Royals on the Farm 4/20

One word: Farnsworth. One figure: $4.5 million x 2 years. Wasted. But he didn't blow Sunday's game by himself. Shaky defense in big situations did too. Farnsworth still shouldn't be in a game with it on the line, tho. EVER.

AAA - Omaha: O-Royals 7, Albuquerque 2

DH Shealy 3-4, 2 RS -- .302
C House 2-4, BB, 2B (3), K, 2 RS -- .413, if he could hit like this in the pros, he wouldn't be in Omaha right now
SS Hernandez 2-3, BB, RBI (9), RS -- .389, has looked good thus far
2B Hulett 1-5, 2 RBI (14), 3 K -- .348
3B Falu 1-4, 2 RBI (3), RS -- .294
LF Lubanski 0-3, BB, RBI (7), K -- .304, heat that bat back up!
1B Ka'aihue 1-4, BB, 2B (2), RBI (10), K, RS -- .200, finally back to Mendoza line...I feel sorry for Mario Mendoza, having the .200 BA named after him. Can we name the .150 line the TPJ line?

Hochevar 8 IP, ER, 5 H, 2 BB, 4 K, pickoff -- W, 3-0, 1.89 ERA, nice
Colon IP, ER, 2 H, K -- 3.68 ERA

*** Luke Hochevar had a great start and the O-Royals rolled to the win in the finale with Albuquerque. J.R. House and Kila Ka'aihue hit back-to-back doubles with 2 out in the 1st and Omaha took a 1-0 lead. Hochevar stranded 2 in scoring position in the 2nd then cruised into the 8th. Omaha didn't get him any more run support until the 6th, when Scott Strickland took over on the mound for the Isotopes and the Royals loaded the bases with none out. Chris Lubanski took a walk to bring home a run, then Irving Falu hit an RBI forceout and Luis Hernandez singled in a run before the Royals stranded 2. Hochevar finally allowed a run on 2 hits in the 8th but the Royals scored 3 in the inning on a 2-out Falu RBI single and a 2-run Tug Hulett single before Kila struck out with the bases juiced. Roman Colon allowed a run in the 9th before closing it out. Isotopes SP Giancarlo Alvarado took the loss with an ER allowed on 4 hits and 2 walks with 3 Ks over 5 IP to fall to 0-2 with a 4.30 ERA. 1B Val Pascucci and SS Chin-Lung Hu had 2 hits each for Albuquerque. Hu is hitting .317. CF Xavier Paul was 1-3 with a walk and was picked off as he dropped to .476.

Omaha is 7-5 and a game back of first. A 4-game set at the Oklahoma City RedHawks (5-6, AAA Rangers) starts tonight as lefty Heath Phillips (1-1, 4.50) vies against Rangers hot pitching prospect righty Neftali Feliz (1-0, 2.00, 1.67 WHIP in 9 IP). The RedHawks roster features prospects Feliz, OF Julio Borbon (.298 BA, .680 OPS in 47 AB) and C Max Ramirez (.188/.401, 11 Ks in 32 AB), along with former Royals IF Esteban German (.273/.799, 5 E, .405 OBP in 33 AB and 9 GP). Brian Bannister got his callup to KC today as Doug Waechter hit the DL with an elbow strain. He's set to start Wednesday, so Horacio is going to the pen. When does Hoch get his call? Huh? HUH?

AA - NW Arkansas: Corpus Christi 12, Naturals 6

SS Lisson 3-4, 2 RBI (6), K, RS, CS, E (4) -- .306
RF Parraz 2-3, BB, 2B, 2 RBI (5), RS, E (3) -- .290
CF Duarte 2-4, BB, 2B, 2 K, 2 RS -- .389
2B Mertins 1-4, 3B, RBI (3), K, RS -- .233
C Suomi 1-4, RBI (5), K, CS, PB -- .333
LF Dickerson 1-5 -- .194

Cortes 5 IP, 4 ER, 7 H, 2 BB, 2 K -- 7.71 ERA, not pitching like a top prospect, 83 pitches
Sencion 2/3 IP, 3 ER, 5 H, K, HRA -- BS, 2, L, 1-1, 4.00 ERA
Marte 2 1/3 IP, ER, H, 2 K, HRA -- 3.38 ERA
Crist 2/3 IP, 4 R (2 ER), 4 H, BB, K -- 11.57 ERA
Nicoll 1/3 IP, K -- 1.17 ERA

*** The score was 4-3 Hooks after 1 but it was almost all Hooks thereafter as Dan Cortes had another shaky start but Carlos Sencion took the L. Here's Cortes' 1st: single (steal second), groundout, fielder's choice (batter reaches, no out recorded), RBI single, single, K, walk run in, 2-run single plus Parraz fielding error in right, flyout. The Naturals responded with 3 runs on a Mario Lisson RBI single and 2-out, 2-run Parraz double to atone for the miscue to cut it to 4-3. The Nats added 2 runs in the 4th on a Kurt Mertins RBI triple and John Suomi groundout to make it 5-4 NWA. Another Lisson RBI single in the 5th made it 6-4, but then the tables turned. Sencion came in for the 6th and gave up 3 runs on an RBI double and then a 2-run homer by 2B Drew Meyer to make it 7-6 Hooks. Victor Marte came in and stranded 2 but then gave up a solo homer to RF Andrew Locke (his 2nd) in the 7th to make it a 2-run game. Kyle Crist allowed 4 runs in the 9th thanks in part to a Lisson error and the Nats didn't threaten again. Former O-Royal RP Andy Van Hekken got the win with an ER allowed on 4 hits and a K over 2 IP to move to 1-1 with a 5.19 ERA. Starter Sergio Perez allowed 5 ER on 5 hits and 3 walks with a K over 4 IP to move his ERA to 3.60. RP Chad Wagler picked up a 3-inning save for his 1st of the season. Eight batters had 2 hits for the Hooks, including C Brian Esposito, who had 4 RBI (9) in moving to .290. Locke and Meyer also had their 2 RBI each. DH James Van Ostrand is hitting .417 after his 2-hit day.

The Naturals dropped to 5-6 but moved back to .500 by taking the finale from the Hooks today. Anthony Lerew started and got the win for NWA while lefty Polin Trinidad started for CC and took the loss. More to come tomorrow.

A-Adv. - Wilmington: rainout

The Rocks are 7-4 and set for a doubleheader today to make up the rainout. Game 1 pits Danny Duffy (1-0, 0.93) vs. Salem righty Kyle Weiland (0-0, 12.71). Game 2 features Ray Liotta (1-0, 7.94) versus Salem righty Eammon Portice (1-1, 4.91).

A - Burlington: off day

The Bees are 2-7. They start a 4-game home set versus the Kane County Cougars (7-3, A A's) tonight. Zach Peterson (1-0, 2.70) starts the opener versus Cougars righty Brett Hunter (0-0, 6.00). The Bees are 1-2 versus KC.