Royals on the Farm 7/20

AAA: Omaha's bullpen flunked another test Wednesday as Round Rock scored all 6 of its runs in the final 4 innings to take a 6-5 win. DH Cal Pickering homered to lead off the 2nd (his 13th) and the O-Royals had a 1-0 lead. They added 4 in the 4th on a leadoff homer by RF Aaron Guiel (his 21st) and a 3-run homer by 3B Chris Truby (his 12th) to spread the lead to 5. SP Shawn Camp allowed 1 hit through 5 innings before giving up a homer in the 6th and 2 runs in the 7th but left with a 5-3 lead. RP Dennis Tankersley gave up a run in the 8th to make it a 1-run game and RP Shane Nance gave up the 2-run game winning homer to the first batter he faced in the 9th. Omaha went down with a whimper in the bottom of the 9th. Camp had a quality start with 7 IP of 3 R (2 ER) on 4 hits and a BB with 7 Ks to move his ERA to 3.86. Tankersley got his 2nd hold despite giving up 2 ER on 3 hits and 2 BB with a K over 1 1/3 IP to make his ERA 4.80. Nance blew his 3rd save and picked up the loss with 2/3 IP of 1 ER on 2 hits with 2 Ks to move to 2-4 with a 4.29 ERA. Guiel was 2-5 with a HR and RBI to move to .263 and LF Matt Diaz was 3-4 with 2 doubles to move to .358.

Omaha is 44-54 and 11 games out of first. Today's series finale matchup: Express RH Roberto Giron (3-1, 2.25) vs. RH Ryan Jensen (0-2, 5.81).

AA: Wichita took another game from Springfield with a 5-2 win Wednesday. DH Josh Pressley got the scoring started with a solo roundtripper (his 13th) in the 4th and the Wranglers added a run in the 5th on a solo homer by LF Mel Stocker (his 2nd). Wichita tacked on 2 more in the 6th on a 2-run shot by 1B Justin Huber (his 13th) to take a 4-0 lead. Springfield scored twice to get within striking distance but Wichita got some insurance in the 9th on a Stocker RBI single. SP Kyle Middleton went 6 innings and allowed 2 ER on 8 hits and a BB with 3 Ks to move to 9-6 with a 4.04 ERA. RP Barry Armitage got his 6th hold with a hitless IP in which he K'd 1 to make his ERA 4.09. RP Nate Hoelscher got his 7th hold with 2/3 IP that included 2 Ks to drop his ERA to 5.54. RP Jonah Bayliss got his 8th save with 1 1/3 hitless IP as he walked 1. His ERA is 3.04. Stocker was 2-4 with a HR and RBI to improve to .244; Huber was 2-4 with a HR and 2 RBI to improve to .349; and Pressley was 2-3 with a BB, double, HR and RBI to up his BA to .296. Huber's RBI gave him 66 on the year.

Wichita is 15-10 and 2 1/2 games up on first. Tonight's mound matchup: RHP Thad Markray (4-4, 4.89) vs. Springfield RHP Stuart Pomeranz (1-4, 6.70). As anyone who saw last night's KC win noted, SS Donnie Murphy was called up and announced his presence with authority. OF Shane Costa was sent back to Wichita. Tonight's game is set to be broadcast on FSN starting at 6:30 p.m. Game time is 7:10 p.m. I assume it's on FSN Midwest so most dish owners should be able to pick it up.

High-A: High Desert got swept by cellar-dweller Visalia as the Oaks took a 10-9 win in 11 Wednesday. High Desert jumped out in front with 3 in the 1st as 2B Pete Maestrales hit a leadoff homer (his 13th) and RF Alan Moye later hit a 2-run double. Visalia came back and tied it in the 1st but High Desert regained the lead with 2 in the 2nd on a 2-run double by SS Angel Sanchez. Visalia trimmed the lead to 1 later that inning and took the lead with 2 in the 4th. The Mavs retied it in the 5th on an RBI force out by DH Bernard Stephens and regained the lead in the 6th on a leadoff homer by Maestrales (his 14th). It didn't last long as Visalia scored 2 that inning to take a 8-7 lead. The seesaw went up again as High Desert scored 2 in the 7th on an RBI triple by 3B Brandon Powell and RBI single by C Adam Donachie. Closer Chris Demaria came in in the 8th and set the Oaks down quietly but gave up a leadoff homer in the bottom of the 9th to tie it and eventually send it to extras. RP Nate Moore gave up a walkoff single in the 11th to end it. SP Greg Atencio went 4 IP and allowed 6 ER on 7 hits and 2 BB with 4 Ks to make his ERA 4.37. RP Chris Coughlin went 3 IP and allowed 2 ER on 5 hits with 2 Ks to move his ERA to 7.20. Demaria blew his 5th save with 3 IP of 1 ER on 4 hits and a BB with 3 Ks to move his ERA to 2.39 and Moore got the loss with 1/3 IP of 1 ER on 2 hits and a BB to drop to 2-4 with a 4.78 ERA. Maestrales was 3-5 with a BB, double, 2 HR, 2 RBI and 3 RS to improve to .324; Sanchez was 2-4 with 2 BB, a double and 2 RBI to improve to .286; CF Chris Lubanski was 0-5 with a HBP to drop to .276; LF Billy Butler was 0-5 with a BB to drop to .341; 1B Kila Kaaihue was 2-5 with a BB to improve to .314; Moye was 3-6 with a double and 2 RBI to improve to .286; Powell was 2-5 with a HBP, double, triple and RBI to improve to .305; and Donachie was 2-5 with an RBI to improve to .276. The Mavs left 11 on base. Moye stole 2 bases to get to 17.

