Royals on the Farm 8/21 -- Lamb slaughters for Idaho Falls, close to perfect

AAA - Omaha: O-Royals 9, Tacoma 8 (11)

2B Falu 4-5, BB, 2B (17), 2 RS, SB (12) -- .258
LF Hulett 2-5, BB, HR (11), 3 RBI (51), 2 K, 2 RS -- .294
3B Gordon 2-5, BB, 2B, RBI, K, RS, E -- .385
1B Thorman 2-4, HR (18), RBI (51), K, RS -- .265, hadn't homered in 33 games, no RBI in 16 games
DH Buchanan 1-5, HR (7), 3 RBI (22), RS -- .243
RF Aldridge 1-6, RBI (58), 3 K -- .305
1B Ka'aihue 0-1, HBP -- .264, left in 3rd after HBP

Hughes 5 IP, 5 ER, 5 H, 4 BB, 2 K, HRA, 2 WP -- 4.05 ERA
Yabuta 2 IP, 3 ER, 3 H, 2 BB, K, 2 HRA -- BS, 1, 3.55 ERA
Hamulack 4 IP, BB, 5 K -- W, 3-3, 5.60 ERA

*** Omaha lost an 8-4 lead but recovered to win it in 11. The Royals got right to it with a 5-run 1st on a 2-run Tug Hulett homer (his 11th) and a 3-run homer by Brian Buchanan (his 7th). Dusty Hughes stranded 2 in the 2nd but struggled in a 4-run Tacoma 3rd. Hulett, Alex Gordon and Cory Aldridge singled home runs in the 3rd to make it 8-4 O-Royals. Hughes gave up a solo homer to RF Prentice Redman (his 17th) in the 5th but handed an 8-5 lead to Yas Yabuta in the 6th. Yabuta promptly gave up 2 homers in the inning to tie the game before stranding 2. Omaha stranded 2 in the 9th and the game stayed tied until Scott Thorman broke a long homer drought with a solo homer in the 11th, his 18th. Tim Hamulack was lockdown out of the pen as he allowed only a walk in 4 IP. P Andrew Baldwin took the loss with an ER allowed in an inning to fall to 6-10 with a 4.62 ERA. Starter Garrett Olson worked 4 IP of 8 ER allowed on 10 hits, 2 walks and 2 Ks to make his ERA 5.04. Redman and CF Jerry Owens had 2 hits, 2 RBI and 2 RS for Tacoma. 3B Chris Shelton also drove in 2 (77).

The O-Royals are 53-72. A 5-game, 4-day home set with the Oklahoma City Redhawks (63-62, AAA Rangers) starts tonight with lefty Ray Liotta making his Omaha debut versus Redhawks righty Brandon McCarthy (0-1, 6.23). The O-Royals are 6-5 versus OKC.

AA - NW Arkansas: Midland 7, Naturals 5

CF Dyson 3-5, 3B (3), 2 RBI (13), 2 K, RS, SB (25), picked off -- .250
DH Wilson 3-5, K -- .294
RF Lucas 2-5, RBI (43) -- .286
1B C. Smith 2-4, BB, 2B (26), 2 K, RS -- .257
C Clark 2-4, 2B (13), RBI (27), 2 K, RS -- .302
LF Lough 1-4, S, RBI (28), RS, SB (11) -- .339
SS Bianchi 1-5, 2 K -- .324
3B Mertins 0-2, 3 BB, K -- .284
* NWA stranded 12.

Kniginyzky 4 2/3 IP, 4 ER, 4 H, 3 BB, 4 K, 3 HRA, balk, E -- 5.24 ERA
Swaggerty 2 1/3 IP, H, 5 K -- 3.57 ERA
Abreu IP, 3 ER, 2 H, BB, 2 K, HRA -- BS, 3, L, 2-2, 4.26 ERA

*** NWA grabbed a 1-run lead in the 6th but a 3-run Midland 8th got the RockHounds the sweep. Ed Lucas hit an RBI single but the Naturals stranded 2 in the 1st. NWA struck again for 3 in the 2nd on a Cody Clark RBI double, David Lough RBI single and Jarrod Dyson RBI single. Matt Kniginyzky served up 3 solo homers in the Midland 2nd, then had a throwing error and balk as the 'Hounds tied it in the 3rd. NWA left the bases full in the 5th but Dyson hit the go-ahead RBI triple in the 6th to make it 5-4 Naturals. The big blow came with 2 out in the 8th as Juan Abreu gave up a 3-run homer to CF Corey Brown for his 2nd homer of the game and 8th of the season to make it 7-5 Midland. The Naturals loaded the bases with 1 out in the 9th but Corey Smith struck out and Jeff Howell flew out to end the game as RP Jared Lansford got his 11th save. RP Steven Sharpe pitched 1 2/3 scoreless innings to move to 8-1 with a 4.30 ERA. Starter Travis Banwart worked 3 IP of 4 ER allowed on 8 hits and a walk with 3 Ks to move his ERA to 4.99. Brown and RF Matt Spencer had 2 hits each. Brown had his 2 HR plus 4 RBI (38) to move to .272.

The Naturals are 29-24 and now tied for first after the sweep. A 3-game set at the Frisco RoughRiders (27-26, AA Rangers) starts tonight. Rowdy Hardy (3-2, 2.45) is set to face Frisco righty Blake Beavan (2-4, 4.85). NWA is 5-4 versus Frisco.

