Royals on the Farm 6/12

AAA - Omaha: O-Royals 6, New Orleans 1

1B Butler 2-4, BB, 2B (5), HR (3), 3 RBI (10), 2 RS -- .377, there's some power...
3B Dawkins 2-5, 2B, RS, SB -- .357
C B. Pena 2-5, K, RS -- .353
2B Matranga 2-4, RBI (18), 2 K, RS -- .275
CF Maier 1-4, SF, 2B (12), RBI (27) -- .314
RF Costa 0-4, BB, SB (7), E -- .296, back from wrist injury
DH Shealy 1-4, HBP, 2B (7), RBI (19) -- .229
LF Lubanski 1-3, BB, K, RS -- .260
* Omaha stranded 10.

Salmon 5 IP, H, BB, 5 K -- W, 5-1, 4.43 ERA, wow, nice start
Giron 3 IP, ER, 3 H, BB, 3 K, HRA -- 6.81 ERA
Peralta IP, BB, K -- 0.00 ERA

*** Omaha ended up with 3 of 4 from the Zephyrs after rolling past them Thursday. Brad Salmon got the spot start for Omaha with Carlos Rosa getting called up, and pitched well for the O-Royals. The Royals left the bases full in the 3rd and Salmon stranded 2 in the 3rd in what would be his toughest inning of work. Omaha's offense awoke in the 4th as the Royals loaded the bases with 0 outs and Dave Matranga broke the ice with an RBI single. Mitch Maier followed with a sac fly and Billy Butler hit a 2-out, 2-run double before Ryan Shealy doubled him home to make it 5-0 Omaha. Roberto Giron lost the shutout by giving up a solo homer in the 7th and stranded 2 in the 8th. Butler greeted long ago Royal Nate Field with a solo homer to leadoff the 9th for his 3rd in Omaha and Joel Peralta pitched a quiet 9th to end it. Zephyrs SP Nelson Figueroa took the loss with 3 2/3 IP of 5 ER on 7 hits and 3 walks with a K to fall to 2-1 with a 3.48 ERA. C Robinson Cancel was 2-3 with a double and SB to move to .333. The Zephyrs only had 4 hits.

Omaha is 32-33 and 4.5 games back. A 4-game set at the Albuquerque Isotopes (31-35, AAA Marlins) starts tonight. Probable starters: Omaha LH Horacio Ramirez (0-1, 4.50) vs. 'Topes RH Dallas Trahern (1-5, 7.23). The Royals sold the contract of C Damaso Espino to Cleveland...which reminds me I need to update the Schematic at some point. Will get on that later.

AA - NW Arkansas: Naturals 9, Springfield 6

3B Lisson 3-4, S, HR (5), 3 RBI (23), K, RS, SB (16) -- .214, I should say he's disappointing more often....
DH Richardson 3-4, BB, 2B (15), RBI (32), 3 RS -- .292
1B Kaaihue 2-4, BB, HR (14), RBI (41), K, 3 RS -- .276
RF McFall 2-5, RBI (34), 2 K, RS -- .254
CF Duarte 2-5, 2B (9), K, RS -- .255
LF Valentin 1-4, BB, RBI (16) -- .286
2B Falu 1-5, 2B, RBI (12), CS (3) -- .265
SS Sanchez 0-5 -- .256

Cortes 5 IP, 4 ER, 7 H, BB, 8 K, 2 HRA, WP -- 3.95 ERA
Plummer 2 IP, 2 ER, 3 H, 3 K, 2 HRA -- W, 1-1, 4.05 ERA
Crist 2 IP, K -- SV, 3, 4.83 ERA

*** A late surge lifted the Naturals to snap a 7-game skid and take the opener from Springfield. Kila Kaaihue put NWA up in the 2nd with a leadoff homer for his 14th of the season but Nats SP Dan Cortes served up a 2-run homer in the bottom of the inning to lose the lead. Another 2-run homer in the 3rd made it 4-1 Cardinals but Irving Falu hit an RBI groundout in the 4th and Geraldo Valentin singled in a run in the 5th to cut it to 4-3. The Naturals left 2 in scoring position that inning and the Cardinals got 2 solo homers off Jarod Plummer in the 7th to make it 6-3. The Naturals rallied in the 8th as Brian McFall hit an RBI single and Mario Lisson blasted a 3-run homer for his 5th of the season to give the Naturals a 7-6 lead. Juan Richardson doubled in a run and scored on a wild pitch in the 9th to make it 9-6 and Kyle Crist pitched 2 perfect innings for his 3rd save. Fernando Salas blew his 2nd save and took the loss with an IP of an ER on 2 hits and a K to drop to 2-1 with a 1.96 ERA. Starter Adam Ottavino went 4 2/3 IP and allowed 3 ER on 7 hits, 2 walks and 3 Ks to move his ERA to 7.41. CF Jon Jay was 3-5 with his 8th homer, 32nd RBI, 2 SB (7), and 2 RS to move to .310. Three other Cards had 2-hit games and Springfield hit 4 HRs on the game.

