Casey Crosby has lost essentially two full years to arm injuries since the Tigers took him in the fifth round out of high school in 2007. Crosby lost his ’08 season to Tommy John surgery and was bothered by elbow pain throughout ’10, though there was no structural damage. Even so, he's not behind schedule as a 22-year-old in Double-A, and he's answered questions about his durability by matching his career high for innings in a season (105) after last night's start.

Crosby marked the occasion by throwing six shutout innings for Erie against New Hampshire. He limited the Fisher Cats to three hits and one walk while striking out eight, a season high. New Hampshire never got a runner past second base against Crosby and he picked up the victory to improve to 7-5, 3.84 in 20 starts this year.

Crosby's sinking low- to mid-90s fastball has made him a groundball machine all season, and he induced seven groundouts last night, with just two outs being recorded on balls in the air. Crosby's 2.21 groundout/flyout ratio leads the Eastern League.

AROUND THE MINORS

• While most of the this year's top draft picks are waiting around for the signing deadline to ink their deals, No. 3 pick Trevor Bauer was busy striking out eight in four innings for high Class A Visalia last night. The Diamondbacks righthander did allow a run on four hits in his third pro start, but he's now struck out 17 in nine innings of work, allowing three runs on seven hits and four walks. Bauer is expected to move up to Double-A Mobile soon, according to BA correspondent Jack Magruder.

• New Hampshire catcher Travis d'Arnaud had one of their three hits against Crosby, a fourth-inning single, and led a vain comeback attempt against Erie's bullpen, finishing the night 3-for-4 with a home run, a double and an RBI. This was the 22-year-old d'Arnaud's fifth multi-hit game in his last eight outings, upping his season's line to .329/.397/.564 with 16 homers in 337 at-bats. He's second in the EL batting race, fifth in on-base and third in slugging.

• Nationals outfielder Destin Hood broke out of an early-August slump by going 3-for-4 with two homers for high Class A Potomac. Hood had been 3-for-25 in August before turning in his second two-homer game of the year. The 21-year-old improved to .279/.366/.463 with 11 homers on the season. He's second in the Carolina League in RBIs with 70.

• Kolten Wong's hitting ability didn't need any time to translate to the pro game. The 22nd overall pick in this year's draft by the Cardinals, Wong is hitting .327/.385/.497 in 159 at-bats for low Class A Quad Cities. The River Bandits played a doubleheader yesterday against Beloit, with Wong going 6-for-8 with two doubles and a homer, his fourth in 38 games. Beloit's pitching staff has surely seen enough of Wong, as he went 10-for-17 in the four-game series.

• Twins right fielder Oswaldo Arcia had probably his best offensive night since moving up to the high Class A Florida State League in late June. The 20-year-old went 3-for-5 with two doubles and a home run in Fort Myers' win against Bradenton, improving to .268/.290/.464 in 37 games since moving up from low Class A.

• Rays righthander Alex Colome threw a one-hit, seven-inning shutout in the first game of a doubleheader for Double-A Montgomery against Mobile. The down side was he had just two strikeouts, while also allowing two walks and hitting a batter. In four starts since moving up from high Class A, the 22-year-old Colome is 2-1, 2.25 in 24 innings for the Biscuits. He's holding Double-A batters to a .193 average, but his strikeout-to-walk ratio is a less-than-picturesque 13-to-14.