Royals on the Farm 4/16

AAA - Omaha: Nashville 9, O-Royals 3

3B Smith 1-4, HR (4), RBI (10), K, RS -- .294
RF Hollins 1-4, HR, RBI (6), RS, E -- .214
2B Aviles 1-4, 2B (7), RBI (13) -- .315
CF Costa 1-4, 2B (8), RS -- .340
DH Shealy 1-4, K -- .180
1B Stodolka 0-4, 2 K -- .345
LF Lubanski 1-2, BB, K, OF assist at second -- .209, over Mendoza line
* SS Angel Berroa's 2nd error of the year ended up costing Omaha big-time, although the fault lies more with the pitching.

Davies 5 IP, 6 UER, 5 H, 2 BB, 3 K, HRA -- L, 1-1, 1.38 ERA, fell apart with 2 outs after Berroa's error
Fulchino IP, 2 UER, H, BB, K -- 0.00 ERA
Musser 2/3 IP, UER, H, 2 K -- 1.50 ERA
Salmon 1 1/3 IP, H, 2 BB, K -- 2.61 ERA

*** Nine, count 'em, nine unearned runs fell on Omaha like a ton of bricks Wednesday as Nashville had a 6-run 5th and pulled away to win. Damon Hollins had the first hit of the game with a solo homer for his 1st as a Royal in the 2nd inning. Omaha starter Kyle Davies stranded 2 in the 2nd and Shane Costa and Mike Aviles hit back-to-back doubles in the 3rd to make it 2-0 Omaha and chase Sounds starter Richie Gardner. Davies had a 1-hitter going into the 5th when a 1-out error by Angel Berroa seemed to make him unravel. He hit a batter and, with 2 outs, gave up a single, bases loaded walk, grand slam to Sounds CF Laynce Nix, a double and RBI single to make it 6-0 before a forceout mercifully ended the rally. Jeff Fulchino pitched a perfect 6th and was pulled with 2 on and 0 out in the 7th for Neal Musser. Again an error killed the Royals as a Nix single was turned into a bases-clearing hit thanks to a Hollins error in right as Nashville pushed the lead to 9-2. Jason Smith cracked his 4th homer to lead off the 9th but that was it as Nashville finished off the win. Reliever Tim Dillard picked up the W with 3 1/3 IP of 3 hits and 2 Ks to move to 1-0 with a 1.00 ERA. Gardner allowed 2 ER on 3 hits and 2 Ks over 2 2/3 IP to make his ERA 4.91. Nix was 2-4 with his 2nd homer and 4 RBI (8) to go with 2 RS to move to .269 and former Royal farmhand OF Mel Stocker was 2-4 with a walk, his 4th SB and 2 RS to move to .391.

Omaha is 8-5 and 1.5 games up on first over Iowa. Game 3 versus the Sounds is tonight. Probable starters: O-Royals lefty Tyler Lumsden (0-1, 5.87) vs. Nashville RH Nic Ungs (1-1, 3.72). Baseball America noted RP Chin-hui Tsao has been placed on the temporarily inactive list.

AA - NW Arkansas: off day

The Naturals head to North Little Rock to take on the Arkansas Travelers (3-9, AA Halos) for the first of a 4-game set tonight. Probable starters: NWA lefty Rowdy Hardy (0-1, 7.27) vs. Travs SP Brok Butcher (0-0, 2.79, and that is how he spells his first name). The Travs' roster features LAA prospects OF Chris Pettit (1 game, 2 ABs thus far), righty Stephen Marek (0-2, 4.26, 1.26 WHIP in 4 relief appearances), SS Hainley Statia (.552 OPS), and righty Anthony Ortega (1-1, 2.45, 1.18 WHIP, 12 K, 6 BB in 2 starts and 11 IP).

A-Adv. - Wilmington: Blue Rocks 6, Kinston 5 (10)

C Morizio 2-4, BB, 3B, 3 RBI (6), RS -- .286
LF Dyson 2-5, 2B, 2 RBI, 2 K, SB (3) -- .214, walkoff double in 10th
2B Mertins 2-4, BB, 2B (3), RBI (6), 2 K, 2 RS -- .324
1B Seratelli 2-5, 2 K, RS, SB (3) -- .158
RF Dickerson 1-4, BB, 2 K, SB (7) -- .347
CF D. Robinson 0-3, 2 BB, SB (4) -- .222
SS McConnell 0-5, K, SB (5), E (3) -- .114
DH D. Wood 1-4, BB, K, RS, SB (3) -- .227, team was 6/6 in steals Wed.
* The Rocks stranded 10.

