Royals on the Farm 4/8

AAA - Omaha: O-Royals 2, Round Rock 1

2B Aviles 2-4, 2B (3), HR, 2 RBI (6), K, RS -- .346
CF Costa 1-4, 2B (3), RS -- .280
DH Shealy 0-4, 2 K -- .174
LF Lubanski 0-3, 2 K -- .263
1B Stodolka 0-3 -- .429
3B Smith 1-2, BB, 2B (2), K -- .391
RF Hollins 0-1, 3 BB -- .250, OBP is .538

de la Rosa 4 2/3 IP, ER, 4 H, 3 BB, 5 K -- ND, 1.93 ERA
Duckworth 4 IP, 2 H, 2 BB, 4 K -- W, 1-0, 4.26 ERA
Musser 1/3 IP, nothing -- SV, 1, 3.86 ERA

*** Jorge de la Rosa and two relievers combined to throw a 4-hit shutout after the Express scored in the 1st and Omaha scrapped out a 2-1 win. de la Rosa had 2 on with 2 out in the 1st and gave up an RBI single to Express DH Victor Diaz to give Round Rock a 1-0 lead. Mike Aviles tied the game in Omaha's 2nd AB of the game with his 1st homer of the season and came through again in the 3rd as Shane Costa doubled with 1 out and Aviles doubled him home to make it 2-1. de la Rosa cruised until the 5th when he loaded the bases with 2 out and Brandon Duckworth came in and got Lance Niekro to line out to end the inning. Neither team mounted much of a threat of a rally from then on. Duckworth worked into the 9th and allowed a 2-out walk before Neal Musser was brought in to slam the door and did so with a game-ending groundout. Express SP Josh Muecke took the loss with 4 IP of 2 ER on 4 hits, 3 BB and 2 Ks to drop to 1-1 with a 3.00 ERA. Diaz had half the Express hits in a 3-3 night with a walk, double and RBI to move to .412.

Omaha is 4-2 and atop the division for the moment. The series is set to continue tonight as Omaha righty Luke Hochevar (0-1, 4.76) takes on Express righty Jared Gothreaux (1-0, 7.36). OF Mitch Maier is still day-to-day with a wrist injury.

AA - Northwest Arkansas: Naturals 2, Corpus Christi 0 (3-hitter)

1B Valentin 2-4, 2B (3) -- .500
LF Suero 2-3, K, RS, 2 SB (4) -- .308
3B Lisson 1-4, 2B (2), RBI -- .091
SS Sanchez 0-4, RBI (2), RS -- .174
CF Duarte 0-3, BB, 2 K, SB (4) -- .278
2B Maddox 0-4, K, SB -- .111
RF McFall 0-3, BB, K -- .188

Rosa 6 IP, 3 H, K -- W, 1-0, 1.80 ERA, only 65 pitches
Colon IP, nothing -- 12.00 ERA
Fulchino 2 IP, 3 K -- SV, 1, 5.40 ERA

*** Carlos Rosa pitched well and the Naturals got their 2nd win in blanking the Hooks, 2-0. The Naturals stranded 2 in the 2nd but got a single and steal from Ovandy Suero in the 2nd and he was driven home by an Angel Sanchez groundout to make it 1-0 NWA. Suero struck again in the 5th as he hit a 2-out single and got to second on 1 of the Hooks' 4 errors, then stole third, but unfortunately was one of 2 Nats stranded. Rosa left to start the 7th after facing 1 over the minimum and not allowing a baserunner past second. Roman Colon pitched a perfect 7th and, after Sanchez reached on an error in the 8th, Mario Lisson doubled him home to pad the lead to 2-0 Naturals. Jeff Fulchino came in and pitched 2 perfect frames to nail down his 1st save. Hooks SP Brad James took the loss despite allowing only an ER on 3 hits, 2 walks and a K over 5 IP to drop to 0-1 with a 2.45 ERA. 2B Kaz Matsui made a rehab start and was 1-3 with a double for the Hooks' only XBH. It's nice to see that effort out of Rosa this early.

