From the Office of the County Clerk: G72 - Astros v. Brewers

Alfredo Figaro (1-0, 3.47) vs Jordan Lyles (3-1, 3.48)

Ohmigosh offense! The Astros have had a few good offensive games this year, and a lot of great pitching performances, especially of late. But rarely have they put it all together in the same game like they did tonight. Jordan Lyles is still on a roll, Matt Dominguez is a beast, and the Astros kick off their series against Milwaukee with a resounding 10-1 win. Houston improves to 27-45 overall - just one game behind the Brewers in the win column.

On the Mound:

*I'm sure that Jordan Lyles enjoyed the offense in support of him tonight, but truth is he didn't need much. A leadoff triple in the 3rd resulted in the only run that the Brewers would get, as Jordan dominated with a 7 IP / 7 H / 1 R / 1 ER / 0 BB / 5 K line.

*Paul Clemens allowed only a single with two outs in the 9th in two scoreless IP.

At the Plate:

*Matty D! He bookended Houston's offense tonight, driving in their first run on a sac fly in the 2nd, and blasting his first career grand slam in the 7th. It added up to a career night at the plate, going 2 for 3 with 5 RBI.

*Carlos Pena had a big night himself, blasting a 3-run HR in the 5th to go 1 for 3 with 2 R, 3 RBI, and a K.

*Chris Carter hit a double and went 2 for 5 with a RBI, 2 R, and 2 K.

*Jason Castro (1 for 5), J.D. Martinez (1 for 3), and Trevor Crowe (1 for 1) each had a single and a run scored.

*Marwin Gonzalez went 0 for 3, but drove in a run on a squeeze bunt in the 4th.

*Justin Maxwell's Silver Hammer returned from the Meat Wagon tonight and went 0 for 2 with a K, but he also walked twice and scored a pair of runs.

Turning Point:

The score was 1-1 going to the bottom of the 4th, and Carlos Pena led off with a strikeout. Justin Maxwell walked and Matt Dominguez singled to move him over to third, bringing Marwin Gonzalez to the plate. On Alfredo Figaro's first pitch, Gonzalez laid down a perfect squeeze bunt to first, on which Figaro made a great play, but Maxwell's jump was too good and he got in ahead of the tag. That gave the Astros a 2-1 lead, and it only got better from there.

Man of the Match:

Matt Dominguez. In 22 games since May 26, he had been hitting .182/.188/.312, but none of that mattered tonight.

Goat of the Game:

Jose Altuve. Conspicuously absent from the offensive attack tonight, going 0 for 5 with a K.

Jimmy Paredes back to OKC, Maxwell up

Struggling Human Bowling Ball Jimmy Paredes is going to have to run into infielders at Oklahoma City, as he has been optioned north to make room for equally-struggling though now-rehabilitated Justin Maxwell, who presumably does not run into infielders.

Paredes - in 31 games (92PAs) "hit" .190/.242/.274 for a .516 OPS which is amazingly consistent with his 24 game (82PAs) stint in Houston in 2012, in which he hit .189/.244/.230.

Maxwell, in 11 rehab games between Corpus and OKC, hit .128/.182/.205 with 11K:3BB in 44 PAs. Small sample size blah blah blah.

PreStros Morning Report: June 17

Oklahoma City (36-32), 2.0 GB

OKC got dumptrucked, 12-2, by Round Rock once again to fall two games back of the Express in the division. Brett Oberholtzer didn't make it out of the 1st inning, allowing 2H/4R (3ER), 0K:4BB, WP in just 0.1IP; Alex Sogard worked out of the bases-loaded jam without allowing further damage, but over the next 2IP allowed 6H/6ER, 3K:2BB; Rhiner Cruz gave up 4H/2R (1ER), 2K:1BB in 2IP; Jason Stoffel (2IP), Kevin Chapman (1IP) and outfielder Che-Hsuan Lin (1IP) held Round Rock scoreless after the 5th.

Jake Elmore and Marc Krauss (2B) had two hits each; Jon Singleton was 1x4 with a double; Just Maxwell was 0x3 with a walk.

Man of the Match: Uh. How about Jason Stoffel? First reliever to not give up a run, and threw two perfect innings.

