Royals on the Farm 5/27

AAA - Omaha: O-Royals 1, Fresno 0 (2-hitter, 7/G1)

1B Ka'aihue 2-3, 2B (12), RS -- .285
DH House 1-3, RBI (21) -- .303
C B. Pena 1-3, 2B (4) -- .325
3B Metcalf 0-2, BB -- .256
SS Lisson 1-3, K -- .333
CF Duarte 0-2, BB -- .130

Chen CG, 2 H, BB, 8 K, pickoff -- W, 2-2, 4.13 ERA, wonder if Royals will give him a look in KC this season

*** Bruce Chen was at the top of his game in hurling a complete-game shutout as the Royals squeaked out the first of two with Fresno Wednesday. Omaha stranded 2 in the 1st but got its only run in the 4th as Kila Ka'aihue led off with a double and scored on a J.R. House single. The Royals loaded the bases with none out that inning but got no more runs off Grizzlies SP Steve Hammond. Chen faced only 2 over the minimum and Fresno only got 1 guy to second base. Hammond took the loss with an ER allowed on 5 hits and 2 walks with 2 Ks to drop to 2-3 with a 4.05 ERA. 1B John Bowker was 1-2 with a walk but was also picked off once as he improved to .307.

Fresno 7, O-Royals 5 (7/G2)

RF Murphy 2-3, 2 2B (8), RBI (9), RS -- .220
LF Aldridge 2-3, HR (5), RBI (26), RS -- .278
1B Thorman 1-3, HR (4), RBI (9), RS -- .196
DH B. Pena 0-2, SF, RBI (17) -- .316
3B Metcalf 0-3, 2 K -- .252
SS Lisson 1-3, 2 K, RS -- .333
CF Duarte 1-2, RS -- .146

Duckworth 5 IP, 7 ER, 9 H, HRA -- L, 2-2, 5.55 ERA
Atencio IP, nothing -- 5.40 ERA
Marte IP, nothing -- 0.00 ERA, Omaha debut

*** Brandon Duckworth was nowhere near as sharp as Chen as Fresno split the double dip. The damage started early as C Adam Witter hit a 2-out, 2-run homer in the 1st for his 4th of the season. Omaha scored a run on an error and Brayan Pena hit a sac fly to tie the game in the 3rd, but Duckworth allowed 3 runs on 4 hits in the 4th to give Fresno the lead for good. Cory Aldridge went long for his 5th homer of the season in the bottom of the 4th to cut it to 5-3 but Fresno poured on 2 more runs in the 5th on 3 hits. Scott Thorman cranked his 4th homer of the season and 3rd as a Royal in the 6th and Tommy Murphy hit an RBI double in the 7th to cut it to 7-5 and bring the potential tying run to the plate but pinch-hitter Kila Ka'aihue grounded out and Irving Falu did the same as RP Geno Espineli picked up his 5th save. Starter Matt Kinney got the win with 6 1/3 IP of 5 runs (4 ER) allowed on 8 hits with 4 Ks to improve to 3-5 with a 6.49 ERA. Witter was 2-3 with his homer, 3 RBI (16) and 2 RS to move to .269 and Bowker also had 2 hits with his 23rd RBI to improve to .312.

The Royals are 21-25 and 4 1/2 games out. The series comes to a close tonight as Luke Hochevar (5-0, 0.90) tries to regroup back in AAA versus Grizzlies righty Kevin Pucetas (4-1, 3.86). The O-Royals are set to welcome their 11th million fan to Rosenblatt tonight. Chen's game 1 shutout gave the O-Royals 6 on the season, which is already better than their 2008 total.

AA - NW Arkansas: Midland 9, Naturals 4

3B C. Smith 1-4, BB, 2 RBI (25), 2 K -- .222
RF Parraz 1-3, 2 BB, RBI (22), OF assist at home -- .315
2B Mertins 0-5, 2 K, RS, 2 E (9) -- .269
DH Suomi 1-4, K, RS -- .338
PH-C Clark 0-0, 2 HBP, RS -- .000, '09 NWA debut
SS McConnell 1-4, RS, E (2) -- .176

