Royals on the Farm 7/17

AAA: To put it simply, the Omaha Royals blew it "royally" Sunday in an 11-10 loss to Iowa after leading 10-1 at one point. Iowa scored in the 1st but it was all Omaha for the next four innings. The O-Royals scored 4 in the 2nd on a solo homer by C Scott Walter (his 6th), RBI singles by CF Adrian Brown and 2B Justin Gemoll and a wild pitch before adding a run in the 3rd on an RBI single by 1B Chad Santos. Omaha poured on 4 more in the 5th on a 3-run force attempt by Brown that he reached second on because of a fielding error. He scored on a pop out by LF Aaron Guiel after a second consecutive error by Iowa 3B Mike Fontenot. The final run came in the 6th on a Santos RBI single before Iowa pounded out 7 runs in the 6th to close the gap to 10-8. RP Wes Wilkerson gave up the backbreaker on a 3-run shot by Iowa LF Jason Dubois in the 8th to give Iowa the edge and Omaha went down in order in the 9th to put the mess to an end. SP Danny Tamayo went 5 1/3 IP and allowed 6 ER on 9 hits and a BB with 2 Ks to move his ERA to 5.68. RP Justin Huisman came in and gave up 2 R (1 ER) over 2/3 IP on 2 hits and a BB with 1 K to make his ERA 3.96 and Wilkerson blew his 4th save and picked up the loss with 3 ER on 2 hits with 1 K over 2 IP to move to 2-3 with a 5.04 ERA. Brown was 2-5 with a double, RBI and 2 RS to improve to .277; Gemoll was 2-5 with an RBI to move to .293; RF Jaime Jones was 2-5 to improve to .251; 3B Chris Truby was 2-4 with a BB and 2 RS to improve to .249; and Santos was 3-5 with 2 RBI to improve to .256.

Omaha is 42-53 and 10 games out of first. Sunday showed why. RH Kyle Snyder (0-2, 3.00) takes the mound for Omaha today in the first of 4 against Round Rock (48-47).

AA: Wichita also suffered through a wild one as Frisco snapped a 13-game losing streak with a 13-11 10 inning win over the Wranglers Sunday. Wichita scored 2 in the 2nd on RBI ground outs by 2B Mike Aviles and C Mathew Tupman to take a 2-1 lead but Frisco tied it in the 3rd and the score remained knotted at 2 into the 5th. Wichita scored 4 that inning on an RBI fielder's choice by CF Mitch Maier and a 3-run homer by 1B Justin Huber (his 11th). Wichita scored again in the 6th on an RBI triple by LF Mel Stocker to make it a 7-4 lead for the Wranglers before it got wild. Frisco scored 4 in the 7th to take an 8-7 advantage and Wichita tied it that inning on a solo homer by SS Donnie Murphy (his 9th). The RoughRiders scored 3 in the 8th to take an 11-8 lead but Wichita scored 2 in the 8th on a Tupman RBI ground out and solo homer by 3B Brennan King (his 6th) to close the gap to 1. Murphy hit a solo tater to lead off the 9th for his 10th of the season and tie the game but Frisco scored twice in the 10th off RP Derrin Ebert. Wichita went down quietly in the 10th to finish the game. SP Brian Bass went 6 1/3 IP and allowed 6 ER on 10 hits with 5 Ks to move his ERA to 5.53. RP Jonah Bayliss blew his 1st save at Wichita with 2/3 IP of 4 ER on 2 hits and 2 BB with a K to bump his ERA to 3.12. RP Trae McGill pitched an inning and gave up 1 ER on 2 hits and 2 BB to make his ERA 5.01 before Ebert got the loss with 2 IP of 2 R (1 ER thanks to a Murphy throwing error) on 2 hits with 1 K to drop to 3-3 with a 5.71 ERA. Murphy had a great day at the plate in going 4-5 with a double, 2 HR, 2 RBI and 2 RS to improve to .313; Huber was 1-5 with a HR and 3 RBI to drop to .342, which leads the league; DH Josh Pressley was 1-3 with a BB and HBP to improve to .298; and King was 2-4 with a BB, HR, RBI and 3 RS to improve to .274.

Wichita is 13-10 and still 2 games up on first. The Wranglers have today off before starting a 5-game set at Springfield (11-12) Tuesday. The Thursday game will be televised on FSN. Follow the time-tested principle of checking your local listings.

High-A: High Desert built an 8-2 lead and hung on for an 8-6 win Sunday to take 3 of 4 from San Jose. The Mavs had a 5-run 2nd thanks to an RBI double by DH Jared Price, a 3-run homer by C Adam Donachie (his 9th) and a wild pitch that allowed strikeout victim CF Chris Lubanski to reach and SS Angel Sanchez to score. The Mavs scored again in the 4th on a solo homer by Donachie (his 10th for his second multi-homer game in a calendar week) and added 2 in the 5th on a 2-run shot by Price (his 5th) to take an 8-2 lead. San Jose rallied for 4 in the 8th but went down meekly in the 9th. SP Devon Lowery went 3 2/3 IP and allowed 2 ER on 4 hits and 4 BB with 3 Ks to move his ERA to 3.06. RP Chris Coughlin tried to keep his snakebit streak going but actually got the win with 3 2/3 IP of 4 ER on 8 hits with a K to move to 2-10 with a 7.27 ERA. He's the Greinke of High Desert. RP Chris Demaria got his 14th save with 1 2/3 IP of 2 hits with 4 Ks to drop his ERA to 2.36. He has taken on the closer's role well. 2B Pete Maestrales was 0-3 with a BB and HBP to drop to .319; Lubanski was 1-4 to drop to .282; LF Billy Butler was 0-4 to drop to .352; 1B Kila Kaaihue was 0-2 with 2 BB to drop to .314; RF Bernard Stephens was 3-4 with 2 RS to improve to .288; Price was 2-4 with a double, HR, 3 RBI and 2 RS to improve to .322; 3B Brandon Powell was 0-3 with a BB to drop to .307; and Donachie was 2-3 with 2 HR, 4 RBI and 2 RS to improve to .279. Maestrales stole his 11th base.

