Royals on the Farm 7/22

AAA: Omaha's downward spiral continued as a 4-run 5th helped Nashville to a series-opening 9-4 win Friday. Omaha started off the scoring in the 1st on a solo shot by RF Aaron Guiel (his 22nd) but Nashville scored 2 in the 2nd to take the lead. The O-Royals tied it in the 3rd on an RBI single by CF Adrian Brown but Nashville's 5th-inning surge put Omaha down for the count. The O-Royals scored 2 in the 6th on a 2-run double by Guiel but couldn't get any more runners across the plate. SP Danny Tamayo went 5 IP and allowed 6 ER on 6 hits and 2 BB with 6 Ks to drop to 4-7 with a 5.92 ERA. RP Shawn Sonnier went 3 IP and gave up 1 ER on 2 hits and a BB with 1 K to move his ERA to 4.44. RP Justin Huisman finished it with an IP of 2 ER on 2 hits and a BB to move his ERA to 4.25. Brown was 2-4 with a double and RBI to improve to .277; Guiel was 2-4 with a double, HR and 3 RBI to move to .266; LF Matt Diaz was 0-4 to drop to .327; 1B Chad Santos was 2-3 with a double to move to .259; and SS Denny Hocking was 2-3 with a double and 2 RS to up his BA to .269.

Omaha is 44-56 and 12 games out of first. Tonight's pitching matchup: LH Jeff Housman (4-7, 5.28) vs. RH Dennis Tankersley (7-6, 4.80).

AA: Wichita was held down by Springfield pitchers and the Cardinals took a 5-3 win over the Wranglers Friday to make Saturday's series finale the rubber match. The Wranglers took a 2-0 lead in the 3rd on a 2-run shot by LF Shane Costa (his 6th) in his first game back at Wichita. Springfield took the lead at 3-2 in the 5th but Wichita tied it in the 7th on an RBI single by 2B Brett Groves. RP Colt Griffin gave up a homer in the bottom of the inning and a run in the 8th to give the Cards a 2-run lead and the Wranglers couldn't do any more damage. SP Mike Stodolka only went 3 innings and allowed 3 hits before being pulled. His ERA dropped to 5.58. RP Derrin Ebert went 3 IP and allowed 3 ER on 7 hits and a BB with 3 Ks to move his ERA to 5.85. Griffin got the loss to drop to 1-1. He went 2 IP and allowed 2 R (1 ER) on 1 hit to make his ERA 4.09. Costa was 1-4 with the HR and 2 RBI to move his BA to .273; 1B Justin Huber was 0-4 to drop to .346; and 3B Brennan King was 2-4 to improve to .276.

Wichita is 15-12 and 1 1/2 games up on first. No announced starters for tonight's finale on either team site.

High-A: High Desert got bombarded by San Jose in a 15-4 loss Friday. San Jose was up, 13-0, before High Desert even scored as the Mavs pushed across a run in the 6th on an RBI single by SS Angel Sanchez. High Desert added 2 in the 8th on a passed ball and a sac fly by CF Chris Lubanski and scored again in the 9th on an RBI single by 3B Brandon Powell. SP Billy Buckner got run after 3 1/3 IP of 8 ER on 8 hits and 5 BB with 4 Ks to drop to 7-11 with a 4.64 ERA. RP Drew Endicott went 2 2/3 IP and gave up 5 ER on 5 hits and 2 BB to move his ERA to 6.23. RP Stephen Chamberlain went 2 IP and allowed 2 ER on 3 hits to make his ERA 8.08. 2B Pete Maestrales was 0-4 to drop to .319; Lubanski was 0-3 with an RBI to drop to .274; DH Billy Butler was 1-4 to drop to .340; 1B Kila Kaaihue was 1-4 to drop to .313; and Powell was 3-4 with an RBI and 2 RS to improve to .311. Buckner threw 4 wild pitches in his outing.

High Desert is 14-14 and 1 1/2 games back of first. Tonight's pitching matchup: Giants SP Ryan Sadowski (5-4, 4.52 ERA) vs. Devon Lowery (1-1, 3.06 ERA).

