Royals on the Farm 5/31

AAA: Omaha's series opener with New Orleans was rained out and will be made up as part of a Thursday doubleheader. The series begins tonight.

Omaha is 22-30 and 5 1/2 games out. Zephyrs RHP Donnie Bridges (1-2, 5.14) and LHP Chris George (3-3, 5.68) face off tonight.

AA: A 4-run 5th propelled Corpus Christi to a 7-2 win over Wichita as the Wranglers only threatened to score in two innings. Wichita tied the game in the 5th with 2 runs on a double by SS Brett Groves but the Hooks put it away in the bottom of the inning. Wichita got LF Cory Aldridge to third in the 7th but couldn't score any runs. SP Mike Stodolka dropped to 1-5 as he went 5 IP and gave up 6 R (5 ER) on 6 hits and a BB with 2 Ks. His ERA rose to 5.74. RP Jonah Bayliss pitched 2 innings and allowed 3 hits and a BB with 3 Ks to drop his ERA to 2.91. RP Shawn Sonnier pitched an inning and was tagged for 1 ER on 2 hits with 2 Ks as his ERA rose to 2.61. RF John Draper was 2-4 to improve to .310 (he also had an assist at home plate) and C Mathew Tupman was 2-3 to improve to .272. 1B Justin Huber was 1-4 to lower his BA to .344 and DH Josh Pressley lowered his BA to .323 with an 0-4 night. Aldridge was 1-4 to drop to .292.

The Wranglers are 26-26 and 7 games out of first. LHP J.P. Howell (2-0, 2.25) takes the mound for Wichita tonight against the Hooks Chris Sampson (1-7, 4.08).

High-A: High Desert went off for 13 runs as 3B Billy Butler and 2B Adam Keim combined for 5 homers. The Mavs started the game well as RF Mitch Maier and SS Angel Sanchez singled and Butler blasted a 3-run shot to CF. Keim followed two batters later with a solo shot to put the Mavs up, 4-0. Lancaster tied the game in the second but High Desert scored 2 in the 3rd on homers by Butler and Keim. Lancaster again tied the game in the 4th but that was it for the JetHawks. The Mavericks scored a run in the 5th on an RBI single by Sanchez and added 2 in the 6th on Keim's third homer, a 2-run shot for his 9th of the year. There's nothing like added 50 percent to your homer total in one game. High Desert scored 3 in the 8th on an RBI single by Keim and a 2-run triple by LF Bernard Stephens before scoring the final run in the 9th on a homer by Maier. SP Cesar Herrera went 4 IP and gave up 6 ER on 7 hits and 2 BB with 3 Ks to bump his ERA to 7.68. RP Eric Ackerman got the win to improve to 3-0 with 4 IP of 1 hit and 2 Ks. His ERA is 5.20. RP Stephen Chamberlain pitched an inning and K'd 1 to drop his ERA to 5.79. Maier was 3-6 with a double, HR (his 7th), RBI and 3 RS to improve to .335 on the season. Sanchez was 4-6 with an RBI and 2 RS to lift his BA to .282. Butler was 3-5 with a BB, 2 HR (for 15 on the season), 4 RBI and 3 RS. He's hitting .355. 1B Kila Kaaihue was one of the players who didn't get in on the act as he was 0-4 with 2 BB to drop to .363. Keim was 4-5 with 3 HRs, 5 RBI and 4 RS to improve to .275. Maier also had an outfield assist at third base.

High Desert is 25-26 and 3 1/2 games out of first. Lancaster's Sam Smith (3-5, 6.66) will make the start vs. Chris Coughlin (0-3, 5.91) tonight. By the way, the Mavericks' website has flatlined. The minimal effort put into it has been reduced to nothing. Tonight's game may mark the D-Backs minor league debut of Stephen Drew for Lancaster.

Low-A: Burlington rallied for 2 runs in the 9th to take the series opener with Beloit, 3-2. The Bees got on the board first in the 4th with a run on a fielding error that allowed SS Edward Lucas to cross the plate. The Snappers scored 2 in the 6th to take the lead, which remained until the 9th when Lucas led off the inning with a single and was sacrificed over to third. A throwing error allowed CF Alan Moye to reach on a bunt and a walk by LF Kenard Springer loaded the bases with 1 out. Lucas scored on a groundout by 1B Miguel Vega and, after an intentional walk to PH Rusty Brown, 2B Irving Falu hit a single to win the game. It was his second walk-off single in the last three games. SP Daniel Christensen went 5 innings and gave up only 3 hits and a BB with 4 Ks to drop his ERA to 4.59. RP Patrick Hicklen got a blown save but also the win to move to 3-1. He pitched 4 innings and gave up 2 ER on 5 hits and 2 BB with 1 K to bump his ERA to 2.66. Lucas was 2-4 to improve to .338. Springer was 2-3 with a BB to improve to .209.

Burlington is 24-27 and 5 1/2 games back. It's Beloit RH David Shinskie (0–1, 3.46) vs. LH Matt Campbell (1–5, 4.00) in tonight's game.