Royals on the Farm 8/23

AAA - Omaha: O-Royals 3, Oklahoma 1

3B Keppinger 1-4 -- .366
LF Huber 1-3, BB, K, RS -- .288
RF Costa 1-4, K -- .358
CF K. Robinson 2-4 -- .317
SS Aviles 1-4, HR (8), 3 RBI (44), K -- .258
2B Cortez 0-3 -- .251

Middleton 6 2/3 IP, ER, 5 H, 4 BB, 2 K -- ND, 5.11 ERA, nice outing
Loux 2 1/3 IP, H, K -- W, 2-5, 6.58 ERA

*** The Royals took advantage of a 9th inning error to grab the momentum with one swing of Mike Aviles' bat and went on to their 2nd win in a row. Kyle Middleton gave up a 2-out RBI double in the 1st before the game settled into a pitching duel between Middleton and Eric Knott. The game went into the 9th with Omaha being shut out on 7 hits and the Royals were down to their last out when Justin Huber drew a walk from RedHawks P Scott Feldman (part of last week's sissy fight with the Angels' Adam Kennedy), Paul Phillips reached on a fielding error by Oklahoma 1B Jason Hart and Aviles cashed in by cranking a 3-run homer to center for his 8th of the season to make it 3-1. Shane Loux gave up a leadoff single in the 9th but then shut the RedHawks down to pick up his 2nd win of the season. Omaha is 50-82. Knott allowed only 6 hits with 4 Ks over 7 IP to drop his ERA to 2.13, RF Adam Hyzdu was 1-4 with his 24th double and 73rd RBI to move to .272 and DH Randall Simon was 1-3 with a walk to move to .300.

The series continues Thursday night. Pitchers: RH Bobby Keppel (5-5, 5.63) vs. RedHawks RH R.A. Dickey (6-8, 5.52).

AA - Wichita: Arkansas 7, Wranglers 5

3B Gordon 0-4, BB, K -- .318
LF Lubanski 4-5, 2 2B (32), 2 RS, SB (9) -- .280, bustin' out of the .270s
CF Maier 1-2, 2 BB, RBI (84), K, SB (13) -- .302
SS Sanchez 1-4, BB, RBI (56), RS, 2 E (26) -- .286
RF D. Brown 1-4, BB, 2B (20), RBI (69), K, RS -- .313
C Donachie 1-4, HR (1), RBI (7), K -- .176

Buckner 6 1/3 IP, 6 R (5 ER), 10 H, BB, 6 K, HRA -- L, 4-3, 5.66 ERA
C. Smith 2 2/3 IP, UER, H, 2 K -- 2.95 ERA

*** Arkansas grabbed the lead in the 4th and held on for good to keep the Wranglers from shrinking their magic number to make the TL playoffs. Billy Buckner gave up a leadoff homer to Travs LF Aaron Peel in the 1st and an Angel Sanchez throwing error helped Arkansas to another run that inning. Wichita got on the board in the bottom of the 1st as Chris Lubanski started a great day at the plate with a double and scored on a Sanchez RBI single. Dee Brown drew a bases loaded walk and Adam Keim hit a sac fly in the 3rd to give Wichita a 3-2 lead but it didn't last long as Buckner gave up a 2-run double and RBI triple in the 4th to give Arkansas a 5-3 lead. Another RBI triple in the 5th made it 6-3 Travs but Wichita wasn't done. The Wranglers got a Mitch Maier RBI single in the 5th and Adam Donachie's 1st AA homer to lead off the 6th and cut the lead to 1 at 6-5. Another Sanchez error -- his 26th of the season -- in the 8th helped the Travs score an insurance run and this time the Wranglers had no answer. The Wranglers are 35-24 and 5 1/2 games up on first. The magic number remains at 6 as Tulsa won Wednesday night. Travs CF Terry Evans was 4-4 with a triple, his 42nd RBI, 15th SB and 2 RS to move to .317, Peel was 2-4 with his 14th homer and 62nd RBI to move to .297 and SS Sean Rodriguez was 1-5 to drop to .269.

The series continues Thursday night as Zack Greinke takes his shot at whittling the magic number.