Corpus (42-28), 3.0 up

San Antonio scored the final five runs of the game in an 8-6 win over Corpus, despite committing five errors. Bobby Doran allowed 6H/3ER, 4K:1BB in 3IP; Nick Tropeano gave up 7H/4ER, 4K:0BB in 4IP, and Andrew Robinson allowed 2H/1ER in the final 2IP.

Jio Mier hit his 5th homer of the season, a 2-run shot, in a 2x5 night; Rene Garcia (2B, 2RBI) and Zach Johnson (2B) had two hits each. George Springer was 2x4 with a double, walk, and two strikeouts. Enrique Hernandez hit a solo homer.

Man of the Match: Jio Mier.

Lancaster 

All-Star Break.

Quad Cities

All-Star Break.

Tri-City (1-0), tied

Tri-City has yet to trail this season as they put up a 9-3 win over Vermont in the season-opener. Evan Grills threw 4IP, allowing 3H/1ER, 2K:2BB; Edison Frias got his inning of work in the 5th, and allowed 3H/2ER, 1K:0BB, and Kevin Comer gets his first win of the season with four shutdown innings, allowing 1H/0ER, 5K:1BB.

Jon Kemmer was 4x4 with a home run in his first professional AB, also drawing a walk and 2RBI total. Tony Kemp was 3x4 with a double and 2RBI; Conrad Gregor (BB, RBI), Dan Gulbransen, and Ryan Dineen (2B, BB, RBI) had two hits each. And the ValleyCats were only 6x20 w/RISP.

Man of the Match: Hard to beat Comer's outing, but Jon Kemmer is Tri-City's first Man of the Match.

Astros County Morning Drive - June 18

Apologies for yesterday, 16-14, Mark Appel and Kent Emanuel.

Podcast Powered By Podbean

iWhatever users, and the podcast feed.

Signings update

Okay, so there was a decent amount of news last night regarding draft signings courtesy of Brian McTaggart.

Mark Appel: Not signed, but fully engaged in talks. Luhnow hopes to sign him this week.

Andrew Thurman: The 2nd Round pick signed for full slot value ($1,397,200) and will report to Tri-City.

The Astros also signed 28th Round pick Jordan Mills, 30th Round pick Jorge Perez, 33rd Round pick Tyler White, and 36th Round pick J.D. Osborne.

And, thanks to Dustin on Twitter, we find that the Astros have signed undrafted free agents Brett Clements and Kevin Ferguson.

Clements, a catcher out of Nova Southeastern University (J.D. Martinez's alma mater), is 5'9" 180lbs and hit .292/.400/.359 with 22K:24BB for the Sharks in 2013, starting 42 of 46 games and committing two errors.

Kevin Ferguson is a pitcher from Northeastern University and led the Huskies in wins (seven), IP (104.1IP), and ERA (2.59). In 104.1IP, Ferguson allowed 90H/30ER, 93K:28BB and a .231 BAA.

From the Office of the County Clerk: G71 - Astros v. White Sox

Jose Quintana (3-2, 3.86) vs Bud Norris (5-6, 3.47)

One bad pitch. One bad pitch by Bud Norris was all it took to make the difference between Houston's fourth straight one-run win, and a streak-snapping, sweep-stopping defeat. Five solid innings by Bud were wiped out by a shaky 6th that went one pitch too long, and with it went the Astros' four-game winning streak. White Sox take the series finale 4-2, and Houston drops to 26-45 on the season.

On the Mound:

*Bud was indeed outstanding through the first five innings, allowing only three hits and no runs, but all of that went wrong in the 6th. 4 ER on 5 H in that frame made Bud a loser, with this line: 6 IP / 8 H / 4 R / 4 ER / 0 BB / 4 K.

*Josh Fields made a rare appearance (his first since June 7), and delivered 2 IP of 1 H, 0 R ball.

*Wade LeBlanc got his second outing as an Astro and turned in a perfect 9th.

At the Plate:

*The Astros once more added one to the previous night's hit total (7 H Sunday, 8 H today), and it would have once again been just enough, but for Bud's bad 6th.

*7 of Houston's 8 hits tonight went to the first three hitters in the Astros' order. Brandon Barnes had the most of those, leading off and going 3 for 5 with 2 SB, a K, and a run scored.

*Jason Castro didn't homer again, but he narrowly missed it twice, instead delivering a pair of RBI doubles to go 2 for 4 with a K.