High Desert is 14-13 and 1/2 a game back of both Rancho Cucamonga and Lake Elsinore now. The Mavs have today off before starting a set at San Jose (13-14).

Low-A: Burlington had Wednesday off and starts a home series with Kane County (15-11) tonight in a second-place showdown. Burlington is 15-11 and 2 games out of first. SP Justin Sherman (2-3, 2.43) starts for the Bees.

Rookie: Idaho Falls got shut down in an 11-0 loss to Billings Wednesday. A week makes a big difference, I guess, in the Pioneer League. The Chukars took 3 of 4 from Billings then and the tables have been turned as Billings goes for the 4-game sweep tonight. Idaho Falls really only threatened in the 3rd as a runner was thrown out at home and the bases were loaded later that inning. SP Cody Harkcom went 4 IP for the loss as he allowed 5 ER on 5 hits (including 3 HRs) with 6 Ks to drop to 1-3 with a 8.69 ERA. RP Mitch Goins went an inning and allowed 3 ER on 2 hits and a BB with 1 K to make his ERA 8.72 and RP Adam Kalkhof went 3 IP and gave up 3 ER on 5 hits and a BB with 5 Ks to move his ERA to 4.41. SS Chris McConnell was 1-4 to drop to .377; four other players had a hit each; and C Kiel Thibault was 0-3 to drop to .314 while CF Ethien Santana was 0-3 with a BB to drop to .333.

Idaho Falls is 14-15 and 2 games out of first. The series with Billings mercifully concludes tonight. In other Chukars notes, RP Zane Carlson has been promoted to Burlington. Carlson had posted a 1.00 ERA with 5 saves for the Chukars in 8 games. He had 6 strikeouts to just 2 walks. Two players will join the team Thursday -- RHP Travis Trammell, who pitched for Idaho Falls last season, will join the team after recovering from an injury; and RHP Mario Santiago, who was drafted in the 16th round of this year's draft out of Baton Rouge (La.) Community College. He had pitched 2 innings for the the Royals rookie league team in Arizona.

The ASL Royals couldn't come back from an early deficit as they lost to the Brewers, 5-4, to lose their 3rd of 4 games. The Brewers jumped out to a 5-0 lead after 2 innings and the Royals finally got on the board in the 4th on an RBI single by LF Jose Duarte. They proceeded to score 1 in each of the next three innings on a 5th-inning solo homer by C Jefferson Infante (his 2nd), a 6th-inning sac fly by 1B Willie Matos and a 7th-inning solo homer by CF Joseph Dickerson (his 1st pro shot). They didn't threaten to score the tying run other than a double that followed Dickerson's homer. SS Jeff Bianchi didn't play for the second straight game after being removed for a pinch-hitter late in Monday's game against the Rangers. Since nothing in the ASL has its own site (that I know of) no more info is at the fingertips. SP Paul Raglione got the loss with 4 IP of 5 ER on 6 hits with 4 Ks to move to 1-1 with a 7.20 ERA. RP Drew Coffey went 5 IP and allowed only 4 hits with 7 Ks to drop his ERA to 6.75. Dickerson was 2-5 with a HR and RBI to improve to .301; DH Felix Peralta was 2-4 with a double to up his BA to .329; Duarte was 2-4 with a double and RBI to improve to .327; and 3B Pedro Lopez was 1-3 with a BB to drop to .354.

The ASL Royals are 16-8 and a game back of the Giants. They have a day off today before facing off with the Giants Friday.