Royals on the Farm 4/30 -- April wrapup

AAA - Omaha: Sacramento 4, O-Royals 1

1B Shealy 1-4, HR (8), RBI (13), K, RS -- .218
SS Aviles 1-3, BB, 2B (12) -- .363
RF Costa 1-4, 2B (12) -- .333
CF Maier 1-4 -- .290
LF Lubanski 1-3, K -- .250
C Tupman 0-4, K -- .293

Lumsden 6 IP, 4 ER, 9 H, 2 BB, 2 HRA -- L, 1-2, 8.59 ERA, no Ks and almost a 2.00 WHIP for the game....great
Salmon 2 IP, H, BB, 2 K -- 5.09 ERA

*** Omaha couldn't get the offense going versus RiverCats SP Lenny DiNardo and Sacramento had more luck against Tyler Lumsden in winning the game. With 2 out and 1 on in the 2nd, Lumsden gave up a homer to RF Joe Gaetti (Gary's son) and Sacramento had a 2-0 lead. DiNardo retired 18 of 21 O-Royals over 6 IP, stranding a runner here and there, and the RiverCats got a solo homer in the 5th and a run on 3 hits in the 6th to bump the lead to 4-0. Lumsden threw only one 1-2-3 inning. RP Jeff Gray replaced DiNardo in the 7th and Ryan Shealy responded with his 8th homer of the season to leadoff the inning. Omaha's best chance came in the 8th but the Royals stranded 2 and a Damon Hollins double went for nothing in the 9th as RP Brad Ziegler picked up his 2nd save with 1 1/3 scoreless IP. DiNardo allowed 3 hits with 4 Ks over 6 IP to improve to 1-0 with a 0.00 ERA. Gaetti was 3-4 with his 1st double and HR and 2 RBI in his season debut with Sacramento to set a .750 BA. CF Nick Blasi was 3-4 with a RS to move to .225.

Omaha finished April 14-10 and 3.5 games up on first. The series with Sacramento finishes up tonight. Probable starters: O-Royals RH Matt Wright (0-1, 6.00) vs. rehabbing A's RH Rich Harden (NR). Two key moves affected Omaha's roster Wednesday. P Jorge de la Rosa was shipped to Colorado as the PTBNL in the Ramon Ramirez trade, and lefty Mike Maroth was released by the Royals, with Brandon Duckworth stepping up to take his rotation slot. No accompanying call-ups/roster moves have been made yet that I've seen. To date, Omaha's best hitters (w/ 10 games played) are Aviles (1.100 OPS w/ .706 SLG, 12 2B, 4 3B, 5 HR, 23 RBI, 5 BB, 11 K, 2/2 SB in 102 ABs); Costa (.980 OPS, 12 2B, 5 HR, 17 RBI, 7 BB, 8 K, 4/5 SB in 99 ABs); Shealy (.835 OPS despite only .218 BA, 3 2B, 8 HR, 13 RBI, 10 BB, 22 K in 87 ABs); Jason Smith (.823 OPS, 5 2B, 3B, 6 HR, 13 RBI, 4 BB, 27 K, 1/1 SB, 5 E in 87 ABs and 22 GP); and Tupman (.805 OPS, 2 2B, 3 HR, 9 RBI, 3 BB, 3 K in 58 ABs). Lubanski is sitting at a .778 OPS with 8 BB and 25 K in 76 ABs while Mitch Maier has an .861 OPS in 31 ABs and only 7 games. Pitching-wise, Kyle Davies is 3-1 with a 1.80 ERA, 1.24 WHIP, 12 BB/20 K and 1 HRA in 5 starts and 25 IP; Neal Musser has a 2.31 ERA, 1.03 WHIP, 5 BB/15 K and 2 HRA in 11 2/3 IP; and Duckworth has a 3.92 ERA and 1.40 WHIP with 9 BB/20 K and 1 HRA in 6 games and 20 2/3 IP. With de la Rosa gone and Hochevar in KC, that leaves some holes in the rotation that need to be filled. Maroth, Lumsden and Matt Wright haven't gotten the job done thus far.

