Royals on the Farm 5/29

AAA -- Omaha: Tacoma 7, O-Royals 5

1B Butler 0-4, SF, RBI (34), K -- .316
CF Gathright 2-5, K, 2 RS, 3 SB (17) -- .323, on a tear
3B Cortez 2-4, BB, RBI (15) -- .294
RF Padilla 2-4 -- .296
2B Lewis 1-4, RBI (9), RS -- .226
DH Brazell 0-5 -- .322, all of a sudden, he's got a power outage
SS Aviles 0-4, BB, K, RS, E (9) -- .327
LF Maier 1-4, 2 K, RS -- .276
C Tupman 1-4 -- .315

Buckner 4 IP, 3 ER, 4 H, 6 K -- ND, 4.13 ERA
Shiell 4 IP, 4 ER, 5 H, BB, K, 2 HRA -- L, 0-2, 3.07 ERA

Omaha got the game tied midway through but Tacoma fought back to take the series opener. Two Tacoma errors helped the Royals to a run in the 2nd on a ball hit by Joey Gathright but Omaha left the bases loaded. Starter Billy Buckner gave up an RBI single and 2-run double in the bottom of the inning as Tacoma took a 3-1 lead. Omaha tied it in the 5th on a 2-run single by Fernando Cortez that was aided by another Rainier error. Jason Shiell came on for the bottom of the 5th and gave up a walk and then a 2-run homer to CF Adam Jones to give the lead back to Tacoma. Shiell allowed another run on 2 hits in the 6th and then, after a Billy Butler sac fly scored a run in the 7th, served up a leadoff shot to Jones in the Tacoma 7th to make it 7-4. Richie Lewis drove home a run with a single in the 8th but a Gathright line out stranded 2 and the Royals stranded 1 in the 9th as Julio Mateo picked up his 2nd save for Tacoma. Omaha is 26-26 and 3 1/2 games back. Jones was 2-4 for Tacoma with 2 HR (9) and 3 RBI (35) to move to .304, SS Oswaldo Navarro was 1-2 with his 12th error, 10th double and 2 RBI (11) to move to .219 and C Jeff Clement was 2-4 with his 25th RBI to move to .238. SP Jorge Campillo picked up the W with 7 2/3 IP of 5 runs (3 ER) on 9 hits and a walk with 3 Ks to move to 3-4 with a 3.86 ERA.

Game 2 of the set is tonight. Probable starters: Omaha RH Zach Day (1-0, 4.04) vs. Rainiers RH Justin Lehr (5-0, 2.64).

AA -- Wichita: Wranglers 7, Frisco 5

3B Stodolka 1-4, GS (4), 4 RBI (20), 2 K, RS -- .293, 3B???
DH Joseph 1-3, HR (3), 2 RBI (15), RS -- .228
LF Lubanski 1-3, BB, HR (7), RBI (25), K, 2 RS -- .300, Wranglers dug the longball Tuesday
RF Blalock 2-4, K, RS -- .196, new addition Jake, Hank's little brother
C Donachie 1-1, 2 BB, 2B (5), RS, E (2) -- .190

Nunez IP, ER, 2 H, K -- 9.00 ERA, not the smoothest rehab inning, but OK
Hochevar 6 2/3 IP, 4 R (1 ER), 5 H, 0 BB, 8 K, 2 HRA, WP -- W, 3-5, 5.01 ERA, like the K/BB ratio, but still grooving pitches
Plummer 1 1/3 IP, 2 H -- SV, 5, 4.56 ERA

The Wranglers handed Eric Hurley his first loss of the season thanks to a grand slam by Mike Stodolka. Leo Nunez got the rehab start and gave up a run on 2 hits in the 1st. Hurley got dinged in the 3rd when Adam Donachie doubled and Onil Joseph smacked a 2-run homer for his 3rd of the season to make it 2-1 Wranglers. Hurley gave up a leadoff homer to Chris Lubanski in the 4th for his 7th of the season and Wichita had a 3-1 lead. Luke Hochevar came in for the 2nd and cruised with only 2 hits allowed through 5 IP. Two hits and a walk loaded the bases for Wichita to start the 6th and Stodolka stepped up and smoked a 2-2 pitch to left for a grand slam -- his 4th homer -- and a 7-1 Wichita lead that chased Hurley. An error by SS Jace Brewer started the Frisco 7th on a down note for Wichita but Hochevar got 2 outs before giving up a 2-run homer to DH Jim Fasano to cut the lead to 7-3. Frisco 2B German Duran led off the 8th with a homer and the RoughRiders scored another run that inning on an Adam Donachie throwing error on a steal of third. Jarod Plummer relieved Hochevar with 2 out and none on and gave up 2 singles in the 9th but picked up his 5th save. Wichita is 22-29 and 4 1/2 games back after snapping the 7-game skid. Fasano was 2-4 for Frisco with his 5th homer and 2 RBI (20) to move to .296, Duran was 2-4 with his 11th homer and 24th RBI to move to .299 and RF Anthony Webster was 2-4 with his 8th double, 10th SB and 2 RS to move to .274. Hurley took the loss with 7 ER on 6 hits and 3 walks with 5 Ks over 5+ IP to drop to 6-1 with a 2.61 ERA.