High-A - High Desert: Mavs 9, Inland Empire 5

1B Stodolka 1-4, BB, 2 RS -- .295
3B E. Lucas 3-4, BB, RBI (60) -- .284
C Duenas 2-3, 2 BB, HR (13), 3 RBI (45) -- .297
2B Falu 2-3, BB, HBP, 2B (20), 2 RBI (44), RS, E (14) -- .290
LF Tomlin 1-4, 2B (21), 2 RBI (29), K, RS -- .275

Nicoll 5 1/3 IP, 5 R (4 ER), 6 H, 2 BB, 6 K, 2 HRA, pickoff -- W, 1-0, 6.75 ERA, 1 start, 1 win at HD
Pimentel 1 2/3 IP, 3 H, 2 BB -- 4.85 ERA
Hicklen 2 IP, BB, 3 K -- 5.85 ERA

*** A big 5th propelled the Mavs in the series finale with the 66ers and Chris Nicoll's high-A debut. The first 5 Mav batters in the 1st reached base as Tomas Duenas hit an RBI single, Ed Lucas took a bases-loaded walk and Rusty Brown hit a sac fly to make it 3-0 HD. Nicoll got touched up for a 2-run dinger in the 2nd and another run in the 4th but the Mavs got the lead back on an Irving Falu RBI double in their half of the 4th to make it 4-3. Duenas cranked a 2-run homer to left for his 13th of the season in the 5th and James Tomlin added a 2-run double before scoring on a Falu RBI single to make it 9-3 HD. Nicoll gave up a solo homer in the 6th before being pulled for Julio Pimentel, who allowed an RBI single later in the inning to close it to 9-5. Patrick Hicklen came in for the 8th and allowed only a walk over 2 IP to nail down the win. The Mavs are 28-31 and 3 games back of first. Their lead for the wild-card playoff spot is still 1 1/2 games over Lake Elsinore. 66ers LF Casey Craig was 2-4 with his 8th homer and 35th RBI to move to .296 and 1B Andy Hargrove was 1-3 with his 3rd homer and 2 RBI (11) to move to .204.

The Mavs enter a huge series Thursday night as the Lake Elsinore Storm (29-29, High-A Padres) come to town for 4 games. A big series could get the Mavs a stronghold on that wild-card spot. Dan Christensen takes the mound for HD in the opener.

Low-A - Burlington: off day

*** The Bees get back into action Thursday night as they open a split 4-game set with the division-leading Kane County Cougars (35-23, Low-A Athletics). Mike Penn starts the first game for Burlington.

Rookie - Idaho Falls: off day

*** The 9-14 Chukars hook back up with the Helena Brewers (13-11) for three road games starting Thursday night.

Rookie - AZL: Athletics 4, Royals 3

2B T. Wilson 2-4, BB, K, RS, SB (14) -- .215
LF Dyson 0-2, 3 BB, K, RS, SB (15) -- .275
RF Van Stratten 0-3, BB, HBP -- .280
1B S. Lucas 0-5, RBI (50) -- .266
C Doscher 1-2, 2 BB -- .261
CF D. Robinson 1-4, K -- .247

Fisher 4 IP, ER, 5 H, 2 BB, 10 K (!) -- ND, 2.27 ERA
Martinez IP, 2 ER, 2 H, K, HRA -- BS, 3, L, 1-2, 5.34 ERA
Hauff IP, H, K -- 1.50 ERA

*** The Royals couldn't hold a 2-0 lead as the A's came back to knock the Royals out of sole possession of first place. Scott Lucas hit an RBI ground out in the 1st and, after Brent Fisher struck out the side with the bases loaded in the 1st, the Royals scored again in the 2nd on an A's throwing error. Fisher left with 2 on and no outs in the 5th and Yensi Lopez gave up a run to cut the lead in half before allowing the tying run in the 6th. A Lucas double play ball scored a run in the 7th but the A's got a 2-run homer off Angel Martinez in their half to take the lead. The Royals got 2 on with 1 out in the 9th but couldn't get it tied. The Royals are 16-7 and now tied with the Angels for first. A's LF Carlos Morales was 2-4 with his 3rd homer and 2 RBI (25) to move to .233, SS (and A's '05 first rounder) Cliff Pennington was 2-4 to move to .458 and 3B Carlos Arrieche was 2-2 with his 9th SB and 20th RBI to move to .253.

The Royals take on the 13-8 Padres Thursday night.