One of the unique challenges the 2021-specific schedule poses is, by playing one team for six games straight every week, one starting pitcher has to face a team twice in a row. It's good training for when that occasionally happens at the MLB level, but usually the two teams have an opponent in between, which changes the eye level a little bit when they reunite.
You would expect the hitting team to get a much better look at a pitching prospect the second time around, which is exactly what happened between Birmingham and Rocket City this week. Jason Bilous, making his second start at Double-A on Sunday after a strong debut Tuesday, survived two innings his second time around, but that's all he pitched, as he'd accumulated a pitch count of 50 over the first two turns.
On the other side, top-100 prospect Reid Detmers pitched a third inning, but he didn't make it out of there. Stack them up, and here's what it looks like:
- Bilous, 5/25: 5 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 5 K, 1 HR
- Bilous, 5/30: 2 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 2 K
- Detmers, 5/25: 6 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 10 K
- Detmers, 5/30: 2.2 IP, 4 H, 4 R, 3 ER, 3 BB, 3 K
On the flip side, sometimes it allows a pitcher to get rid of a bad aftertaste, as Matthew Thompson got a chance to start repairing an ERA-marring start against Carolina last Tuesday
- Thompson, 5/25: 1.1 IP, 4 H, 7 R, 7 ER, 3 BB, 1 K, 1 HR
- Thompson, 5/30: 3 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 6 K
One hypothesis is that if you presented your best self the first time through, it's a lot harder to show a team something else, whereas Thompson effectively sandbagged his way into a fine follow-up.
Norfolk 4, Charlotte 1
- Adam Engel went 1-for-4 with two strikeouts.
- Blake Rutherord, Jake Burger and Gavin Sheets all went 1-for-4 with a strikeout.
- Brian Goodwin went 0-for-3 with a walk and a strikeout.
- Jonathan Stiever: 2 IP, 3 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 3 BB, 3 K, 1 HR, 1 HBP
- Jace Fry: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K
Birmingham 17, Rocket City 4
- Micker Adolfo closed out his week with a fury: 3-for-4 with a double and two walks.
- Carlos Pérez was 1-for-5 with a walk and a strikeout.
- Ti'Quan Forbes went 1-for-6 with a walk and a strikeout.
- Jason Bilous: 2 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 2 K, 1 HBP
Hickory 4, Winston-Salem 0
- Luis Curbelo walked once and struck out thrice.
- Yolbert Sanchez went 2-for-4 with a double.
- Harvin Mendoza was 1-for-3 with a walk and a strikeout.
- Lenyn Sosa was 0-for-4 with two strikeouts.
- Duke Ellis went 0-for-2 with a walk and a K.
- Isaiah Carranza: 4 IP, 4 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 2 BB, 4 K
Carolina 5, Kannapolis 0 (Game 1, 7 innings)
- Caberea Weaver and José Rodriguez both were 0-for-3 with two strikeouts.
- Lency Delgado was 1-for-3 with a strikeout.
- Bryan Ramos went 1-for-3 with a K.
- DJ Gladney singled, walked and struck out.
- James Beard was 0-for-2 with a K.
Carolina 9, Kannapolis 5 (Game 2, 7 innings)
- Caberea Waver went 2-for-3 with his third homer and a walk.
- José Rodriguez went 0-for-3 with a walk.
- Bryan Ramos homered, walked, struck out twice and stole a base.
- DJ Gladney wore the golden sombrero.
- Benyamin Bailey was 0-for-3.
- Matthew Thompson: 3 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 6 K, 1 HBP, 1 WP
Notes:
*The Cannon Ballers led 4-0 through Thompson's three innings, then trailed 8-4 after their first inning without him.
