Phillips stars, Burke struggles

Texas Rangers minor league starting pitcher Tyler Phillips was the story of the night on the farm this evening. The 21 year old righthander went 7 shutout innings for the Down East Wood Ducks tonight, allowing 6 hits, striking out 6 and walking his first batter of the season. Phillips now has 19 shutout innings to start the year, and including his final start of 2018, has allowed 1 run in 24 Carolina League innings.

Emmanuel Clase came in to pitch the 8th and 9th, and Tepid says he was clocked at 101 mph. Clase threw 22 of 28 pitches for strikes, walked 1, allowed 2 hits, but gave up no runs while striking out 2. Like Phillips, Clase has allowed no runs this year.

For Hickory, Yerry Rodriguez also had a quality outing tonight, throwing 4 innings of one run ball, allowing 2 hits, walking 2 and striking out 4. Hickory was shut out on five hits, though two of them were by Jonathan Ornelas, who has a 1025 OPS on the year.

The starters at the upper levels had more difficult nights. Brock Burke returned from an injured list stint triggered by a blister, and had a brutal evening against Corpus Christi. Burke made it just 2+ innings, allowing 7 runs on 4 hits, 3 walks, and an HBP, striking out 2.

Wes Benjamin, meanwhile, was tagged for 4 runs in the first by the Round Rock Express, and ended up giving up 5 runs in 5 IP, allowing 8 hits, including a pair of bombs, and 2 walks. Matt Davidson hit another home run, though, so that’s good.