*Jose Altuve wouldn't be outdone, going 2 for 5 with a SB, a R, and 2 K.

*Ronny Cedeno was the only other Astro with a hit, going 1 for 4 with a SB and 2 K.

Turning Point:

All was going swimmingly for Studly Cuddly Budly until Alejandro De Aza led off the 6th with a single, but even then two straight line outs had the inning almost over and Houston's 2-0 lead intact. Back-to-back-to-back singles followed, driving in De Aza and loading the bases for Dayan Viciedo. Bud worked Viciedo to a 2-2 count, but instead of delivering a third strike to escape the inning, he hung a slider up in the zone, which Vicideo knocked over a diving Brandon Barnes on Tal's Hill for a bases-clearing triple.

Man of the Match:

Jason Castro. Campaigning hard for that Astros All-Star spot.

Goat of the Game:

Bud Norris. He didn't pitch terribly, but with Houston's weak offense of late, a hanging slider with the bases loaded was a mistake they couldn't afford.

Astros sign Tanner Mathis

The Astros have signed undrafted free agent Tanner Mathis out of Ole Miss.

Mathis was initially drafted by the Astros in the 27th Round of the 2012 draft after he hit 359/.460/.416 with 18K:39BB as Ole Miss' leadoff hitter. The next day, he was unsure about what to do, but a couple of hours later tweeted that he was headed back to Ole Miss to lead the Rebels to Omaha.

In 61 games for Ole Miss in 2013, Mathis hit .280/.409/.307 with 18K:34BB

Appel reportedly agrees to $6.35m signing bonus

Over the weekend it was reported by Baseball America's Jim Callis that the Astros and 1-1 pick Mark Appel have agreed on a deal for $6.35m.

I talked about this in today's Morning Drive podcast, which had to get canned due to some technical issues, but we also talked about it last night on the Crawfish Boxes' podcast. Appel signed for $1,440,400 less than the slot value for the 1-1 pick in this year's draft, meaning that he signed quicker and for a lot less money than I expected.

Should this number turn up accurate (and there's no reason to think that it won't), the Astros will be $1,437,900 under their bonus pool for the picks they've signed - and we still don't know what 5th Round pick Tony Kemp signed for. This leaves a lot of money to negotiate with Emanuel, Holberton, Nicely, and 11th Round pick Devonte German.

Jack Armstrong nowhere near taking the field

Courtesy of a link from AppyAstros, Jack Armstrong, Jr - the Astros' 3rd Round pick in the 2011 draft - isn't close to taking the field.

After undergoing Tommy John surgery in April 2012, Armstrong was rehabbing this spring when he tore the labrum in his pitching shoulder, and underwent a second surgery last week.

Armstrong:
It is just a couple of old injuries that have finally caught up with me. I started feeling them that last year at Vanderbilt. That’s why my innings were really low. I just can’t seem to get healthy and stay healthy.

Armstrong had some injury concerns throughout his career. He experienced elbow tenderness while pitching in the Cape Cod League in 2011, but Bobby Heck said that his arm looked "plenty healthy."

Armstrong will be out until Spring Training 2014, when he'll maybe start his professional career at age 24.  

Where Did These Guys Come From: Tri-City

Courtesy of the Albany Times-Union, we get the full ValleyCats roster for 2013 (for now). Let's do it up right:

Pitchers

Tanner Bushue: Selected in the 2nd Round of the 2009 draft
Pat Christensen: Selected in the 27th Round of the 2013 draft
Kevin Comer: Acquired in the Toronto Blue Jays' 10-player trade in July 2012.
Randall Fant: Selected in the 29th Round of the 2013 draft
Michael Feliz: Signed as an amateur free agent prior to 2010 season
Edison Frias: Signed as an amateur free agent prior to 2011 season
Christian Garcia: Selected in the 29th Round of the 2012 draft
Evan Grills: Selected in the 10th Round of the 2010 draft
Adrian Houser: Selected in the 2nd Round of the 2011 draft
Albert Minnis: Selected in the 25th Round of the 2013 draft
Zach Morton: Selected in the 32nd Round of the 2013 draft
Andrew Walter: Signed as an undrafted free agent in 2011
Kyle Westwood: Selected in the 13th Round of the 2013 draft