AA - NW Arkansas: Naturals 11, Springfield 6

DH McFall 2-5, 2 HR (4, including a granny), 6 RBI (16), K, 2 RS -- .211, has ability to put up some great game lines
LF Suero 3-5, 3B, HR, 2 RBI (7), RS -- .254
2B Maddox 2-3, 2 BB, 2B (2), RBI (2), K, 3 RS -- .181, seem to remember his name was all over these reports last April. This one? Not so much.
C Clark 2-4, BB, HR, RBI, K, RS -- .148
CF Duarte 0-6, RBI (6), RS -- .202
1B Kaaihue 0-2, 3 BB, K, RS, SB -- .224
RF Valentin 0-4, BB, RS -- .333

Rosa 6 IP, 4 H, 7 K -- W, 3-2, 1.32 ERA, set to take Maroth/de la Rosa rotation slot in Omaha? Maybe?
Green 1 1/3 IP, 2 ER, 2 H, 3 K, HRA -- 8.38 ERA, left game with apparent arm injury
Atencio 1 2/3 IP, 4 ER, 3 H, BB, 2 K, 3 HRA -- 9.82 ERA, launching pad

*** Carlos Rosa and Brian McFall took care of business Wednesday as all Springfield's runs came of the "too little, too late" variety and the series was evened. The Naturals stranded 2 in scoring position in the 1st but got on the board when Cody Clark led off the 3rd with his 1st homer of the season. McFall came up for his 2nd AB of the game in the 5th and cranked a 2-run homer to center to make it 3-0 NW Arkansas. Marc Maddox singled home a run in the 6th and McFall came back up with the bases loaded and 1-out. This time, he crushed a grand slam to left center for his 2nd homer of the game, 4th homer of the season and 6th RBI of the game to make it 8-0. Patrick Green took over for Rosa, who had pretty much cruised through 6 IP, in the 7th and promptly gave up a 2-run homer to get the Cards off of zero. The Naturals responded with 3 runs in the 8th on a Jose Duarte RBI groundout and 2-run homer by Ovandy Suero for his 1st of the season. He came up a double short of the cycle on the day. Ed Lucas was the next batter and got hit by a pitch, which got both the Springfield pitcher and manager ejected. Green got a strikeout to start the Springfield 8th but left the game with a reported arm injury and Greg Atencio allowed a solo homer to the first batter he faced to cut the lead to 11-3. The Naturals stranded 2 in the 9th and Springfield got a 2-run homer and solo homer in the 9th off Atencio, who finally got a groundout to end it at 11-6. Cards SP Cory Rauschenberger took the loss despite only 1 ER on 2 hits, a walk and 4 Ks over 4 IP to fall to 0-2 with an 8.10 ERA. The Cards' pen was tagged for 10 runs. 2B Casey Rowlett was 3-4 with his first 2 homers of the season and his first 4 RBI to move to .444.

NWA is 11-15 and 1 game back of the Cards. Game 3 is tonight as Naturals SP Julio Pimentel (1-2, 3.21) faces off with Springfield SP Adam Daniels (0-1, 3.52). NWA's hottest hitters through April are Kila Kaaihue (.879 OPS despite .224 BA, 2B, 7 HR, 22 RBI, 16 BB, 11 K, 1/1 SB, 3 E in 23 games and 76 ABs); Valentin (.780 OPS, 3 2B, HR, 7 RBI, 3 BB, 6 K, 1/1 SB in 75 ABs); McFall (.746 OPS aided by Wednesday's performance, 4 2B, 3B, 4 HR, 16 RBI, 9 BB, 19 K, 2/4 SB in 76 ABs); and Juan Richardson (.701 OPS, 2 2B, 2 HR, 13 RBI, 15 BB, 15 K, 0/1 SB in 82 ABs). Maddox has a .471 OPS and Mario Lisson, who is on the 40-man roster, has a .504 OPS. SS Angel Sanchez still has a ways to go to come back from his elbow surgery as he's sitting with a .528 OPS and 6 E in 22 games and OF Jose Duarte may play good defense but is only hitting for a .532 OPS in 89 ABs. As for pitchers, Devon Lowery is 1-0 with a 0.69 ERA, 1.00 WHIP, 2 SV and 5 BB/17 K in 13 IP out of the pen; Rosa is sizzling with a 0.76 WHIP, 5 BB/32 K and 1 HRA in 6 starts and 34 IP; Dan Cortes is 0-1 with a 1.35 ERA, 1.28 WHIP, 8 BB/9 K and no HR allowed in 3 starts and 13 1/3 IP (he's about recovered from his quad injury according to the Morning News); Julio De La Cruz has a 2.55 ERA and 1.08 WHIP with 5 BB/6 K in 17 2/3 IP out of the pen; Dusty Hughes is 1-2 with a 3.00 ERA, 1.05 WHIP, 5 BB/12 K and 2 HRA in 8 games (2 starts) and 21 IP; and Pimentel has a 1.25 WHIP with 8 BB/23 K and 1 HRA in 5 starts and 28 IP. Blake Johnson and Rowdy Hardy haven't carried their weight overall in the rotation with ERAs of 5.40 and 6.23 and WHIPs over 1.6. Hardy does have 2 BB/9 K, but in 26 IP.

