Royals on the Farm 4/28

AAA - Omaha: Sacramento 7, O-Royals 5

DH Shealy 2-2, BB, HBP, HR (6), RBI (10), 2 RS -- .203
C Tupman 1-3, SF, HR (3), 4 RBI (9), RS -- .315, 3 HR ties his career high for a season
2B Aviles 2-4, RS -- .351, has kept it up from '07 performance
CF Maier 1-4, picked off -- .286
RF Costa 1-4, 2B (11), RS -- .322
1B Stodolka 0-4, 3 K -- .245
LF Lubanski 0-2, BB, E (2) -- .246

Maroth 1 2/3 IP, 7 R (6 ER), 5 H, 2 BB, 2 K, 2 HRA -- L, 0-2, will he go if they decide to bring Rosa or Cortes up?
Duckworth 5 1/3 IP, 5 H, 5 K, WP -- 3.92 ERA
Tsao perfect IP -- 3.38 ERA

*** The RiverCats did their damage in the first 2 innings and then held off the Royals to grab the series opener. Mike Aviles was thrown out at home in the 1st but Matt Tupman put Omaha on top with a 3-run homer for his 3rd of the season. Unfortunately, O-Royals starter Mike Maroth started the bottom of the 1st with a single and 2-run homer to cut the lead to 1 entering the 2nd. Mitch Maier was picked off to end the Omaha 2nd and Sacramento went back to work on Maroth for 5 runs on a homer, 2 singles and 2 walks before he was pulled for Brandon Duckworth with the bases loaded and 2 outs. Duckworth allowed a 2-run single and a run scoring wild pitch with the runs credited to Maroth as Sacramento took a 7-3 lead. Aviles singled and Shane Costa doubled to start the 3rd and a Tupman sac fly cut the lead to 7-4. Ryan Shealy cranked a 2-out solo homer in the 5th for his 6th of the season and the lead was cut to 2. Omaha didn't have another hit, however, and some decent relief from Duckworth and Chin-hui Tsao went for naught. RiverCats RP Jerry Blevins picked up his 3rd save with a perfect 9th as SP Kirk Saarloos got the win with 5 IP of 5 ER on 8 hits, a walk and 3 Ks to move to 3-0 with a 4.50 ERA. 2B Kevin Melillo was 2-3 with a walk, his 1st homer, 2 RBI (7), and 2 RS to move to .368, 3B Jeff Baisley was 1-4 with 2 RBI (12) and his 3rd error to move to .295 and CF Carlos Gonzalez was 0-1 with a walk and his 10th RBI to move to .343 before leaving with a leg injury.

Omaha is 13-9 and 2.5 games up on first. The series continues tonight. Probable starters: O-Royals RH Kyle Davies (2-1, 0.90) vs. Sac'to LH Danny Borrell (2-0, 2.08).

AA - NW Arkansas: Naturals 6, Arkansas 5

3B Lisson 2-4, RBI (5), SB (8) -- .207
DH Richardson 1-1, 4 BB (!), 2 RS -- .256
1B Kaaihue 1-4, BB, RBI (19), RS -- .225
RF McFall 1-3, SF, 2B (4), RBI (10), RS, OF assist at home -- .206
CF Duarte 1-4, BB, K, RS -- .215
SS Sanchez 1-5, K, RS, E (6) -- .188
*NW Arkansas stranded 10.

D. Hughes 3 IP, 3 ER, 5 H, BB, HRA, balk -- ND, 3.00 ERA, 66 pitches
Crist 3 IP, 2 ER, 5 H, BB, 2 K, HRA -- W, 1-0, 6.00 ERA
Atencio 2 IP, H, BB, 4 K -- 0.00 ERA, season debut
Plummer IP, K -- SV, 2, 0.00 ERA

