Kolkhorst continues to roll, Kennard Jones too

The two hottest hitters these days are Chris Kolkhorst and Kennard Jones but they could not help their respective teams win. Justin Germano took a hard loss and Khalil Greene wrapped up his tour with the Lake Elsinore Storm

Portland lost 3-2

Justin Germano is off to the worst start of his career. A loss on Saturday dropped him to 0-4. Germano was 1-4 to begin his PCL career last season before winning six straight and eight of nine. The right-hander allowed three runs, one earned, on seven hits in five innings of work. He has held the opposition to two or less earned runs over his last four starts. He did, however, allow a home run for the sixth straight start to open the year.

Ben Risinger has caught one of the last 11 baserunners attempting to steal after going 0-for-3 on Saturday in his fifth game behind the plate.

Kerry Robinson extended his hitting streak to 14 games, going 2-for-5. It was his seventh multi-hit game of the streak.

Mobile lost 8-7

Last year Nick Trzesniak threw out a higher percentage of baserunners than anyone else in the Southern League but his just .211. Going 3-for-5 with two RBI’s on Saturday raised his average to .288 but he threw out just one of five thieves on the night and over the last five games has managed to catch just two burglars in 12 chances. Trzesniak committed his third error of the season and second in three games as well.

Kennard Jones had his first four-hit night of the year. In fact, he did not have a three-hit night yet this season. The last time he had four hits in a game was June 3 of 2004 while with Lake Elsinore – his last game before getting promoted. Jones has reached base safely in 13 straight games, going 18-for-45 with 14 walks, a .542 on base percentage over that time frame.

Jose Oyervidez lasted four innings and allowed five runs on four hits and four walks. It was the third game in a row that Oyervidez has walked four, over the last 13.1 innings, and eight of the 12 outs he recorded came by way of the strikeout. Right-handed batters are hitting .310 off him while lefties are batting just .156 off him.

Lake Elsinore lost 8-4

Khalil Greene went 3-for-4 with two RBI’s in his final tune-up with the Storm. A healthy crowd of 7,049 came out to the Diamond to see Greene perform in the cozy setting. Greene went 6-for-10 with four runs scored over his last three games with the Storm.

George Kottaras went 4-for-4, all singles, with a walk. It is the second game in a row Kottaras has reached base at least four times. He has ten multi-hit games in 23 contests. Kottaras has thrown out just one of the past eight baserunners attempting to steal.

Jared Wells went six innings and surrendered five runs on seven hits and a walk. While the leadoff hitter in an inning is batting .196 off the righty, the opposition is hitting .370 with runners on base and .350 with runners in scoring position.

Fort Wayne lost 13-3

Joel Santo went 5.1 innings, surrendering eight runs, four earned, on seven hits and three walks. Santo has allowed 25 hits over the past 16.1 innings and for the year hitters are batting .319 off him. In the fourth and fifth innings, hitters are batting .421 and .409 off him, respectively. Santo has allowed five homers in the last five games.

Matt Bush went 2-for-3 with a walk and two RBI’s. It was the second time in 26 games that he has reached base safely three times in the same contest. Bush has three multi-RBI games in his last seven games. He is batting just .135 with runners in scoring position and .200 with runners on base. He was also picked off for the second time this year.

Chris Kolkhorst extended his hitting streak to ten games and has reached base safely in all 27 games this year. He has also doubled in four straight games and five of the last six. Kolkhorst has seven multi-hit games over the streak and has scored nine runs.