Royals on the Farm 4/6

AAA - Omaha: O-Royals 12, Albuquerque 5

DH Shealy 2-4, BB, HR (2), 4 RBI (6), K, RS -- .267
3B Smith 2-5, 3B, 2 RBI (5), 2 K, RS -- .333
SS Berroa 2-5, 2 RBI, 2 RS -- .333
C Tupman 2-4, HR, 2 RBI, RS, PB -- .500, season debut
LF Lubanski 1-4, HR (2), 2 RBI (4), 2 K, RS -- .385
2B Aviles 2-5, 3B (2), 2 RS -- .389
1B Stodolka 2-4 -- .571
RF Hollins 2-4, BB, K, 3 RS -- .333, keeps hitting but isn't young and the OF picture is crowded
CF Costa 0-4, BB, 2 K, RS -- .250

Lumsden 4 2/3 IP, 3 ER, 6 H, 2 BB, K, HRA, WP -- ND, 5.79 ERA, 82 pitches
Giron 3 1/3 IP, 7 K -- W, 1-1, 6.23 ERA, nice line there, no hits, no walks, 7 Ks in 10 batters
Musser IP, 2 R (1 ER), 2 H, 2 K, HRA -- 4.50 ERA

*** The O-Royals' bats awoke as Omaha scored in all but 2 innings (3 if counting the unnecessary bottom of the 9th) and routed the Isotopes to split the 4-game set. Tyler Lumsden made the start for Omaha and gave up a 1st inning run on a walk, wild pitch and single. The Royals went to work in their half of the 1st and Ryan Shealy followed up singles by Mike Aviles and Damon Hollins with a 3-run tater (his 2nd) to left to give Omaha a 3-1 lead. Lumsden ran into more trouble in the 2nd as a walk and single started the inning. Lumsden picked off a runner after a force out put runners at the corners and the runner from third scored on the pickoff play. Omaha got the run back on a Matt Tupman solo homer in the bottom of the 2nd. Lumsden gave up a solo homer to Dallas McPherson (his 3rd of the series) to cut the gap back to 1 in the 4th but Tupman singled home Angel Berroa in the bottom of the frame to keep the lead at 2 runs at 5-3. Lumsden put 2 on with 1 out in the 5th was was pulled for Roberto Giron with 2 out. Giron struck out Tagg Bozied to end the inning and Omaha broke it open in the 6th with 3 runs on a Berroa RBI single and 2-run homer by Chris Lubanski (his 2nd) to make it 8-3. Giron struck out the side in the 7th and K'd 2 of 3 in the 8th as Omaha padded the lead with a 2-run 7th on a Shealy RBI single and McPherson error. Two more Royals scored in the 8th on a 2-run single by Jason Smith to make it 12-3. Neal Musser came on for the 9th and struck out McPherson only to see the third strike get past Tupman and McPherson make it to first. A 2-run homer by John Gall followed before Musser worked around a single to end the game at 12-5. Isotopes SP Daniel Barone took the loss with 8 R (7 ER) on 11 hits with 6 Ks over 5 1/3 IP to set a 11.81 ERA. C John Baker and 2B Andrew Beattie had 2-hit games for Albuquerque.

Omaha is 2-2. A 4-game home set with the Round Rock Express (3-1, AAA Astros) is set to begin tonight. The Express roster features Astros prospect righty Chad Reineke and former Royal fatty Runelvys Hernandez. In other news, C Damaso Espino was put on the DL with an undisclosed injury to make room for Tupman. OF Mitch Maier is day to day with a wrist injury, and in our sign of the apocalypse for the day, Angel Berroa played his 53rd straight AAA game without an error. I guess a 1st inning play was initially ruled an error on Berroa but was changed to a hit later.

AA - Northwest Arkansas: Corpus Christi 6, Naturals 1

3B Valentin 2-4, RBI -- .357
CF Duarte 1-4 -- .357
1B Kaaihue 1-4, E (2) -- .235
2B Maddox 0-3, HBP, K -- .143
RF McFall 0-3, BB, SB, K -- .250
DH Richardson 0-4, K -- .353

Cortes 4 1/3 IP, ER, 3 H, 3 BB, 4 K -- ND, 2.08 ERA, 72 pitches
Hughes 2 2/3 IP, ER, H, BB, 2 K, WP -- L, 1-1, 1.69 ERA
Colon IP, 4 ER, 5 H, BB -- 18.00 ERA, ouch

*** Three Hooks pitchers led by SP Chance Douglass combined to baffle Natural bats as CC took the series opener. Both teams stranded runners in the 1st but NWA took the lead in the 3rd on a 2-out RBI single by Geraldo Valentin. The Hooks tied it in the bottom of the 3rd as a leadoff double and groundout put a runner at third and the runner scored on a would-be groundout that wasn't when Kila Kaaihue missed the catch at first. The Naturals stranded 2 in the 5th and Cortes was pulled for Dusty Hughes with 1 out in the 5th. Corpus Christi broke the stalemate off Hughes in the 7th as CF Eli Iorg tripled to lead off the inning and scored on a sac fly to make it 2-1 Hooks. The last 10 Naturals went down in order and the Hooks scored 4 in the 8th on 5 hits and a walk off Roman Colon. Douglass went 5 IP and allowed an ER on 5 hits, 2 walks and a K to set a 1.80 ERA. RP German Melendez got the win with a hit allowed and a K over 3 IP. Hooks DH Ole Sheldon was 3-3 with 2 doubles and 3 RBI in the win. 2B Drew Sutton was also 2-4 with a double and RBI.

