Royals on the Farm 4/24

Another day, another great outing for Zack Greinke. And Joakim Soria is out for a few days with a sore shoulder, which has supposedly been nagging at him a short while and fed into his 8-day layoff. Is it WBC syndrome, or because of his usage pattern, or just a sore arm?

AAA - Omaha: O-Royals 3, Oklahoma City 0 (2-hitter)

C House 3-5, RBI (13), 2 RS -- .369
1B Shealy 3-5, 2B (4) -- .350
3B Metcalf 2-3, SF, 2 RBI (12), SB -- .308
2B Hulett 1-5, 2B (8), K -- .371
LF Lubanski 0-3, BB -- .302
* Omaha stranded 10.

DiNardo 6 IP, H, 3 K -- W, 1-0, 3.00 ERA, what a first start for Omaha
Rosa 3 IP, H, BB, 5 K -- SV, 1, 3.60 ERA

*** Lenny DiNardo had a great debut start for Omaha as he and Carlos Rosa combined on a 2-hit shutout and Omaha split 2 of 4 with Oklahoma City. DiNardo gave up a single in the 1st but then retired 13 in a row. The Royals struck first in the 4th as J.R. House hit a 1-out single followed by a Ryan Shealy double and Travis Metcalf sac fly to make it 1-0. Omaha would strand the bases loaded, however, and would do so again in the 6th. House and Metcalf hit RBI singles in the 7th to make it 3-0 and Rosa worked around a double and walk in his 3 innings of work for the unconventional save. OC starter Jared Hyatt took the loss with 5 2/3 IP of an ER allowed on 5 hits and 3 walks with 2 Ks to drop to 0-1 with a 1.59 ERA. 3B Esteban German was 1-4 for the RedHawks to drop to .288 and C Max Ramirez was 1-3 with his 2nd double to move to .235. LF Scott Thorman had his 2nd SB and an OF assist at home.

Omaha is 9-7 and 2 games back. The teams drive up to Omaha and start a 4-game set there tonight as Luke Hochevar (3-0, 1.89) is set to start versus RedHawks righty Doug Mathis (0-1, 2.50).

AA - NW Arkansas: Naturals 2, Arkansas 0 (Nats won despite only 1 hit)

2B McConnell 1-2, BB, 2B, K -- .176
CF Duarte 0-2, BB, S, RS, SB (7) -- .348
SS Lisson 0-4, E (6) -- .239
DH McFall 0-3, BB, K -- .234
RF Parraz 0-2, SF, RBI (7) -- .300

B. Wood 6 1/3 IP, 4 H, BB, 4 K -- W, 1-0, 4.11 ERA, quality start
de la Vara 2/3 IP, BB -- 3.86 ERA
Marte 2 IP, H, 4 K -- SV, 1, 2.70 ERA

*** The Travelers outhit the Naturals, 5-1, to support starter Michael Anton but it was Northwest Arkansas that came out on top of a 2-0 shutout victory. Jose Duarte led off the game with a walk, advanced on a sac bunt by Josh Johnson, stole third and scored on a throwing error by C Ben Johnson. Cody Strait drew a 1-out walk in the 2nd, advanced 2 bases on balks, then scored on a Jordan Parraz sac fly to give NWA a 2-0 lead without the benefit of a hit. The Naturals' only hit came on a 1-out double by Chris McConnell in the 5th. NWA starter Blake Wood had his stuff working as he faced no trouble until the 7th, when he was pulled with 2 on and 1 out. Gilbert de la Vara got the last 2 outs of the inning to put out the small fire and keep the lead at 2-0. Victor Marte struck out 2 with 2 in scoring position in the 8th but pitched a 1-2-3 9th for his 1st save of the season. Anton took the loss despite 6 IP of 2 runs (1 ER) on a hit, 4 walks and a K to drop to 0-2 with a 4.80 ERA. LF Coby Smith was 2-4 with his 4th SB but was also caught stealing once as his BA moved to .417. CF Peter Bourjos was 1-4 to drop to .306 but did have 2 SBs to move to 7 on the season.

NWA is 7-7 and 2 1/2 games back of Springfield. Game 3 is tonight as Matt Kniginyzky (0-0, 3.27) takes on Arkansas righty Trevor Bell (1-0, 2.70).

