Royals on the Farm 6/24

AAA - Omaha: Memphis 7, O-Royals 6

C House 4-5, 2 2B (11), HR (5), 3 RBI (26), 2 RS -- .283, slump over?
1B Ka'aihue 2-3, BB, 2B (19), K, RS -- .273
SS Lisson 1-4, HR (6), RBI (10), RS, E (5) -- .204, solo homer has been main weapon at AAA
LF Thorman 1-5, 2B (7), RBI (28), K -- .295
DH Aldridge 1-3, 2B (10), RBI (39) -- .289
* RF Tommy Murphy was picked off but also had an OF assist at home.

Chen 2 IP, ER, H, 2 K, HRA -- 3.40 ERA, only 23 pitches, in line for Davies' rotation slot?
DiNardo 4 IP, 3 ER, 7 H, 4 K, HRA -- 3.79 ERA
Hayes IP, 3 R (1 ER), 3 H, 4 H, HRA -- 3.14 ERA, longball hurt Omaha Wednesday
Rosa IP, nothing -- 6.43 ERA

*** Omaha blew a 4-2 lead in the middle innings and a late comeback fell short as Memphis earned at least a split of the 4-game set. J.R. House hit a 1-out solo homer in the 1st for his 5th of the season and Cory Aldridge hit a 2-out RBI double to make it 2-0 off SP Clayton Mortensen. Bruce Chen served up a solo homer to just-demoted Memphis LF Nick Stavinoha (his 6th) in the bottom of the inning, tho, to cut the lead in half. Lenny DiNardo took over in the 3rd and allowed the tying run to come in that inning. He stranded the bases loaded in the 4th and House and Scott Thorman hit back-to-back RBI doubles in the 5th to make it 4-2 Omaha. Stavinoha led off the 6th with his 7th homer of the season and 2nd of the game and 2 more hits brought in the tying run off DiNardo. Chris Hayes came in for the 7th and a 1-out Mario Lisson error was followed by a 2-run homer by CF Shane Robinson (his 3rd) to give Memphis the lead. Stavinoha hit a would-be RBI double but Tommy Murphy and Lisson hooked up on a relay to gun down a runner at the plate. A 2-out single brought Stavinoha home, however, to make it 7-4 Redbirds. Omaha loaded the bases but made nothing of it in the 8th. Lisson led off the Omaha 9th with his 6th AAA homer and House hit a 2-out RBI double to cut the lead to 1 but RP Charlie Manning came in and got Thorman to flyout for his 1st save. Mortensen got the win with 4 ER allowed on 7 hits with 6 Ks over 7 IP to move to 7-4 with a 4.24 ERA. Three Redbirds had multi-hit games led by Stavinoha's 3-4 night with his 8th double, the homers, 2 RBI (32) and 3 RS to move to .285. Robinson also drove in 2 runs (15).

Omaha is 27-45. Game 3 of the set is tonight as Kyle Davies makes his '09 Omaha debut versus Redbirds righty P.J. Walters (2-5, 4.50). C John Buck is set to start a rehab assignment with the Royals tonight.

AA - NW Arkansas: rainout

The second half will instead start with the series finale with Tulsa tonight. The rainout will be made up July 29. Everett Teaford (1-1, 11.74) faces Drillers righty Chaz Roe (2-0, 2.97) tonight. OF Jarrod Dyson has been leapfrogged from A ball in Burlington to NWA. He hit .343 in 17 games in Burlington. He did play in Wilmington last season so it's not a crazy promotion. But why not David Lough, who's hitting well in Wilmington?

A-Adv. - Wilmington: all-star break wraps up

A 3-game home set with the Potomac Nationals (37-30 first half) starts the second half tonight. Alex Caldera (1-5, 6.43) is set to start the opener versus P-Nats lefty Will Atwood (2-5, 5.46). Wilmington is 3-7 versus the Nationals thus far. Blue Rocks SP Danny Duffy has been named to the U.S. team in the All-Star Futures Game July 12 in St. Louis.

A - Burlington: all-star break wraps up

A 4-game home set with the Cedar Rapids Kernels (40-30 first half) starts the second half tonight. Tim Melville (1-4, 3.90) faces Kernels righty Manaurys Correa (4-4, 3.74). The Bees are 4-4 versus Cedar Rapids. RP Eric Basurto has been moved up to the MWL after only 1 game in rookie ball. He had pitched at this level in the Marlins chain before coming over for Gload. OF Shawn Griffin has also been assigned to Burlington.

Rookie - Idaho Falls: Chukars 7, Casper 4

CF H. Richardson 3-4, RS, SB -- .625
3B Taylor 2-4, 2B, RBI, K, 2 RS -- .375
2B Franco 2-5, K, CS -- .222
RF Caldwell 1-2, 2 SF, 3B, 3 RBI (5), K, RS -- .400
SS D. Batista 1-4, SF, RBI (2), 2 K, RS, E -- .375
LF Aparicio 0-3, HBP, RBI (3), RS, CS, 2 E -- .375
DH Alfaro 1-4, K, RS -- .250
C S. Perez 1-2, BB, HBP -- .667

Garrido 3 1/3 IP, 2 ER, 2 H, 4 BB, 4 K, WP -- 5.40 ERA
Keating 2 2/3 IP, UER, 2 H, 4 K, WP -- W, 1-0, 0.00 ERA, pro debut and a W
Morgan 2 IP, H, K -- 0.00 ERA, season debut for Rockhurst product
White IP, UER, 2 H, 2 K -- 0.00 ERA, pro debut for 6th rounder