The Naturals are 2-4 and tied atop a weak TL North that includes 0-5 Arkansas and 0-6 Springfield. The Nats have today off before coming home for the first time to brand-spankin' new Arvest Ballpark in Springdale, Ark., for the start of a series with San Antonio Thursday.

A-Adv. - Wilmington: Salem 4, Blue Rocks 3 (14)

3B Mertins 4-6, RBI (2), SB (2) -- .333
SS McConnell 2-5, 2 BB, 2B (2), RBI, SB (3), CS -- .188
RF Dickerson 2-6, BB, 2B (2), K, CS -- .300
DH Seratelli 2-6, 2B, 2 K, RS, SB -- .176
2B Bianchi 0-6, S, RBI, K -- .050
1B D. Wood 1-6, K, picked off -- .111
* The Rocks stranded 13 -- 10 in scoring position.

Santiago 4 IP, 2 ER, 6 H, 2 BB, 3 K, balk -- ND, 4.50 ERA
Hartsock 3 IP, 2 H, 2 K -- 0.00 ERA
Chambliss 4 IP, ER, 5 H, K -- 1.29 ERA
Nicoll 2 2/3 IP, ER, 3 H, 2 BB, 2 K -- L, 0-1, 4.76 ERA

*** Salem forced extras with an 8th inning run and the Rocks finally succumbed in the 14th to drop to 1-4. A double steal helped the Rocks to a run in the 1st as Jarrod Dyson and Chris McConnell pulled off the trick and Jeff Bianchi hit an RBI groundout to make it 1-0 Blue Rocks. Wilmington starter Mario Santiago had a rough first as the first 3 Avalanche batters reached and Salem tied the game before he got the first out. His cause was helped when a would-be sac fly turned into an unconventional double play when LF Brett Bigler threw the runner out at the plate to end the inning. The Rocks moved back ahead in the 2nd on an RBI single by Kurt Mertins, who had a good game. Again Santiago didn't let the lead last long as a leadoff single was followed by a 1-out RBI triple by Salem C Koby Clemens to tie it at 2. Santiago stranded Clemens at third and the game was still tied at 2 going into the 7th. Both teams stranded 2 in the 4th, but in the 7th the Rocks loaded the bases with 1 out and Chris McConnell took a walk to force home a run to make it 3-2 Wilmington but a Bianchi double-play ball killed the rally. Anthony Seratelli doubled in the 8th but was thrown out trying to score on a David Wood single. Tyler Chambliss replaced Aaron Hartsock for the 8th and allowed 3 2-out singles as Salem pushed across the tying run. Wilmington had the lead run at third in the 10th but Seratelli struck out to end the threat and the Rocks stranded 2 in the 11th. Chambliss worked around 2 singles to start the Salem 11th and the Rocks left 2 in scoring position in the 12th. In the 13th, Salem tried to win the game on an infield grounder but Wood threw the runner out at home and Chris Nicoll stranded the bases loaded. With 2 out in the 14th, Nicoll gave up a walk and steal and then a walkoff double to LF Cesar Quintero to finally end the game after 4 hours. RP Erick Abreu got the win with a perfect 14th to move to 1-0 with a 2.25 ERA. Avs SP Corey Bass went 6 IP and allowed 2 UER on 5 hits, a walk and 3 Ks to keep a blank ERA. Clemens was 3-6 and a homer short of the cycle to move to .357 but had a passed ball and error, and 1B James Van Ostrand was 3-6 to move to .294.

Wilmington is 1-4. The series continues tonight as Rocks righty Blake Wood (0-0, 0.00) takes on Salem lefty David Qualben in his A-Adv. debut.

A -- Burlington: rainout

The Bees will make up the game with Kane County as part of a 7-inning twinbill today. Bees starter Eduardo Paulino (0-1, 13.50) is set to take on Cougars SP Craig Italiano (0-0, 6.75) in game 1.