Royals on the Farm 9/2

AAA: Omaha stayed a game back of Nashville with a late rally in a 5-3 win over Oklahoma Friday. Omaha broke a 0-0 tie in the 4th on an RBI single by 3B Chris Truby but Oklahoma tied it that inning off SP Kyle Snyder. RP Nate Field gave up a 2-run single in the 7th and the RedHawks took a 3-1 lead. After a ground out by SS Andres Blanco scored a run, Truby got the big shot with a 2-run blast (his 20th) to give Omaha a 4-3 lead. C Jared Price tacked on a solo homer (his 5th) in the 9th and RP Santiago Ramirez pitched the 9th for another save. Snyder went 5 2/3 IP and allowed 1 ER on 7 hits and 3 walks with 3 Ks to drop his ERA to 3.55; RP Shane Nance went 2/3 IP and allowed 2 ER on a hit and walk to move his ERA to 4.81; Field got the win despite giving up the 2-run single. He allowed a hit and walk with a K as he improved to 1-0 with a 4.91 ERA; RP Dave Elder got his 3rd hold with a hitless IP that included a walk and 2Ks to keep to a 0.00 ERA; and Ramirez got his 17th save in allowing a hit and walk with 2 Ks in an IP to drop his ERA to 5.21. CF Adrian Brown was 3-5 with a double and 2 RS to improve to .277; Blanco was 0-5 with an RBI to drop to .260; Truby was 2-4 with a HR and 3 RBI to improve to .244; Price was 1-4 with a HR and RBI to improve to .232; LF Shane Costa was 0-4 in his first game at AAA; and RF Jaime Jones was 2-4 with a double to improve to .266. 1B Chad Santos was 0-4 to drop to .261. Brown also stole his 30th base.

Omaha is 72-69 and 1 game behind Nashville with 3 games left in the season. Omaha continues the final series of the season tonight at Oklahoma. Pitchers: RH Dennis Tankersley (9-8, 4.29) vs. RH Josh Rupe (6-7, 6.47). In other O-Royals news, with 101 runs scored on the season, Brown is the 2nd Royal to ever hit the century mark in a single season and is just two runs shy of the club’s single season record set by George Spriggs in 1969.

AA: Wichita cranked out a 7-5 win over Tulsa to stay on track to finish at .500 with wins in the remaining 2 games. Tulsa took a 1-0 lead in the 3rd but Wichita tied it in the 4th on a solo homer by LF Billy Butler (his 5th). After Tulsa scored 3 off SP Ryan Baerlocher in the 4th to open a lead, Wichita matched it in the 5th on a 3-run shot by 1B Josh Pressley (his 22nd) to tie it at 4. Tulsa again took the lead with a run in the bottom of the 5th but Wichita scored 3 in the 6th on a 2-run single by Pressley and an RBI single by 3B Brennan King. RP Jonah Bayliss got the lead into the 9th and RP Chris Demaria got out of a 2-on, 1-out jam with 2 Ks to end it. Baerlocher went 4 IP and allowed 4 ER on 6 hits and a walk with 5 Ks to make his ERA 3.44; RP Wes Wilkerson got the win with 1 1/3 IP of 1 ER on 2 hits and a walk with a K to improve to 1-4 with a 6.53 ERA; Bayliss got his 1st hold with 2 2/3 hitless IP that included 4 Ks to drop his ERA to 2.84; and Demaria got his 1st save with an IP of 2 hits with 2 Ks to drop his ERA to 1.88. DH Ruben Gotay was 4-5 with a double and 2 RS to improve to .257; CF Mitch Maier was 0-3 with 2 walks and 2 RS to drop to .254; Pressley was 3-5 with a double, HR and 5 RBI to improve to .314; King was 2-4 with a walk and RBI to improve to .286; and Butler was 1-5 with a HR and RBI to drop to .324.

Wichita is 33-35 and out of the playoff hunt with 2 games to play. The final series at Tulsa continues tonight. No announced starters.