A-Adv. - Wilmington: Blue Rocks 2, Frederick 1

RF Dickerson 1-3, BB, 2B (4), RBI (13), RS -- .337
2B Mertins 0-3, SF, RBI (8), K -- .311
CF D. Robinson 1-4, 2 K, RS, SB (13) -- .258
SS McConnell 1-3, BB, K, SB (9) -- .221
C Howell 0-3, 2 K -- .321
3B J. Johnson 0-2, BB, K -- .268, on-base streak lives at 17

B. Wood 6 2/3 IP, ER, 2 H, 10 K -- ND, 3.86 ERA, run support issues, most Ks by Rocks starter since 2006
Chambliss 2 1/3 IP, 2 BB, E -- W, 1-0, 1.20 ERA

*** Blake Wood's great outing was almost squandered but the Rocks put together a 9th inning rally to salvage the series finale. Wood was perfect through 5 but the Rocks stranded 2 in the 2nd and couldn't generate any runs. A leadoff double broke up the perfecto in the 6th and a 2-out single brought in a run to give the Keys a 1-0 lead. Tyler Chambliss took over with 2 out in the 6th and pitched well through the 9th. Derrick Robinson led off the 9th with a single off Keys RP Wilfredo Perez, stole second and scored on a clutch Joe Dickerson double to tie the game. Jason Burch came in for the Keys and let Dickerson get to third on a wild pitch before Kurt Mertins lifted a sac fly to right and Dickerson raced home for the winning tally. Perez picked up his 1st blown save and the loss with 1 1/3 IP of 2 ER on 2 hits with 3 Ks to drop to 0-1 with a 3.57 ERA. Starter Jake Arrieta got a no decision with 7 IP of 2 hits, 3 BB and 8 Ks to drop his ERA to 2.20. CF Dan Figueroa was 1-4 with his 5th RBI and 7th SB to move to .297 and C Matt Wieters was 0-3 with a walk and 2 Ks to fall to .338.

Wilmington is 11-14 and 6.5 games back. The Rocks move on to a 4-game set at the Winston-Salem Warthogs (9-13, A-Adv. ChiSox) starting tonight. They swept W-S in their first series. Probable starters: Rocks righty Mario Santiago (1-2, 5.52) and Warthogs lefty Aaron Poreda. Through April the Rocks' hot hitters are Dickerson (.964 OPS, 4 2B, 3 3B, 2 HR, 13 RBI, 11 BB, 10 K, 15/19 SB in 83 ABs); Johnson (.857 OPS fueled by .492 OBP, 2 3B, 5 RBI, 18 BB, 11 K, 2/4 SB in 41 ABs); Howell (.848 OPS, 6 2B, HR, 11 RBI, 2 BB, 16 K, 0/1 SB in 53 ABs); Mertins (.816 OPS, 7 2B, 3B, 8 RBI, 10 BB, 16 K, 6/6 SB, 6 E in 23 games and 74 ABs); and Matt Morizio (.739 OPS, 2 2B, 3B, 6 RBI, 7 BB, 7 K, 2/3 SB in 31 ABs). Derrick Robinson has a .643 OPS and is 13/15 in SB, Chris McConnell is hitting for a .629 OPS with 10 2B and is 9/13 in SB, and Jeff Bianchi had a lowly .390 OPS with 3 BB and 16 Ks in 44 ABs before hitting the DL. Pitching-wise, Everett Teaford leads the way with a 2-0 record, 1 save, 1.16 ERA, 0.81 WHIP, 7 BB/15 K and 0 HRA in 5 games (2 starts) and 23 1/3 IP; Chambliss has a 1.20 WHIP and 8 BB/12 K with 4 saves in 15 IP; Aaron Hartsock has a 2.37 ERA, 1.00 WHIP and 4 BB/14 K in 19 IP out of the pen; Chris Nicoll has a 3.14 ERA, 1.40 WHIP and 6 BB/17 K in 14 1/3 IP out of the pen; and Greg Holland is 1-1 with a 3.24 ERA, 1.26 WHIP, 2 saves and 7 BB/26 K in 5 games (3 starts) and 16 2/3 IP. Jason Godin and Mario Santiago have struggled the most as starters with ERAs of 4.94 and 5.52 and WHIPs of 1.56 and 2.25.