Catchers

Ernesto Genoves: Signed as an amateur free agent prior to 2008 season
Luis Alvarez: Signed as an amateur free agent prior to 2007 season

Infielders

Conrad Gregor: Selected in the 4th Round of the 2013 draft
Tony Kemp: Selected in the 5th Round of the 2013 draft
Thomas Lindauer: Selected in the 23rd Round of the 2013 draft
Jose Fernandez: Signed as an amateur free agent prior to 2010 season
Adam Nelubowich: Selected in the 18th Round of the 2013 draft
Ryan Dineen: Selected in the 25th Round of the 2012 draft
Chan-Jong Moon: Signed as an amateur free agent prior to 2010 seaosn
Michael Martinez: Selected in the 36th Round of the 2012 draft

Outfielders

Dan Gulbransen: Selected in the 16th Round of the 2012 draft
Jon Kemmer: Selected in the 21st Round of the 2013 draft
Ronnie Mitchell: Selected in the 38th Round of the 2013 draft
James Ramsay: Selected in the 7th Round of the 2013 draft
D'Andre Toney: Acquired in the Kansas City Royals' trade for Jason Bourgeois and Humberto Quintero in June 2012.

Evan Grills to start

2010 10th Round pick Evan Grills will get the Opening Day start tonight for Tri-City. Sound strange? It should because, of Grills' 56 pro appearances, only six of them were starts, and he appeared in all 37 of his games last season out of Lexington's bullpen.

Grills:
They want me to start again...I had an alright season last year but they had talked about me a starter again, so … I was a little disappointed that I didn’t break with the (Quad Cities) team but that’s just my competitive nature but I’m happy to be here.

Whether that means "start" again, as in converting from reliever to starter, or "start again," as in start all over is uncertain.

What is certain, however, is that the Astros are keeping a close eye on Tri-City. New manager Ed Romero is apparently under orders from the Astros not to share the lineup. Romero, on the seven lefty hitters he has on the roster:

But basically, what the organization felt that’s what they wanted to do, to lean heavily (left-handed). So, we’ll go with what we have. It is what it is. I could be a little troublesome when we face left-handed pitchers. But a lot of these guys played college ball and some had some pretty good numbers against left-handed pitching, so it shouldn’t be that bad.

And, just in case you're wondering, the ValleyCats will go with the piggy-back system. 

Astros sign Parker Hipp

The Astros have signed undrafted free agent Parker Hipp, out of New Mexico State.

Hipp, a 6'2" 200lb lefty (who throws right) from San Diego, and hit .300/.429/.479 with 9HR/50RBI, 18K:40BB in 190 ABs (54 games).

According to the linked article, Hipp will head to Kissimmee to play with the GCL team.

The Process begins at Tri-City

Something that we were talking about last night on the Crawfish Boxes' podcast was whether or not the Astros were going to start making personnel decisions based on the "process" that the Astros are beginning to instill. Short answer? Yep.

In Ed Weaver's Tri-City season preview piece (linked above), pitching coach Doug White:
The biggest thing is that they need to come in and understand the bigger picture of what’s really going on inside the game of professional baseball,” White said. “We try to give them a daily process that they can follow, that they can enjoy, that the believe in, that they have confidence in, so that every day they go out (on the field), there’s some concentrated reps, there’s focused reps. They’re learning about themselves, it’s not (just) a coach telling them what they’re doing. So, really what we need to do is see if they can buy into that kind of process, and then we go out every day and observe, especially the new guys.

Tri-City opens their season tonight (Monday) at 7pm Eastern with a series against Vermont.

PreStros Morning Report: June 16

Oklahoma City (36-31), 1.0 GB

Well. OKC turned a 4-1 lead into a 9-4 loss as Round Rock got themselves eight runs in the top of the 9th to re-open a one-game lead on OKC (and knock them to 3rd place, with Albuquerque in between RR and OKC). Asher Wojciechowki pitched very well, allowing 4H/1ER, 8K:2BB in 6IP; Eric Berger allowed a hit and a walk with 2K in 1.2IP; Then Jose Valdez happened, allowing 7H/7ER in 1IP and Philip Humber gave up a 2-run homer before getting the last out of the game.

Jonathan Villar was 3x5 with two solo homers; Brett Wallace was 3x4 with a double. Jon Singleton - making his Triple-A debut - was 2x4 with two doubles and a strikeout; Justin Maxwell and Brandon Laird each had solo home runs.

