Royals on the Farm 8/14

AAA: Omaha capitalized on 2 of 3 Iowa errors to get a 3-2 win over the Cubs in 12 and win their 4th straight game. The O-Royals opened the scoring with 2 in the 5th on a 2-run single by RF Aaron Guiel that was aided by an Iowa throwing error. Iowa got a run back in the 7th and closer Santiago Ramirez gave up a leadoff homer in the 9th to allow the Cubs to tie the game. A throwing error allowed LF Matt Diaz to reach with 1 out in the 12th, 1B Justin Huber was intentionally walked and 2B Justin Gemoll drew a walk to load the bases. DH Chad Santos came through with a single to drive Diaz home and end the game. SP Dennis Tankersley went 6 1/3 IP and allowed only 1 ER on 2 hits and 3 walks with 4 Ks to move his ERA to 4.42; RP Shane Nance got his 7th hold with 1/3 IP of 1 hit and a K to drop his ERA to 4.38; RP Dave Elder got his 1st hold with 1 1/3 IP of 1 hit and 1 walk with 3 Ks to keep his ERA at 0.00; Ramirez blew his 4th save with an IP of 1 ER on a hit to move his ERA to 5.58; and RP Justin Huisman held the Cubs in check in extras with 3 IP of 1 hit and 3 walks with 2 Ks to move to 5-1 with an ERA of 4.19. Guiel was 2-3 with 2 walks, a HBP and an RBI to improve to .274; Diaz was 1-6 to drop to .381; Huber was 0-5 with a walk to drop to .241; Santos was 3-6 with an RBI to improve to .261; and SS Luis Ugueto was 2-5 to improve to .208.

Omaha is 60-62 and 8 games back of first. The series with Iowa ends today as the O-Royals go for the sweep. Pitchers: Cubs LH Rich Hill (3-1, 4.53) vs. RH Ryan Jensen (1-7, 6.00).

AA: Wichita had Sunday off to rest up for a 4-game home set with San Antonio (26-23) that starts tonight. The Wranglers are 24-24 and 2 1/2 games back of Arkansas. Ryan Baerlocher (7-2, 2.33) pitches for Wichita tonight against the Missions. In other Wichita news, SP Thad Markray was put on the DL with an undisclosed injury and SS Andres Blanco was moved up to Omaha after proving his worth with a robust .189 BA in a short AA stint.

High-A: High Desert swept Lake Elsinore and ran the Storm's losing streak to 14 games Sunday with a 9-3 win. The Mavs scored 2 in the 2nd on a 2-run longball by RF Alan Moye (his 18th) and broke it open with 4 in the 3rd on a Storm fielding error, a 2-run double by 1B Kila Kaaihue and an RBI single by C Adam Donachie. High Desert added runs in the 4th and 5th on RBI singles by SS Angel Sanchez and 2B Walter Sevilla. The Mavs' final run came in the 8th on a Moye RBI single. SP Patrick Green got the win with 5 IP of 2 ER on 5 hits and 9 Ks to improve to 8-9 with a 3.89 ERA; RP Stephen Chamberlain went an inning and allowed a hit and a walk with a K to drop his ERA to 7.68; RP Chris Coughlin went 2 IP and gave up an ER on 3 hits with a K to move his ERA to 7.61; and RP Drew Endicott went a hitless inning to drop his ERA to 5.88. DH Pete Maestrales was 3-6 with 2 doubles to improve to .320; Sanchez was 1-5 with an RBI to drop to .299; CF Chris Lubanski was 1-3 with 2 walks, a triple and 2 RS to improve to .285; Kaaihue was 1-4 with a walk, double and 2 RBI to drop to .310; Moye was 3-4 with a triple, HR, walk, 3 RBI and 2 RS to improve to .285; 3B Michael Gaffney was 2-3 with a double to improve to .296; and 3B Brandon Powell got in 2 ABs and was 0-2 to drop to .299.

High Desert is 28-22 and up 1 1/2 games on Rancho Cucamonga. The Mavs have tonight off.

