Royals on the Farm 7/31

AAA: Omaha LF Matt Diaz put on a show again Sunday and the O-Royals' bullpen tried to blow it but couldn't in a 7-6 win over Tacoma. Omaha scored 2 in the 1st on an RBI single by RF Aaron Guiel and a sac fly by C Paul Phillips and added 3 in the 5th on a 3-run blast by Diaz (his 7th) to take a 5-0 lead. After SP J.P. Howell left the game, the Rainiers got to RP Nate Field for 3 in the 7th and RP Chris George for another in the 8th to close the gap to 1. Omaha bounced back to score 2 in the 9th on a 2-run shot by Diaz (his 8th) to apparently put the game on ice but RP Santiago Ramirez gave up a 2-run homer in the 9th before settling down to close it out. Howell went 6 IP and allowed only 4 hits and 3 BB with 5 Ks to improve to 2-1 with a 5.28 ERA; Field went 2/3 of an inning and allowed 3 ER on 3 hits and a BB to move his ERA to 7.59; George got his 1st hold with 2/3 IP of 1 UER on 2 hits with 2 BB and 2 Ks to drop his ERA to 5.48; and Ramirez got his 9th save with 1 2/3 IP of 2 ER on 3 hits with 2 Ks to bump his ERA to 5.53. Diaz was a measly double from the cycle as he went 5-5 with a triple, 2 HR, 5 RBI and 2 RS to improve to .411. This came just four days after his 6-for-6 game. Since July 23, he has hit .619 (26-for-42) with eight doubles. The rest of the team had 3 hits Sunday. CF Adrian Brown stole his 26th base. Justin Huber didn't play.

Omaha was 49-60 entering today. RH Danny Tamayo (5-7, 6.92) goes for Omaha tonight as the Tacoma series continues. In other Omaha news, Diaz (who else?) was named the PCL’s Player of the Week. In seven games, the Royals outfielder hit .606 (20-33) with 7 doubles, 2 triples and 2 home runs. His 5 RBI Sunday tied the Royals season high, set by Aaron Guiel in a game against Round Rock on July 19. Diaz is on a nine-game hitting streak, one shy of his longest of the season.

AA: Wichita took its second straight beating with a 14-1 loss to Arkansas Sunday to fall a game behind the Travs. Travs SP Jered Weaver shut the Wranglers down over 6 IP as Wichita's only run came in the 4th on an RBI single by C Mathew Tupman. SP Thad Markray only went 2 IP and allowed 1 ER on 3 hits with 4 Ks before giving way to RP Juan Cedeno for no apparent reason on the Wichita site. Markray dropped to 4-7 with a 5.26 ERA; Cedeno allowed 6 ER on 6 hits and a BB with a K over 3 1/3 IP to bump his ERA to 10.29; RP Barry Armitage allowed 4 ER on 4 hits and 3 BB with a K over 2 1/3 IP to bump his ERA to 4.21; and RP Nate Hoelscher went 1 1/3 IP, giving up 3 ER on 2 hits and a BB with a K to move his ERA to 5.93. CF Mitch Maier was 0-4 to drop to .239; DH Shane Costa was 1-4 to drop to .280; and 1B Josh Pressley was 0-4 to drop to .291. SS Mike Aviles showed up on the wrong end of the box score again with his 31st error.

Wichita was 20-18 and a game back of Arkansas entering today. They have today and tomorrow off before a game against Tulsa Wednesday.

High-A: SP John Gragg III did the work on the mound with a complete game 4-hitter and the High Desert offense did more than enough in an 18-0 win to end the series with Lake Elsinore. The Mavs started slowly with a run in the 1st on an RBI double by DH Billy Butler and scored again in the 3rd on a sac fly by SS Angel Sanchez. They added 3 in the 4th on an RBI double by 3B Brandon Powell and RBI singles by Sanchez and Butler before scoring 2 in the 5th on a solo homer by C Jared Price (his 10th) and a double play ball by RF Alan Moye. The Mavs padded the lead with 2 in the 6th on a 2-run double by Sanchez and 1 in the 7th on a Storm throwing error. High Desert polished it off with 3 in the 8th on an RBI singles by CF Chris Lubanski and Moye along with a sac fly by LF Bernard Stephens; and 5 in the 9th on a 2-run double by 1B Kila Kaaihue, a 2-run shot by Moye (his 16th) and a solo homer by Stephens (his 11th). Gragg allowed 4 hits and 3 BB with 3 Ks over 9 IP to improve to 10-3 with a 3.91 ERA. It was only the third complete-game shutout in the Cal League this season. All the starters had 2 hits each. 2B Pete Maestrales was 2-3 with 3 BB and 2 RS to improve to .325; Butler was 4-6 with 2 doubles and 2 RBI to improve to .350; Price was 1-4 with the HR and RBI to drop to .352; Lubanski was 3-6 with an RBI and 3 RS to improve to .287; Kaaihue was 2-3 with 3 BB, 2 doubles and 2 RBI along with 2 RS to improve to .313; and Moye was 2-5 with a HR and 5 RBI to improve to .284. Powell was 2-5 with a BB, 2 doubles, an RBI and 3 RS to improve to .307. Butler is up to 88 RBI.

High Desert was 20-16 entering today and tied with Rancho Cucamonga for the division lead. A 4-game set at Rancho Cucamonga (20-16) starts tonight.

Low-A: Burlington had a bad 6th and dropped a game to Wisconsin, 4-1, Sunday. The Bees tied the game at 1 in the 2nd on a solo homer by RF Brian McFall (his 10th) and it remained that way into the 6th, when Wisconsin got to SP Justin Sherman for 3 runs to take the lead for good. Sherman got the loss with 6 IP of 4 R (3 ER) on 7 hits and 2 BB with 6 Ks to drop to 3-5 with a 2.95 ERA; RP Kraig Schambough went 2 IP and allowed only 2 hits to drop his ERA to 4.00; and RP Chad Blackwell went a hitless IP with a BB and K to drop his ERA to 2.52. CF Cody Cure was 2-4 with a double to up his BA to .308 and 3B Edward Lucas was 0-4 to drop to .303.

Burlington was 21-16 and 2 games behind Quad Cities entering today. Actually, they ended the series with Wisconsin today and not yesterday as reported.

Rookie: Idaho Falls had Sunday off and starts a 3-game set at 1-0 Ogden today. The Chukars are 0-1 to open the second half.

The ASL Royals had Sunday off and are 2-1. They play the Rangers tonight and the Cubs tomorrow.