Joba Chamberlain found strikeouts just as as easy to come by in Triple-A as he did in Double-A and Rick Ankiel homered again on a busy night around the minors on Wednesday.

Triple-A

Joba Chamberlain struck out 10 in five scoreless innings in a very impressive Triple-A debut as he picked up the win. According to the Scranton Times-Tribune, Chamberlain’s fastball sat between 94 and 97 mph for most of the night and he displayed an impressive slider and changeup as well. Chamberlain had Jay Bruce’s number as he struck him out twice, but once Chamberlain left the game Bruce hit a three-run home run. It was Bruce’s fifth extra-base hit in the past five games.

Jeff Niemann threw six shutout innings to win his 11th game of the season.

Lance Broadway struck out seven in six innings as he outdueled Jeremy Sowers in an impressive pitcher’s duel.

After hitting only .210 in the majors, Carlos Quentin is hitting .419 in 13 games with Tucson since being demoted. Quentin and Chris Carter each homered in Tucson’s 9-1 win over Round Rock in the first game of a doubleheader. In the nightcap the Express pitching staff held Tucson to one hit–a Quentin single in an extra-inning win.

Rick Ankiel hit his third home run in four games and also stole a base in Memphis’ 4-2 win over Sacramento. With 29 home runs Ankiel is now only three behind Craig Brazell for the minor league lead.

Felix Pie, Matt Murton and John Nelson all had four hit nights as Iowa shellacked Colorado Springs 18-8.

Double-A

Anthony Swarzak struck out 11 while allowing only two hits in seven shutout innings, but New Britain still lost. Connecticut starter Eugene Espineli and two relievers combined on a shutout.

For Justin Masterson this qualifies as a bad start. The Portland righthander gave up two runs in 6 2/3 innings while striking out 10. It was Masterson’s fourth win in four Double-A starts although his ERA ballooned to 1.04

Dallas Trahern and Alan Horne hooked up for one of the best pitching duels of the night. Trahern allowed three hits and one unearned run in eight innings while Horne gave up five hits and one earned run in eight innings.

Sam Lecure threw 5 1/3 shutout innings as Chattanooga beat Mississippi. Lecure allowed only two hits and is now 2-1, 2.76 in three starts since the all-star break. Michael Griffin snapped a 2-for-32 slump to homer off of Matt Harrison.

Jai Miller had hit only eight home runs all season before Wednesday. He reached double digits with a three-home run game as Carolina beat Tennessee.

Evan Longoria homered as part of a three-hit night for Montgomery. Chris Mason allowed six hits and one run in six innings for the Biscuits.

Bryan Anderson just keeps piling up the hits. The Cardinals catching prospect has a pair of hits including a double to raise his average to .320/.373/.422. But Arkansas rallied to win its eighth straight.

High Class A

Danny Dorn had four hits and Chris Valaika hit his first home run since being promoted to high Class A as Sarasota shut out Dunedin. Robert Manuel, Dushan Ruzic and Pedro Viola combined for the shutout.

Jake McGee struck out eight in seven scoreless innings but Vero Beach still lost to Jupiter.

Austin Jackson isn’t hitting .400 anymore, but he’s still piling up plenty of hits. Jackson had three hits including a triple to pace Tampa to a 7-4 win over Clearwater.

Aaron Bates, Brad Correll, Mark Wagner and Zak Farkes all homered in Lancaster’s 16-7 win over High Desert. For Correll, it was his 14th home run in 22 games since being signed from the independent league Kansas City T-Bones. Lancaster has reached double digits in 10 of their 15 games against High Desert.

San Jose’s Ronnie Ray struck out 11 in seven shutout innings to beat Visalia.

Low Class A

The matchup of Michael Dunn and Daniel Bard didn’t turn out as expected. Neither pitched well, although Dunn still won his 12th despite giving up four runs in five innings. Bard was worse as he was chased after three brutal innings. He only gave up three hits and walk but still gave up six runs. Bard simply couldn’t control his stuff–he hit three batters, threw four wild pitches and gave up two doubles and a home run.

Steve Chapman went 3-for-4 with a pair of home runs to help West Virginia snap a seven-game losing streak.

Koby Clemens and Jordan Parraz homered as Lexington beat Lakewood.

Short-Season/Rookie Leagues

Kody Kaiser tripled and homered for Oneonta in a 9-5 loss to Staten Island.

As good as his 2.61 ERA is, Jordan Zimmerman has been better than that in most of his starts. Zimmerman gave up four runs in 3 1/3 innings in his previous start but he returned to form with five solid innings on Wednesday as he gave up one run. Zimmerman has now allowed one run or less in five of his six outings.

Corey Brown has a .236 average, which is not what you would expect out of the Oklahoma State product who was the A’s supplemental first round pick, but once you look past the batting average, there are some more encouraging numbers. Brown hit his seventh home run to raise his numbers to .236/.363/.573 as Vancouver fell to Boise.

Zelous Wheeler has one of the minor leagues’ best names. He also had one of the better days in the minors on Wednesday. Wheeler went 4-for-5 with a triple and a home run as Helena beat Casper 17-7.