Valdes struggles again; Patterson's walk rate is down; Fox is lighting up Daytona; & Veal is effectively wild.

Iowa lost 9-1. Raul Valdes allowed 4 runs in 4.1 innings. Valdes "has given up 17 runs in his last 12 innings of work (three starts) after giving up just one run over 10 innings in his first two starts of the season." Bobby Brownlie, after a failed turn in the rotation, is back giving up runs in the bullpen, allowing 2 in 0.2 innings here. He has a 10.80 ERA in 11.2 innings.

West Tenn lost 4-3. JR Mathes allowed 1 run in 6 innings, but Clay Rapada blew a 3-1 lead in the 9th, giving up a three-run homer. It was Rapada's first blown save of the year in 8 chances. Eric Patterson doubled, but hasn't quite translated last year's success to double-A. He's now hitting .260/.312/.410. Troubling is that his walk rate has gone from .106 at low-A Peoria last year to .074 this year.

Daytona won 10-4 (on May 1). C Jake Fox had 3 hits, including a double. He's hitting .345/.410/.598 on the year. Grant Johnson allowed 2 earned runs in 5 innings.

Peoria lost 1-0. The winning run came in the top of the 9th off reliever Mike Billek. Starter Donald Veal had thrown 4.2 shutout innings, but couldn't last any longer after walking 6. He also struck out 9.