A-Adv. - Wilmington: Winston-Salem 6, Blue Rocks 5 (10)

RF Walton 2-4, 2 HR, 2 RBI (3), K, 2 RS -- .294, nice breakout game, second HR was big
CF D. Robinson 2-5, 2 K, RS, SB (9) -- .226
3B Moustakas 1-4, BB, HR (3), RBI (13), K, RS -- .268
1B C. Robinson 1-4, RBI (11), E -- .357
2B Giavotella 0-3, 2 S, K -- .196
SS Bianchi 0-5 -- .298
LF Ortiz 1-4, K, 2 SB -- .250
DH Lough 0-4, BB, K, RS, SB -- .345

Caldera 5 1/3 IP, 5 ER, 7 H, BB, 5 K -- 5.89 ERA
Villa 3 2/3 IP, ER, 3 H, BB, 4 K, HRA -- L, 0-1, 2.92 ERA, HR was walkoff

*** The Rocks came back from a 5-3 deficit to force extras only to see the Dash end the game abruptly in the 10th. No runner from either team reached base until the bottom of the 3rd when the Dash rallied for 2 runs on 3 hits and a walk off Alex Caldera. Wilmington answered with 3 runs in the 4th on a passed ball that scored Derrick Robinson, a solo homer by Mike Moustakas for his 3rd of the season, and a Clint Robinson RBI single that gave the Rocks a 3-2 lead. Three hits and a Clint Robinson throwing error tied the game and the Dash moved back ahead on a sac fly and RBI double to make it 5-3. Kelvin Villa took over with 1 on and 1 out in the 7th and stranded 2 before Jamar Walton greeted RP Wander Perez with his 1st homer of the season to lead off the Blue Rocks 7th and cut the lead to 5-4. That was still the score with 1 out in the 9th as Walton came up and repeated the trick as his solo homer off RP Miguel Socolovich tied the game at 5. Villa stranded 2 in the 9th but the Rocks left 2 in scoring position in the top of the 10th. 3B Brent Morel stepped up to lead off the WS 10th and clubbed his 2nd homer of the season to give the Dash the win. RP Hector Santiago got the key third out in the 10th to get the win and move to 1-0. Starter Johnnie Lowe pitched 6 innings of 3 ER on 4 hits and a walk with 5 Ks to move his ERA to 3.86. Three Dash batters had 2 hits, including Morel, who had his 5th RBI and scored twice. C Adam Ricks drove in 2 runs (3) and made his 1st error of the season and CF Jordan Danks was 1-4 with a walk, his 5th double and 10th RBI to move to .297.

The Rocks are 9-7 and 2 games back. Game 3 is tonight as Jason Godin (0-0, 1.04) makes his first start of the season as he returns from a facial fracture that cut his '08 season short versus Dash righty Matt Long (0-2, 6.75).

A - Burlington: Kane County 8, Bees 1

RF Francis 2-4, HR (3), RBI (9), K, RS -- .390
1B Hosmer 0-4, 3 K -- .140
CF Norris 0-4, 3 K -- .162
SS Alfaro 1-4, K -- .235
DH McCauley 1-4, 2B (4) -- .176
* LF Wilson Tucker had an assist at third while 2B Alwin Perez made 2 errors (4).

Runion 5 IP, 8 R (6 ER), 8 H, BB, 4 K, 3 HRA -- L, 1-2, 9.00 ERA, yuck
B. Hardy 4 IP, H, 7 K -- 3.21 ERA, dominant

*** The Cougars did all their damage off Sam Runion in the first 5 innings to take 3 of 4 from the Bees. An error, walk and 2-run double scored 2 Kane County runs in the 1st although Wilson Tucker cut the rally short with an OF assist at third via cutoff man J.D. Alfaro. Runion gave up a 2-run homer to C Juan Nunez (his 1st) in the 2nd to make it 4-0. 3B Jason Christian cranked his 3rd homer in the 3rd to make it 5-0 and RF Grant Desme hit a 2-run shot in the 4th (his 2nd) to make it 7-0. Burlington's best shot came in the 4th when they stranded 2 but Kane County added more insurance in the 5th on 2 hits and Alwin Perez's 2nd error of the game to make it 8-0. Blaine Hardy shut the Cougs down from there. Nick Francis killed the shutout with a 2-out solo homer in the 9th for his 3rd of the season but it was much too little, too late. KC starter Pedro Figueroa got the win with 7 IP of 5 hits with 9 Ks to move to 2-0 with a 2.40 ERA. Christian and DH Petey Paramore had 2 hits for Kane County. Christian's longball brought in his 13th RBI and Paramore scored twice. Three other Cougars had 2 RBI each.

The Bees are 3-10. A 4-game set at the Clinton LumberKings (8-5, A Mariners) starts tonight as Luis Cota (0-1, 3.60) starts versus Clinton righty Adam Harben (0-0, 2.25). The Bees are 0-3 versus Clinton this season.