Low-A: Burlington kept its amazing run going with its 8th straight win in a 3-1 victory over Kane County Friday. The Bees scored 2 in the 2nd on a 2-run single by CF Cody Cure and added a run in the 3rd on a solo homer by DH Rusty Brown (his 14th). After that the pitchers took over as three Bees hurlers combined to hold the Cougars to a run on 5 hits. SP Patrick Hicklen went 7 strong innings for his 6th win. He gave up 1 ER on 3 hits and 2 BB with 6 Ks as he improved to 6-4 with a 3.84 ERA. RP Gabe DeHoyos got his 2nd hold with 1 IP of 1 hit with 2 Ks to drop his ERA to 1.49. RP Chad Blackwell got his 9th save with 1 IP of 1 hit with 1 K to drop his ERA to 2.38. 3B Edward Lucas was 0-4 to drop to .309; Brown was 2-4 with a HR and RBI with 2 RS to improve to .293; 2B Geraldo Valentin was 2-4 to up his BA to .258; LF Kenard Springer was 2-4 to move to .241 and up his hitting streak to 17 games; and Cure was 2-2 with a BB and 2 RBI to improve to .342. Springer threw in his 14th steal in the win.

Burlington is 17-11 and tied with Quad Cities atop the Midwest League Western division. Tonight's pitching matchup: RH Luis Cota (3-4, 3.58) vs. Cougars LH Ryan Ford (9-4, 4.12). The 8-game run is the team's longest winning streak since 2002.

Rookie: Idaho Falls dropped a 13-10 game to Great Falls as the White Sox scored 11 over 2 innings to drop the Chukars to their 5th loss in a row. Idaho Falls took a 1-0 lead in the 1st on an RBI single by RF Felix Peguero but Great Falls tied it that inning. The Chukars scored 3 in the 3rd on a 3-run homer by 1B Blake Adkison (his 6th) and added 3 more in the 4th on a 3-run shot by CF Andrew Larsen (his 5th) to take a 7-1 lead. Great Falls erased that with a 7-run 5th but Idaho Falls tied it in the 6th on an Adkison RBI double. The White Sox scored 4 in the 6th to retake the lead at 12-8 and the Chukars couldn't come back. Idaho Falls scored 1 in the 8th on an Adkison RBI single and again in the 9th on an RBI ground out by 3B Joshua Colafemina. SP Rusty Begnaud went 4 1/3 IP and allowed 8 R (7 ER) on 8 hits and 1 BB with 2 Ks to move his ERA to 6.89. RP David Henninger got the loss with 1 2/3 IP of 4 UER on 3 hits and 3 BB with 2 Ks to drop to 2-1 with a 2.73 ERA. RP Travis Trammell made his season debut and went 1 hitless IP with 1 K to keep his ERA at 0.00. RP Kevin Bulger went an inning and allowed 1 ER on 2 hits with 1 K to make his ERA 12.79. Larsen was 2-5 with a BB, HR, 3 RBI and 3 RS to improve to .299; SS Chris McConnell was 1-3 with a double and HBP to drop to .364; 2B Gary Perez was 3-4 with a BB and 2 RS to improve to .323; Adkison was 3-5 with a double, HR and 5 RBI to improve to .286; DH Brady Everett was 1-4 with a BB and double to drop to .413; and C Jeff Howell was 2-5 to up his BA to .346. Perez made 2 errors to get to 8 on the season.

Idaho Falls is 14-17 and 2 games out of first. The series with Great Falls continues tonight.

The ASL Royals dropped their 4th of 5 games as the league-leading Giants took a 5-3 win. The Royals tied it at 1 in the 3rd on a solo homer by C Ross Boudreaux (his 2nd). The Royals took the lead in the 4th on an RBI force out by 3B Pedro Lopez but the Giants tied it in the 5th. The Royals went back ahead that inning on a sac fly by CF Joseph Dickerson but the Giants tied it again in the 6th and took the lead for good in the 7th. SP Angelo Morales went 3 IP and allowed 1 ER on 4 hits with 3 Ks to make his ERA 3.86. RP Matt Pena got the loss with 3 1/3 IP of 4 R (3 ER) on 5 hits with 2 Ks to drop to 0-1 with a 2.84 ERA. RP Phillip Davidson went 2 2/3 IP went the last 2 2/3 IP and allowed only 1 hit with 2 BB and 3 Ks to drop his ERA to 2.05. SS Andres Blanco made an appearance as he tries to salvage an injury-plagued season. He went 1-3 to start off at .333 in the ASL; Dickerson was 0-1 with 2 BB and an RBI to drop to .298; LF Jose Duarte was 2-4 with a double to improve to .339; and Boudreaux was 2-3 with a HR, RBI and 2 RS to improve to .283. Blanco also made an error in the loss. Still no sight of Jeff Bianchi.

The ASL Royals are 16-9 and 2 games back of the Giants. They took on the A's today and play the Padres tomorrow.