High-A: High Desert lost one chance to clinch the division title as Lancaster took a 13-11 win Friday. High Desert jumped out to a 4-0 lead with 3 runs in the 2nd and 1 in the 3rd on a bases-loaded double by 2B Pete Maestrales and a solo homer by 1B Kila Kaaihue (his 19th). After Lancaster scored in the 4th, the Mavs regained the 4-run lead with an RBI single by SS Angel Sanchez. Lancaster put up 2 in the 5th and broke through with 5 in the 6th to take an 8-5 lead. High Desert scored again in the 6th on an RBI single by CF Chris Lubanski but Lancaster scored 4 in the 7th to make it a 12-6 game. The Mavs scored 2 in the 7th on a solo homer by 3B Adam Keim (his 26th) and an RBI ground out by C Adam Donachie but Lancaster got an insurance run in the 8th. RF Alan Moye led off the 9th with a homer (his 24th) and, with 2 out, Maestrales walked and Sanchez cracked a 2-run homer (his 5th) to make the score 13-11. Lubanski doubled to bring the tying run to the plate but Kaaihue struck out to end the game. SP Devon Lowery took the loss with 5 2/3 IP of 7 R (3 ER thanks to a Lubanski error with 2 out in the 6th) on 6 hits and 2 walks with 4 Ks to drop to 6-3 with a 3.84 ERA; RP Greg Atencio went 1 1/3 IP and allowed 5 ER on 7 hits and a walk to move his ERA to 4.85; RP Chris Coughlin allowed 1 ER on 1 hit and a walk with 2 Ks in 1 IP to move his ERA to 7.16; and RP Stephen Chamberlain went a hitless inning with a K to drop his ERA to 7.82. Maestrales was 2-5 with a walk, 2 doubles, 3 RBI and 2 RS to improve to .321; Sanchez was 3-6 with a HR and 3 RBI to improve to .310; Lubanski was 2-5 with a walk, double and RBI to move back to .300 -- his error was his 8th; Kaaihue was 1-6 with a HR and RBI to drop to .305; LF Bernard Stephens was 3-5 with a double and 2 RS to improve to .302; and Moye was 4-4 with a walk, HR, RBI and 3 RS to improve to .295. Lubanski is up to 115 RBI on the season.

High Desert is 38-30 and has clinched a playoff berth with 2 games to play. The Mavs are up 1 1/2 games on Lancaster with a shot to take the second-half division title with another win. The final regular season series with the JetHawks continues tonight. No announced starters. Home field advantage in the first round of the Cal League playoffs is at stake as HD earns it with another win. They will face Lancaster in a best-of-3 series to start the playoffs Sept. 7.

Low-A: Burlington dropped another game in a 4-3 loss to Clinton Friday. No game log at the Bees' site. SP Luis Cota went 5 IP and allowed 2 ER on 6 hits and 3 walks with 5 Ks and 3 wild pitches to move his ERA to 4.01; RP Chad Blackwell got his 2nd hold with 3 IP of 5 hits with 3 Ks to drop his ERA to 2.23; and RP Adam Rowe blew his 7th save and took the loss with 1 2/3 IP of 2 ER on 4 hits and 2 walks to drop to 5-6 with a 5.01 ERA. SS Irving Falu was 2-5 to improve to .250; 2B Gary Perez was 1-5 with a 2-run homer (his 4th) and 2 RBI to drop to .267; 1B Miguel Vega was 2-5 to improve to .260; 3B Edward Lucas was 1-5 with an RBI to drop to .288; and LF Darwinson Salazar was 2-3 with a walk to improve to .174. Falu stole his 32nd base and Lucas swiped his 28th. Falu also made his 21st error.

Burlington is 30-37 and out of the playoff hunt. The Bees continue the final series at Clinton tonight. No announced starters.

Rookie: Idaho Falls had a monster 1st in a 10-9 win over Casper Friday. The Rockies scored 3 off SP Mario Santiago in the 1st but the Chukars came back with 8 that inning on an RBI double by 1B Jase Turner, a Rockie wild pitch, an RBI single by C Kiel Thibault, a Casper fielding error, an RBI single by 2B Joshua Johnson, a 2-run single by CF Ethien Santana and a sac fly by SS Chris McConnell. Casper closed the gap to 8-5 before Idaho Falls scored again in the 5th on a McConnell solo homer (his 5th). Casper came back to tie it in the 8th before the Chukars regained the lead on a Johnson RBI single with 2 out in the 8th. RP Jacob Eckley set the Rockies down in order in the 9th to end it. Santiago went 2 2/3 IP and allowed 5 R (4 ER) on 3 hits and 4 walks to make his ERA 7.39; RP Cody Harkcom went 3 1/3 IP and allowed 1 hit and a walk with 5 Ks to drop his ERA to 8.31; RP Eliszer Garcia went 1 1/3 IP and allowed 3 R (2 ER) on 2 hits and 3 walks with 3 Ks to make his ERA 3.61; RP Travis Trammell blew his 1st save but got the win with 2/3 IP of an UER on a hit and walk to move to 1-0 with a 7.98 ERA; and Eckley got his 3rd save with a hitless IP that included a K to drop his ERA to 7.42. Santana was 1-5 with 2 RBI to drop to .309; McConnell was 1-3 with a walk, HR, 2 RBI and 2 RS to improve to .329; Thibault was 1-5 with an RBI to drop to .326; and Johnson was 4-5 with 2 RBI to improve to .239. The Chukars took advantage of 5 Rockie errors. McConnell made his 21st error.

Idaho Falls is 13-19 and 4 games out of first with 6 games left on the schedule. The series switches to Casper tonight.

The ASL Royals finished the second half at 15-13 and 3 games back of first. Overall the Royals finished 34-22.