Saturday's minor league roundup

While I was working all day, the White Sox won their 11th in a row.  So feel free to bask in that glory.
Also, make sure to check out below the jump for a couple of additions that may be of interest to you.

• Charlotte 3, Buffalo 2
  • Good work by Carlos Torres: 7 IP, 6 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 5 K, 1 HR.
  • Jhonny Nunez and Erick Threets both pitched 1-2-3 innings, with Threets recording a K.
  • Stefan Gartrell went 3-for-4 with a solo shot, and he added an outfield assist.
  • Brent Morel and Jordan Danks each singled and struck out over four at-bats.
  • Tyler Flowers wore the collar, striking out once.
• Chattanooga 4, Birmingham 2
  • Christian Marrero went 2-for-5 with a double, RBI and a strikeout.
  • C.J. Retherford singled and struck out twice over five at-bats.
• Frederick 10, Winston-Salem 4
  • Eduardo Escobar singled, doubled, homered and drove in two.
  • Brandon Short hit a solo shot, his 11th. He also struck out twice.
  • Jon Gilmore had a rare hitless night, going 0-for-4 with a K.
  • Stephen Sauer had a night to forget, allowing 10 runs (eight earned) on 10 hits and three walks over 3 1/3 innings. He struck out two.
• Augusta 4, Kannapolis 3
  • Brick Shoeolli went 0-for-7 with a walk and three strikeouts.
  • Joe Serafin allowed two runs (one earned) on two hits and two walks over six innings, striking out six.
• Princeton 2, Bristol 0
  • Jacob Petricka allowed two runs in the first inning before calming down to throw four pretty good ones.  He struck out six with no walks, allowing four hits.
  • Jose Martinez went 1-for-3, which dropped his average below .500.  But he walked, so he kept his OBP up there.
  • Bad news for Josh Phegley: He struck out twice and grounded into a double play. Good news: He played his first full game.
  • Robert Young retired all nine men he faced, striking out two.
• Helena 10, Great Falls 3
  • Juan Silverio doubled twice and struck out once over four at-bats.
  • Ross Wilson went 0-for-4 with a strikeout.

Three other notes:
No. 1: A photo gallery has been tacked on to the bottom of my Brent Morel post from earlier this week, so check that out if you want to see some members of the Charlotte Knights in action.
No. 2: The great thing about baseball is there’s always the chance you’ll see things you’ve never seen before.  At the Tri-City ValleyCats game tonight (that’s my local short-season A-ball affiliate of the Houston Astros), I saw a guy with an ERA of 270.00.
Moreover, he lowered his ERA to 270.00.
Here’s how it happened.  Randy Consuegra, a 20-year-old Colombian right-hander in the Boston Red Sox system, entered the game having walked all four batters he faced in an early game against the ValleyCats.  Three of those runs came around to score, giving him an ERA of infinity.
On Saturday night, he picked up where left off, throwing four straight pitches at leadoff man Wilson Infante’s head.  The No. 2 hitter, Ben Orloff, must’ve been under orders to give himself up.  He missed on two bunt attempts (including one well outside the strike zone) before hitting a grounder to the right side.  The bunt wasn’t necessary because Infante advanced on a wild pitch.
That would be the only batter Consuegra retired.  Here’s what he did on the evening:

1. Four-pitch walk.
2. Wild pitch, sacrifice
3. Wild pitch (run scores), walk.
4. Walk.
5. Walk.
6. Walk.
7. HBP.
8. Walk.

And he was done for the night.  All seven of his runners came around to score, giving him a total of 10 earned runs on the season over one-third of an inning, and that’s why there’s a 270.00 in the box score.
That goes down as the saddest start to an outing I’ve ever seen in person.  Previously, it had been held by Colorado’s Juan Morillo, who began his major league career walk-walk-walk-HBP-grand slam.
Consuegra’s effort topped Morillo’s, especially since he was barely reaching 90 on the gun.  It’s one thing to be wild; it’s another to be wild with Kyle McCulloch’s velocity.
If you extend the debate to TV, I’m pretty sure Miguel Asencio’s 16-pitch, 16-ball effort against the White Sox in his major-league debut back in 2002 has them both beat.
No. 3: I went to the ValleyCats game to talk to Houston’s minor-league pitching coordinator.
Some of you might know him — Britt Burns.
Swell guy.  We ended up talking for about 30 minutes about a variety of topics while he was charting pitches, and I’ll write it up tomorrow.

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