Royals on the Farm 5/6

AAA - Omaha: Portland 12, O-Royals 11

C Tupman 2-4, BB, 2B (3), HR (4), 3 RBI (12), 3 RS -- .284, career HR high, only had hit 1 with Omaha prior to this season
2B Matranga 3-5, 2B (2), HR, RBI (6), RS -- .385
LF Stodolka 2-5, 2B (4), 2 RBI (7), K, RS -- .250
CF Maier 3-6, 2 2B (6), RBI (7), RS -- .375
SS Aviles 3-6, 3B (6), RBI (27), 2 RS -- .351, I think a KC roster shakeup is in order the way the MLB Royals are playing
1B Shealy 2-4, BB, 2 RS -- .207
RF Costa 1-5 -- .325
DH Lubanski 1-5, K, RS -- .234

Wright 6 IP, 4 ER, 6 H, 2 BB, 4 K, 2 HRA -- 5.34 ERA, consistently mediocre thus far
Giron 2 1/3 IP, 7 ER, 5 H, BB, 3 K, 3 HRA, WP -- L, 1-3, 7.48 ERA, not how you get to majors, Roberto
Mildren 2/3 IP, ER, H, K, HRA -- 3.38 ERA, holy crap...6 HR allowed combined

*** A crazy 9th inning saw the O-Royals enter with a 7-6 lead and leave with a 12-11 loss in the opener v the Beavers. Portland jumped out to a 3-0 lead as Shane Costa ran into an out at second in the Omaha 1st and the O-Royals stranded 2 in the 2nd. The Beavers got 2 runs off Matt Wright in the 2nd on 2 hits, 2 walks and a sac fly and added another run in the 3rd on a solo homer. Omaha jumped back in the game with 2 outs and 1 on in the 3rd as Ryan Shealy singled, Matt Tupman hit an RBI double and then both Shealy and Tupman scored on a very wild pitch from Portland SP Enrique Gonzalez to tie the game. Another solo homer in the 5th made it 4-3 Portland and Roberto Giron came on in the 7th and gave up a triple and sac fly to make it 5-3 Beavers. Dave Matranga led off the Omaha 7th with his 1st homer as a Royal and Omaha piled on 3 more runs on a Mike Aviles RBI triple and 2-out, 2-run homer by Tupman for his career high 4th of the season. Giron gave up a leadoff homer in the 8th (1B Brian Myrow's 2nd of the game) to cut the Omaha lead to 1 at 7-6 and, for some reason, was sent back out for the 9th, although other than the triple and homer he wasn't hit hard in either inning he pitched. In the 9th, he was, though, as he served up back-to-back homers to start the inning and give Portland an 8-7 lead. Another run scored on a fielder's choice before Giron was finally pulled with 1 out and 2 on. Paul Mildren came in and, of course, served up a 3-run homer to former Royal and now Beaver CF Chip Ambres to make it 12-7 Portland. Omaha had 2 on with 2 out in the bottom of the 9th when Mike Stodolka stepped up with a 2-run double, Chris Lubanski hit an error-aided run scoring single and Mitch Maier hit an RBI single to cut the lead to 12-11. With the tying run at third, Aviles popped out to end the game and give P Jared Wells his 5th save. Gonzalez allowed 6 ER on 10 hits with 3 walks over 6 IP to move his ERA to 5.82 and RP Adam Bass got the win with 2 IP of an ER on 3 hits with 2 Ks to improve to 1-1 with a 7.56 ERA. Myrow was 2-4 with 2 HR (5) and 2 RBI (21) with a walk and 3 RS to move to .337 and Ambres was 2-5 with his 5th homer and 3 RBI (19) along with an OF assist and 2 RS to move to .286. Three other players had multi-RBI games for Portland.

Omaha is 15-15 and 2.5 games up on first. Game 2 is this afternoon. Starters: Beavers RH Josh Geer (2-2, 3.97) vs. O-Royals RH Jeff Fulchino (0-0, 3.68, 1 SV). May 5, 2005 was the last time Omaha pitchers gave up 6 longballs in a game. Wright and Giron are tied for the PCL lead in HR allowed with 8.

