Royals on the Farm 7/2

AAA: Omaha squandered a good start from Chris George as the Royals didn't score until the 9th in a 2-1 loss to Albuquerque. Albuquerque's Chris Aguila hit a 2-run shot in the 5th and Omaha's only run came on a 9th inning solo job by RF Aaron Guiel (his 17th). George went 6 innings and allowed 2 ER on 6 hits with a BB and 11 Ks (the most in a game by an Omaha pitcher since April 2001) to move to 6-5 with a 4.65 ERA. He may be pitching to be trade bait. RP Shawn Sonnier went 2 innings and allowed 3 hits with 2 Ks to drop his ERA to 5.51. RP Jeremy Affeldt made a rehab appearance and pitched an inning in which he K'd 1 and allowed 1 hit as his ERA sagged to 7.11. Guiel was 2-4 with a double, HR and RBI to improve to .261; and LF Cory Aldridge was 2-3 to improve to .382 at Omaha.

Omaha is 38-45 and 7 games back of first. Albuquerque RH Travis Smith (2-2, 7.50) takes on RH Denny Bautista (0-1, 4.91) in tonight's series finale.

AA: A 3-run 7th made the difference for Springfield in a 7-4 win over Wichita. The Cardinals scored 2 in the 1st before Wichita tallied a run on a ground out by CF Mitch Maier in the bottom of the frame. Wichita later tied the game with 2 in the 5th on a 2-run shot by 2B Donnie Murphy (his 4th). Springfield scored 4 in the 6th and 7th to take a 7-3 lead and Wichita could only muster a run in the 8th on an RBI single by SS Mike Aviles. SP Kyle Middleton went 6 innings and allowed 6 R (5 ER) on 9 hits and a BB with 4 Ks to pick up the loss and move to 7-6 with a 4.06 ERA. RP Ambiorix Burgos made his first rehab appearance and allowed 1 ER on 3 hits with a K in 1/3 IP to move his AA ERA to 5.40. RP Trae McGill went 1 2/3 IP and K'd 3 to drop his ERA to 4.61. RP Colt Griffin pitched an inning and K'd 1 to drop his ERA to 3.98. Murphy was 2-4 with a BB, HR, 2 RBI and 2 RS to improve to .287; 1B Justin Huber was 2-4 in his return to AA with a double to improve to .335 (Tell me why, again, he wasn't just sent to Omaha? It doesn't exactly seem like Omaha 1B Chad Santos is being groomed for the majors.); C Mathew Tupman was 1-4 to drop to .309; and RF Wilkin Ruan continued his hot streak with a 2-3 night that included a double as he improved to .242. Aviles made 2 errors in the game to get to 21 on the season.

Wichita is 5-4 and held its game lead on first. RHP Ryan Baerlocher (2-0, 1.61) and his 20+-inning shutout streak will face Springfield RHP Jordan Pals (4-5, 3.71) tonight in game 3 of the 5-game set.

High-A: A 2-run 6th was enough to propel High Desert to a 7-5 win over Lake Elsinore Saturday. The Mavs came back from an early 1-0 deficit with 3 in the 2nd on a solo homer by DH Alan Moye (his 12th) and a 2-run double by 2B Walter Sevilla. Lake Elsinore tied the game but High Desert scored 1 in the 4th on a sac fly by 3B Brandon Powell and another in the 5th on a solo homer by LF Billy Butler (his 19th). Lake Elsinore closed the score to 5-4 in the top of the 6th but the Mavs scored 2 that inning on a 2-run tater by Powell (his 12th) to make it a 7-4 game. From there the bullpen took over to clamp down the win. SP Chris Coughlin got off the zero-point with 6 IP of 4 ER on 11 hits and a BB with 2Ks to move to 1-7 with a 6.64 ERA. RP Stephen Chamberlain got his 6th hold with 1 2/3 IP of 1 ER on 2 hits and a BB to make his ERA 7.08. RP Chris Demaria picked up his 8th save with 1 1/3 IP that included 1 K to drop his ERA to 2.61. Butler was 2-4 with a HR and RBI to improve to .361; 1B Kila Kaaihue was 0-4 to drop to .314 and is officially slumping; Moye was 2-4 with a HR and RBI to improve to .269; C Jared Price was 3-3 with 2 RS to improve to .314; and Powell was 2-3 with a double, HR and 3 RBI and 2 RS to improve to .305. Butler had his 61st RBI in the win and Moye stole his 14th base.

