D-backs' Top Pitching Prospects Shine in Latest Minor League Roundup

The Diamondbacks' minor league affiliates combined for a 1-3 record. Two of those games ended with an Arizona affiliate getting walked off, and their three losses were by a total of four runs. Despite that, there were some excellent pitching performances by some of the organization's top prospects worth reading about.

Here's all the action from Thursday's games:

AAA: Reno Aces 1, Round Rock Express 2 (F/10)

Casey Kelly turned in his best start of the year, blanking Round Rock for 5.2 innings on four hits, no walks, and five strikeouts.

Reno hitters struggled against a rehabbing Kumar Rocker, who set down the first 12 hitters and didn't allow a hit for four-plus innings. The only baserunner against Rocker was a Trey Mancini walk to lead off the fifth. They finally broke a scoreless tie in the eighth, when Nicky Lopez singled to left and Jorge Barrosa split the right-center gap for an RBI triple.

However, the lead was short-lived. Round Rock answered off Taylor Rashi, who walked four in the inning to force in a run. The game went into extra innings, where Reno failed to score in the top half of the 10th. Kyle Backhus, in his second inning of work, was walked off on a sacrifice bunt and a single in the bottom half of the frame.

Jake McCarthy went 0-for-5 with no line drives. His four balls in play were groundouts and flyouts to left field. Lopez and Michael Perez both had two-hit games. A.J. Vukovich wore the Golden Sombrero, punching out in all four of his trips to the plate.

AA: Amarillo Sod Poodles 1, Frisco RoughRiders 3

The only run for Amarillo came on a Jack Hurley solo home run in the eighth inning. It marked Hurley's fourth home run of the year. Despite collecting nine hits, the Sod Poodles combined to go 0-for-5 with runners in scoring position and stranded eight runners.

Avery Short was solid, allowing just two runs on five hits, two walks, and two strikeouts over six innings. He became the victim of a lack of run support and took the loss despite recording a Quality Start.

Kristian Robinson went 0-for-4 with two strikeouts, and Tommy Troy went 2-for-4 at the plate.

Reliever prospect Hayden Durke made his Double-A debut and was completely dominant. Durke only needed eight pitches to get a groundout and two strikeouts, in which both hitters were completely overmatched. He punctuated his outing with a three-pitch punchout of Rangers' top prospect Sebastian Walcott, all on breaking balls.

A+: Hillsboro Hops 3, Vancouver Canadiens 2

Daniel Eagen continued his strong season, fanning eight hitters in five scoreless innings. He limited the amount of traffic, allowing just three hits and two walks. However, he needed 88 pitches to clear five innings.

Nate Savino, who's come on strong this season after struggling with health early in his career, continued to stack up zeros. He struck out five in 2.2 innings, allowing just a measly single. The left-hander has not allowed a run in 17.2 innings with Hillsboro, striking out 17 and walking five.

The Hops scraped across three runs offensively. Cristofer Torin plated the first run on his lone hit of the night, a single through the hole on the left side of the infield. Ben McLaughlin tacked on two key insurance runs in the seventh with a two-run single. Stolen bases played a huge role, as Hillsboro stole four on the night. Two of them came in that seventh inning.

Ryan Waldschmidt, despite failing to reach on a hit or walk, still found a way to impact the game. He reached on a fielding error, stole his eighth base of the year, and scored the game's deciding run on McLaughlin's single.

Carlos Rey had a 3-0 lead in the ninth and ran into some trouble. He walked the first two batters, then served up a two-run double before recording the first out. He held firm, inducing a soft liner to short, a strikeout, and a groundout to third to strand the tying run in scoring position.

A: Visalia Rawhide 3, Fresno Grizzlies 4

Visalia let a 3-0 lead slip away in this game. They took advantage of sloppy defense to get their lead in the third and fourth innings. Yassel Soler hit a sacrifice fly to put the Rawhide in the board, then Juan Corniel and Slade Caldwell added run-scoring singles in the fourth. Caldwell finished the game 1-for-4 at the plate.

Lorenzo Encarnacion was solid, allowing just two runs over six innings. Encarnacion allowed five hits, walked one, and struck out four.

The Visalia bullpen held the lead until the final out of the game. Dawson Brown had a potential game-ending double play hit back to him, but he didn't field that cleanly and got just one out. Fresno capitalized with a double down the third base line and a single up the middle to walk off the Rawhide.