Royals on the Farm 6/8

AAA - Omaha: Iowa 5, O-Royals 3

RF Hollins 3-4, HR (6), 2 RBI (25), RS -- .204, unforeseen PCL honor came his way
C B. Pena 2-4, RBI, RS -- .500, Royals debut
1B Shealy 2-3, BB, K -- .228
CF Maier 2-5, RS, CS (3) -- .307
DH Butler 1-4, BB -- .361
LF Lubanski 0-4, 3 K, E (4) -- .267

H. Ramirez 6 IP, 3 ER, 4 H, 3 K, 2 HRA -- L, 0-1, 4.50 ERA
Musser IP, 2 ER, 2 H, BB, K -- 3.67 ERA
Foster 2 IP, H, K, WP -- 12.15 ERA

*** New Omaha pitcher Horacio Ramirez gave up 3 runs in the 1st and the I-Cubs coasted to a win to sweep the 4-game set from the Royals. Ramirez gave up a leadoff homer to Eric Patterson in the 1st and then a 1-out, 2-run homer by Jason Dubois made it 3-0 I-Cubs. Omaha stranded 2 in the 1st but C Brayan Pena proved to have a decent debut with a 2-out RBI single in the 3rd to cut into the lead. The Royals stranded 2 in the inning and then did it again in the 5th and 6th. Neal Musser came in for the 7th as Ramirez settled down to retire 16 of 18 after Dubois' homer. Musser tripped with 2 outs as a hit batsman, walk and 2 RBI singles made it 5-1 Iowa. Damon Hollins smacked a 2-run homer in the 8th for his 6th of the season to cut it to 5-3 but the next 5 Royals went down to end it. RP Hector Carrasco picked up his 1st save as starter J.R. Mathes got the win with 5 1/3 IP of an ER on 9 hits, 2 walks and 4 Ks to move to 3-3 with a 2.76 ERA. Patterson was 2-4 with his 4th homer and 2 RBI (22) with his 9th SB to move to .327 and 1B Micah Hoffpauir was 2-4 to move to .240.

Omaha is 29-32 and 5.5 games back. A 4-game set at the New Orleans Zephyrs (32-31, AAA Mets) kicked off the annual huge College World Series road trip tonight and the Zephyrs hammered Matt Wright. The Royals were 2-2 vs. NO entering the game. Damon Hollins was named the PCL Batter of the Week after hitting 8-16 with 3 HR and 8 RBI in 5 games. Joel Peralta is also headed back to Omaha as KC decided to call up Jeff Fulchino.

AA - NW Arkansas: Tulsa 4, Naturals 1

CF Duarte 0-3, SF, RBI (26), K, OF assists at first and third -- .253
1B Richardson 1-4 -- .295
DH Kaaihue 0-3, BB, K -- .281
LF Suero 1-4, 2 K, picked off -- .284

Pimentel 7 IP, 3 ER, 7 H, BB, 6 K -- L, 3-6, 5.15 ERA
D. Hughes IP, ER, 2 H, BB, K -- 2.79 ERA

*** The Naturals offense couldn't get going as Tulsa took the series opener. The Drillers churned out 2 runs on 4 hits in the 1st off Julio Pimentel and the Naturals left a baserunner on each inning before stranding 2 in the 4th. A Jose Duarte sac fly in the 5th cut the lead in half but Tulsa got a sac fly in the 7th to make the lead 2 again. The Drillers got another run in the 8th off Dusty Hughes but Duarte cut the rally short with an OF assist at third for his second assist of the game. The Nats failed to rally, however, as they went down in order in the 9th and Ryan Mattheus marked his 8th save. Starter Alan Johnson got the win with 7 IP of an ER on 6 hits, 2 walks and 7 Ks to improve to 3-6 with a 5.22 ERA. RF Daniel Carte was 3-4 with 2 RBI (29) to improve to .298 and two other Drillers had 2-hit games.

