Royals on the Farm 7/25

AAA -- Omaha: rainout

Omaha and Salt Lake will make it up and play 2 tonight. Game 1 probables: Omaha RH Luke Hochevar (0-1, 4.50) vs. Salt Lake RH Kasey Olenberger (8-4, 4.51). Game 2 probables: Omaha LH Tyler Lumsden (6-5, 6.45) vs. Salt Lake RH Pedro Liriano (3-11, 6.27).

AA -- Wichita: Wranglers 8, Tulsa 6

LF Padilla 2-3, 2 BB, 2 2B (8), 2 RBI (30), RS -- .357
RF Joseph 3-4, RBI (19), 2 RS -- .233
CF Greenberg 1-4, BB, 3B (6), 2 RBI (37), K, RS -- .266
1B Stodolka 0-3, BB, SF, RBI (42), K, RS, E (7) -- .291
SS Falu 2-3, BB, RS -- .248
2B Valentin 2-4, BB, RS -- .298, be interesting to see what he can do at Omaha when the time comes
DH Kaaihue 0-2, BB, HBP, K, RS -- .242

D. Hughes 4 1/3 IP, 5 R (2 ER), 7 H, 4 K -- 3.31 ERA
Bausher 2 2/3 IP, ER, 3 H, 2 K, HRA -- 9.00 ERA
de la Vara IP, H, BB -- W, 2-1, 5.11 ERA
Plummer IP, K -- SV, 10, 3.02 ERA

The lead see-sawed in the middle innings but Wichita came out on top to split the truncated series with the Drillers. Wichita loaded the bases with 2 out in the 2nd and Onil Joseph cracked a single that scored 2 runs thanks to a Driller error. Starter Dusty Hughes stranded 2 in scoring position in the 3rd but allowed 3 runs in the 4th on a single, 2 doubles and 3B Jeff Nettles' 2nd error of the night. Wichita surged back ahead in the bottom of the 4th as Adam Greenberg hit a 2-out, 2-run triple to make it 4-3. Hughes was pulled with 2 on and 1 out in the 5th and Tim Bausher gave up a 3-run homer to the first batter he faced, RF Jordan Czarniecki, to make it 6-4 Tulsa. Czarniecki terrorized Wichita last season, so it's no surprise. Mike Stodolka scored on a wild pitch in the Wichita 5th and then contributed a game-tying sac fly in the 6th. The Wranglers stranded 2 in the 7th and Jorge Padilla supplied the big hit with a 2-run double in the 8th to make it 8-6. Jarod Plummer pitched a 1-2-3 9th for his 10th save. Czarniecki was 2-4 with his 9th homer and 2 RBI (41) to move to .285, C Rick Guarno was 3-3 with his 13th double and 28th RBI to move to .229 and RP Jarrett Grube took the loss with 2 IP of 2 ER on 3 hits, a walk and K to drop to 4-3 with a 2.77 ERA.

Wichita is 12-20 and 7 games back. The Springfield Cardinals (19-13) pay a visit to Wichita to start a 4-game set tonight. Probable starters: Cards lefty Eric Haberer (9-4, 3.77) vs. Wranglers righty D.J. Mattox (0-3, 4.63). Wrangler fans donated $609 to the Mike Coolbaugh memorial fund Wednesday.

A-Adv. -- Wilmington: Blue Rocks 8, Salem 4 (10)

RF McFall 2-4, BB, 3 RBI (44), 2 K, RS -- .256, hot hitter right now
3B Lisson 2-5, BB, 2 2B (20), K, 2 RS -- .265
CF Duarte 1-5, BB, RBI (25), K, RS -- .280
1B McCann 1-4, BB, 2B (7), RBI (14), K, RS -- .240
LF Bigler 1-1, RBI (21) -- .225, entered as pinch runner in 9th
2B Johnson 1-4, 2 BB, K, RS -- .257, .375 OBP; if he could hit a little better with some pop....
SS McConnell 0-3, 2 HBP, SB (4) -- .257
*The Rocks stranded 10.