Holland 2 IP, 2 ER, 2 H, BB, 2 K, WP -- ND, 1.80 ERA, Rocks starter hit with liner for second straight night
Teaford 5 1/3 IP, ER, 4 H, 3 BB, 3 K, 2 pickoffs -- 1.17 ERA
Haltiwanger 2 2/3 IP, 2 ER, 2 H, 2 BB -- W, 1-0, 6.48 ERA

*** A great 10th inning capped the game for the Blue Rocks as an apparent letdown in the top of the inning turned into a walkoff hit in the bottom of the frame. The teams played a game of "match this" as Kinston started the scoring with a 2-run 2nd off Wilmington SP Greg Holland on 2 hits, a walk and wild pitch. With 2 on and 1 out in the Rocks 3rd, Matt Morizio stepped up with a 2-run triple to tie the game. Holland didn't "answer the bell" for the 3rd inning after getting hit by a line drive to start the 2nd as Everett Teaford came out to pitch. Both teams stranded 2 in the 4th and Kinston finally broke the tie in the 7th on an RBI forceout off Teaford. Wilmington kept pace as Jarrod Dyson singled home Morizio in the bottom of the inning and it was tied at 3, but the Rocks left the bases full in the inning. RP Russ Haltiwanger was brought in with the bases loaded and 1 out in the top of the 8th and got a lineout and groundout to kill the threat and the Rocks left the winning run at third in the 9th. Haltiwanger faltered in the 10th as a leadoff single, walk and RBI double broke the tie again and a sac fly pushed a second run across to make it 5-3 Kinston. Haltiwanger stranded 2. The Rocks' offense proved to not be dead, however, as RP Neil Wagner came in to try and close it out for the K-Tribe and allowed a 1-out walk, wild pitch, Kurt Mertins RBI double, Morizio RBI single to tie the game and, with 2 out, Dyson doubled home pinch runner Brett Bigler to end the game. Wagner picked up his 2nd save and dropped to 0-2 with 3 ER on 3 hits, a walk and 2 Ks in 2/3 IP to make his ERA 9.53. Starter Paolo Espino worked 5 IP of 2 ER on 4 hits, a walk and 6 Ks to drop his ERA to 11.57. K-Tribe 2B Jared Goedert was 2-4 with his 3rd double and 6th RBI to move to .359.

Wilmington is 5-8 and 5.5 games out of first. A 4-game set at the division-leading Potomac Nationals (10-2, A-Adv. guess who, on a 10-game win streak) starts tonight. Probable starters: Rocks righty Jason Godin (0-0, 4.70) vs. Nats lefty and 2007 top organizational pick Ross Detwiler (1-0, 3.86). The P-Nats roster features prospects 1B Chris Marrero (top prospect, .800 OPS, 4 E in 12 games), Missouri State product Detwiler, righty Jordan Zimmermann (1-0, 0.93, 0.83 WHIP in 9 2/3 IP), righty Adam Carr (1-1, 6.75 in only 4 IP of relief), and righty Adrian Alaniz (0-0, 6.75, 1.88 WHIP in 2 starts). Dyson got the shaving cream pie treatment during his postgame interview in honor of his walkoff hit.

A - Burlington: Bees 7, Lansing 4

DH Taylor 2-3, BB, HR, 4 RBI (7), RS, SB (3) -- .175
SS Moustakas 1-3, BB, K, 3 RS -- .194
C Balduf 2-4, 2B (2), 3B, RS, PB -- .333
3B Jimenez 1-3, BB, RBI (3), RS -- .167
RF Walton 0-3, SF, RBI (5), K -- .167
CF Ortiz 0-4, RBI (2), K -- .288

Cegarra 6 IP, 2 ER, 6 H, 6 K, HRA -- W, 1-0, 1.13 ERA, nice
Augustine 3 IP, 2 R (1 ER), 5 H, BB, 4 K, E -- SV, 1, 5.73 ERA

*** Burlington exceeded Lansing's scoring pace in the middle innings and ended up with 2 of 3 in the series. The Bees put the first crooked number on the scoreboard in the 4th as Jason Taylor clubbed a 2-run homer for his 1st of the season. Bees starter Ed Cegarra hadn't had much trouble going into the 5th but gave up a solo homer to Lugnuts LF Johermyn Chavez in that inning to cut the lead in half. Adrian Ortiz got the run back for the Bees with an RBI groundout in the bottom of the 5th to make it 3-1. Cegarra allowed another run in the 6th but a Jamar Walton sac fly in the bottom of the inning kept the 2-run lead intact at 4-2. Joe Augustine came on to pitch the 7th and had a passed ball and his own throwing error cost him an unearned run as Lansing once again trimmed the lead to 1. He stranded 2 and, again, the Bees were equal to the task in this time scoring 3 times in the 7th on a leadoff triple by Todd Balduf, an Antonio Jimenez RBI single and 2-run single by Taylor to make it 7-3. Augustine allowed another run in the 8th but stranded a runner at third in the 9th to close out his 1st save. Lansing starter Nate Starner took the loss with 5 IP of 3 ER on 3 hits, a walk and 5 Ks to drop to 0-2 with a 2.40 ERA. Lugnuts SS Justin Jackson was 4-5 with his 5th double, 2nd triple and a RS to move to .311 and finish a homer away from the cycle. 2B Raul Barron was 2-4 with his 4th RBI, 2 SB and a RS to move to .519.

Burlington is 6-7 and 6 games out. The Bees have today off before starting a series at West Michigan. Susan Denk of the Burlington Hawk Eye has an interesting piece about Jason Taylor on her View from the Press Box blog for the Hawk Eye at http://www3.thehawkeye.com/pressbox_blog/. Guess it was drug problems that kept him out in 2007. Hopefully he's got his stuff together.