Rick van den Hurk picked up win number two in the 2009 Major League campaign with five solid innings against the Houston Astros. He allowed just two runs on five hits and three walks, while striking out two. The Astros did all of their damage against the right-hander with a two-run shot by Darin Erstad in the second inning. Van den Hurk threw 97 pitches, 60 for strikes and left the game with the Marlins leading 4-2. The relievers did their job and Florida won with a final score of 8-6 after a late Houston rally. Van den Hurk is 2-1 with an ERA of 4.15 in five starts for the team from Miami.
Around the Minors:
- Alex Liddi of the Seattle Mariners affiliate High Desert Mavericks in the California League is currently riding a streak of five multi-hit games in a row and is batting .429 since July 29. He now has a batting average of .356 (OBP .415/SLG .629) with 21 homeruns, 85 runs scored and 86 RBI in 106 games this year.
- Alessandro Maestri of the Chicago Cubs Double-A affiliate in Tennessee is starting to dominate the southern league. In August he has struck out 14 batters in 9 2/3 innings, while walking just two. He has allowed only one earned run in his last eight appearances. His ERA moved below the 3.00 mark and stands at 2.95.
- Andrei Lobanov is putting up some amazing strikeout numbers for the Gulf Coast League Twins. He has pitched in 18 innings over twelve games this season and has struck out 30 batters, while walking none. He gave up two earned runs on twelve hits so far and picked up five saves. Opponents are batting .182 against the left-hander.
- Leon Boyd is struggling to find the strike zone with the New Hampshire Fisher Cats (Blue Jays Double-A), having walked batters in nine of his last ten games. Probably the low point came on August 6 in a game against Bowie, when he issued one hit, two earned runs and six base on balls in just 1 1/3 innings, striking out three. Between Dunedin and New Hampshire he has a combined ERA of 4.81 in 34 games with 39 strikeouts and 38 walks in 48 2/3 innings. And Boyd has updated his blog with some nice reports. Check it out.