Man of the Match: Jonathan Villar

Corpus (42-27), 4.0 up

San Antonio never trailed in this one as they cruised to a 7-2 win over Corpus. Jake Buchanan got his first loss of the season, allowing 10H/6ER, 3K:1BB in 5.2IP; Matt Heidenreich pitched in an out of trouble, allowing four hits and two walks in 2.1IP, with just one run crossing the plate. Kenny Long gave up a hit and walked a batter, but threw a scoreless 9th.

Erik Castro was 2x4 with a solo homer and Jio Mier was 2x4 with an RBI for the only runs. Drew Muren was 1x3 with a triple and an outfield assist. George Springer was 0x4 with four strikeouts and a walk.

Man of the Match: Erik Castro

Lancaster (39-31), 2.0 up

Lancaster heads into the All-Star Break (California vs. Carolina League All-Star Game is Tuesday) with a 4-2 loss at Lake Elsinore. Aaron West threw 61 pitches (40 for strikes) in 3IP, allowing 4H/2ER, 3K:0BB. Blair Walters gave up 4H/2ER in 1.2IP; Cameron Lamb (1.1IP) and Tommy Shirley (2IP) threw perfect outings.

Ryan McCurdy was 2x3 with a double and a walk; Preston Tucker and MP Cokinos (RBI) each had a hit and a walk.

Man of the Match: Ryan McCurdy

Quad Cities (38-31), 4.5 GB

And Quad Cities heads into the All-Star Break with a win, using a four-run 3rd inning to hold on to a 5-4 win over Burlington. Mike Hauschild allowed 6H/3ER, 2K:0BB in 4.1IP; Mitchell Lambson allowed a hit and a walk in 0.2IP; Colton Cain got the win with 1H/0ER, 2K:0BB in 3IP and Juan Minaya recorded his first save of the season with 2H/1ER, 2K:0BB in the 9th.

Carlos Correa was 2x3 with 2RBI and a stolen base (thrown out twice, though); Teoscar Hernandez was 2x4 with an RBI; Brian Blasik was 1x2 with a walk. Roberto Pena and Ruben Sosa had your other RBI.

Man of the Match: Carlos Correa.

From the Office of the County Clerk: G70 - Astros v. White Sox

Hector Santiago (2-4, 3.12) vs Dallas Keuchel (3-3, 4.37)

Five hits on Friday, six hits on Saturday, seven hits today - but it's been just enough each time. With their third straight one-run win, the Astros are now officially on their second longest winning streak of the season (four games), and they've assured themselves at worst of a series victory over the White Sox. Today's final: 5-4 Astros, and they go for the sweep tomorrow at 26-44 overall.

On the Mound:

*Dallas Keuchel is on some kind of roll, allowing no more than two runs in no less than six innings now in each of his last four starts. Kid Keuchy kept Chicago off the board for the first five innings today, then allowed one each in the 6th and 7th to finish with a 6.1 IP / 4 H / 2 R / 2 ER / 2 BB / 4 K line.

*Jose Cisnero allowed a single and a walk to load the bases after coming on for Keuchel in the 7th, but got a K and a ground out to end the inning with no further damage.

*Hector Ambriz (0.2 IP, H) and Travis Blackley (0.1 IP, K) combined on a scoreless 8th.

*Jose Veras alternated ground outs and hits in the 9th - though the second of those hits was a two-run homer by Alejandro De Aza - but he was given a three-run margin to start with, thus still earning his 14th save.

At the Plate:

*Castro the Astro! Going deep for the second straight game. Today it was a 2-run shot off the Chick-Fil-A Fowl Pole in left (#10 of the year), and Jason finished 2 for 4 with a K.

*Matt Dominguez had the other big blow for the Astros, stroking a bases-loaded double to left in the 2nd that drove home all three runners. Matty D finished 1 for 4 with a K.

*Chris Carter had another nice day, going 2 for 4 with a double, a run scored, and 2 K.

*Jose Altuve singled ahead of Castro's homer in the 7th, finishing 1 for 4 with a R, a SB, and a K.

*Brandon Barnes singled and walked to finish his day at the plate 1 for 3, and made another trademark running catch before tripping and tumbling up Tal's Hill in the 2nd.

