Royals on the Farm 4/28

AAA -- Omaha: O-Royals 8, Nashville 6

LF Butler 2-3, 2 BB, RBI (23), RS -- .345
1B Huber 1-4, HR (1), 3 RBI (9), RS -- .189
DH Maier 2-4, RBI (11) -- .264
3B Cortez 1-4, HR (3), RBI (7), K, RS -- .281
SS Aviles 2-4, SF, 2B (5), RBI (12), RS -- .341
CF Gathright 2-5, 2B (4), K, 2 RS -- .289
2B Berroa 2-4, BB (2 days in a row!), 2B (3), RS -- .319, he must be sick, he's taking walks
RF Costa 2-4, BB, 2B (6), K, RS -- .351
C Tupman 2-4 -- .333, everybody had a good night for the Royals

Wright 4 IP, 3 ER, 4 H, 2 K, 2 HRA -- ND, 4.29 ERA
Markray 3 IP, 2 ER, 3 H, BB, K, HRA -- W, 1-0, 3.00 ERA
Ray 2 IP, ER, 2 H, K -- SV, 2, 7.15 ERA

The O-Royals turned up the offense in the 6th and took another game from Nashville. SP Matt Wright, making a spot start for Tyler Lumsden, gave up a 2-out homer to C J.D. Closser in the 1st to give the Sounds a 1-0 lead but Joey Gathright scored on a wild pitch in the bottom of the inning to tie it. Billy Butler singled in the inning and tried to score on a Mike Aviles double but was thrown out at home. A sac fly in the 2nd gave Nashville a 2-1 lead. Angel Berroa was thrown out at home on a Shane Costa double in the 3rd and Sounds 1B Andy Abad homered to lead off the 5th to make it 3-1 Sounds. That stayed the score into the bottom of the 6th, when Butler and Aviles led off with singles and, with 2 out, Justin Huber stepped up and hit a 3-run homer to right center for his 1st of the season and a 4-3 Omaha lead. The Royals loaded the bases with none out in the 7th and Butler drew a walk to force home a run, Aviles hit a sac fly and Mitch Maier hit an RBI force out to make it 7-3. RP Thad Markray gave up a leadoff homer to RF Vinny Rottino in the 8th and Ken Ray gave up a sac fly for a run attributed to Markray to cut the lead to 7-5. Fernando Cortez hit his 3rd homer to lead off the bottom of the 8th and cushion the lead back to 8-5. Ray gave up a sac fly in the 9th but got out without further damage to make the final score 8-6. Omaha is 10-13 and 3 1/2 games out. Abad was 2-4 with his 2nd double, 2nd HR and 7th RBI to move to .245, Rottino was 1-3 with his 5th homer and 2 RBI (6) to move to .286 and Closser was 1-2 with his 2nd HR and 2 RBI (6) to move to .216. SP Tim Dillard took the loss with 5 2/3 IP of 4 ER on 11 hits and a walk to move to 0-2 with a 3.68 ERA.

The series wrapped up Sunday afternoon and the O-Royals swept the Sounds. Starters were Sounds RH Chris Oxspring (2-1, 1.61) vs. RH Ben Hendrickson (2-1, 4.98).

AA -- Wichita: Wranglers 8, Arkansas 5

LF Lubanski 2-4, BB, 3B (2), HR (4), 3 RBI (11), 3 RS -- .311
RF Padilla 2-5, 2B (4), RBI (9), K -- .361
DH Brazell 1-5, HR (6), RBI (11), 3 K, RS -- .324
2B Valentin 1-4, RBI (1), K, CS -- .182
1B Stodolka 1-5, 2B (5), 2 K, RS -- .254

Connolly 5 2/3 IP, 3 R (2 ER), 8 H, 6 K, HRA -- W, 2-0, 4.42 ERA
Atencio 1 1/3 IP, BB, K -- 2.02 ERA
DeHoyos 2 IP, 2 ER, H, 3 BB, 2 K -- 1.86 ERA

The Wranglers took advantage of 4 Travs errors and chipped in 9 hits in an 8-5 win Saturday. Arkansas starter James Holcomb walked the first two Wichita batters and Chris Lubanski followed with a 2-run triple and scored on a 2-out wild pitch to make it 3-0 Wichita. SP Mike Connolly made the start (no word why John Bale didn't make his scheduled rehab start) and gave up an RBI single in the Travs 1st but Wichita got it back in the second on a Geraldo Valentin RBI single for his first AA ribby. Connolly gave up a solo homer to 1B Michael Collins in the 2nd but Wichita scored 2 in the 3rd on a Jorge Padilla RBI single and an error on a ball hit by Ed Lucas. Connolly gave up an RBI single in the 4th to cut the Wrangler lead to 6-3 but the Wranglers got a solo homer from Lubanski in the 7th (his 4th) to extend the lead back to 4. RP Gabe DeHoyos came in for the 8th and gave up 2 walks and a 2-out 2-run double to cut the lead to 7-5. Wichita got some padding with a Craig Brazell solo shot in the 9th for his 6th of the season and DeHoyos didn't have a problem in the bottom of the 9th to end it. Wichita moved to 9-12 and 1 1/2 games back of first. Collins was 2-4 with his 2nd double, 1st homer and 3 RBI (5) to move to .176, 2B Adam Morrissey was 2-5 to move to .316 and Holcomb took the loss with 6 R (4 ER) on 5 hits and 4 walks with 3 Ks over 4 IP to drop to 0-1 with a 9.00 ERA.

The series continued today with an Arkansas win. Carlos Rosa got a no-decision in his first AA start vs. Travs ace Nick Adenhart. Actually, Rosa outpitched Adenhart but the bullpen failed him.