NWA is 31-31 and a 1/2 game back of first. The series continued tonight as Tulsa pounded Blake Wood. Wood was named Texas League Pitcher of the Week after only 2 AA starts and a 3-hit shutout in the second of those 2. Too bad he got beat around and only lasted 1/3 of an inning tonight.

A-Adv. - Wilmington: Potomac 7, Blue Rocks 2 (7/comp. Sun. game)

3B Mertins 3-4, 3B (5), RBI (22), RS -- .286
RF Dickerson 2-3, BB, 2B (8), RBI (35), CS (10) -- .317
CF D. Robinson 1-4, 2B (10), K, RS -- .265
SS J. Johnson 0-4, K -- .294
2B Bianchi 0-3, K -- .245

Nicoll 2 IP, BB, 2 K -- 2.97 ERA, first start of season washed out by Sun. rain
Hartsock 3 IP, 7 ER, 7 H, 2 BB, 2 K, 2 HRA -- L, 4-4, 5.06 ERA
Haltiwanger IP, H, BB -- 5.31 ERA

*** The 2-run lead the Rocks held when the game was suspended Sunday went away in the 5th as Potomac moved one step closer to a first-half title. Kurt Mertins singled home a run in the 1st but the Rocks left the bases full. Mertins led off the 3rd with a triple and scored on a Joe Dickerson single to make it 2-0 Rocks. The game was suspended in the middle of the inning and Aaron Hartsock came in to pick it up Monday. Three hits and a sac fly with 1 out in the Nats 4th tied the game and Wilmington stranded 2 runners in the 5th. Potomac took over in the 5th as Hartsock gave up a 1-out single and RBI double and a 2-out, 2-run homer before a walk and another 2-run homer made it 7-2 Nats. Russ Haltiwanger stranded 2 in the 6th but Joe Dickerson grounded out with runners at the corners and 2 out in the 7th to end the game. RP Jack Spradlin picked up the win for Potomac with 3 IP of a walk and 6 Ks to improve to 4-0 with a 3.38 ERA as SP Jhonny Nunez went 3 IP of 6 hits, 2 ER, a walk and 4 Ks to move his ERA to 5.75. SS Mike Martinez and RF Edgardo Baez had 2-hit games as Baez cracked his 9th homer with 2 RBI (42) to move to .286.

Blue Rocks 11, Potomac 6 (7/reg. Mon. game)

1B Seratelli 3-4, HR (7), 3 RBI (27), 3 RS, SB (10) -- .211
2B Bianchi 2-4, 2B (12), RBI (24), 3 RS -- .252
3B Mertins 2-4, 3B (6), RBI (23), 2 RS -- .291
C Howell 1-4, 2 RBI (22) -- .276
LF Bigler 1-3, 2B (4), 2 RBI (7), 2 K -- .200
RF Dyson 1-4, RBI (10), 2 K, RS -- .243
CF D. Robinson 1-4, SB (29) -- .265
SS McConnell 1-4, K, RS -- .256

Santiago 5 1/3 IP, 2 ER, 5 H, 2 BB, K, HRA -- W, 4-3, 4.40 ERA
Chambliss 2/3 IP, 4 ER, 2 H, 3 BB, 2 K, 2 WP -- 3.03 ERA
de la Vara IP, H -- 3.62 ERA

*** The Rocks bounced back to salvage the nightcap with the Nationals. The Rocks jumped on Nats starter Joe Norrito for 3 runs in the 1st despite Derrick Robinson running into an out at third as Anthony Seratelli hit an RBI single and Jeff Howell followed with a 2-run single. Mario Santiago served up a solo homer in the 2nd but the Rocks answered with 4 runs in the 3rd as Kurt Mertins ripped an RBI triple, Jeff Bianchi followed with an RBI double and Seratelli cranked a 2-run homer to right for his 7th of the season to make it 7-1 Wilmington. The Nationals scored on 3 hits and a sac fly off Santiago in the 4th but, once again, Wilmington responded with 4 runs in the 5th as Bianchi scored on a wild pitch, Jarrod Dyson singled in a run, and Brett Bigler hit a 2-run double to make it 11-1. Tyler Chambliss stranded a runner in the 6th but walked the first 2 batters in the 7th and threw in 2 wild pitches and a 2-run double before getting pulled with 2 on and 0 out. de la Vara gave up a 2-run double of his own with the runs going to Chambliss before getting a line-out double play to end it. Norrito took the loss with 7 ER on 8 hits, a walk and 3 Ks over 3 IP to fall to 3-1 with a 5.25 ERA. 1B Chris Marrero and 3B Leonard Davis had 2-hit games for Potomac as Davis smoked his 10th homer for his 30th RBI and SS Mike Martinez drove in 2 runs.