Turning Point:

The Astros had seen their 3-0 lead after 5 shrink to an uncomfortably close 3-2 going into the 7th inning stretch. Brandon Barnes led off Houston's half of the 7th with a ground out, then Jose Altuve singled off White Sox reliever Nate Jones. Robin Ventura brought in lefty Matt Thornton to face lefty Jason Castro, but Jason made that strategy backfire. A two-run homer gave Houston their three-run lead back, and would ultimately prove to be the deciding blow.

Man of the Match:

Jason Castro. He may not make the All-Star team - Altuve's .292 average (and All-Star cred) is more alluring than Castro's .270 - but he's turned into a huge bright spot at a premium position for Houston.

Goat of the Game:

Jose Veras. With a 5-2 lead, everything turned out alright, but under most other circumstances, we'd be very upset with Jose right now.

Singleton headed to Oklahoma City

Jon Singleton has been promoted to Triple-A Oklahoma City, according to the Chronicle's Brian Smith.

In 17 games since coming off a 50-game suspension, Singleton is hitting .271/.397/.627 and in 11 games with Corpus, he was hitting .263/.396/.526 with 16K:9BB in 48 PAs.

This will be the first time the 21-year old has seen Triple-A.

From the Office of the County Clerk: G69 - Astros v. White Sox

John Danks (1-2, 4.13) vs Lucas Harrell (4-7, 4.52)

A walk-off pickoff! Once again, we'll take those wins any way we can get them. A 4-1 Astros lead through six was challenged in each of the final three innings, but the bullpen this time made Lucas Harrell's solid start stand up. Astros beat the White Sox 4-3, running their win streak to three games and improving to 25-44 overall.

On the Mound:

*Lucas Harrell was almost perfect in the 2nd through 6th, facing the minimum, and was somewhat less perfect in the 1st and 7th, but it was still good enough for his third straight quality start in June. His line: 6.2 IP / 7 H / 3 R / 3 ER / 1 BB / 7 K.

*Paul Clemens got the final out of the 7th, then allowed a double and got a K in the 8th.

*Wesley Wright got a ground out and issued an IBB to Paul Konerko, continuing the 8th.

*Then Hector Ambriz got the third out of the 8th on a Jeff Keppinger ground out.

*Jose Veras allowed a leadoff walk to Dayan Viciedo in the 9th, and pinch-runner Jordan Danks stole second to put the tying run in scoring position with no outs. But Veras fanned the next two hitters, then picked Danks off second for the final out of the game, nailing down save #13.

At the Plate:

*The Astros only had one hit more tonight (6) than they did on Friday (5), but the quality of the hits was rather much better - 5 of 6 tonight were for extra bases, versus just five singles the day before.

*Matt Dominguez was the only multi-hit man, going 2 for 3 with a double and a run scored.

*Jason Castro ended Houston's week-long power outage with a solo HR (9) into the Astros' bullpen in the 4th. He finished 1 for 4 with 2 K.

*cHRis Carter saw Castro's homer, and raised him a behemoth solo blast over the train tracks in left two batters later, for his team-leading 14th. He ended up 1 for 3 with a K.

*Ronny Cedeno had a RBI double and finished 1 for 3.

*Brandon Barnes did likewise, with a RBI double of his own to finish 1 for 4 with a K.

*Carlos Pena was 0 for 1 with a walk, but scored on Cedeno's double after reaching on a HBP.

Turning Point:

Houston scored the winning run in the 5th, but the game was won in the 7th through 9th as their lead was challenged and upheld. Adam Dunn led off the 7th with a solo HR against Harrell, cutting the lead from 4-1 to 4-2. Harrell got Paul Konerko to pop up for out #1, then Conor Gillaspie singled to right, and Trevor Crowe muffed the play, allowing Gillaspie to move up to second. Dayan Viciedo next grounded to short, with what could have been an inning-ending double play had Gillaspie been on first, but instead Gillaspie advanced to third on the fielder's choice for out #2. A ground-rule double by Gordon Beckham made it 4-3, then an infield single by Tyler Flowers moved Beckham up to third, chasing Harrell from the game. (Not Roger) Clemens came to the rescue and got Alejandro De Aza to fan on three pitches, preserving the win for Harrell and Houston.

