Royals on the Farm 4/24

AAA -- Omaha: Memphis 8, O-Royals 7

LF Butler 2-5, RS, OF assist at home -- .348
RF Costa 4-5, BB, 2B (4), 2 RS, OF assist at first -- .361
CF Maier 3-5, 2 RBI (9), 2 K, OF assist at first -- .266, both he and Costa nailed the same guy with their assists
1B Huber 2-5, K -- .156
3B Aviles 2-3, 2 BB, RBI (9), RS, E (3) -- .300
DH Koonce 2-4, BB, 2B (3), RBI (9), K, RS -- .250
2B Lewis 1-4, SF, RBI (1), K, RS -- .250, Omaha debut
SS Berroa 1-6, 2B (2), RBI (4), RS -- .295
C Phillips 0-3, BB, SF, RBI (1) -- .065
*The O-Royals turned 5 DPs and left 13 on base.

Hendrickson 7 IP, 5 R (1 ER), 10 H, BB, K, HRA -- ND, 4.98 ERA
Ray 1 2/3 IP, 3 ER, 3 H, 2 BB, 2 K -- BS, 1, L, 0-1, 7.71 ERA

Remember when I said Omaha was up, 7-2, in the 6th yesterday? Yeah....that didn't last, as the Redbirds scored 5 in the 6th and added 3 in the 9th to come back and get the 4-game sweep of the O-Royals. Omaha streaked in front of Memphis starting in the 3rd as they rallied for 3 runs with 2 outs on an Angel Berroa RBI double and RBI singles by Graham Koonce and Mike Aviles. Memphis threatened to score in the bottom of the inning as 2B Edgar Gonzalez singled to left but Billy Butler threw C Bryan Esposito out at the plate to end the inning. The O-Royals kept up the pressure on offense in the 4th and 5th with a sac flies by Paul Phillips and Richie Lewis for their first AAA RBI of '07. Two runs in the 6th on a 2 out 2 run single by Mitch Maier made it 7-0 Omaha. SP Ben Hendrickson only really cruised through the 2nd but didn't run into serious trouble until the 6th, when a 1-out Aviles error came back to haunt Omaha. After that play, Hendrickson's line went double, RBI single, RBI double, sac fly and 2 run homer to cut the lead to 7-5. Phillips got thrown out at the plate after a Billy Butler single to end the Omaha 7th and Omaha stranded 2 in the 8th to keep the score at 7-5. RP Ken Ray had a 1-2-3 8th but loaded the bases with 1 out in the 9th. PH Tagg Bozied came through with a 2-run single to tie the game off Ray and 1B Rico Washington ended it with a 2-out RBI single. Omaha is 7-13 and 6 1/2 games back, as was the case last year, in last in the PCL American North division. Redbirds CF Rick Ankiel was 2-3 with a walk, his 7th HR, 2 RBI (20) and 2 RS to move to .235, Bozied was 1-1 with 2 RBI (16) to move to .235 and RP Kelvin Jimenez picked up the win with a perfect 9th to move to 1-0 with a 1.59 ERA. Memphis SP Matt Ginter was nailed for 5 ER on 13 hits over 4 2/3 IP.

Omaha has Wednesday off to regroup before starting a 4-game home set vs. the Nashville Sounds (13-6, AAA Brewers) Thursday. Neal Musser is coming back to town as he was optioned back to AAA when Brian Bannister was promoted.

AA -- Wichita: rainout

Game 2 of the set in Springfield was washed out and no makeup time has been announced yet, according to the team site. The series continues tonight. I assume last night's scheduled starters -- Wichita righty Billy Buckner and Cards lefty Eric Haberer -- will start tonight.

