Grizzlies rebound quickly behind Rodgers and Fisher

Brady Rodgers picked up where he left off last season when he was named the Pacific Coast League Pitcher of the Year, and Derek Fisher homered once again as the Fresno Grizzlies rebounded from a tough season opener and defeated the Reno Aces 6-1 on Friday before an announced crowd of 5,292 at Chukchansi Park.

The 26-year-old Rodgers, rated the No. 21 prospect in the Houston Astros organization, began the evening with three perfect innings.

He finished the night scattering four hits for one run and struck out four with no walks for the win before he was removed after just 70 pitches (49 for strikes).

A year ago, Rodgers finished 12-4 with a 2.86 ERA and held batters to a .257 average to earn his first promotion to the majors by September.

Fisher, the Astros’ No. 4 prospect, roped a home run to right field for the second straight night and is hitting .500 to start the year.

This time it was a two-run homer off former Baltimore Orioles reliever Brian Matusz, who just two years ago had a 2.94 ERA with 56 strikeouts in 49 innings in the majors.

The 23-year-old Fisher, who is beginning in Triple-A for the first time in his career, also had a solo homer in the season opener Thursday.

The Grizzlies were coming off a 13-6 loss to begin the season.

Grizzlies leadoff hitter Tony Kemp finished Friday 2 for 5 with a stolen base.

Through the first two games, the Grizzlies have had 15 of 18 starters already log a hit.

Grizzlies relievers Reymin Guduan, Jordan Jankowski and James Hoyt each threw a scoreless inning to close out the game.

Anthony Banda, rated the top prospect in the Arizona Diamondbacks organization, started for the Aces and was roughed up for four runs (two earned) off three hits and four walks. He lasted just 2  2/3 innings.

This story was originally published April 7, 2017 at 10:38 PM with the headline "Grizzlies rebound quickly behind Rodgers and Fisher."