The series continues tonight. Probable starters: Wichita righty Carlos Rosa (2-2, 4.75) vs. Frisco righty Doug Mathis (4-3, 2.53). New pickup Jake Blalock, who was with Frisco in the Rangers organization before being traded to KC Monday, made a diving catch to end the game. I finally found the trade on Rotowire.com -- he was traded to KC for a PTBNL. He went from Philly to Texas last season in the Robinson Tejeda-David Dellucci deal to join his big brother Hank and hit .266 with a .711 OPS in Frisco last season. He was hitting .170 with a .475 OPS in Frisco prior to the trade. He turns 24 in August.

A-Adv. -- Wilmington: Blue Rocks 4, Kinston 1

SS Lisson 3-5, 2B (12), 2 RBI (28), RS, SB (8) -- .304
3B Perez 3-5, 2 2B (9), 2 RS -- .312
2B Johnson 2-4 -- .220
RF McFall 0-3, SF, RBI (16), 2 K -- .246
DH Vega 0-4, RBI (19), K -- .200
CF Duarte 1-5, K, RS -- .275
1B Kaaihue 0-2, 2 BB, SB (1) -- .266

Hardy 8 IP, ER, 3 H, 0 BB, 6 K -- W, 6-0, 1.21 ERA, the man's dominating the league
Barnes IP, H, 2 BB, K -- SV, 2, 3.04 ERA

Rowdy Hardy did his thing again and gift-wrapped a 4-1 Blue Rocks win. Hardy allowed a run in the 1st on 2 hits and a DP ball that scored a run but proceeded to sit 7 down in order, allow a single and then sit down another 16 in a row through the 8th. Meanwhile, Wilver Perez and Mario Lisson led off the 4th with doubles and the Rocks got a Brian McFall sac fly and Miguel Vega RBI ground out to take a 2-1 lead. Lisson singled home a run in the 5th and, after Perez hit another double in the 7th, drove him home with another single to make it 4-1. RP Justin Barnes loaded the bases in the 9th but got out of the threat without any damage for his 2nd save. Wilmington is 26-24 and 1/2 a game up on first. Kinston CF Jose Constanza was 2-3 with a walk to move to .269, 2B Chris De La Cruz was 2-4 to move to .299 and SP Sung-Wei Tseng took the loss with 6 IP of 3 ER on 6 hits and 2 walks with 5 Ks to drop to 0-5 with a 3.27 ERA.

Wilmington is going for the sweep as I type. Starters: Rocks right-hander Blake Johnson (3-4, 4.06) vs. Kinston’s Frank Herrmann (3-1, 2.56).

A -- Burlington: Bees 6, Wisconsin 4

DH Everett 2-3, BB, 2B (10), HR (3), RBI (10), 2 RS -- .286
SS Bianchi 2-4, 2 2B (5), 2 K -- .233
LF Jirschele 2-3, S -- .300
C Morizio 1-3, SF, HR (3), 2 RBI (11), 2 RS -- .237
3B Thompson 1-4, HR (10), RBI (23), RS -- .226
RF Gonzalez 1-3, SF, RBI (11), K, SB (5) -- .213
CF Robinson 0-4, BB, K, OF assist at third -- .248
2B McConnell 0-4, K -- .210

Mozingo 5 IP, 3 ER, 5 H, BB, 5 K, WP -- W, 4-5, 4.30 ERA
Hayes 2 IP, K -- 5.32 ERA
Chambliss 2 IP, ER, 3 H, BB, 3 K, HRA -- SV, 3, 1.88 ERA

A run of production in the middle innings earned the Bees their second straight win in the opener versus the Rattlers. SP Harold Mozingo gave up 2 runs in the 2nd on a walk, hit, force out and RBI double but Derrick Robinson nailed a runner at third to end the rally. Sac flies by Matt Morizio and O.D. Gonzalez tied the game in the bottom of the inning. Mozingo gave up a run in the 4th but Morizio scored on a wild pitch in the bottom of the frame to re-tie it at 3. Brady Everett gave the Bees the lead with a solo homer in the 5th for his 3rd of the season and Morizio led off the 6th with his 3rd homer to make it 5-3 Bees. Mike Thompson smacked his 7th homer to lead off the 7th for his 10th of the season and Burlington made it 6-3. The Rattlers left 2 on in the 8th and got a solo homer by DH Carlos Peguero in the 9th but Tyler Chambliss got out of the inning with his 3rd save. Burlington is 21-28. Wisconsin 1B Gerardo Avila was 2-3 with his 3rd RBI to move to .280, C Jair Fernandez was 2-4 with his 5th double and 7th RBI to move to .279 and SP Tony Butler took the loss with 5 IP of 4 runs (2 ER) on 6 hits and a walk with 4 Ks to drop to 0-5 with a 4.91 ERA.

The series continues tonight. Probable starters: Bees right-hander Josh Cribb (1-3, 4.81 ERA) vs. Wisconsin right-hander Steven Richard (1-1, 3.38). SP Jason Godin has been promoted to Wilmington. He was 1-1 with a 1.84 ERA and a save in seven games at Burlington.