Royals on the Farm 5/12

Well, that parade of pitching slop wasn't quite what Royals fans were expecting out of Luke Hochevar in his first KC start of '09. This is the first loss of the year where you felt the echoes of the Royals teams of the last few years, and I didn't like it. Bannister needs to be the stopper tonight. To tell the truth, I don't know how confident I can be in him, either. The Royals need a win.

AAA - Omaha: Salt Lake 15, O-Royals 7

3B Metcalf 2-3, BB, 3B, HR (4), 2 RBI (19), 3 RS -- .277
DH House 2-5, HR (3), RBI (17), 2 K, 2 RS -- .322
C Tupman 2-4, RBI (4), K -- .313
RF Aldridge 1-4, HR (2), RBI (17), K, RS -- .241
1B Ka'aihue 0-4, BB, RS -- .221
2B Hulett 1-5, K -- .282
LF B. Pena 1-5, K, E -- .321

DiNardo 4 IP, 5 ER, 7 H, BB, K -- 4.09 ERA
Yabuta 2 IP, 6 ER, 6 H, HRA, WP -- L, 0-1, 5.79 ERA, good start to season gone in one appearance
Hamulack IP, ER, 2 H, BB, K -- 6.00 ERA
Buchanan IP, 3 ER, 4 H, 2 K, 2 HRA -- 27.00 ERA for DH

*** KC's disaster in Oakland wasn't the only organizational drubbing of the night as Omaha got routed in Salt Lake City. Unlike KC, Omaha got on the board first with 2 runs in the 2nd on a Travis Metcalf RBI triple and a Bees error. Salt Lake got a run back off Lenny DiNardo in the bottom of the 2nd then clubbed their way ahead in the 3rd with 4 runs on 6 hits, including 3 XBH. Omaha battled back to tie it in the 4th as J.R. House and Metcalf hit back-to-back jacks for their 3rd and 4th of the season, respectively, and Cory Aldridge added a 2-out solo homer for his 2nd of the season to knot the score at 5. Yas Yabuta took over for DiNardo in the 5th and served up a 2-run homer to 2B Sean Rodriguez (his 10th). The Bees added 5 runs off Yabuta and Tim Hamulack in the 7th on 6 singles and a walk to make it 12-5. Matt Tupman hit an RBI single in the 7th and another Bees error scored a run to cut the lead to 12-7, but position player Brian Buchanan was brought in to pitch the 8th and served up Rodriguez's 2nd homer of the game and 11th of the season for a 2-run shot before giving up a solo homer to RF Terry Evans for his 5th of the campaign to make it 15-7. Starter Anthony Ortega got the win for Salt Lake despite giving up 5 ER on 7 hits and a walk with 3 Ks over 5 IP to move to 2-1 with a 9.64 ERA. Eight Bees had multi-hit games, including 3-hit games from Rodriguez and 3B Freddy Sandoval. Rodriguez's 2 HR gave him 5 RBI (22) as he improved to .245 and committed his 6th error. Sandoval hit his 9th double and 3rd triple and drove in 2 runs (22) and scored twice as he improved to .302. Three others had 2 RBI for the Bees. LF Chris Pettit was 2-5 with 2 doubles (15), 2 RBI (23), a K and 2 RS to move to .412.

Omaha is 17-15 and 2 games back in a tight American North division. Game 2 is tonight as Heath Phillips (1-3, 6.52) faces Bees righty Mike MacDonald (3-2, 5.53, yah mo not be there last night, tonight instead). OF Jose Duarte has gotten called up to help in the Omaha OF. I figure this is temporary until Lubanski or Costa (or both) is healthy, unless Duarte hits consistently, which we've yet to really see at AA.

AA - NW Arkansas: Naturals 8, Tulsa 5

RF Strait 4-4, 2B (5), 2 RS, picked off -- .297, bat warming up
C Suomi 2-4, HR (5), 2 RBI (9), RS -- .333
2B McConnell 1-3, S, 2 RBI (4), 2 K, RS -- .156
DH Parraz 1-4, BB, HR (2), RBI (16), K, RS -- .364
3B C. Smith 1-4, BB, HR (4), RBI (16), K, RS, E (7) -- .233
LF Dickerson 1-5, RBI (11) -- .253
CF Duarte 1-5, RS -- .250, Godspeed in Omaha
SS Lisson 1-4, K, picked off -- .208

Cortes 5 IP, 3 R (2 ER), 4 H, 2 BB, pickoff -- 4.81 ERA, 0 Ks, still no wins, only 81 pitches
Hayes IP, BB -- 0.83 ERA
Bale IP, K -- 3.38 ERA
Marte 2 IP, 2 ER, 2 H, 2 BB, 2 K -- BS, 1, W, 2-1, 3.18 ERA

*** Dan Cortes failed in another attempt to get his 1st win but it was mainly because of lack of run support as NWA lost a lead in the 8th and won it with a 9th inning rally. The offenses were quiet until Corey Smith went yard for his 4th homer of the season for a solo shot in the 4th to make it 1-0 NWA. Tulsa manufactured a run off Cortes in the bottom of the inning to tie it but, shortly after Cody Strait was picked off at first in the 5th, John Suomi crunched his 5th homer of the season to make it 2-1 Nats. Cortes ran into trouble in the 6th as his inning went walk (steal 2), RBI double, single plus run-scoring Smith throwing error, pulled for Chris Hayes, who got out of the jam. NWA regained the lead in the 7th as Suomi smacked an RBI single and Chris McConnell squeezed Strait home to make it 4-3. Jordan Parraz led off the 8th with his 2nd homer of the season to make it 5-3 NWA but Victor Marte gave up a 2-out, 2-run double to 1B Jeff Kindel in the 8th to tie the game. Austin Chambliss came in to pitch the 9th for Tulsa and NWA would rally. McConnell hit an RBI single and Jose Duarte followed with a single that scored McConnell after a Tulsa error. Joe Dickerson singled in Duarte and it was 8-5 NWA. Marte pitched a quiet 9th to get the win. Chambliss took the loss with 3 runs (2 ER) allowed on 4 hits and a K over an IP to fall to 1-1 with a 4.15 ERA. Starter Andy Graham pitched 5 innings of 2 ER allowed on 4 hits with 4 Ks to move his ERA to 6.46. CF Cole Garner and SS Dan Mayora had 2 hits for the Drillers as both are hitting over .300 and Kindel had 3 RBI (16) and his 7th double in improving to .322.

