Santillan continues to dominate with another gem for Dayton

May 25th, 2017

After his second straight scoreless start for the Dayton Dragons, also the longest of his career, Tony Santillan may not have much more to prove at the Class A level.
The Reds' No. 14 prospect flat-out dominated over eight innings on Wednesday against Great Lakes, allowing just two hits and one walk while striking out five in a game that was suspended due to rain after 13 scoreless frames. In his previous turn, Santillan had completed a then-season-high seven innings after losing a perfect game bid with one out in the seventh.
Santillan's attempt at perfection ended earlier on Wednesday, however, with the 20-year-old right-hander allowing his first hit with two outs in the second inning. He retired the next 13 batters he faced in the outing, ultimately throwing 60 of his 88 pitches for strikes and retiring the side in order in six of his eight frames.

MILB Video - Title: Santillan notch fifth strikeout - Url: http://www.milb.com/r/video?content_id=1425216583

Santillan has worked 15 straight scoreless frames in his last two starts, and he's now yielded just two earned runs in 26 2/3 innings (0.68 ERA) across his last four. He's given up 10 hits in that span, with 27 strikeouts and one walk.
Overall, Santillan has pitched to a 2.35 ERA with a 52-to-19 strikeout-to-walk ratio and a .190 opponents' average in 10 starts totaling 53 2/3 innings.
Dayton and Great Lakes will resume Wednesday's suspended game at 10:35 a.m. ET on Thursday.
The rest of the best performances from top prospects Wednesday
• The next wave of Yankees prospects showcased their power, individually and collectively, as No. 20 overall prospect (Yankees' No. 2), Dustin Fowler (No. 8) and Tyler Wade (No. 11) each hit home runs and went 2-for-5 in Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre's 5-0 win over Columbus. Frazier and Fowler both hit their eighth home run of the season in the first inning, while Wade pushed his total to three with a solo shot in the third. Together they plated all five runs in the victory.

MILB Video - Title: Frazier hits homer to left - Url: http://www.milb.com/r/video?content_id=1424617083

No. 31 overall prospect Tyler O'Neill (Mariners' No. 2) hit a game-tying, two-run double in the bottom of the fifth inning before putting Triple-A Tacoma ahead for good with a solo homer, his fourth of the season, in the seventh. He's collected multiple hits in three of his last five games, during which he's batting .350 with five RBIs.

MILB Video - Title: Watch: O'Neill launches homer - Url: http://www.milb.com/r/video?content_id=1426370283

No. 68 overall prospect Mike Soroka (Braves' No. 4) tossed 5 2/3 dominant innings, allowing one earned run on three hits and two walks, to pick up his fifth win for Double-A Mississippi. The 19-year-old right-hander, who spent all of 2016 in Class A, fanned the final five hitters he faced to finish with a career-high 10 strikeouts on a season-high 100 pitches (66 strikes). At the plate, Ronald Acuna (Braves' No. 7, No. 91 overall) and (Braves' No. 9) gave Soroka an early lead with back-to-back homers in the first inning.

MILB Video - Title: Soroka fans 10th batter - Url: http://www.milb.com/r/video?content_id=1425685583

• After posting a 7.47 ERA in his previous three starts, Twins No. 4 prospect Fernando Romero got back on track to record his first win of the month for Double-A Chattanooga. The 22-year-old right-hander allowed three hits and three walks with five strikeouts in six scoreless innings, throwing 55 of his 97 pitches for strikes.
"His command wasn't great, but at the same time he was able to throw some sliders behind in the count and locate his fastball when he needed it, and it played for him," Chattanooga pitching coach Ivan Arteaga told MiLB.com. "His fastball was 96, 97, up to 99 [mph]. He's got the ability to go in and out."
• Orioles No. 7 prospect Austin Hays became the first player in Class A Advanced Frederick's history to hit three homers in a single game. The 21-year-old outfielder accomplished the feat in his first three at-bats, too, hitting a trio of solo shots before finishing 3-for-4 the Keys' Game 1 loss to Potomac as part of a doubleheader.
• D-backs No. 8 prospect Jon Duplantier lowered his Minor League-leading ERA to 0.56 with his eighth outing of zero earned runs in nine appearances for Class A Kane County. The 22-year-old righty scattered three hits over six scoreless innings, with 11 ground-ball outs and two strikeouts, to pick up his fifth win (5-0). Duplantier has held opposing hitters to a .149 average while posting a 0.72 WHIP and 56-to-11 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 48 1/3 innings.
"I had better command than any of my other starts tonight," Duplantier told MiLB.com. "I was throwing every pitch where I wanted to, and since I was hitting spots and was living more in the zone, it makes more sense that they were getting more contact."
• Mother Nature helped Justin Maese record his second complete-game victory, as the Blue Jays' No. 10 prospect tossed seven strong innings for Class A Lansing before the game was suspended due to rain. He struck out a career-high 12 in the contest, allowing four earned runs on seven hits while throwing 71 of his 91 pitches for strikes.
• Yankees No. 13 prospect Domingo Acevedo fired 7 1/3 innings of three-hit ball with nine strikeouts in his second scoreless start since being promoted to Double-A Trenton. The 23-year-old righty has posted 13 2/3 blank frames, with 14 strikeouts and just seven hits allowed, between the two outings, both victories.

MILB Video - Title: Acevedo notches ninth strikeout - Url: http://www.milb.com/r/video?content_id=1425354183

"He was able to throw his secondary pitches for strikes and he was able to pound the strike zone early in the count with that," Double-A Trenton pitching coach Jose Rosado told MiLB.com. "When you get into the rhythm and throw pitches for strikes and you're throwing a 97-, 98-mph fastball, it makes things easier. He was just focused to make one good pitch at a time and not try to make any quality pitch, just one good pitch at a time. It worked for him."
Astros No. 21 prospect Jake Rogers went 3-for-3 with two solo homers to lead Class A Advanced Buies Creek past Salem in a rain-shortened, five-inning game. The 2016 third-rounder's homers were his first in six games since being promoted from Class A Quad Cities, where he'd gone deep six times in 27 games.
• Nationals No. 25 prospect Jose Marmolejos belted his third homer, a two-run shot in the third inning that proved the difference in Double-A Harrisburg's 6-5 win over Erie. After opening the season on the disabled list with a hand injury, Marmolejos has notched hits in 10 of 11 games, including eight straight, for the Senators, during which he's batting .413/.451/.696 with seven extra-base hits and 12 RBIs.

MILB Video - Title: Marmolejos mashes homer to right - Url: http://www.milb.com/r/video?content_id=1425893483

• Mets No. 29 prospect Jordan Humphreys improved to 7-1 in eight starts behind his first career shutout -- a four-hit, seven-inning gem for Class A Columbia. He issued one walk and struck out 10 en route to his second complete game of the season. The 20-year-old right-hander is leading the South Atlantic League in wins and WHIP (0.70) and ranks second in ERA (1.57) and strikeouts (65). Opposing hitters, meanwhile, are batting just .159 against him.
• After hitting a pair of home runs for Triple-A New Orleans, Marlins No. 30 prospect now has gone deep five times in his last four games and seven times in his last 11. He finished the game with five RBIs, giving him 32 in 44 games this season.