Royals on the Farm 9/4

AAA: Omaha gave it a good run after being 14 games out of first on July 27 but finished just short of division leading Nashville after being eliminated Sunday in a 10-8 loss to Oklahoma. Omaha fumbled away the game with 5 errors. DH Calvin Pickering hit an RBI single in the 1st to give Omaha an early lead but Oklahoma scored runs off SP Ryan Jensen in the 1st and 2nd thanks in part to errors by CF Adrian Brown, 3B Chris Truby and SS Andres Blanco. Oklahoma added 2 runs in the 4th before Omaha got back on the board in the 5th on a solo homer by RF Jaime Jones (his 5th). Oklahoma scored 2 more off Jensen in the 5th to take a 6-2 lead but Omaha came back with a run in the 6th on an RBI ground out by 2B Rudy Gomez. The RedHawks pulled away with 4 in the 8th off RP Shane Nance and RP Dave Elder but Omaha made a late 2-out rally with 5 in the top of the 9th on RBI singles by Blanco and Truby and a 3-run homer by Pickering (his 23rd) before Gomez grounded out to end the game. Jensen took the loss with 5 IP of 6 R (4 ER) on 8 hits and a walk with 2 Ks to drop to 2-11 with a 7.20 ERA. Hopefully that's his last game in the KC organization. RP Justin Huisman went a hitless inning with a K to drop his ERA to 3.92; Nance went 1 1/3 IP and allowed 3 ER on 3 hits to move his ERA to 5.16; and Elder went 2/3 IP and allowed an UER on a hit to keep his ERA at 0.00. Brown was 0-3 with 2 walks and 2 RS to break the 36-year-old single-season Omaha record for runs scored with 104. His BA dropped to .273; Blanco was 2-5 with an RBI to improve to .266; Truby was 2-5 with an RBI and 2 RS to improve to .244; Pickering had a great game in going 5-5 with a double, HR and 4 RBI to improve to .275; LF Shane Costa was 0-4 to drop to .167; 1B Chad Santos was 1-4 to drop to .259; and Jones was 3-4 with a HR, RBI and 2 RS to improve to .272. Truby's error was his 11th and Blanco's was his 10th.

Omaha is 72-71 and out of the playoffs with 1 game left in the season. Omaha plays the final game of the season today at Oklahoma. Pitchers: RH Denny Bautista (0-1, 3.60) vs. LH Derek Lee (5-2, 3.86).

AA: Wichita was on the short end of a pitchers' duel with Tulsa in the season finale Sunday as the Drillers scraped together a 6th-inning run and rode it to a 1-0 win. The Wranglers only had 3 hits in the game and only had a runner at third once. SP Mike Stodolka went 5 IP and allowed only 3 hits and a walk with 4 Ks to drop his ERA to 5.92; RP Stephen Bray took the loss with 2 IP of 1 ER on 2 hits with 2 Ks to drop to 1-1 with a 4.40 ERA; and RP Chris Demaria went an inning and gave up a hit with a K to drop his ERA to 1.76. 2B Ruben Gotay was 0-4 to end the season at Wichita at .245; 1B Josh Pressley was 1-3 with a HBP to end the season at .311; LF Billy Butler was 1-3 with a double to end his AA season at .312; and CF Mitch Maier was 1-3 to end the season at .255.

Wichita finished the second half 33-37 and 4 games back of first. The Wranglers were 68-72 overall.