A-Adv. -- Wilmington: Blue Rocks 6, Frederick 2

CF Duarte 3-4, BB, 2B, HR (1), RBI (3), 3 RS, SB (3) -- .271
RF McFall 3-5, 2B (2), RBI (1), RS, SB (2), OF assist at home -- .185
C Thibault 2-4 -- .256
1B Kaaihue 1-5, HR (1), 2 RBI (3), K, RS, E (3) -- .105
DH Bigler 1-4, RBI (4), 2 K -- .156
SS Arce 0-4, 2 E (3) -- .213

Hardy 6 IP, 2 R (1 ER), 6 H, K -- W, 1-0, 0.48, keeping pace with Carlos Rosa
B. Johnson 3 IP, 4 H, K -- SV, 1, 3.63 ERA

The Blue Rocks' bats awoke for 6 runs on 11 hits as they took their second straight from Frederick Tuesday. Jose Duarte led off the game with a double, advanced to third on a ground out and scored on a 2 out single by Brian McFall to make it 1-0 Wilmington in the 1st. Kila Kaaihue started the Frederick 2nd with a fielding error and the Keys cashed in as they evened the game with a ground out RBI. SP Rowdy Hardy stranded 2 Keys in the 3rd and the game went into the 6th tied at 1. The Blue Rocks took over from there as they scored 2 in the 6th on a Kaaihue leadoff homer for his 1st of the season and an RBI single by Brett Bigler. Hardy gave up an RBI double to cut the lead to 3-2 in the bottom of the 6th but Wilmington padded the lead with 2 more in the 7th on a Keys throwing error by 2B Jonathan Tucker that scored both Duarte and Ethien Santana to make it 5-2. Duarte added some insurance with a leadoff homer in the 9th for his 1st of the season to make it 6-2 and P Blake Johnson had little trouble in the bottom of the 9th to end it. Wilmington is 6-11 and 4 games back. Keys CF Jacob Duncan was 2-4 with 2 doubles (3) and 2 RS to move to .333, rehabbing C Ramon Hernandez was 1-2 and RP Manny Basilio took the loss with 5 ER on 8 hits and a walk over 4 IP to drop to 0-3 with a 7.53 ERA. Rehabbing SP Jaret Wright allowed an ER on 3 hits and 2 walks with 6 Ks over 4 2/3 IP to make his ERA 1.93.

The series goes to game 3 tonight. Pitchers: Blue Rocks P Chris Nicoll (0-1, 3.75) vs. Keys SP Jason Berken (0-2, 9.31). The 2 Wilmington homers Tuesday improved the team's season total to 3.

A -- Burlington: Dayton 5, Bees 2

2B Maddox 2-4, 2 RBI (16), K -- .362
3B Jirschele 2-4, 2 K, RS -- .250
SS McConnell 0-4, 2 K -- .250
CF Dyson 1-4, 2 K, RS, SB (3) -- .270
C Everett 2 E (6) -- both catcher interference

Godin 4 IP, 0 ER, H, 2 BB, 4 K -- ND, 0.00 ERA
Teaford 2 IP, 4 R (1 ER), 3 H, 2 K, HRA -- L, 1-1, 2.70 ERA
Hayes 2 IP, ER, H, BB, K -- BS, 1, 3.52 ERA

Burlington's pen couldn't hold a late 2-0 lead and Dayton took 3 of 4 from the Bees in all. Marc Maddox had a 2 out 2 run single in the 3rd and the Bees jumped out to the 2-0 lead. SP Jason Godin made his season debut for the Bees and was perfect through 3 2/3 IP before getting out of a bases loaded jam in the 4th. The game stayed at 2-0 into the bottom of the 7th when P Everett Teaford gave up a leadoff homer to Dayton 3B Juan Francisco and two catcher interference calls on Brady Everett would allow a run to score. RP Chris Hayes came in and allowed 2 more runs to give Dayton the 4-2 lead. A sac fly in the 8th made it 5-2 Dragons and the Bees went down meekly in the 9th to end it. Burlington is 9-8 and 2 games back. Francisco was 3-4 with his 2nd homer and 8th RBI to move to .333, SS Chris Valaika was 0-3 to drop to .390 and CF Drew Stubbs was 0-3 with a sac fly and his 10th RBI to drop to .333. RP Ramon Geronimo picked up the win with 2 scoreless IP to move to 1-0 with a 0.00 ERA.

The Bees have Wednesday off before starting a split home-and-home 4 game set with the Swing of the Quad Cities (9-10, A Cardinals) Thursday. P Yovany D'Amico was sent back to extended ST to make room for Godin on the roster.