NW Arkansas is 1-3 but still tied with Tulsa for the division lead. The series continues tonight as Naturals SP Blake Johnson goes up against Hooks SP Sean Walker. I still hold out hope the rumors of Johnson as the PTBNL in the Salmon deal were false. So far, so good.

A-Adv. - Wilmington: Blue Rocks 3, Myrtle Beach 1

RF Dickerson 2-4, 3B (2), RBI (3), K, RS, SB (2) -- .250
1B Seratelli 1-4, RBI, 2 K -- .091
2B W. Perez 1-4, RBI, K -- .250
DH Bianchi 1-3, BB, K, 2 RS, SB -- .100
CF D. Robinson 1-4, K, 2 SB -- .167
SS McConnell 0-4 -- .091
3B J. Johnson 1-2, BB, K, picked off -- .500, season debut

Holland 5 IP, 0 ER, 4 H, 7 K -- W, 1-0, 0.00 ERA, very nice
Teaford 4 IP, ER, 4 H, BB, 3 K -- SV, 1, 2.25 ERA

*** Wilmington jumped on the Pelicans early and held on to get the 3-1 win. With 2 out in the Rocks 1st, Jeff Bianchi walked and scored on a Joe Dickerson triple, and then Dickerson scored on an Anthony Seratelli single to make it 2-0 Wilmington. The Rocks stranded 2 in the 2nd and Wilver Perez singled home a run in the 3rd with Dickerson getting thrown out at the plate to keep the score 3-0 Rocks. Rocks SP Greg Holland didn't have more than 2 baserunners in any inning and handed the ball to Everett Teaford in the 6th. Teaford allowed a run on 3 hits in the 6th but stranded 2 Pelicans and had his cause aided by a double play in the 8th. He pitched a 1-2-3 9th to pick up the 4-inning save. Pelicans SP Kyle Cofield took the loss with 3 IP of 3 ER on 7 hits with 2 walks and 2 Ks to set a 9.00 ERA. RF Jon Owings and 3B Derrick Arnold had 2 hits each for the Pelicans.

The Rocks are 1-2. The fourth and final game of the set is tonight as Rocks righty Jason Godin takes on Pelicans RH Ryne Reynoso.

A - Burlington: Peoria 3, Bees 2

1B C. Robinson 2-4, 2 HR, 2 RBI, 2 RS -- .308
SS Moustakas 0-4, K -- .176
CF Ortiz 1-3, BB, 2B -- .438
LF Lough 1-3, BB -- .200
3B Taylor 0-1 -- .091, left game after 2nd
* C Ryan Eigsti and P Yensi Lopez both committed their first errors.

Caldera 5 1/3 IP, 3 R (2 ER), 8 H, 4 K, HRA -- L, 0-1, 3.38 ERA
Lopez 2 2/3 IP, H, 4 K -- 0.00 ERA
Swaggerty IP, K -- 9.00 ERA

*** The Bees weren't able to recover from a 2-run Peoria 1st as the Chiefs split the 4-game set. A 2-out, 2-run homer by Chiefs 1B Blake Lalli off Bees starter Alex Caldera put Peoria on top early. Jason Taylor popped out to leadoff the Bees 2nd and didn't come out on the field for the top of the 3rd (the Burlington Hawk Eye's blog states it was a manager's decision). The Chiefs padded their lead with a run in the 5th on a sac fly after Ryan Eigsti's throwing error on a pickoff attempt. Bees 1B Clint Robinson led off their 5th with his 1st homer of the season to cut the lead to 3-1. The Bees stranded 2 in the inning and Yensi Lopez relieved Caldera with the bases loaded and 1 out in the 6th and induced 2 pop outs to escape the jam. He struck out the side with a runner at third in the 8th and the Bees stranded 2 more runners in their half of the 8th. Robinson came back up with 1 out in the 9th and slammed his 2nd solo homer of the game to cut the lead to 3-2 but the next two batters went down to end the game and give Chiefs RP Craig Muschko his 1st save. Chiefs starter Alberto Cabrera got the win with 5 IP of an ER on 4 hits with 2 walks and a K to set a 1.80 ERA. Lalli was 3-4 with the homer and 2 RBI in the win and C Mario Mercedes was 2-3.

Burlington is 2-2. A 4-game set at the Kane County Cougars (4-0, A A's) starts today. Zach Peterson starts for Burlington vs. Cougars SP Scott Mitchinson. The Cougar roster features A's prospect OF Corey Brown.