Bell taking time with Bees
GLENDALE — The following are updates on area athletes playing major league baseball.
Trevor Bell (Crescenta Valley High, 2005) Salt Lake Bees pitcher: Stretching Bell out for starting duty when he returns to the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim has been a gradual process so far.
The former Falcon has made two starts for the Triple-A Bees since being optioned there on July 2 and hasn’t pitched past the fourth inning in either, while allowing a combined five earned runs on nine hits and three walks.
In his most recent outing, Bell pitched the opener of a road doubleheader on Saturday against the Las Vegas 51s, but did not factor in the decision of the Bees’ 6-2 win. After a scoreless bottom of the first inning, Bell gave up a run on a bases-loaded groundout in the bottom of the second.
The Bees picked Bell up in the top of the third inning with three runs, but he again ran into trouble in the bottom of the frame when he allowed a leadoff single and then a single and a double with one out that allowed Las Vegas to pull back within one run.
Bell, who began the season in Salt Lake before being called up to the Angels on May 9, still held a 3-2 lead when he was pulled with one out in the bottom of the fourth after allowing a one-out single.
Bell’s first return appearance with Salt Lake, which is currently 43-47 for second place in the Pacific Coast League Pacific North Division, came on July 5, when the Bees hosted the Tacoma Raniers. Bell gave up four runs — three earned — in three innings of work, but his record was unaffected by the Bees’ 8-7 loss.
In both of his Triple-A stints combined, Bell is 1-0 on the season with a 3.38 earned-run average, 15 strikeouts and six walks.
Al Quintana (Glendale Community College, 2002) Las Vegas 51s utility: Quintana earned his second promotion of the season when he was assigned to the Triple-A 51s from the Class-A Advanced Dunedin Blue Jays on July 3.
He debuted with Las Vegas on Thursday, starting in left field and going 0 for three with a strikeout against the visiting Salt Lake Bees in what remains his only appearance with the team to date.
The assignment came just two days after Quintana was sent down to Dunedin from the Double-A New Hampshire Fisher Cats, the club to which he was originally called up from Dunedin on June 1. Quintana appeared in just one game for Dunedin in the interim, starting at catcher and going 0 for three in a 4-3 loss to the visiting Brevard County Manatees on July 2.
Prior to that, Quintana batted .200 (10-50) with a home run and nine RBIs in 16 games with the Fisher Cats, during which he caught and played designated hitter. Quintana’s new club is currently 43-48 for third place in the PCL Pacific South Division.
Bryan Longpre (Crescenta Valley High, 2005) GCL Blue Jays pitcher: After encountering the first bad outing of his extremely young professional career in late June, Longpre seems to be back in the groove with three straight scoreless relief outings in the month of July.
Longpre, who made his pro debut with the Blue Jays on June 21, last pitched on Saturday, shutting out the host GCL Yankees for one inning and earning his third save of the year in a 4-1 win, despite loading the bases on two hits and a walk.
It was the visiting Yankees who touched up Longpre for four runs on three hits and two walks in 2/3 of an inning on June 29 in a 6-1 loss.
On the season, Longpre is 1-0 with a 4.82 ERA for the Blue Jays, who are currently 8-12 for fifth place in the GCL Northern Division.