The losing streak is finito! NWA is 32-33 and a game back of Springfield and Arkansas in first. The series continues tonight as NWA's Julio Pimentel (3-6, 5.15) takes on rehabbing Card P Matt Clement (0-0, 5.40).

A-Adv. - Wilmington: Winston-Salem 1, Blue Rocks 0 (3-hitter)

SS McConnell 1-4, 2 K, E (13) -- .257
2B Mertins 1-4, 2 K -- .282
1B D. Wood 1-3 -- .168, that's all the hits
CF D. Robinson 0-4 -- .258
DH Bianchi 0-3 -- .253

Cegarra 7 2/3 IP, ER, 7 H, BB, 3 K, HRA -- L, 2-2, 4.44 ERA, 1 pitch away from holding 'Hogs scoreless
Hartsock 1 1/3 IP, H, BB, K -- 4.89 ERA

*** A 5th inning solo homer was all the Warthogs needed as the Rocks' bats were severely stifled for the second straight game. Winston-Salem SP John Ely retired the last 19 batters he faced and Rocks SP Ed Cegarra left the bases loaded in the 2nd but gave up only 1 run on a homer by C Adam Ricks in the 5th. Warthogs RP Kanekoa Texeira stranded 2 over the final 2 innings to pick up his 11th save. Ely allowed a hit with 8 Ks over 7 IP to move to 3-6 with a 3.66 ERA. Ricks was 2-4 with his 1st homer and 4th RBI to improve to .196.

Wilmington is 33-34. The series continues tonight. Probable starters: Rocks righty Mario Santiago (4-3, 4.40) and 'Hogs righty Cleveland Santeliz (0-1, 4.50).

A - Burlington: Bees 5, Wisconsin 0

DH C. Robinson 3-4, 2B (10), HR (7), 2 RBI (20), 2 RS -- .255
3B Moustakas 0-3, HBP, 2 K, RS -- .227
2B-1B Martin 1-4, RBI (14), K -- .362
CF Ortiz 2-4, BB, RS -- .300
1B Taylor HBP in 1st, left with hand/wrist injury
SS J. Rivera 0-4 -- .319

Caldera 5 2/3 IP, 4 H, 2 BB, 2 K -- W, 4-5, 3.21 ERA
Z. Peterson 2 1/3 IP, H, 5 K -- 3.89 ERA, he's got some stuff
Chavez IP, H -- 3.20 ERA

*** Three Bees pitchers combined on a shutout as Burlington completed a 4-game sweep of the Rattlers. Burlington didn't waste any time as the Bees pushed 2 runs across in the 1st on 2 Rattler errors. One bad thing happened, however, as Jason Taylor got hit on the hand by a pitch and had to leave the game. Early reports are that it's broken and he's out a while. Clint Robinson doubled home a run in the 3rd and scored on a Kyle Martin single to make it 4-0 Bees. Alex Caldera never got in serious trouble through his 5 2/3 IP and Zach Peterson struck out the side in the 6th. Robinson went solo for his 7th homer of the season in the 7th to make it 5-0 and Peterson racked up 2 more Ks before handing the ball to Chris Chavez to polish off the 9th. Rattlers SP Edward Paredes took the loss with 4 1/3 IP of 4 runs (2 ER) on 5 hits, a walk and K to fall to 4-6 with a 4.07 ERA. 2B Edilio Colina and DH Ronald Garth both had 2 hits for Wisconsin. Colina also had his 10th error.

The Bees are 29-38. A 3-game set at the Peoria Chiefs (29-37, A Cubbies) starts tonight as Dan Gutierrez (1-0, 2.86) takes the hill for Burlington vs. Peoria's Hung-Wen Chen (1-3, 3.76). The Bees are 2-2 versus the Chiefs. P Tony Bradley has been recalled up to Omaha, I assume for another spot appearance, and '08 draftee 2B Johnny Giavotella has been added to the roster.

The seasons for the Rookie Burlington and Idaho Falls teams begin June 17. The AZL season begins June 22.