Wilmington is 32-32 and 7 games back as the first half winds down. The Rocks started a 3-game set at the Frederick Keys (30-34, A-Adv. O's) tonight and got the win as Everett Teaford picked up the victory. The Rocks were 2-4 versus the Keys going into tonight's game.

A - Burlington: Cedar Rapids 9, Bees 6

DH Taylor 2-4, HR (8), 2 RBI (25), 2 RS -- .222
3B Moustakas 0-4, RBI (29) -- .228, is 3B the backup plan?
RF Van Stratten 1-4, 2 RBI, RS, SB, OF assist at second -- .214
SS J. Rivera 3-4, RBI (4), CS, picked off -- .303, nice organizational debut
LF Ortiz 2-4, 3B (4), K, RS, picked off -- .300
1B C. Robinson 0-4, 3 K -- .226
2B Martin 1-4, 2B (5), RS, E (7) -- .328

Runion 3 IP, 7 R (5 ER), 9 H, BB, 2 HRA -- L, 1-4, 5.84 ERA
Gutierrez 3 IP, 2 ER, 5 H, 2 K, HRA, WP -- 2.86 ERA, back from DL
Bradley 2 IP, 2 H -- 1.32 ERA

*** Sam Runion had a rough outing as the Kernels swept the Bees. The Bees got off to a nice start with a 3-run 1st as Adrian Ortiz led off with a triple, Mike Moustakas hit an RBI groundout and Jason Taylor creamed a 2-run homer to left for his 8th of the season. Runion came on and gave up a 2-run homer in the 1st before stranding 2 to keep a 3-2 lead. He gave up 2 more runs in the 2nd on 2 hits, a walk and sac fly to watch Cedar Rapids take a 4-3 lead. The damage continued in the 3rd as Runion grooved a leadoff homer and then 2 more runs thanks in part to Kyle Martin's 7th error. Dan Gutierrez came in for the 4th but fared no better as the Kernels scored 2 runs on a 2-out, 2-run homer to make it 9-3. Burlington tried to crawl back into the game in the 7th as Nick Van Stratten hit a 2-run single and Juan Rivera singled in a run in his Bees debut to cut it to 9-6. The Bees stranded 2 in the 9th as Eddie McKiernan notched his 2nd save for the Kernels. Starter Robert Fish got the win with 6 1/3 IP of 6 ER on 8 hits, a walk and 5 Ks to fall to 4-2 with a 5.61 ERA. LF Jeremy Moore was 5-5 with his 4th double, 7th homer and 23rd RBI with 2 RS to move to .238 and 5 other Kernels had 2-hit games. 2B Hector Estrella was one of them and had 3 RBI.

Burlington is 26-38 and 15 games out. A 4-game home set versus the Wisconsin Rattlers (27-31, A Mariners) started tonight with a Bees win as Dan Duffy moved to 2-2. As Rivera came to town and Gutierrez returned, 1B Shawn Hayes and C Nick Doscher were released by the organization. IFs Antonio Jimenez and Alwin Perez were demoted to Idaho Falls. Mike Moustakas has changed his number to 8 and will reportedly still see time at short every once in a while.

Rookie - Idaho Falls: The Chukars' basic roster has been announced and includes seven draftees or non-drafted free agents and five returnees. One big name on the roster is P Luis Cota, who is working his way back from Tommy John surgery. The short-season leagues begin June 17.