Royals on the Farm 4/13

AAA - Omaha: O-Royals 8, Round Rock 4

DH Shealy 2-5, 2B, 3 RBI, K, RS -- .211
3B Metcalf 2-4, BB, 2 2B (3), K, 2 RS -- .286
C House 2-5, RBI (4), 2 RS -- .278
SS L. Hernandez 1-5, 2 RBI (5), K -- .350
LF Lubanski 1-3, 2 BB, RBI (5), 2 RS -- .450
2B Hulett 1-3, 2 BB, RBI (9) -- .476
CF Murphy 1-4, 2 BB, K, RS, OF assist at third -- .286
1B Ka'aihue 0-4, BB, 2 K -- .053
* Omaha stranded 12 on the night.

Chen 5 1/3 IP, 2 R (1 ER), 3 H, 2 BB, 3 K, pickoff -- 1.69 ERA, 78 pitches, nice start
Colon 2 2/3 IP, ER, 4 H, K, HRA, E -- BS, 1, W, 1-0, 3.86 ERA
Hughes IP, ER, 2 H, K, WP -- 4.50 ERA

*** Bruce Chen had a solid Omaha debut but the bullpen couldn't hold a slim lead before the offense picked the pitching staff up to keep Omaha on a good start to the season. Chen stranded 2 in the 2nd and left a runner at third in the 3rd as the teams stayed scoreless. Omaha changed that with a run in the 4th on a Chris Lubanski RBI single but Travis Metcalf was later thrown out on a fielder's choice at the plate and Omaha would leave the bases loaded. C J.R. Towles tried to score from second on a 1-out fly ball in the 4th but Tommy Murphy and Luis Hernandez combined to nail him at the plate to keep the lead intact. J.R. House followed with an RBI single to make it 2-0 Omaha in the 5th but the Royals would strand 2 more in both that inning and the 6th. Chen was pulled with 2 on and 1 out in the 6th and Roman Colon served up a 3-run homer to 1B Mark Saccomanno, the first batter he faced, to give Round Rock a 3-2 lead. Ryan McKeller took over on the mound for the Express in the 7th and Omaha rallied with 2 outs. Two walks and a Ryan Shealy single loaded the bases and old buddy Tyler Lumsden came in and walked Tug Hulett to force in a run. Hernandez followed with a clutch 2-run single to make it 5-3 Omaha. Lumsden was pulled with 1 on and 2 out in the 8th and Sam Gervacio gave up a bases-loaded 3-run double to Shealy to break the game open. Dusty Hughes gave up a run on 2 hits and a wild pitch in the 9th but closed the door on the victory. Lumsden blew the save but McKeller took the loss with 3 ER allowed in 2/3 IP to make his ERA 7.36. Starter Bud Norris allowed 2 unearned runs on 4 hits and 3 walks with 4 Ks to keep his ERA at 0.00. Neal Musser pitched a perfect 9th for the Express. RF Yordany Ramirez was 3-4 with 2 doubles and an RBI while Saccomanno was 2-4 with his 2nd homer and 3 RBI (9) to move to .263.

The O-Royals are 4-1 and in sole possession of first place for the moment. Game 2 is tonight as Brian Bannister (0-1, 11.25) makes his second start versus Express righty Felipe Paulino (1-0, 0.00).

AA - NW Arkansas: Naturals 8, Corpus Christi 4

RF Parraz 2-3, HBP, SF, 2 RBI, RS -- .267
CF Strait 2-4, BB, 2 RS -- .250
2B Mertins 2-5, RBI, RS -- .231
DH McFall 1-3, BB, SF, 2B (4), RBI (8), 2 K, RS -- .368
SS Lisson 1-4, BB, RBI (3), RS -- .278
1B Cor. Smith 1-5, RBI (2), K, E -- .091
3B J. Johnson 0-3, BB, S, RBI, 2 K -- .182
LF Dickerson 1-5, 2B, 2 K, RS -- .235

Kniginyzky 5 IP, 3 ER, 5 H, BB, 2 K, HRA -- 5.40 ERA
Sencion 4 IP, UER, 3 H, BB, 4 K -- BS, 1, W, 1-0, 0.00 ERA

