Tonight's Birmingham Barons game had some good news and bad news.
Good news: Nick Madrigal looks no different in Double-A.
Madrigal went 3-for-4 at the plate and 2-for-3 on the basepaths in his Birmingham debut. His first single wasn't all that impressive, but it doinked off second base and resulted in the first of two forced errors and a night full of misery for the infield.
He shot a one-hopper through the right side in his second plate appearance to give him an honest-to-goodness base hit.
Madrigal wreaked further havoc on the left side of the infield over his latter two trips to the plate. He reached base his third time up on an error by the third baseman, who had to attempt to cut down a hop on a bouncer due to Madrigal's speed out of the box. And in his fourth time up, he might have double-hit the ball on a line drive, based on the spin that broke the shortstop's ankles:
So that's the good news.
Bad news: Luis Robert departed the game early.
Technically he departed it late, leaving during a mound visit with one out on the ninth.
In the seventh inning, he hit the deck in the batter's box after fouling a pitch hard off his shin. But that wasn't the same side he was stretching out as he talked to Omar Vizquel, and Barons broadcaster Curt Bloom speculated about his back.
It seemed like something was physically amiss, but fortunately, it might not be the lasting kind:
Charlotte 5, Louisville 2
- Daniel Palka was 1-for-4 with a homer and a strikeout.
- Zack Collins went 2-for-3 with a homer.
- Danny Mendick singled twice, struck out and stole two bases.
- Joel Booker went 0-for-3 with a K.
Birmingham 4, Jackson 3
- Luis Robert went 0-for-4 with three strikeouts, then departed the game in the ninth.
- Nick Madrigal and Blake Rutherford both were 3-for-4 with two stolen bases, although Madrigal was caught once.
- Luis Gonzalez was 0-for-4 with a strikeout.
- Gavin Sheets homered again, giving him seven on the season after a 1-for-4 night. He struck out once.
- Blake Rutherford joined Madrigal in going 3-for-4.
- Laz Rivera was 0-for-3 with two strikeouts.
- Ti'Quan Forbes went 1-for-3 with a strikeout.
More:
*Sheets hits some handsome homers:
Winston-Salem 5, Myrtle Beach 2
- Steele Walker went 0-for-3 with a walk and a strikeout.
- Carlos Perez went 2-for-3 with a walk.
Augusta 3, Kannapolis 1
- Lenyn Sosa went 1-for-4 with a strikeout.
- Romy Gonzalez went 1-for-4 with two strikeouts.
- Bryce Bush wore the collar and silver sombrero.
- Corey Zangari did him one better with the golden kind.
- Luis Curbelo went 0-for-3 with two strikeouts.
- Davis Martin: 6 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 8 K
DSL White Sox 18, DSL Padres 13
- Anthony Espinoza went 1-for-4 with a walk, strikeout, sac fly, HBP and stolen base.
- Wilber Sanchez was 4-for-7 with a triple and a stolen base.
- Enoy Jiménez showed up as a pinch runner and scored.
- Jefferson Mendoza singled in his only plate appearance.
