Baby Bomber Recap 5/24/16: Alex Rodriguez gets two hits in rehab assignment

Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders: L 3-5 vs. Louisville Bats

The RailRiders' pitching staff was roughed up for 12 hits as they fell in a loss to Louisville. Brady Lail allowed eight hits and three runs in his six innings while only fanning four batters and giving up a leadoff homer to Juan Perez. Scranton drew closer with a two-run homer from Cesar Puello in the bottom of the fifth (his second of the season), but the bullpen faltered. Lefty Tyler Webb allowed a run on two hits and a walk, and he was fortunate to escape with just the one run. Johnny Barbato surrendered a run too, though a passed ball from catcher Eddy Rodriguez made it unearned.

Rodriguez never should have been in the game in the first place, but he was forced into action when top prospect Gary Sanchez had to leave. Lail hit Sanchez's right thumb with a pitch that made it swell to an ugly size. Not wanting to chance it, manager Al Pedrique pulled him. Sanchez will be re-evaluated and won't play tomorrow. Hopefully, nothing is broken. Nick Swisher went 2-for-4, Aaron Judge reached on a single and a walk, and Sanchez had a single before departing. Jake Cave also fell a homer shy of the cycle, and his ninth inning triple offered some hope, as he then scored on a sacrifice fly. However, the next two batters went down in order, ending the game.

Double-A Trenton Thunder: W 3-2 (11) vs. New Hampshire Fisher Cats

Alex Rodriguez was sent to Trenton to make a couple rehab appearances before returning to the Yankees' lineup. He started at DH and went 2-for-4 with a pair of singles and an RBI before departing for a pinch-hitter in the ninth. He says he will remain with the team for today, too. Meanwhile, the Thunder played a pretty exciting game, where they racked up 12 hits--all singles. They could only manage three runs for all those hits.Mark Payton, Kyle Higashioka, Billy Fleming, and Cito Culver all had multi-hit games, though Tyler Wade was unable to join in on the fun in an 0-for-5 day with a walk. Payton and Lane Adams added stolen bases, as well.

Daniel Camarena put the team in position to win with six scoreless innings of three-hit ball, walking just two and fanning seven batters along the way. J.R. Graham allowed a run over his two innings of relief to tie the game at 1-1, and Tyler Jones blew the save in the ninth when given a 2-1 lead. To Jones' credit, he pitched three innings while only permitting that one run, setting the stage for Trenton to win it in the 11th. New Hampshire pitcher Brady Dragmire found himself in a quagmire at that point by allowing a leadoff single to Culver, who moved to second and then third on ground balls. Juan Silva, who pinch-hit for A-Rod earlier, smoked a base hit to right field to win the game, 3-2. Clearly, he channeled the power of A-Rod's lineup position.

High-A Tampa Yankees: L 2-3 vs. Daytona Tortugas

The T-Yanks could only scrounge up three hits against Dayton but still found themselves in a position to win it in the bottom of the ninth with a 2-1 lead. That was because starter Chance Adams was sharp, giving up just one run on five hits and a two walks in six innings of work with six strikeouts. Third baseman Miguel Andujar was the only offensive hero of the night, as after a Jorge Mateo walk in the seventh, he crushed a two-run homer to put Tampa ahead. He had been charged with a throwing error earlier in the game but atoned for it with his seventh dinger of 2016 already

Bo Thompson and Thairo Estrada were the only other T-Yanks to record hits against Daytona. Mateo didn't have any , though he reached base via walk twice. Nonetheless, Caleb Frare had a chance to close down Daytona for the save in the ninth. A leadoff single put him in trouble, and the runner move to second on a sacrifice bunt. A strikeout put him one out from victory, but an Estrada error at shortstop extended the game. Frare walked the next batter and ultimately came up short when Blake Trahan grounded a two-run single through the right side to walk it off for Daytona.

Low-A Charleston RiverDogs: W 6-0 vs. West Virginia Power

It was all RiverDogs in a 6-0 thrashing of West Virginia, and the pitching was absolutely superb. Luis Cedeno and Nestor Cortes combined on a one-hit shutout, issuing just two walks and striking out a combined eight batters. Cedeno covered the first six innings, giving the lone hit up on a single in the fifth, before Cortes entered  to throw three frames of nearly perfect ball, decreasing his season ERA to 0.92--not too shabby.

Kyle Holder, Connor Spencer, and Nathan Mikolas all had multi-hit games in the victory, though the team didn't break it open until their four-run eighth. Spencer hit a one-out double and after a Leonardo Molina strikeout West Virginia walked three batters in a row before a three-run double by Eduardo Navas to make it 6-0. Holder pushed his average up to .305/.342/.381 in 28 games with Charleston, where he has been playing both shortstop and second base. (Holder started at second yesterday while keystone counterpart Hoy Jun Park went 0-for-4.) He could still use some power, but it's certainly more inspiring than the 2015 first round pick's play at Staten Island last year. Huzzah.