Penn 3 1/3 IP, 3 ER, 6 H, 2 BB, K, WP -- 3.76 ERA
Humen 2 2/3 IP, ER, 4 H, BB -- 3.02 ERA
Barnes 2 IP, 2 H, 2 K -- 3.59 ERA
Haltiwanger 2 IP, H, BB -- W, 5-3, 3.63 ERA

An 8th inning Rocks run forced extras and a 10th inning rally put the Avalanche away. Wilmington left the bases full in the 3rd and Salem broke the ice in the 4th with 3 runs on 4 hits and a walk off Michael Penn and another hit off RP David Humen. The Blue Rocks' bats awoke in the 5th as they tied the game in a 2-out rally of a bases-loaded walk by Brad McCann and a 2-run single by Brian McFall that ended the inning when McFall tried to stretch it to two. Salem got the lead back in the 5th as Humen loaded the bases with no outs but only gave up 1 run. Mario Lisson led off the Rocks 8th with a double and scored on a McFall single to tie the game at 4. Wilmington left 2 in scoring position in the 9th and RP Russ Haltiwanger stranded 2 in the 9th to send the game to the 10th. A Salem error scored the Rocks' first run in the inning and another error scored McFall before Brett Bigler singled home a run and Jose Duarte hit an RBI ground out to make it 8-4. Haltiwanger stranded 1 in the 10th to lock down his 5th win. Salem 3B Chris Johnson was 3-4 with his 18th RBI to move to .292 and RP Chris Blazek took the loss with an IP of 4 runs (1 ER) on 3 hits and 2 walks to drop to 1-2 with a 5.06 ERA.

Wilmington is 21-11 and 4 games up on first. The Rocks return home to start a 4-game set with the Kinston Indians (18-12) tonight. RHP Julio Pimentel (7-4, 2.73) will get the start for the Rocks in game 1. The Rocks are 6-10 versus the K-Tribe.

A -- Burlington: off day

The Bees (17-14) start a 4-game split home-and-home series with the Swing of the Quad Cities (17-13, A Cardinals) tonight. Probable starters: Bees LH Ryan DiPietro (5-6, 4.52) vs. Swing RH Shaun Garceau (6-7, 3.94).

Rookie -- Idaho Falls: Chukars 10, Missoula 3

LF Koko 2-5, 2B (3), HR (1), 5 RBI (11), 2 K, 2 RS, E (5) -- .160, nothing like almost doubling your RBI total in one night
CF Ortiz 3-5, RBI (11), 2 RS, SB (6) -- .328, answering "can he hit, though?" questions emphatically
3B Van De Keere 2-5, 2 RBI (18), K, RS, E (11) -- .295
RF Gonzalez 2-4, BB, K, RS, SB (5) -- .320
DH Robinson 0-5, 2 K -- .344
1B Seratelli 1-3, BB, 2 RS -- .346

Baldwin 3 IP, 3 R (2 ER), 3 H, 5 BB, 2 K -- 2.96 ERA, a little problem with the strike zone
Peterson 4 IP, 2 H, 2 K -- W, 3-2, 4.07 ERA
Holland 2 IP, H, BB, K -- 1.59 ERA

Idaho Falls turned a 3-0 5th inning deficit into a 10-3 win for a second straight day to sweep the Osprey. Starter Burke Baldwin walked the bases loaded in the 1st and 2 sac flies made it 2-0 Missoula. Two errors and a single scored another Osprey run in the 2nd to make it 3-0. Anthony Seratelli started the 5th by breaking up a fledgling no-no with a single and Rubi Koko spoiled the shutout and the lead 2 batters later with a 3-run homer for his 1st of the season. Devery Van De Keere hit a 2-out RBI single in the frame to put the Chukars up, 4-3. Idaho Falls put it away with a 6-run 7th on an RBI single by Van De Keere, a wild pitch that scored a run, a 2-run Koko double, a passed ball that scored a run and an Adrian Ortiz RBI single that made it 10-3. Greg Holland stranded 2 in the 9th to finish it. Missoula RF Jimmy Principe was 2-3 with 2 walks to move to .276 and SP Thomas Layne took the loss with 5 IP of 4 ER on 6 hits, 2 walks and 3 Ks to drop to 2-4 with a 4.50 ERA.

Idaho Falls is 22-13 and 6 1/2 games up on first. They have tonight off.

