Minor League Baseball Update: Glendale college product Gailen stays hot at plate
The following are updates on local baseball players at the minor league level.
Blake Gailen (Glendale Community College, 2005) Tulsa Drillers outfielder: Gailen has been hot at the plate for Tulsa, the double-A affiliate of the Los Angeles Dodgers.
One of Gailen’s best performances of the season came against the Arkansas Travelers on Saturday. Gailen, a left fielder, hit two home runs and drove in six runs to power visiting Tulsa to a 13-1 victory. Gailen, a former All-Western State Conference selection, finished with three hits and scored two runs.
Gailen swatted a two-run home run in the sixth to give the Drillers a 4-1 lead and followed it up later in the inning with a run-scoring single. He added a three-run home run in the eighth to close out the scoring. Tulsa finished with 16 hits.
Through Wednesday, Gailen is batting .295 (28 for 95) with six home runs and 23 runs batted in. He’s contributed five doubles and scored 15 runs for the Drillers, who are in the Texas League, in 28 contests.
Christian Bergman (St. Francis High, 2006) Tacoma Rainiers pitcher: Looking for a bounce-back effort after losing his two previous starts, Bergman got what he wanted Tuesday.
The former All-Area Baseball Player of the Year struck out six and walked none, but didn’t factor in to the decision in Tacoma’s 6-3 home loss to the Nashville Sounds in 10 innings. Bergman, a UC Irvine product, allowed two earned run on five hits in seven innings.
Bergman is 8-3 with a 4.48 earned-run average in 14 starts with Tacoma, the triple-A affiliate of the Seattle Mariners. He’s struck out 60 and walked just 16 in 79 1/3 innings with the Pacific League Coast organization.
Bergman pitched for the Mariners in parts of May and June while they had several starters on the disabled list. He went 4-4 with a 5.44 ERA in nine appearances with Seattle after signing in the offseason as a minor league free agent following several seasons with the Colorado Rockies.
Ryan Sherriff (Glendale Community College, 2011) Memphis Redbirds pitcher: With Memphis on the cusp of capturing the Pacific Coast League’s American Southern Division championship, Sherriff continues to do well with the St. Louis Cardinals’ triple-A franchise.
The left-handed reliever picked up a save in his last outing Tuesday. Sherriff, a former All-Western State Conference honoree, tossed a scoreless seventh inning in Memphis’ 4-2 home win against the Omaha Storm Chasers. Sherriff got a strikeout, flyball and popup on 14 pitches.It was Sherriff’s sixth save of the season and came in the second game of a doubleheader, hence the seven innings.
Sherriff is 5-1 with a 3.42 earned-run average in 44 relief appearances. He’s struck out 45 and walked 12 in 50 innings.
Nik Turley (La Cañada resident) Rochester Red Wings pitcher: After a stint with the Minnesota Twins in which the left-hander made three appearances, Turley turned in an impressive outing during his last start back in the minors.
Turley, who was drafted by the New York Yankees in 2008, picked up the victory Tuesday against the Columbus Clippers. Turley struck out seven and walked one in five innings to help propel Rochester, the triple-A affiliate of the Twins, to a 6-2 home win. He surrendered two earned runs on six hits on 84 pitches.
Turley struck out the side in the fifth inning to cap his outing after yielding two runs in the first.
Turley improved to 5-4 and has a 2.89 earned-run average in 15 appearances, including 10 starts. In 62 1/3 innings with Rochester, which competes in the International League, Turley has struck out 74 and walked 21.
Turley was 0-2 with a 16.39 ERA in three starts with Minnesota.
Angelo La Bruna (La Cañada resident) Hagerstown Suns infielder: La Bruna, a former USC player, is providing the Suns with some versatility across the infield. At the plate, he’s recorded three hits in his last two games for Hagerstown, the single-A affiliate of the Washington Nationals.
La Bruna had a single in a six-run third inning en route to Hagerstown notching an 8-5 win versus the Delmarva Shorebirds on Tuesday. In his previous contest against the host Lakewood BlueClaws, La Bruna contributed two hits, one run and one walk in a 3-2 defeat in 10 innings Saturday. He had singles in the third and ninth. La Bruna scored in the eighth to tie it at 2 after leading off with a walk.
Through Wednesday, La Bruna is hitting .214 (41 for 192) with six doubles, 10 walks, 13 RBI and 22 runs.
Twitter: @TCNCharlesRich