A - Burlington: Bees 6, Cedar Rapids 3

3B Taylor 2-3, BB, HR (5), 2 RBI (14), K, 2 RS, SB (10) -- .253
LF Lough 2-4, RBI (10), K, RS -- .273
SS Jimenez 1-4, RBI (6), 2 K, E (7) -- .149
CF Ortiz 1-4, RS, SB (10) -- .346
1B C. Robinson 0-3, BB, K, RS -- .250

Caldera 7 IP, 3 ER, 6 H, 9 K, HRA -- W, 2-2, 2.67 ERA, nice quality start
Swaggerty and Chavez 2 combined scoreless IP

*** The Kernels struck first but it was all Bees on the scoreboard thereafter as Burlington grabbed the series finale. Starter Alex Caldera served up a 3-run homer in the 3rd to spot the Kernels the lead, but David Lough led off the Bees 4th with a single and Jason Taylor followed with a 2-run homer for his 5th of the season to cut the lead to 1. Later in the inning, Antonio Jimenez singled home a run to tie the game. The game stayed tied into the 7th when Adrian Ortiz hit a 2-out single, stole second and scored on a Lough single. Caldera retired 12 of 15 Kernels after the homer and handed the ball to the bullpen in the 8th. With 2 out and 1 on in the Bees 8th, an error allowed Taylor to score and another error brought home Wilson Tucker to make it 6-3 Bees. Chris Chavez worked around a Jimenez error in the 9th to finish it. CR starter Trevor Reckling took the loss with 7 IP of 4 ER on 6 hits, 3 BB and 6 Ks to fall to 2-1 with a 4.01 ERA. LF Jeremy Moore was 1-4 with his 4th homer and 3 RBI (15) and also had an OF assist at second in moving to .247.

Burlington is 11-14 and 8 games back. They have today off before starting a series at the Dayton Dragons Friday. Through April, the Bees' hot hitters are Clint Robinson (.911 OPS despite recent slump, 5 2B, 2 3B, 5 HR, 10 RBI, 10 BB, 11 K, 0/1 SB in 76 ABs); Taylor (.892 OPS, 2 2B, 3B, 5 HR, 14 RBI, 18 BB, 20 K, 10/13 SB and 5 E in 24 games and 79 ABs); Ortiz (.783 OPS, 3 2B, 2 3B, 4 RBI, 4 BB, 15 K, 10/12 SB in 107 ABs -- most of .372 OBP is batting average, would like to see more BB); and Lough (.739 OPS, 2 2B, 2 HR, 10 RBI, 12 BB, 16 K, 3/4 SB in 88 ABs). Mike Moustakas is hitting .190/.253/.226 for a .479 OPS with 1 HR (only XBH), 4 RBI, 7 BB, 11 K, 1/1 SB and 6 E in 21 games and 84 ABs. Five other guys are hitting for less than a .400 OPS, yeesh. On the mound, Anthony Bradley is 1-2 with a 0.56 ERA, 1.19 WHIP, and 6 BB/12 K in 16 IP out of the pen; Ed Cegarra is 1-1 with a 1.93 ERA, 0.89 WHIP, 1 BB/28 K (!!!) and 2 HRA in 5 games (4 starts) and 28 IP. I had no idea his K/BB was like that, and I think he's only 19 or 20. Dan Gutierrez is 1-0 with a 2.37 ERA, 1.11 WHIP and 9 BB/25 K in 4 starts and 19 IP before hitting the DL; Caldera has a 1.05 WHIP, 2 HRA and 6 BB/28 K in 5 starts and 30 1/3 IP; and Joe Augustine is 1-0 with a 2.74 ERA, 1.22 WHIP, 2 HRA and 9 BB/27 K in 5 games (2 starts) and 23 IP. Augustine and Cegarra both have a save to their credit. Really nobody is pitching horribly at Burlington, as Zach Peterson's 6.00 ERA is buoyed by a 1.33 WHIP. Matt Mitchell and Eduardo Paulino have ERAs in the 4s and WHIPs around 1.4, so have some room for improvement but still aren't pitching badly. Both have decent K/BB ratios and K/9 numbers.