The Naturals are 15-16 and 2 games back. A 4-game home set with the Springfield Cardinals (17-14) starts tonight. Blake Johnson (1-2, 4.21) starts the opener versus Cards righty Trey Hearne (1-1, 2.79), who struck out 13 over 6 IP the last time he faced NWA. NW Arkansas is 5-3 versus Springfield thus far. No roster move has been announced yet to replace Duarte.

A-Adv. - Wilmington: Blue Rocks 6, Kinston 3

1B C. Robinson 2-3, HBP, 2B (12), RBI (22), 2 RS, E (2) -- .353
LF Orlando 2-3, BB, 2 RS -- .213
C Eigsti 1-3, BB, 2 RBI (9), K, PB (5) -- .242, caught 2 of 3 would-be base stealers, leads league with 18 CS
CF D. Robinson 1-5, 2 RBI (13), 2 K, SB (16) -- .224
3B Moustakas 1-4, 2B (8), 2 K, RS, 2 E (7) -- .277
2B Giavotella 0-3, BB, K, SB (5), CS (4) -- .206
SS Bianchi 1-4, K -- .299
DH Lough 1-4, K, RS -- .287

Santiago 5 IP, 3 R (1 ER), 7 H, 2 BB, 4 K -- 5.46 ERA
Sisk 2 IP, BB, K -- W, 1-2, 3.75 ERA
Hartsock 2 IP, H, 3 K, WP -- SV, 6, 0.68 ERA

*** A pair of 3 run innings in the middle innings did the trick for the Rocks in taking the opener from Kinston. The Tribe took the lead in the 3rd with a run on 2 hits and a passed ball and then scored another run on a Mike Moustakas fielding error in the 4th before stranding 2. Kinston scored again off Mario Santiago in the 5th to make it 3-0 but Wilmington's offense awoke in the 5th. Clint Robinson hit an RBI single and Derrick Robinson came through with a 2-out, 2-run single to tie the game. Moustakas doubled in the 6th but was still there with 2 outs when he scored on a Paulo Orlando single aided by an Indians error and Ryan Eigsti hit a 2-run single to make it 6-3. The Rocks stranded 2 in the 7th and 8th but Aaron Hartsock pitched 2 good innings to close out the win for his 6th save. SP Russell Young took the loss for Kinston with 5 2/3 IP of 6 ER on 8 hits and 5 Ks to fall to 0-2 with a 7.98 ERA. DH Lucas Montero and SS Adam Davis had 2 hits for Kinston. 3B Lonnie Chisenhall was 1-4 with his 1st triple and a RS to drop to .331.

The Blue Rocks are 14-17 and 6 games back of first. Game 2 of the set is tonight as Everett Teaford (2-1, 3.42) tries to keep rolling versus K-Tribe lefty Eric Berger (3-1, 1.55).

A - Burlington: Kane County 13, Bees 1

2B Jimenez 1-3, RBI (8), K -- .194
LF Van Stratten 1-4 -- .340
DH McCauley 1-3, BB -- .185
1B Hosmer 1-4 -- .233
RF Francis 0-3, BB, 2 K, RS -- .305
SS Alfaro 1-3, K, SB (3) -- .180

Z. Peterson 5 IP, 6 ER, 7 H, 3 K, 3 HRA -- L, 3-2, 4.24 ERA
J. Garcia IP, 4 ER, 5 H, BB, K -- 5.17 ERA
Arias IP, 3 ER, 2 H, 4 BB, HRA -- 24.00 ERA
D. Wood IP, BB, K -- 0.00 ERA, fared better than Buchanan

*** KC DH Jeremy Barfield (son of former Blue Jay slugger Jesse) wrecked the Bees with 3 HR and 7 RBI as the Cougars steamrolled Burlington in game 1 of the 4-game set. His barrage started with a 2-run homer in the 2nd (his 2nd of the season) and a 2-run homer (his 3rd) as part of a 3-run 4th. CF Mitch LeVier joined the longball club with his 2nd of the season to lead off the 5th and make it 6-0. The Bees stranded 2 in the 6th and the Cougars answered with 4 runs off Justin Garcia on 5 hits and a walk to make it 10-0. Antonio Jimenez spoiled the shutout with an RBI single in the 7th but Barfield cranked a 3-run homer (his 4th) off Carlos Arias in the bottom of the inning to finish the scoring. Starter Ben Hornbeck got the win for Kane County with 6 IP of 3 hits and 2 walks allowed with 6 Ks to improve to 3-0 with a 1.23 ERA. RP Matt Fitts got the 3-inning save for his 2nd of the season. Barfield was 3-4 with a walk, the 3 HR, 7 RBI (10) and 4 RS to move to .359. LF Franklin Hernandez also had 3 hits for the Cougars as he had a walk, his 9th double, 18th RBI and 4 RS to move to .300. Three others had 2 hits and 2 others had 2 RBI.

The Bees are 12-18. Game 2 is tonight as Bryan Casey (1-3, 2.82) faces Cougars lefty Anthony Capra (0-1, 2.00).