B. Johnson 4 IP, 4 ER, 8 H, BB, 4 K, HRA, pickoff -- L, 2-4, 4.69 ERA
Sencion 3 IP, ER, 2 H, 2 BB -- 4.56 ERA
de la Vara 2 IP, 4 R (1 ER), 3 H, 2 BB, 2 K, HRA -- 4.70 ERA

*** Midland held off a NWA comeback with 4 late runs to put it away. Starter Blake Johnson allowed a run in the 1st on 3 hits and a walk, although Jordan Parraz stopped further damage with an OF assist at the plate to end the inning. Johnson got knocked around again in the 3rd as 3B Alex Valdez hit a 2-run shot for his 1st homer of the season and a double steal resulted in another run later in the inning to make it 4-0. Carlos Sencion took over in the 5th and allowed a run to stretch the lead to 5-0. Midland SP Graham Godfrey retired 12 in a row before stranding the bases full in the 6th. The Naturals finally snapped out of their funk in the 7th as they loaded the bases and, with 2 out, a Midland error broke up the shutout before Parraz took a bases-loaded walk and Corey Smith singled home 2 runs to trim the lead to 5-4. Brian McFall struck out to end the rally. Just as quickly, Midland regained some elbow room as a 1-out Chris McConnell error and single were followed by a 2-out, 3-run homer by SS Joshua Horton (his 2nd) off Gilbert de la Vara to make it 8-4. Midland scratched out another run in the 9th and NWA wouldn't rally. Godfrey got the win with 6 1/3 IP of 3 unearned runs allowed on 4 hits and 2 walks with 11 Ks to improve to 4-3 with a 3.86 ERA. Five 'Hounds had 2 hits as Horton led the way with his homer and 4 RBI (26) to move to .283. 2B Adrian Cardenas was 2-2 with 3 walks and 2 RS to improve to .402.

The Naturals are 22-22 and 4 games out. Game 2 is tonight as Matt Kniginyzky (1-4, 5.08) faces RockHounds lefty Carlos Hernandez (1-0, 3.60). OF Joe Dickerson is day-to-day with a bruised shoulder.

A-Adv. - Wilmington: Frederick 4, Blue Rocks 2

SS Bianchi 2-4, K, SB (10) -- .321
2B Seratelli 1-3, BB, 2B (4), RBI (13), 2 K, RS, CS (2) -- .288
C Eigsti 1-3, RBI (17), K -- .260
CF D. Robinson 1-3, BB, 2B (6) -- .238
3B Moustakas 0-4 -- .286, gets close to .300, then falls back
1B C. Robinson 1-4, K -- .303
DH Lough 1-4, K, RS, SB (5) -- .333
LF Ortiz 1-3, CS (2), E -- .268

Paulino 6 IP, ER, 5 H, 8 K -- L, 1-2, 5.74 ERA, tough loss
Liotta 2 IP, 3 ER, 5 H, K -- 5.71 ERA
Chavez IP, H, BB -- 3.20 ERA

*** A flurry of late scoring resulted in a Keys win in a Wednesday matinee. Eduardo Paulino pitched well as he worked around a leadoff triple in the 1st. He stranded 2 in the 4th and the Rocks left a runner at third in the inning. Paulino gave up another leadoff triple in the 6th and this time the Keys made it count for a run as it was 1-0 with Ray Liotta taking over in the 7th. The Rocks squandered a would-be rally on the basepaths in the 6th and the Keys pushed in 2 runs in the 7th on 3 hits and a Rocks error. Anthony Seratelli hit a 2-out RBI double in the 7th and Ryan Eigsti singled him home to cut the lead to 3-2 but the Keys picked up a run on 2 hits in the 8th and RP Luis Lebron struck out the side in the 9th to get his 9th save. Starter Pedro Beato got the win with 6 1/3 IP of an ER allowed on 6 hits and a walk with 2 Ks to move to 3-3 with a 4.13 ERA. CF Matthew Angle was 3-5 with 2 triples (3) and his 8th RBI to move to .253 and three other Keys had 2 hits.

Wilmington is 23-22 and 6 games back. The series ends tonight as Mario Santiago (1-5, 5.40) faces Keys lefty Zach Britton (2-1, 2.66).

A - Burlington: rainout

The Bees are 18-26. The rainout will be made up as a doubleheader tonight. Manauris Baez will start one game against Lansing's Josh Wells while Mike Montgomery (0-1, 3.38) will start game 2.