Low-A: Burlington got some decent relief from Kraig Schambough to get a 5-4 win and take the series over Southwest Michigan Sunday. The D-Rays jumped out to a 3-0 lead but Burlington came back to tie it in the 5th on a solo homer by SS Gary Perez (his 3rd), an RBI single by IF Edward Lucas and a sac fly by 1B Damaso Espino. The Bees took the lead in the 6th on a solo homer by RF Brian McFall (his 11th) but the D-Rays tied it in the 7th on a run off Schambough. Burlington took the lead for good in the bottom of the 7th on an Espino RBI ground out and Schambough took care of the rest as he put SWM down without much trouble in the 8th and 9th. SP Daniel Christensen went 5 IP and allowed 3 R (2 ER) on 6 hits and 2 walks with 5 Ks to move his ERA to 3.93 and Schambough got the win to move to 1-0 with 4 IP of 1 ER on 1 hit and 2 walks with 6 Ks to drop his ERA to 5.29. Lucas was 2-4 with an RBI to improve to .305 and CF Kenard Springer was 2-4 to up his BA to .239. Perez was 1-4 with the HR and RBI to improve to .189. Lucas stole his 26th base and Springer swiped his 18th. Perez made his 10th error.

Burlington is 26-24 and 3 games back of Quad Cities. The Bees start a 4-game home set with Wisconsin (28-22) tonight. Pitchers: RH Justin Sherman (3-7, 4.09) vs. Wisconsin RH Mark Lowe (6-4, 5.47). In other Bees news, RHP Gabe DeHoyos was promoted to High Desert and RHP Rusty Begnaud was recalled from Idaho Falls. DeHoyos leaves the Bees with a 4-1 record, a 1.56 ERA, and three saves in 28 games, including his first three professional starts -- at least they aren't just jumping him to AAA like they did earlier in the season, which (surprise!) didn't work out. Begnaud started the season with the Bees and had no record and an 8.49 ERA and one save in nine appearances including one start. In 12 appearances with the Chukars, he was 2-4 with a 5.63 ERA and earned a save in his only relief appearance. In 54.1 innings, he allowed 77 hits and 46 runs (34 earned) while walking 17 and striking out 37.

Rookie: Idaho Falls C Kiel Thibault put on a fireworks show Sunday with 3 HR and 9 RBI in an 18-10 Chukars win over Helena for the Brewers' 3rd loss of the season. Thibault tied the Pioneer League record for homers in a game with 12 other batters and Idaho Falls knocked 6 pitches out of the park Monday. The Chukars scored 1 in the 1st on a solo shot by SS Chris McConnell (his 4th) but went off for 10 in the 2nd on a solo homer by 1B Jase Turner (his 8th), a 2-run shot by 3B Brenan Herrera (his 1st pro homer), an RBI single by RF Felix Peguero, a bases-loaded HBP by Turner, an RBI single by LF Antonio Sabatini and a grand slam by Thibault (his 5th). Five more Chukars scored in the 3rd on a Helena error, a Sabatini RBI single and a 3-run shot by Thibault (his 6th). Idaho Falls padded the lead with 2 in the 8th on a 2-run shot by Thibault (his 7th). Royals 3rd-rounder SP Chris Nicoll had another nice start with 4 2/3 IP of an ER on 5 hits and 2 walks with 5 Ks to move his ERA to 1.69; RP Cody Harkcom got the win with 1 1/3 IP of 3 ER on 3 hits with 2 Ks to move to 3-5 with a 9.00 ERA; RP Jacob Eckley went an inning and allowed 4 ER on 5 hits to up his ERA to 5.79; RP Travis Trammell went an inning and allowed 2 ER on 2 hits to move his ERA to 10.80; and RP Adam Kalkhof went an inning and allowed 2 hits and a walk with a K to drop his ERA to 3.64. McConnell was 1-4 with 2 walks, a HR and RBI with 3 RS to drop to .354; Peguero was 2-6 with an RBI and 2 RS to improve to .225; DH Brady Everett was 1-4 with a walk to drop to .380; Sabatini was 3-4 with a walk, 2 RBI and 4 RS to improve to .281; Thibault was 4-5 with a double, 3 HR, 9 RBI and 3 RS to improve to .344; and Herrera was 2-5 with a triple, HR and 2 RBI to improve to .265. 2B Joshua Johnson made his 10th error.

Idaho Falls is 7-8 and 2 games out of first. The Chukars continue the set with Helena today.

The ASL Royals' game with the Brewers Sunday was unreported at MiLB's site. The Royals are 6-6 and 3 games back of first with three games unreported on MiLB's site. They have tonight off before 2 with the Angels tomorrow.