AA - NW Arkansas: Naturals 5, Tulsa 4

RF McFall 2-3, BB, HR (5), RBI (18), RS -- .233
SS Falu 2-4, RBI (2), 2 K, RS, SB (3) -- .209, back from DL
DH Kaaihue 1-4, HR (9), RBI (27), RS -- .244
C Clark 1-3, HR (2), RBI (2), K, RS -- .176
PH Duarte 1-1, RBI (9) -- .252
LF Valentin 0-3, S, E (2) -- .315

Pimentel 5 IP, 3 R (2 ER), 6 H, 3 BB, 5 K, E (2), WP -- 3.15 ERA
De La Cruz 3 IP, ER, H, 2 BB, 4 K -- 4.22 ERA
Crist IP, H, BB -- W, 2-0, 4.15 ERA

*** A 3-run comeback 9th got the Naturals a 4-game sweep of the Drillers as NWA moved back to the .500 mark. Tulsa got a runner to third with 0 outs in the 1st off Julio Pimentel but the starter worked around the situation to escape unscathed. Pimentel wasn't as lucky in the 3rd as Tulsa scored a run on 3 hits, a walk and wild pitch but Pimentel got a double play with the bases loaded to limit the damage. The Drillers tacked on 2 more runs in the 5th on 2 walks, a Pimentel error and a single as Tulsa baserunners also swiped a couple bases in the rally. The Naturals only had 2 baserunners through 5 innings but Cody Clark led off the 6th with his 2nd homer of the season to get NWA on the board. A double play helped thwart a Natural rally in the inning but Brian McFall hit a 2-out solo homer in the 7th for his 5th of the season to cut the lead to 1. Julio De La Cruz had pitched 2 hitless innings but allowed a run in the 8th on a walk, single and sac fly to give Tulsa a 4-2 lead entering the 9th. Kyle Crist stranded 2 in the top of the 9th and Ryan Mattheus came in to close it out for Tulsa only to serve up a solo homer to Kila Kaaihue for his 9th of the season. Irving Falu later singled home the tying run although McFall, who had walked, was thrown out at third on the play. Jose Duarte pinch-hit for Clark and singled to right to bring home Falu for the winning run. Mattheus blew his 2nd save of the season and took the loss with 2/3 IP of 3 ER on 4 hits and a walk to drop to 0-2 with a 4.32 ERA. Starter Brandon Hynick went 6 2/3 IP and allowed 2 ER on 7 hits with 6 Ks to drop his ERA to 5.31. 2B Corey Wimberly was 2-4 with a walk, 2 SB (13) and his 4th RBI to move to .323 and LF Matt Miller was 1-4 with a walk and 2 RBI (18) to move to .333. He also had an OF assist to nail McFall in the 9th.

NW Arkansas is 16-16 and tied for first as the Nats and Springfield have separated themselves from the other two TL North teams by at least 4 games. The 2 division leaders (Springfield is 16-16 and the AA Cards affiliate) square off for another 4-game set starting tonight. They've already played 8 times and have split at 4-4. Game 1 probable starters: Springfield's Jess Todd (no stats yet in AA) vs. NWA's Rowdy Hardy (0-2, 5.40). RP Roman Colon has been called up to Omaha after going 2-0 with 1 save and a 5.29 ERA in 10 appearances with NWA.

A-Adv. - Wilmington: Blue Rocks 3, Salem 1 (11)

RF Dickerson 1-5, walkoff HR (3), 2 RBI (16), K, RS -- .317
CF D. Robinson 2-5, 2B (6), RBI (9), SB (15), CS (3) -- .282
2B Mertins 2-4, BB, RS -- .304
SS McConnell 0-4, S, K -- .268
C Howell 1-3, BB -- .318
3B J. Johnson 1-3, BB, K, RS -- .263
*LF Jarrod Dyson stole his 10th base and had an OF assist at home.

B. Wood 8 IP, ER, 2 H, 2 BB, 6 K -- 3.29 ERA, another great start
Barrera 2 1/3 IP, 2 H, 2 BB, 4 K, E -- 3.77 ERA
de la Vara 2/3 perfect IP -- W, 3-2, 5.03 ERA