*** The Chukars took a 5-0 lead and held on for the win. Idaho Falls' offense got it started early with 3 runs in the 1st on a Jason Taylor RBI single, Julio Aparicio RBI fielder's choice and Allen Caldwell sacrifice fly that turned into an inning-ending double play, but not before the run scored to make it 3-0. Deivy Batista hit a sac fly in the 2nd to make it 4-0 and Caldwell hit another sac fly with the bases loaded and 0 out in the 3rd to give the Chukars a 5-0 lead. Chukars starter Santiago Garrido loaded the bases with 1 out in the 4th and hit a batter to force in the Ghosts' first run. Patrick Keating was brought in for his pro debut and allowed 1 more run to score before stranding 2. Caldwell hit an RBI triple in the 5th and scored on a wild pitch to make it 7-2 Chukars. Casper scored a run on an error in the 6th but Ryan Morgan stranded 2 in the 8th. Cole White made his pro debut in the 9th and got 2 strikeouts before 2 singles and Aparicio error scored a meaningless Casper run. White got the final groundout to end it. Casper SP Jonathan Vargas took the loss with 4 IP of 5 runs (4 ER) allowed on 7 hits and a walk with 3 Ks to move to 0-1 with a 9.00 ERA. CF Eliezer Mesa was 3-5 with a double and RS to move to .444 and 1B Chad Jacobsen was 2-4 with a K and 2 RS to move to .286.

IF is 2-0. Game 3 is tonight as Sugar Ray Marimon (who struggled last season in the Appy League) faces 19-year-old Ghosts righty Ricardo Ferrer.

Rookie - Burlington: B-Royals 4, Princeton 3

C T. Jones 3-4, 3 2B, RBI, RS -- .500
1B J. Morales 2-4, 2B, RS -- .250
SS Espinal 1-3, BB, HBP, HR, RBI, SB (2), E -- .429
DH F. Cruz 1-4, 2B, RBI, K -- .286
LF MacDougall 0-3, BB, HBP, K, picked off -- .167
2B R. Wood 0-4, BB, RS -- .000
* The Royals left 10 on base.

D. De La Cruz 4 1/3 IP, 2 ER, 5 H, BB, 4 K, HRA, E -- 4.15 ERA
Billo 3 2/3 IP, H, 2 BB, 6 K -- W, 1-0, 0.00 ERA, nice '09 debut
B. Richardson IP, ER, 2 H, K -- SV, 1, 9.00 ERA

*** A Royals insurance run in the 9th paid off as the B-Royals got their first win of 2009. Burlington had its first 2 batters hit by pitches in the 1st but the Royals made nothing of it to squander the opportunity. The Rays also wasted a potential scoring chance in the 1st off Deybi De La Cruz. Burlington loaded the bases with none out in the 3rd but also blew that chance. De La Cruz gave up a solo homer to 2B Seth Henry (his 1st) in the 4th but Yowill Espinal answered with a 2-out solo blast in the 5th to tie the game. De La Cruz allowed another Rays run on 2 hits before getting pulled for Greg Billo in the 5th and Billo left 2 in scoring position. Travis Jones stroked a 2-out double in the 6th and Fernando Cruz doubled him home to tie it at 2 but Burlington stranded 2 in scoring position. Jones hit a 1-out RBI double in the 8th to give the B-Royals the lead and Jason Morales scored on a wild pitch in the 9th to make it 4-2 Royals. Brett Richardson gave up a 2-out RBI triple in the 9th but ended the game with a K for his 1st '09 save. RP Jairo De La Rosa took the loss with 3 IP of 2 unearned runs allowed to fall to 0-1 with a 0.00 ERA. Starter Wilking Rodriguez worked 4 scoreless innings to keep a 0.00 ERA. CF Ty Morrison and Henry had 2 hits each for the Rays.

The B-Royals are 1-1. The set ends tonight as Carlos Fortuna faces Rays righty Omar Bencomo.

Rookie - AZL: Rangers 4, Royals 2

2B Stovall 1-4, SB (2), E -- .389
1B G. Baldwin 1-4, K, RS, E -- .154, team only had 2 hits
C H. Moreno 0-3, SF, RBI, 2 K, 2 PB (4), picked off runner -- .111
PH Shortell 0-0, HBP -- .000, pro debut

L. Santiago 4 2/3 IP, 4 R (2 ER), 6 H, BB, 2 K -- L, 0-1, 3.86 ERA
Folmer 2 1/3 IP, H, 2 BB, 3 K -- 2.25 ERA
Bavera IP, H -- 0.00 ERA

*** Five Ranger pitchers combined on a 2-hitter. The Rangers scored 2 in the 1st off Leonel Santiago thanks to 4 Royal errors in the inning. Two hits scored another Ranger run in the 4th and the Royals were being no-hit until Geoff Baldwin led off the 5th with a single. He would score on a wild pitch and a Henry Moreno sac fly cut the lead to 3-2 in the inning. Santiago gave the run back before getting pulled in the 5th with 2 out and the bases full. Richard Folmer ended the threat and the Royals stranded 2 in the 7th. The Rangers also stranded 2 that inning. The Royals got 2 in scoring position with 1 out in the 9th but Moreno and Miguel Mariano struck out to end the game as RP Justin Miller got his 1st save. Starter Juan Grullon got the win with 5 IP of 2 runs (1 ER) allowed on a hit, walk and 4 Ks to move to 1-0 with a 1.80 ERA. C Tomas Telis and LF Braxton Lane had 2 hits for the Rangers. Telis also stole his 1st base, and committed his 2nd error and 3rd passed ball.

The Royals are 2-2 and a game back in the early going. They have tonight off.



The Royals have also signed 42nd rounder lefty Jonathan Keck out of Bethel (TN) College and 47th round HS CF Anthony Howard from Maryland. Non-drafted FA righty Scott Shimek was also signed out of St. Mary's U (TX).