A-Adv. -- Wilmington: Winston-Salem 3, Blue Rocks 2

3B Lisson 2-3, SB (2), CS -- .250
RF McFall 2-3, BB -- .203
DH Vega 2-4, K, RS -- .213
1B Kaaihue 1-3, SF, RBI (7), 2 K -- .178
LF Bigler 0-3, BB, RBI (5), CS -- .154
CF Duarte 0-4 -- .260
*The Rocks left 18 (!) on base.

Penn 6 IP, ER, 4 H, 3 BB, 3 K -- ND, 2.70 ERA
Haltiwanger IP, 2 ER, H, 2 BB -- L, 0-2, 10.13 ERA, off to bad start for Royals organization
Barnes 2 IP, H, BB, K -- 2.13 ERA

Two innings saw all the scoring in a narrow Blue Rocks loss. The Warthogs stranded 2 off SP Michael Penn in the 2nd and the Rocks couldn't score off W-S SP Kyle McCulloch as the game went into the 6th tied at 0. A 2-out RBI single off Penn in the 6th gave the Warthogs a 1-0 lead but Wilmington kept pace with a run in the bottom of the inning on a Kila Kaaihue sac fly. RP Russ Haltiwanger came in to pitch for Wilmington in the 7th and gave up a 1-out walk, RBI triple and sac fly to give Winston-Salem a 3-1 lead. A Brett Bigler RBI force out in the bottom of the inning cut the lead to 1 but the Rocks left the tying run at third in the 8th. In the 9th, the Rocks loaded the bases off RP Brian Omogrosso with none out but, in a bizarre double play, saw both Ethien Santana and Miguel Vega thrown out at home on a Kiel Thibault grounder. Bigler then grounded out to end the game. Wilmington dropped to 8-13. Warthogs RF Aaron Cunningham was 2-4 with his 2nd triple, 13th RBI and 2 RS to move to .377, 3B Javier Castillo was 2-3 with 2 errors (5), his 5th double and 10th RBI to move to .324 and McCulloch got the win with an ER allowed on 4 hits and 3 walks with 3 K over 6 1/3 IP to move to 2-1 with a 2.73 ERA. Omogrosso lucked out for his 5th save.

The Blue Rocks pounded the Warthogs today to win their first series of the season. Rocks righty Blake Johnson (0-2, 3.63) and southpaw Rowdy Hardy (1-0, 0.48) piggybacked versus Winston-Salem lefty Clayton Richard (1-0, 3.38). Mario Lisson left the game with back spasms and was doubtful for today's game.

A -- Burlington: Quad Cities 10, Bees 9

1B Thompson 3-4, HBP, 2 HR (3), 4 RBI (6), 2 RS -- .244
2B Mertins 1-5, HR (2), 2 RBI (9), K, RS -- .197
LF Dickerson 0-5, RBI (10) -- .254
RF Morel 1-3, BB, 2B (4), RBI (4), K, RS, E (2) -- .224
3B Maddox 0-3, 2 BB, 2 RS, SB (2), E (3) -- .304
SS McConnell 1-5, 2 K, E (4) -- .261
CF Robinson 1-4, BB, K, RS -- .143

Godin 3 1/3 IP, 3 ER, 6 H, 2 BB, 2 WP -- ND, 3.68 ERA
Cribb 4 IP, 6 ER, 9 H, 2 BB, 3 K, HRA, WP -- 5.68 ERA, where was the hook?
Hayes 1/3 IP, ER, 2 H, BB -- BS, 2, L, 0-2, 4.50 ERA
Hartsock 1/3 IP, BB -- 4.82 ERA

Burlington had a 9-3 lead in the 7th but watched it disappear in the loss. SP Jason Godin gave up an RBI double in the 1st but the Bees got it back on a Mike Thompson RBI single that kicked off a very nice day for the first baseman. A Chris McConnell throwing error allowed a run to score in the 3rd to make it 2-1 Quad Cities. The Bees exploded in the 4th versus RPs Matt Lane and Armando Carrasco, as Thompson started the scoring with a 2-run homer for his 2nd of the season, Alvi Morel doubled home a run, Carrasco came in, Morel scored on a Carrasco throwing error, Joe Dickerson hit an RBI ground out and Kurt Mertins hit a 2-run homer for his 2nd of the season to make it 8-2 Bees. Godin allowed a run to score on a wild pitch to cut the lead to 5 and, after RP Josh Cribb got out of a bases-loaded jam in the 6th, Thompson cranked a solo homer his 2nd of the game and his 3rd of the season to make it 9-3 in the 7th. Cribb was left in, for some reason, to allow 3 runs on 3 hits, a walk and a wild pitch to cut the lead to 9-6 in the bottom of the 7th. Cribb came back (again, why?) for the 8th and allowed a leadoff homer to LF Mark Shorey and an RBI single before finally getting pulled with a runner on second and 1 out. RP Chris Hayes gave up an RBI single to tie the game and blow the lead officially and another RBI single turned a 9-3 deficit into a 10-9 lead for the Swing. The Bees went down 1-2-3 in the 9th. Burlington dropped to 10-10. Four Swing batters had 3 hits, led by Shorey, who was 3-6 with his 5th double, 3rd homer and 2 RBI (19) to move to .294. IF Christian Lopez was 3-5 with his 5th RBI to move to .354 and RP Brandon Dickson picked up the W with an ER on 3 hits and 2 Ks over 4 IP to move 4-1 with a 2.10 ERA. RP Kenneth Maiques got his 2nd save in two games to get save #5 on the season and drop his ERA to 1.13.

The Bees lost a third straight to QC today. Starters were Bees LH Brent Fisher (0-1, 2.51) vs. Swing RH Elvis Hernandez (2-2, 2.65).