outing as he allowed 5 hits and 3 runs over 4 innings, but his bullpen held the Tin Caps in check as the Loons' relievers struck out 8 batters in 5 frames and eventually picked up the win. Eric Eadington had the bullpen highlight of the night as he K'ed 4 batters in just 2 frames.

Coming up – Nathan Eovaldi's start for the Lookouts will be the pitching highlight of the day as Chattanooga finishes up their 5 game series with Jacksonville. John Ely and his 21.00 ERA will go for the Isotopes, while Gustavo Gomez will take the mound for the Loons with an ERA of 22.50. Because of their rain out last night the Quakes have scheduled a double header with Visalia, but that won't happen until Sunday. On Saturday the Quakes will play just one and Andres Santiago will be the starter for Rancho.

Minor League Transactions: LoA - Catcher Andrew Edge has been added to the Loons roster, while Friday's starting pitcher Matt Laney has been removed from the roster

Coffey Knee Injury Could Open Door For Lindblom

Friday night at Dodger Stadium was so strange and epic that it deserves another recap, but only after I have had time to fully digest the events of Friday the 13th. That post will come at some point on Saturday morning, but in the meantime there are two pieces of health news to pass along.

Relief pitcher Todd Coffey, who has retired only three of the eight batters he has faced in three games this season, including hits to both Padres he faced on Friday, has a right knee injury for which he has been receiving treatment lately, manager Don Mattingly said after the game. Coffey was unavailable for comment.

That is both relevant and timely for the Dodgers, who have to make a roster move to activate Saturday's schedule starter Ted Lilly off the disabled list. Josh Lindblom, the only reliever outside of Javy Guerra and Kenley Jansen with options, seemed destined to return to the minors despite his six scoreless innings so far. But if Coffey would need to go on the disabled list - and this is just speculation at his point - that means Lindblom stays.

"You can kind of see where we're using him, how he's pitching," Mattingly said. "We've used him twice in games we needed multiple innings, and we've used him twice now late in the game to try to get to our back end guys."

Catcher A.J. Ellis praised Lindblom as well.

"He's been huge. He's saved our bullpen a lot. He has shown he can do a lot of things," Ellis said. "He's shown he can throw the seventh. Tonight he showed he can throw the eighth. The guy has proven last year and this year that this guy is a back end of the bullpen major league pitcher."

In other news, bullpen coach Ken Howell won't be with the team through at least the end of the upcoming road trip to Milwaukee and Houston, as he is having health issues related to his Diabetes. Howell had to have a toe amputated in 2008 due to Diabetes. Pitching coach Jim Slaton has joined the Dodgers from the club's facilities in Glendale, Arizona, and will temporarily fill in until Howell returns.