High-A: High Desert lost its regular season finale, 9-4, to Lancaster but will have a couple days off before facing the JetHawks in a best-of-3 first-round playoff series starting Wednesday. Lancaster took a 3-0 lead in the 2nd before High Desert got 2 runs back on a 2-run homer by 3B Brandon Powell (his 18th). A Mavs run in the 5th on a Powell RBI ground out made the score 4-3 and another run in the 7th on a solo homer by DH Kila Kaaihue (his 20th) made it a 5-4 game. Lancaster pulled away with 3 in the 8th to get the win. SP Chris Coughlin took the loss with 2 IP of 3 ER on 4 hits and a walk to drop to 5-11 with a 7.31 ERA; RP Greg Atencio went 2 IP and allowed an ER on a hit and 3 walks with 2 Ks to move his ERA to 4.84; RP Eric Ackerman went 2 IP and allowed an ER on 4 hits to move his ERA to 5.54; RP Chad Blackwell, in his first game up from Burlington, went 2 IP and allowed 3 ER on 4 hits with 5 Ks to move his ERA to 2.55; and RP Brian Steffek went an inning and allowed an ER on a hit with a K to move his ERA to 5.60. LF Pete Maestrales was 1-4 with a walk to drop to .319; SS Angel Sanchez was 2-5 with 2 doubles to improve to .313; CF Bernard Stephens was 1-5 with a double to drop to .303; Kaaihue was 1-5 with a HR and RBI to drop to .304; Powell was 2-4 with a HR and 3 RBI to improve to .287; C Brady Everett was 0-3 with a walk to drop to .278; and 1B Michael Gaffney was 2-4 to improve to .299. The Mavs set three records in the game as the new league record for homers in a season is 203, the league record for hits in a season is 1,536 by HD and the new record for homers allowed in a season is 173 by High Desert.

High Desert finished the second half at 39-31 and clinched a playoff berth and the second-half division title. Overall the Mavs finished 75-65. The Mavs will face Lancaster in a best-of-3 series to start the playoffs Wednesday. Game 1 will be in Lancaster and games 2 and 3 (if necessary) will be at High Desert's place in Adelanto. High Desert also has earned home-field advantage in the second round if they advance that far.

Low-A: Burlington dropped another 1-run game to Clinton, 6-5, Sunday, to lose a 4th game in a row. The Bees scored 4 in the 1st on an RBI ground out by 1B Miguel Vega and RBI singles by RF Geraldo Valentin, DH Rusty Brown and C Felipe Del Rosario and another run in the 6th on an RBI double by LF Kenard Springer gave the Bees a 5-1 lead. Clinton scored 2 in the 6th off RP Kraig Schambough and then scored 3 more off Schambough in the 7th to take a 6-5 lead. The Bees didn't threaten in the last 3 innings. SP Daniel Christensen went 5 1/3 IP and allowed 2 ER on 5 hits and 2 walks with 11 Ks to move his ERA to 3.54; and Schambough blew his 1st save and took the loss after giving up 4 R (2 ER) on 5 hits and 3 walks with a K to drop to 2-2 with a 4.32 ERA. 2B Gary Perez was 0-4 to drop to .257; 3B Edward Lucas was 1-4 to drop to .291; Vega was 2-4 with an RBI to improve to .273; Brown was 2-4 with an RBI to improve to .267; and Del Rosario was 2-4 with an RBI to improve to .256. Lucas stole his 29th base and SS Irving Falu stole his 33rd. Lucas also made his 29th error.

Burlington is 30-39 and out of the playoff hunt. The Bees end the season at Clinton today. No announced starters.

Rookie: Idaho Falls blew three leads Sunday in a 6-5 loss to Casper. Idaho Falls got out of the gate quickly with a run in the 1st on an RBI single by 1B Brenan Herrera and 2 in the 2nd on a 2-run double by LF Antonio Sabatini. Casper scored 3 off SP Ryan DiPietro in the 3rd to tie the game but Idaho Falls scored a run in the 4th on a Sabatini RBI ground out. Casper tied it again off DiPietro in the 4th but, again, the Chukars took the lead with a run in the 5th on an RBI double by RF Byron Barber. DiPietro gave up the lead for good in the 5th on a 2-run homer that gave Casper the 6-5 lead. The Chukars got 2 on with 1 out in the 9th but couldn't tie the game. DiPietro got the loss with 4 1/3 IP of 6 ER on 8 hits and a walk with 3 Ks to drop to 1-6 with a 5.62 ERA; and RP David Henninger went 3 2/3 IP and allowed 3 hits with 3 Ks to drop his ERA to 3.47. Sabatini was 2-5 with a double and 3 RBI to improve to .246; Herrera was 3-4 with a walk, double and RBI to improve to .252; C Jeff Howell was 1-4 with a double to drop to .331; Barber was 1-4 with a double and RBI to drop to .307; 3B Joshua Colafemina was 2-4 with 2 RS to improve to .232; and SS Chris McConnell was 1-3 with a walk to improve to .328. McConnell made his 22nd error.

Idaho Falls is 13-21 and out of the playoff hunt with 4 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.