Royals on the Farm 5/28

AAA: Albuquerque SP Ben Howard quieted the Omaha bats and the bullpen finished the job as the O-Royals fell, 8-3. A run on a groundout by C Paul Phillips that scored 3B Chris Truby cut the Isotopes' lead to 2-1 in the 6th but Albuquerque scored 5 in the 7th to put the game away. Omaha got runs in the 9th on a 2-run double by LF Aaron Guiel but the game ended rather abruptly after that as 2B Justin Gemoll lined into a double play as Guiel was caught off second and pulled a Berroa. SP Ryan Baerlocher, making his second start after TJ surgery and not his first as reported yesterday, dropped to 0-1 as he went 3 2/3 IP and gave up 2 ER on 3 hits and 3 BB along with 5 Ks as his ERA moved to 3.86. RP Wes Wilkerson pitched 2 1/3 innings and gave up 1 ER on 3 hits as his ERA dropped to 5.46. RP Gabe DeHoyos made his first appearance after being called up from Burlington and went 1/3 IP and gave up 5 R (4 ER) on 2 hits and 3 BB. His ERA is 108.00. I doubt that's how he wanted to start his AAA career in Omaha. RP Santiago Ramirez went 1 2/3 IP and gave up 2 hits to drop his ERA to 4.58. DH Denny Hocking was 2-4 with a BB to improve to .257. Gemoll was 0-5 to drop to .314. LF Mark Little had 2 HRs for Albuquerque.

Omaha is 22-28 and 5 games back of Memphis. LH Jimmy Gobble (3-2, 5.13) vies against Isotopes LH Les Walrond (2-2, 4.58) tonight. Wasn't Walrond an O-Royal at one point?

AA: Wichita SP Kyle Middleton followed up Saturday's great start from J.P. Howell with another great start as a 3-run 6th helped the Wranglers to a 6-1 win. Wichita started the scoring in the top of the 5th on a solo homer by DH Josh Pressley, who was making his first appearance coming off his drug suspension. It was his 5th of the season. San Antonio scored in the bottom of the inning to tie the game before Wichita tallied 3 in the 6th on an RBI single by RF Cory Aldridge, an RBI single by 1B Justin Huber and an RBI single by 3B Brennan King. The Wranglers added runs in the 8th and 9th on an RBI single by LF John Draper and an RBI double by 2B Brett Groves. Middleton went 7 IP and gave up 1 UER on 5 hits and a BB with 6 Ks to drop his ERA to 2.59 and improve to 6-4. RP Jonah Bayliss pitched a perfect inning with 2 Ks to drop his ERA to 3.09 and RP Colt Griffin went 1 perfect inning to drop his ERA to 3.45. Groves was 3-5 with a double, RBI and 2 RS to improve to .232. CF Wilkin Ruan was 2-4 to improve to .208. Huber was 1-4 with an RBI to drop to .351, Pressley was 1-3 with a BB, HR and RBI to move to .325 and Draper was 1-3 with a BB and RBI to drop to .317. SS Mike Aviles committed his 13th error in the field. Remember when I suggested he be brought up as a defensive replacement for Berroa in late innings? Scratch that idea. I maybe should have checked that out before suggesting it.

Wichita is 26-24 and 5 games out of first. LH Derrin Ebert (1-1, 5.16) was set to start this afternoon for Wichita. In other news, Adam Keim was sent back to High Desert to make room for Pressley on the roster.

High-A: Inland Empire's spell over High Desert continued as the 66ers scored on a double off Stephen Bray in the 9th to win, 5-4. The Mavs scored first in the 3rd on an RBI single by 1B Kila Kaaihue but Inland put up 4 in the bottom of the inning, which was kept alive with 2 outs on 3B Billy Butler's 18th fielding error that led to 2 more runs being scored in the frame. High Desert scored another run in the 4th on an RBI single by DH Walter Sevilla and tied the game with 2 in the 7th on a 2-run single by Butler. That was the end of the scoring until the run in the bottom of the 9th. SP John Gragg III went 6 IP and gave up 4 R (2 ER) on 6 hits and a BB along with 5 Ks. His ERA is 3.61. RP Drew Endicott got the loss to drop to 1-3 as he went 2 2/3 IP and gave up 1 ER on 1 hit and 2 BB and K'd 2 to move his ERA to 5.34. Bray didn't get an out in the 9th and gave up the hit as his ERA remained 5.22. RF Mitch Maier was 2-5 with a double and 2 RS to improve to .332. SS Angel Sanchez was 2-5 to improve to .266. Butler was 1-5 with 2 RBI to drop to .352. Kaaihue was 2-4 with a BB and RBI to improve to .374. C Damaso Espino was 2-5 to improve to .224 and Sevilla was 2-4 with an RBI to improve to .224. The Mavs left 12 on base.

High Desert is 24-25 and 3 games out of first now. They are sliding and have dropped 7 of the last 8 to Inland Empire. It's official, High Desert's website is the worst in the organization. It hasn't been updated since 5/24. No pitching matchups, nothing much.

Low-A: Burlington overcame a late charge from Dayton to pull out a win in the 9th, 4-3. The Bees scored 2 in the 2nd on CF Alan Moye's 3rd HR, a solo shot, and an RBI groundout by 1B Miguel Vega. They added another in the 4th on an RBI triple by SS Edward Lucas but Dayton tied the game with 3 runs in the 7th and 8th. Moye singled to lead off the bottom of the 9th and was bunted by Lucas to second. With 2 out, 2 walks loaded the bases and 2B Irving Falu singled to score a run and end the game. SP Billy Buckner had perhaps the best start of his young career as he took a no-hitter into the 7th before giving up a double. He went 6 1/3 IP and gave up 2 ER on 2 hits and 2 BB with 8 Ks as his ERA dropped to 3.93. RP Kyle Crist blew his 1st save but picked up the win to improve to 3-0. He went 2 2/3 IP and gave up 1 UER on 2 hits and a BB while K'ing 2 to drop his ERA to 2.57. Moye was 2-3 with a BB, HR, RBI and 3 RS to improve to .247 and Lucas was 2-3 with a triple and RBI to improve to .326.

Burlington was 22-26 entering today's play and already lost today. A report on that will be submitted tomorrow. The series with Dayton finishes Monday.