Man of the Match:

Lucas Harrell. Pitched most of the game from his rocking chair tonight.

Goat of the Game:

Trevor Crowe. 0 for 3 with a K, 2 LOBsters, and a fielding error in the 7th.

Astros sign Ryan Connolly

The Astros have signed undrafted free agent Ryan Connolly from Coastal Carolina.

Connolly, a 6'0" 180 RHP reliever from Charleston, was 6-4 with a 2.11 ERA, allowing 61H/19ER, with 69K:20BB in 81IP and a .211 average-against.

Connolly's 139 career pitching appearances ranks 5th in NCAA history and his 2.23 career ERA is best in Big South history and Coastal Carolina's record in the Division I era (2nd all-time in CCU history). He was a three-time second-team All-Big South selection, and of the 131 base runners he inherited in his career, only 29 scored (three of 31 inherited baserunners scored in 2013).

Jacob Nottingham signing bonus official

Baseball America's Jim Callis is reporting that 6-167 pick Jacob Nottingham signed for $300,000. Slot for the pick was $270,200. Nottingham is the first pick to sign for over slot thus far.

This means that the Astros are now $2,500 over their bonus pool allotment for the picks they have announced (with signing bonuses, anyway).

Signings announced with bonuses:

4-107: Conrad Gregor: $481,900 (+/- $0)
6-167: Jacob Nottingham: $300,000 (+ $29,800)
7-197: James Ramsay: $175,000 (-$27,300)
8-227: Jason Martin: $159,700 (+/- $0)

PreStros Morning Report: June 14

Oklahoma City (35-30), 1.0 GB

A couple of Round Rock big innings gave the Nolans Express an 11-2 win over OKC in a first-place showdown, giving Round Rock a one-game lead. Ross Seaton's days at Triple-A may be numbered after his 5IP, 10H/10ER, 3K:6BB, 3HR, WP outing; Jason Stoffel (2H/1ER, 3K), Andy Simunic (1H/0ER, 2BB) and, yes, outfielder Che-Hsuan Lin (0.2IP) closed out the game.

Shortstop candidate Jonathan Villar was 2x4 with a doube; Jake Elmore, Brett Wallace (RBI), and Brandon Laird had your other hits. Justin Maxwell was 0x3 with a sac fly RBI.

Man of the Match: Jonathan Villar

Corpus (42-25)

The Hooks set a first-half record with 42 wins and clinched a playoff berth with a 3-2 extra-inning win over Frisco. Jorge De Leon needed just 56 pitches to throw 5IP, 3H/2ER, 3K:1BB; Ruben Alaniz threw 4IP, 2H/0ER, 4K:2BB and Andrew Robinson (K) and Pat Urckfitz (1H) get the win and the save, respectively. Ian Kinsler was 0x4 with a walk.

Domingo Santana was 2x5 including the 11th-inning game-winning homer; Erik Castro was also 2x5 with a homer and 2RBI; George Springer was 1x5 with 3Ks and his 19th stolen base; Jio Mier had a hit and a walk.

Man of the Match: Domingo Santana

Lancaster (38-30), 2.0 up

Lancaster had not won a game when trailing after eight innings (0-25), but clinched at least a share of the first-half title by scoring six runs in the top of the 9th for a dramatic 7-3 win at Lake Elsinore. Tyson Perez allowed 6H/3ER, 3K:2BB in 5IP (74 pitches); David Rollins threw 3IP of no-hit, one-walk relief, and Travis Ballew allowed 2H/0ER, 3K:1BB in the 9th.

Delino DeShields was 3x5 with a double, RBI, and his 16th stolen base of the season; Preston Tucker was 3x5; Matt Duffy (3RBI) and MP Cokinos (2B, 2RBI) had two hits each, with Cokinos doubling in the game-tying runs.

Man of the Match: Delino DeShields

Quad Cities (36-30), 4.0 GB

Quad Cities were eliminated from first-half contention following a 3-1 loss to last-place Burlington. Vincent Velasquez allowed 3H/3R (2ER), 6K:2BB in 5IP; Jamaine Cotton finished with 4IP, 2H/0ER, 6K:0BB.

Teoscar Hernandez (BB) and Jesse Wierzbicki (RBI) had two hits each while Austin Elkins and Rio Ruiz each had a hit and a walk.

Man of the Match: Jamaine Cotton