*** The Naturals used a 4-run 8th to take game 2 from the Hooks then watched them fall apart in the 9th with three ejections. The first 2 Naturals reached in the 1st but Josh Johnson was thrown out on a fielder's choice at home before NWA loaded the bases and an error, a Brian McFall sac fly and Jordan Parraz RBI single brought 3 runs in to make it 3-0 NWA. Starter Matt Kniginyzky allowed a run in the 2nd but Parraz got it back by lifting a sac fly in the 3rd before the Naturals stranded 2. Both teams stranded 2 in the 4th and Kniginyzky served up a 2-run homer to CF Collin DeLome in the 5th to cut the lead to 4-3. He was pulled with 1 on and 0 out in the 6th and Carlos Sencion stranded 2 in the inning. With a man on second and 1 out in the 7th, Corey Smith committed a fielding error and the tying run scored to blow Kniginyzky's W, but the Naturals answered with a 4-run 8th as McFall led off with a double, scored on a Kurt Mertins single, Josh Johnson got a run home on a groundout, Mertins scored on a wild pitch and Mario Lisson singled in a run to make it 8-4 Naturals. With 1 out in the 9th, Hooks RP Chris Salamida hit Parraz with a pitch and was ejected along with the CC manager and C Brian Esposito. Sencion stranded 1 in the 9th to finish the win. Former O-Royal Andy Van Hekken took the loss with 4 ER allowed on 6 hits with 4 Ks over 3 2/3 IP to move his ERA to 6.35. Starter Brad James allowed 4 runs (2 ER) on 4 hits and 5 walks with 1 K over 4 IP to move his ERA to 4.50. DH Mark Ori and SS Wladimir Sutil had 2 hits for the Hooks and DeLome's HR was his 2nd of the season. Sutil had his 1st steal and 4th error of the season.

NWA is 3-2 and also in sole possession of first place. The Nats go for the sweep tonight with Dan Cortes (0-1, 15.00) on the hill versus Hooks righty Sergio Perez (1-0, 1.80).

A-Adv. - Wilmington: Blue Rocks 9, Kinston 1

2B Giavotella 3-4, 2 HR (one was granny), 7 RBI! (9), 2 RS -- .278, wow, one man wrecking crew Monday, tied franchise record for single-game RBI
1B C. Robinson 1-4, 2B (2), RBI (2), RS -- .333
CF D. Robinson 1-4, 2 K, RS, picked off -- .286
3B Moustakas 0-4, K -- .150
SS Bianchi 1-4, K, RS -- .211
C Eigsti 1-3, BB, K, 2 RS -- .167
RF Ortiz 1-3, BB, K, 2 RS -- .194

Teaford 4 1/3 IP, ER, 3 H, 2 BB, 6 K -- 2.08 ERA, nice start, too bad couldn't go longer
Chavez 2 2/3 IP, 0 H, BB, 3 K -- W, 2-0, 0.00 ERA
Sisk IP, K -- 0.00 ERA
Villa IP, K -- 6.75 ERA

*** Johnny Giavotella did the vast majority of the damage for the Rocks as he had 1/3 of the team's hits on the night and almost all of the ribbies in the game. Kinston struck first off Everett Teaford with a run on a walk and double in the 1st but the Rocks scored 4 in the 2nd on a Clint Robinson RBI double, a run-scoring error and a 2-run single by Giavotella before Derrick Robinson was picked off at second to kill the rally. Teaford struck out 5 in a row in the 2nd and 3rd and worked around 2 hits in the 4th. Giavotella went solo in the 5th for his 1st homer of the season and Teaford was pulled with 1 on and 1 out in the 5th for Chris Chavez, who along with 2 other relievers would hold the Tribe hitless the rest of the way. Giavotella came back up in the 7th and cranked a grand slam to left to put the game away at 9-1. Kinston SP Ryan Morris took the loss with 4 runs (1 ER) allowed on 4 hits and a walk with 4 Ks over 4 IP to drop to 0-1 with a 2.25 ERA. Three Indians had a hit each, as 1B Matt McBride had his 5th double and 5th RBI in the loss.

The Rocks are 3-2 and tied with Lynchburg for first. Game 2 of the 4-game set is tonight as Alex Caldera (0-0, 2.25) takes on K-Tribe lefty Kelvin De La Cruz (1-0, 3.00). Giavotella was the first Rock with 7 RBI in a game since 1999, when Dave Willis did the trick. He took the league lead in RBI with the effort. Paulo Orlando is still looking for his first hit at 0-14.

A - Burlington: rainout

As noted yesterday, the game with Kane County was set to be made up as part of a twinbill tomorrow. The series got started today and the Bees picked up their first win of the season with Zach Peterson getting the W. More on that tomorrow.