Hurlers look to heat things up
The following are updates on local baseball players at the minor league level.
Ryan Sherriff (Glendale Community College, 2011) Palm Beach Cardinals starting pitcher: Sherriff made his season and Florida State League debut with the Class-A Advanced affiliate of the St. Louis Cardinals on Sunday after being brought up from the Class-A Short Season New York-Penn League Muckdogs on Saturday.
The former Vaquero responded to the promotion by picking up the win in an 8-4 victory over the Daytona Cubs after going seven innings with four runs (three earned) allowed on seven hits with no walks.
Staked to an eight-run lead by the end of the fifth inning, Sherriff held the Cubs scoreless through six, but began to flag in the seventh. Sherriff (1-0 with a 3.86 earned-run average) gave up three runs on a double, single and triple, as well as a fielding error before an out was recorded, but settled down and retired the next three batters to limit the damage.
Trevor Bell (Crescenta Valley High, 2005) Salt Lake Bees starting pitcher: Bell’s parent club, the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, are currently in last place, but may be unlikely to call on him soon for help since the seven-year veteran is going through some struggles of his own with the Triple-A Bees in the Pacific Coast League.
Bell hasn’t won since April 9 with four of his five starts since then resulting in losses. He went six innings for the first time this season in a April 30 start against the Fresno Grizzlies, but allowed three runs on 12 hits, including two home runs and still took the loss.
His latest outing on May 6 lasted just 2 1/3 innings when the Las Vegas 51s touched him up for four runs on six hits and a walk.
Three days later, Bell, whose record is 1-4 and ERA sits at 7.56 with a 14/15 strikeout to walk ratio, was placed on the seven-day disabled list with a right elbow strain and has yet to return.
Doug Slaten (Glendale Community College, 1999) Indianapolis Indians relief pitcher: Slaten’s streak of scoreless innings reached 8 1/3 on Monday when the former big-leaguer with the Arizona Diamondbacks and Washington Nationals pitched a scoreless frame against the Buffalo Bisons in earning his second win of the year.
As he looks to work his way back to the Majors through a minor league contract with the Pittsburgh Pirates’ Triple-A affiliate, Slaten currently sports a 2-0 record with a minuscule 0.40 ERA and 13 strikeouts to five walks.
Christian Bergman (St. Francis High, 2006) Modesto Nuts starting pitcher: After a hot start, Bergman’s season has hit a bit of a rough skid with two straight losses for the Class-A Advanced affiliate of the Colorado Rockies.
On May 16 against the San Jose Giants, the former Golden Knight lasted just four innings and gave up four earned runs on eight hits and two walks. He bounced back in his next outing against the Lake Elsinore Storm on Monday, but three unearned runs allowed scrapped an otherwise solid six-inning, seven-strikeout effort and evened his record at 4-4 with a 3.35 ERA and 40 strikeouts to 13 walks.