*** The Naturals dug themselves out of a 5-1 hole to come back and sweep the Travelers. NWA stranded 2 in the 1st and Arkansas scored a run on 2 hits in the 2nd to take the early lead off SP Dusty Hughes. Hughes served up a 2-run homer in the 3rd as the Travs made it 3-0 and, after the Naturals stranded 2 more in the 3rd, Kyle Crist came on to pitch the 4th and allowed a leadoff homer to the first batter he faced to make it 4-0. Brian McFall doubled with 1 out in the NW Arkansas 4th and scored on two wild pitches to get the Naturals on the scoreboard. The Naturals stranded 2 more, however, and Arkansas got the run back as Crist loaded the bases with no outs and gave up an RBI single, altho McFall nailed a runner from right at the plate to save a run. Crist got out of the inning with only the 1 run allowed and it was 5-1 Travelers. NW Arkansas loaded the bases with 1 out in the 5th and a McFall sac fly made it 5-2. A Travs error scored another run to cut the lead to 2 but the Naturals stranded another pair of runners. Another Arkansas error helped load the bases in the NWA 6th and a wild pitch and groundout scored 2 runs to tie the game. Mario Lisson stepped up with a 2-out RBI single to give the Naturals a 6-5 lead. Greg Atencio left the tying run at third in the 7th and Jarod Plummer got a double play in the 9th to pick up his 2nd save. RP Bill Edwards took the loss for Arkansas with 2 2/3 IP of 3 UER on 2 hits, 2 walks and 4 K to blow his 1st save and drop to 0-1 with a 2.63 ERA. Starter Anthony Ortega went 5 IP and allowed 3 R (2 ER) on 6 hits, 5 walks and 2 Ks to move his ERA to 4.88. He also uncorked 3 wild pitches. 1B Ben Johnson was 3-4 with his 7th double and a run scored to move to .224 and 3 other Travs had 2-hit games.

NW Arkansas is hot at 10-14 and a game back of first after the sweep of Arkansas. A 4-game set at the Springfield Cardinals (11-13, AA guess who) starts tonight. The Nats are 2-2 versus the Cards thus far. Blake Johnson (1-2, 5.40) starts the opener for NWA.

A-Adv. - Wilmington: rainout

The Rocks and Frederick Keys will play a doubleheader today to make up the washout. Expected starters for game 1 are Blue Rocks righty Matt Kniginyzky (0-1, 2.20) vs. Keys righty Pedro Beato (3-1, 3.38). For game 2 it's Wilmington’s Jason Godin (1-0, 5.40) vs. Frederick's Jake Renshaw (2-2, 5.73).

A - Burlington: Cedar Rapids 5, Bees 3

SS Moustakas 1-4, HR, 2 RBI (4), RS -- .205, there it is, first pro homer, 2 run shot in the 8th
LF Ortiz 2-4, RS -- .361
CF Lough 1-2, S, HBP, RBI (8), K, RS -- .278
1B C. Robinson 0-4, 2 K -- .271

Cegarra 6 IP, 2 ER, 4 H, 8 K, HRA, E -- L, 1-1, 1.93 ERA, not a bad outing, tho
Lopez IP, 3 ER, 3 H, K, HRA -- 5.91 ERA
Swaggerty IP, nothing -- 4.09 ERA
Bradley IP, 2 H, 2 K -- 0.56 ERA

*** An 8th inning rally by the Bees wasn't enough as the Kernels escaped with the opener win. Starter Ed Cegarra worked around 2 errors in the 3rd to keep the game scoreless but allowed a run on 3 hits and a sac fly in the 4th. A solo homer to leadoff the 6th made it 2-0 Kernels as the Bees were being shut out on 2 hits through 7 by CR starter Michael Anton. Yensi Lopez relieved Cegarra to start the 7th and served up a 3-run homer to LF Jeremy Moore to make it 5-0 Kernels. The Bees offense stayed paltry through the first 2 outs in the 8th but Adrian Ortiz singled, advanced on a wild pitch and scored on a David Lough single before Mike Moustakas hammered his first pro homer to right for a 2-run shot to cut the lead to 5-3 and chase Anton. Wilson Tucker struck out looking to end the inning and RP Israel Carmona set them down in order in the 9th for his 1st save. Anton went 7 2/3 IP and allowed 3 ER on 5 hits, a walk and 3 Ks to improve to 3-1 with a 2.84 ERA. 1B Efren Navarro Jr. was 2-4 with his 1st homer and 12th RBI with 2 RS to move to .333 and Moore was 1-5 with his 3rd homer and 3 RBI (12) but also had 4 Ks in dropping to .253.

Burlington is 10-13 and 7 games back. Game 2 of the set is tonight as Bees starter Matt Mitchell (0-1, 3.14) goes vs. Kernels SP Mason Tobin (2-0, 0.00).