High Desert is 5-4 and a game back of Rancho Cucamonga. No starters were announced for today's series finale with the Storm.

Low-A: A big comeback was all for naught for Burlington Saturday in an 8-7 loss to Peoria. Peoria scored 6 in the first on 4 walks, 2 hits, an error and 2 wild pitches by SP Matt Campbell but Burlington didn't fold early. The Bees scored 2 in the 2nd on RBI singles by LF Kenard Springer and DH Felipe Del Rosario and, after Peoria stretched its lead to 7-2 in the 6th, added 2 in the 7th on an RBI triple by SS Irving Falu and a throwing error on a ball hit by 3B Mario Lisson. A run in the 8th on a Springer ground out and 2 in the 9th on an RBI single by C Damaso Espino and a wild pitch that scored Lisson tied the game. Peoria ended the drama shortly, tho, as 2B Eric Patterson hit a 1-out walkoff double to end the game. Campbell went 2 innings and gave up the 6 ER on 2 hits and 4 BB to move his ERA to 4.66. RP Daniel Christensen went 4 innings and gave up 1 ER on 3 hits and a BB with 2 Ks to move his ERA to 3.58. RP Gabe DeHoyos pitched a hitless inning to drop his ERA to 1.77 and RP Adam Rowe picked up the loss to drop to 3-4. He went 1 1/3 IP and allowed 1 ER on 3 hits to make his ERA 5.35. Falu was 2-5 with a triple, RBI and 2 RS to improve to .258; 2B Geraldo Valentin was 2-4 to improve to .257; and Del Rosario was 2-4 with an RBI to up his BA to .182. Lisson stole his 21st base and Valentin made his 10th error in the loss. Falu has a 20-game hitting streak going.

Burlington is 4-6 and 4 games back of first. SP Patrick Green (3-6, 4.86) goes for the Bees in the series finale with Peoria tonight against RH Matt Weber (3-8, 3.39). In other Bees news, RP Greg Atencio was moved up to High Desert after going 5-2 with a 4.15 ERA in 17 appearances, including two starts.

Rookie: Idaho Falls got back on the winning side with a 6-5 win over Orem Saturday. The Chukars kicked off the scoring with 1 in the 1st on an RBI single by SS Christopher McConnell but Orem came back with 4 runs to take a 4-1 lead. Idaho Falls tied the game with 3 in the 4th on a solo homer by LF Antonio Sabatini (his 2nd) and a 2-run triple by McConnell. The Chukars added runs in the 5th and 6th on an RBI single by Sabatini and a sac fly by 2B Gary Perez and the bullpen held off Orem for the win. SP Ryan Dipietro went 4 innings and gave up 4 ER on 7 hits with 5 Ks to move his ERA to 3.97. RP David Henninger got the win to move to 2-0. He went 4 innings and allowed 1 ER on 4 hits with 4 Ks to make his ERA 0.73. RP Zane Carlson got his 2nd save with 1 IP of only 1 hit to keep his ERA at 0.o0. CF Ethien Santana was 1-2 with 2 BB and 2 RS to improve to .400; McConnell was 3-4 and a homer short of the cycle with a double, triple, walk and 3 RBI to improve to .348; and Sabatini was 3-4 with a HR and 2 RBI to improve to .414. The Chukars left 11 on base.

Idaho Falls is 5-7 and 4 games back of Ogden. Game two of the Orem series is tonight.

The ASL Royals did most of their damage in a 3-run 1st and got the 5-3 win over the Giants. The 3 early runs came on a 2-run double by DH Felix Peralta and an RBI single by LF Alvi Morel. They tacked on a run in the 3rd on a solo homer by RF Oscar Gonzalez (his 1st). The 5th run came in the 7th on an RBI double by Peralta. SP Phillip Davidson went 5 innings and allowed 3 R (2 ER) on 4 hits with 1 K and got the win to move to 2-0 with an ERA of 2.45. RP Gilbert De la vara got his 1st save with 4 IP of 2 hits with 4 Ks to drop his ERA to 7.94. SS Jeff Bianchi was 0-3 with a BB to drop to .531; CF Joseph Dickerson was 1-4 with a double to drop to .394; Peralta was 3-4 with 2 doubles and 3 RBI to improve to .462; Gonzalez was 1-4 with the HR and RBI to drop to .306; Morel was 3-4 with an RBI to improve to .429; and 3B Valentino Arce was 2-4 to improve to .360.

The ASL Royals are 6-3 and in a 4-way tie for first. They were set to play the Mariners today.