*** Derrick Robinson helped tie the game in the 8th and Joe Dickerson won it in the 11th as the Rocks took game 2 from Salem. The Rocks left Robinson at third after he doubled to lead off the bottom of the 1st and starter Blake Wood was perfect through 3 and stranded 2 in the 4th. The Rocks left a couple more runners at third through the middle innings and Salem finally got to Wood in the 6th with a run on a walk, steal and RBI single with 2 outs. Wilmington couldn't figure out Salem starter Polin Trinidad but he was removed to start the 8th and the Rocks rallied off RP Josh Appell. Josh Johnson led off with a walk, advanced on a bunt and wild pitch, and scored on a Robinson RBI single to tie the game. Robinson stole second but was caught stealing trying to nab third to leave Dickerson at the plate and squander the RBI chance. Henry Barrera replaced Wood in the 9th and a walk and Barrera error put a man at second with 2 outs. Salem DH Mark Ori singled to left but Jarrod Dyson came up throwing and cut down the would-be lead run at the plate to end the half-inning. The Rocks got 2 in scoring position with 1 out in the 10th but Robinson flew out to LF Cesar Quintero and Anthony Seratelli was thrown out at home plate to keep the game alive. Gilbert de la Vara came in with 1 out and 2 on in the Salem 11th and got out of the jam. Kurt Mertins hit a 1-out single in the 11th to bring up Dickerson, who was 0-4 at that point. Dickerson responded in a big way with a 2-run walkoff job to right for his 3rd of the season to end the game. Salem RP Raymar Diaz took the loss with 2 2/3 IP of 2 ER on 3 hits, 2 walks and 2 Ks to drop to 1-2 with a 4.57 ERA. Trinidad went 7 IP of 5 hits, a walk and 6 Ks to cut his ERA to 2.05. 3B Jhon Florentino was 2-5 with his 5th double and 10th RBI to move to .258. Salem only had 4 hits in the loss.

Wilmington is 14-17 and 6.5 games out. The series finale is tonight as the Rocks try to get out the brooms. Probable starters: Rocks righty Mario Santiago (1-3, 5.23) v. Salem's Casey Hudspeth (2-2, 4.64).

A - Burlington: Bees 5, Fort Wayne 4

SS Moustakas 2-4, HR (4), RBI (8), 2 RS, SB (3) -- .221, looking good lately
DH Walton 2-4, RBI (8) -- .239
C Eigsti 2-3, HBP, HR, 2 RBI (10), RS -- .181
LF Ortiz 0-3, BB, K, RBI (7), SB (13), OF assists at third and home -- .336
2B A. Perez 2-4, 2B (3), 2 RS -- .160
3B Taylor 0-4, picked off -- .227

Caldera 5 IP, 4 ER, 9 H, 4 BB, 4 K, WP -- 3.31 ERA
Chavez 4 IP, 2 BB, 5 K -- W, 2-0, 2.08 ERA, great outing

*** Reliever Chris Chavez kept the Bees in the game and the offense responded to even the series with Fort Wayne. Mike Moustakas clubbed his 4th pro homer with 2 out in the 1st and the Bees had the lead. It didn't last long as Bees starter Alex Caldera gave up a walk and RBI double in the bottom of the 1st to tie it. A walk and 3 2-out singles in the 2nd pushed across another Wizard run but Ortiz, who had collaborated with Moustakas to nail a runner at third in the 1st, cut down a runner at home in the 2nd to end the rally. Moustakas singled to lead off the 4th, stole second and scored on a Jamar Walton single to tie the game at 2. Three more singles off Caldera, however, gave the lead back to the Wiz in the 4th but he stranded 2 in scoring position. The Bees put 2 on with 1 out in the 5th and an Ortiz RBI groundout retied the game. Again the Wizards responded with a 2 out rally as a walk and 2 singles made it 4-3 off Caldera in the 5th. Chavez came on for the 6th and walked 2 but escaped unharmed. He retired the last 11 he faced and the Bees got to reliever Jeremy Hefner in the 7th as Ryan Eigsti slammed a 2-run homer to left for his 1st of the season to make it 5-4 Burlington. Chavez, as noted, took care of the rest. Hefner took the loss and his 1st blown save with 3 IP of 2 ER on 4 hits, a walk and K to drop to 2-3 with a 3.95 ERA. Starter Allen Harrington lasted 4 2/3 IP and allowed 3 ER on 5 hits with 2 Ks to move his ERA to 3.58. Three Wizards had 2-hit games led by 1B Zach Brown, who was 2-3 with a walk and his 5th RBI to improve to .308.

The Bees are 13-17 and 9 games out. The series finale is already under way. Starters: Bees SP Juan Abreu and Wizards SP Matt Teague.