High Desert is 14-10 and 1/2 a game up on first. The Mavs start a 3-game set at Visalia (6-17) tonight. The pitchers: Oaks RHP Jeremy Flanagan (2-5, 5.38) vs. RHP Cesar Herrera (4-4, 6.03).

Low-A: The Burlington Bees won their 4th straight with a 7-4 victory over Clinton Sunday thanks to a big late surge. The Bees tied it at 1 in the 6th (the teams combined for 7 base runners before that inning) on an RBI single by CF Cody Cure but Clinton took a 2-1 lead in the 7th. A Clinton fielding error helped the Bees out to start the 8th and the Bees cashed in on an RBI double by DH Felipe Del Rosario to tie the game. 2B Geraldo Valentin followed with a 2-run single later in the inning to give Burlington a 4-2 lead before Clinton tied it in the bottom of the inning off RP Adam Rowe. The Bees came back in the 9th with a solo homer by RF Brian McFall (his 8th) and, after 2 Clinton errors and the 2nd out of the inning, SS Irving Falu stole home on a double steal and Cure singled home another run. RP Chad Blackwell shut the door on the win. SP Luis Cota pitched well but got a ND as he went 7 IP and allowed 2 ER on 6 hits and 2 BB with 5 Ks to move his ERA to 3.58. Rowe blew his 5th save but got the win despite 1 IP of 2 ER on 2 hits and a BB to move to 5-4 with a 5.32 ERA. Blackwell's save was his 8th as he went 1 IP and allowed 1 BB to drop his ERA to 2.49. 3B Edward Lucas was 0-4 to drop to .313 and Cure was 2-4 with 2 RBI to improve to .303. The Bees stole 5 bases in the win led by 2 from Cure to allow him to move to 7 on the season. LF Kenard Springer stole his 12th and Falu's steal of home was his 14th swipe.

Burlington is 13-11 and 4 games out of first. Tonight's pitchers: LH Danny Christensen (1-4, 3.63) vs. LumberKings RH Kyle Rogers (4-6, 6.49).

Rookie: Idaho Falls swept Great Falls with an 11-7 win over the White Sox Sunday. Idaho Falls started it right with 3 runs in the bottom of the 1st on an RBI single by 1B Blake Adkison and a 2-run longball from CF Andrew Larsen (his 4th) but the Sox tied it in the 3rd. The Chukars regained the lead with 1 in the 3rd on an Adkison sac fly but Great Falls scored 3 in the 5th to take a 6-4 lead. The seesaw game kept going as Idaho Falls scored 3 of its own in the 5th on a throwing error on an Adkison pop out, an RBI double by DH Kiel Thibault and an RBI single by C Jeff Howell. Both teams scored 1 in the 7th as the Sox tied it again momentarily before the Chukars got a sac fly by RF Felix Peguero. Idaho Falls put it away with 3 in the 8th on a throwing error on a sac bunt by LF Ethien Santana and a 2-run single by 3B Gary Perez. SP Rusty Begnaud went 5 innings and allowed 6 ER on 7 hits and 2 BB with 6 Ks to move his ERA to 5.72. RP Eliszer Garcia blew his 1st save and vultured the win with 2 2/3 IP of 1 ER on 3 hits and 1 BB with 4 Ks to move to 2-1 with a 5.82 ERA. RP Zane Carlson got his 5th save with 1 1/3 IP of 1 hit and 1 BB to drop his ERA to 1.12. Santana was 0-4 to drop to .359; SS Chris McConnell was 2-5 with a double to up his BA to .386; Perez was 2-3 with a BB, triple, 2 RBI and 2 RS to improve to .288; Adkison was 2-4 with a double, 2 RBI and 2 RS to move to .300; Larsen was 2-4 with a HR and 2 RBI to up his BA to .310; Thibault was 1-4 with a double and RBI to drop to .349; and 2B Joshua Colafemina was 2-4 to move to .286.

Idaho Falls is 14-12 and a game back of first. The Chukars start a 4-game road set at Billings (15-10) tonight.

The ASL Royals lost to the Mariners for the second time this season in an 8-2 loss Sunday. The M's took a 6-0 lead before the Royals scored 2 in the 6th on RBI singles by 2B Joshua Johnson and SS Jeff Bianchi. That was the extent of the Royals' O on Sunday, tho. SP Angelo Morales got the loss with 2 IP of 3 ER on 5 hits with 2 Ks to drop to 1-1 with a 4.09 ERA. RP Phillip Davidson went 3 innings and gave up 3 ER on 6 hits with 2 Ks to bump his ERA to 2.28. RP Mario Santiago went 2 IP and allowed 2 ER on 4 hits with 1 K to make his ERA 18.00 and RP Henry Barrera went 1 IP and allowed 1 BB with 1 K to drop his ERA to 9.58. Bianchi was 1-4 with an RBI to drop to .467; CF Joseph Dickerson was 0-4 to drop to .296; and 3B Valentino Arce was 0-3 to drop to .371. Bianchi stole his 5th base.

The ASL Royals are 15-6 and a game back of the Giants. They play the Rangers today and the Cubs tomorrow.