Royals on the Farm 4/6

AAA -- Omaha: Albuquerque 3, O-Royals 2

LF Butler 1-4, 2 RBI (4) -- .375
SS Berroa 2-4, K -- .571
1B Huber 1-4, K -- .250
CF Gathright 1-4, RS -- .250
DH Koonce 1-3, BB, 2B -- .333
RF Maier 0-4, 3 K -- .143, night to forget
2B Blanco 0-4, K, RS -- .000

Day 1 1/3 IP, ER, H, 3 BB, K -- ND, 5.40 ERA, not good sign unless he was on a short pitch count, which is possible
Wright 4 1/3 IP, 2 ER, 5 H, K, 2 HRA -- L, 0-1, 4.15 ERA, probably not the Royals debut he wanted
Musser 2 IP, 2 H, BB, K -- 0.00 ERA

Leadoff homers and inability to get a clutch hit doomed Omaha Friday as the Royals dropped to 0-2. Omaha got on the board first when Billy Butler hit an RBI force out in the 1st , but the lead didn't hold. Zach Day made his first start and got through the 1st without incident but gave up a walk and 1-out RBI triple to Reggie Abercrombie in the 2nd. Another walk ended Day's night and Matt Wright came in for his organizational debut. Other than the first batter of each inning, Wright did OK. He got out of the 2nd but gave up a leadoff triple in the 3rd, got out of the jam, and gave up leadoff homers in the 4th and 6th. The Royals got runners to the corners with no out in the 4th but blew the chance as a Mitch Maier ground out was followed by a Mike Aviles grounder. Graham Koonce, who was at third, got caught trying to get home and Aviles was thrown out trying to get to second base to kill the rally. Albuquerque took the lead with the leadoff homer in the 4th by DH Chad Hermansen but Omaha got the run back as Berroa and Butler hit back-to-back 2-out singles with Butler's bringing the tying run home. Aviles tripled with 2 out in the 6th but Omaha couldn't cash in and the leadoff homer by Isotopes 1B Todd Sears to lead off the bottom of the 6th made the difference. Maier struck out with a runner at second and 2 out in the 8th and ol' friend RP Nate Field shut the door in the 9th to end it. Albuquerque SS Robert Andino was 2-4 with a triple in the game.

Game 3 will match up Omaha LH Tyler Lumsden vs. LH Paul Mildren tonight as the Royals try to salvage a series split.

AA -- Wichita: 10th Avenue freezeout

The Wranglers and Corpus Christi Hooks were done in by the cold Friday and the proposed doubleheader was moved to tonight. Again, it's Hochevar-Patton in game 1 and Christensen-Miller in game 2.

A-Adv. -- Wilmington: Myrtle Beach 4, Blue Rocks 2

C Thibault 1-4, RBI -- .286
3B Lisson 1-4, 2B (2), RS, E -- .286
1B Vega 1-4, RS -- .500
2B Johnson 0-4, BB, K, E -- .143
CF Duarte 0-4, BB, K -- .125
LF Bigler 1-3, BB, K -- .143

B. Johnson 5 IP, 4 R (3 ER), 7 H, 3 BB, 0 K, WP -- L, 0-1, 5.40 ERA, not a pretty line. 0 K?
Hardy 3 IP, H, 2 K -- 0.00 ERA

Miscues fed the Pelicans as they knocked Blake Johnson around to even the season-opening series at 1 game each. The Blue Rocks picked up where they left off in the 2-0 opening day win as Mario Lisson hit a 2-out double in the 1st and scored on an error by Pelicans SS Elvis Andrus on a ball hit by Kila Kaaihue. Johnson struggled through the 1st but emerged unscathed until the MB 3rd, when Andrus atoned for his mistake with an RBI double. A wild pitch by Johnson and error by Josh Johnson allowed Andrus to score and gave Myrtle Beach a 2-1 lead. The Pelicans scraped together 2 more runs in the 5th off Johnson and took a 4-1 lead. The Blue Rocks loaded the bases with 2 out in the 6th but Kiel Thibault grounded out to end the threat. As Rowdy Hardy made his way through his first 2 IP, Wilmington squandered 3 walks in the 7th but cashed in on another Andrus throwing error in the 8th with a Thibault RBI single. That was it, though, as the Rocks went down in order in the 9th to drop to 1-1. Andrus was 2-4 with a double, RBI and 2 E in the game to move to .250 and 3B Eric Campbell was 2-4 with a RS to move to .250 for the Pelicans. Myrtle Beach starter Moises Hernandez gave up only an UER in 5 2/3 IP to pick up his 1st win of the season.

Wilmington right-hander Chris Nicoll squares off with Pelicans right-hander Dustin Evans in game 3 tonight.

A -- Burlington: Also a freezeout

The cold temperatures and windy conditions are wreaking havoc from the majors to the lowest levels of the minors as Burlington was also made idle by the weather Friday. The game was set to be made up as part of a Saturday twinbill with Kane County. The Bees won game 1 today but game 2 has also been called because of the cold. More on that in the next RoF report.