Grizzlies Report for July 11: World 11, United States 3 (All-Star Futures Game)

Sunday recap – Fresno Grizzlies prospects Alex Bregman and Joe Musgrove shined at the All-Star Futures games at Petco Park in San Diego. Bregman, rated the No. 8 prospect in baseball according to Baseball America’s midseason rankings, fell a home run short of the cycle, going 3 for 5 and scoring one run. Musgrove, Baseball America’s 32nd-ranked prospect who grew up about 20 minutes from Petco Park, tossed a perfect inning off only 11 pitches. But their U.S. team fell 11-3 to the World squad in the All-Star Futures Game, the annual exhibition reserved for the top prospects in baseball.

Standings at the break – The Grizzlies (46-42-1) enter the All-Star break on fire and with their best winning percentage of the season, four games above .500. Once owning one of the worst records in the Pacific Coast League, the Grizzlies have won 21 of their past 28 games to move within 2  1/2 games of the first-place Tacoma Rainiers (49-40) in the Pacific Northern Division. In that 28-game stretch, Grizzlies closer James Hoyt picked up 11 saves and a win, and starting pitcher Cesar Valdez went 4-0. In addition, Tommy Shirley was 4-1.

Winning despite Singleton’s slump – Though the Grizzlies have been winning for the past month, first baseman Jon Singleton hasn’t contributed much offensively. Since the Grizzlies’ hot stretch began June 12, the left-handed-hitting slugger has batted just 11 for 59 (.186) with seven runs, no homers and three RBIs in 20 games. In fact, the last time Singleton went deep was June 7. Singleton’s numbers during that stretch got a slight boost in two of his past three games. He went 2 for 4 with a run and an RBI on Thursday, then had a 2-for-3 showing with one run and two RBIs on Friday.

The Fresno Bee

This story was originally published July 11, 2016 at 6:43 PM with the headline "Grizzlies Report for July 11: World 11, United States 3 (All-Star Futures Game)."