Rookie -- Burlington: Danville 1, B-Royals 0

LF Norris 1-4, 2 K, SB (17) -- .275
RF Tucker 1-3, K -- .289
CF Lough 0-4, 3 K -- .366
1B Lane 0-3, BB, 2 K -- .315

Paukovits 5 IP, ER, 3 H, BB, 4 K, HRA -- L, 0-2, 5.13 ERA, tough loss
Bernat 3 IP, 3 BB, 2 K -- 2.00 ERA

The teams combined for 5 hits and 1 Bryan Paukovits pitch did all the damage Danville needed for the win. The Braves took a no-hitter through 6 2/3 IP and Paukovits gave up a 2-out solo homer to LF Cody Johnson in the 4th for the only run of the game. The Royals stranded 2 in the 7th and Jake Lane popped out with the tying run at third in the 9th to end it and give RP Nicholas Fellman his 8th save. Johnson was 1-3 for the Braves with his 6th homer and 21st RBI to move to .255 and SP Cole Rohrbough got the win with 5 hitless IP of 10 Ks to improve to 3-2 with a 0.59 ERA. Can't get much better than that.

Burlington is 19-13 and 3 games back. The series wraps tonight and no starters were announced on the team site.

Rookie -- AZL: Royals 19, Brewers 9

RF Pennell 3-5, BB, SF, 4 RBI (10), 2 RS, E (3) -- .343
LF Craze 2-4, 2 BB, 3 RBI (15), 2 RS -- .262
PH-C S. Perez 2-5, 2B (3), 3 RBI (9), K, RS, 2 PB (6) -- .231
3B F. Cruz 2-5, BB, 2 RBI (8), 2 RS -- .195
1B Wood 1-4, BB, SF, 2 RBI (20), K, RS -- .363
DH D. Cruz 2-5, 2 2B (5), 2 RBI (14), 2 RS -- .281
CF Richardson 1-4, 2 HBP, HR (2), RBI (6), 3 RS -- .207
SS Jose 2-5, BB, HBP, RBI (12), 4 RS, E (12) -- .206
*The Royals still stranded 11.

Duffy 2 IP, 3 UER, 2 H, 2 BB, 6 K -- 0.00 ERA, racking up the Ks; 21 in 9 2/3 IP
Lehmann 4 IP, 4 R (3 ER), 3 H, 3 BB, 5 K, HRA -- 4.29 ERA
Santerre 2 IP, nothing -- W, 3-1, 4.70 ERA
Mieles IP, 2 UER, 2 BB, 2 K, WP, balk -- 7.27 ERA

Simply put, the Brewers stink. The Royals racked up a 9-run 1st and the Brewers made 4 errors as the Royals scored 19 runs on 15 hits for the easy win. Brewers SP Joel Morales lasted a third of an inning as Vinny Pennell singled in the Royals' 1st run, Diego Cruz clocked a 2-run double, Ian Craze took a bases-loaded walk, Salvador Perez hit a 3-run double off P Jorge Crespo and Pennell came back up for a 2-run single to make it 9-0 before the Brewers even got up to bat. Leadoff guy Hilton Richardson was hit by a pitch twice in the inning. A Brewer error helped make it 10-0 in the 2nd but the Brewers took advantage of a Perez passed ball to score 3 times in the 2nd on 2 hits and a walk off starter Dan Duffy. Pennell hit a sac fly and Fernando Cruz added an RBI single in the 3rd to make it 12-3. The Royals tacked on 2 more in the 4th on a Richardson inside-the-park homer for his 2nd of his young career and a David Wood sac fly. The Brewers scored 1 in the 4th and 3 in the 5th off P Mike Lehmann and the score was 14-7 entering the 9th. The Royals piled on a 5-run rally that inning as Wood and Fernando Cruz hit RBI singles, Craze hit a 2-run single and Lifete Jose singled in a run to make it 19-7. A Pennell error led to 2 Brewer runs in the 9th but Edwin Mieles shut the door at 19-9. Brewers C Ulrich Snijders was 1-4 with his 3rd homer and 3 RBI (7) to move to .222 and Morales took the loss with 1/3 IP of 7 ER on 2 hits, 4 walks and a K to drop to 0-3 with a 10.80 ERA.

The Royals are 12-16. They have today off.