A-Adv. - Wilmington: Kinston 4, Blue Rocks 1

no Moustakas or Hosmer, again
1B C. Robinson 2-2, 2 BB, 2B (24), 3B, RS, E (6) -- .287
DH Van Stratten 2-3, SF, RBI (7) -- .276
CF D. Robinson 0-4, BB, K -- .236
2B Giavotella 0-4, E (20) -- .252

Montgomery 6 IP, 4 R (2 ER), 6 H, BB, 4 K, 2 WP -- L, 2-1, 2.70 ERA
Rivas 3 IP, H, 2 K -- 5.12 ERA

*** Five Blue Rock errors helped fuel the K-Tribe win as Mike Moustakas and Eric Hosmer were MIA for the third game in a row. Mike Montgomery never really got settled in as Kinston scored a run in the 1st before stranding 2, then after Wilmington stranded 2 in the 1st, Kinston stranded 2 in the 2nd. Montgomery gave up another run in the 4th, then 2 in the 5th thanks to 4 errors behind him. The Rocks had baserunners in every inning but didn't get on the board until Clint Robinson tripled and scored on a Nick Van Stratten sac fly in the 8th. RP Kyle Landis pitched the 9th for his 6th save. Starter Paolo Espino worked 5 2/3 IP of 5 hits and 4 walks allowed with 7 Ks to improve to 6-6 with a 2.55 ERA. 1B Doug Pickens and C Richard Martinez had 2 hits for Kinston and DH Ole Sheldon had 2 RBI (37).

The Rocks are 33-20 and 1/2 a game up on first. Game 2 is tonight with Alex Caldera (4-10, 5.65) facing K-Tribe righty Alex Perez (1-2, 3.04). Moustakas is suffering from concussion-like symptoms after taking a batted ball off the helmet Tuesday. Hosmer is waiting on prescription glasses. Maybe it's a complex prescription you can't get in Delaware??? Sarcasm, there...

A - Burlington: Bees 5, Quad Cities 3

CF Norris 2-5, 3B (3), RBI (20), RS -- .243
C Bonilla 2-3, BB, RBI (32), K, PB (13) -- .223
DH Griffin 2-4, 2B (12), K, CS (6) -- .303
RF Francis 1-4, HR (14), 2 RBI (64), 3 K, RS -- .278
1B D. Wood 1-1, 2 BB, SF, RBI (58), 2 RS -- .269
LF Ortiz 1-5, CS (2) -- .220
SS R. Wood 1-4, 2 K -- .237
2B F. Garcia 1-4, RS, SB (26) -- .259

Baez 5 2/3 IP, 3 ER, 8 H, BB, 3 K, HRA -- W, 7-5, 3.68 ERA
B. Hardy 2 1/3 IP, 2 H, BB, 3 K, WP -- 2.16 ERA
Bowden IP, K -- SV, 10, 2.28 ERA

*** The Bees used a 6th inning comeback to even the series with the River Bandits. Three hits scored 2 Bandit runs off Manauris Baez in the 2nd but a Patrick Norris RBI groundout cut the lead in half in the 3rd. 3B Ricardo Racobaldo made it 3-1 QC in the 3rd with his 1st homer of the season but Jose Bonilla hit an RBI single in the 4th to trim the lead back to 1 at 3-2. Nick Francis put the Bees on top with a 2-run shot in the 6th (his 14th) but the Bees left 2 in scoring position. Norris tripled and scored on a David Wood sac fly in the 7th and Blaine Hardy and Barry Bowden pitched out the win for Baez. QC starter Jorge Rondon allowed 4 runs (3 ER) on 8 hits and 2 walks with 5 Ks over 5 IP to fall to 1-3 with a 3.72 ERA. Four Bandits had 2 hits.

The Bees are 24-29 and 9 games out. Game 3 is tonight as Ivor Hodgson (2-1, 4.94) faces QC righty Eric Fornataro (0-2, 8.76).

Rookie - Idaho Falls: Chukars 2, Great Falls 0 (1-hitter)

CF H. Richardson 2-4, 2B (12) -- .311
2B Franco 1-3, BB, RBI (19), K, SB (13), CS (6) -- .249
SS Alfaro 0-1, BB, S, RBI (15), CS (4) -- .224
DH D. Batista 0-4 -- .280
C S. Perez 1-4 -- .311
1B Lewis 1-4 -- .304
3B Stovall 1-4, 2B (7), RS -- .317
RF Llanos 1-3, RS -- .222

Lamb 7 IP, H, 7 K, pickoff -- W, 3-1, 2.18 ERA, wow
Folmer 2 IP, 2 K -- SV, 6, 3.91 ERA

*** John Lamb had a second straight great outing as he and Richard Folmer combined on a 1-hit shutout. Lamb almost went without a decision, tho, as IF didn't score its runs until the 8th. Lamb gave up Great Falls' only hit with 2 out in the 5th and promptly picked off that runner as he and Folmer would face the minimum 27 batters in the game. The only problem was Voyagers SP Joucer Martinez held the Chukars scoreless and it wasn't until Greg Johnson took over on the mound in the 8th that IF scored 2 on a J.D. Alfaro squeeze bunt and Angel Franco RBI single. Johnson allowed 2 ER in 2 IP to fall to 1-1 with a 3.00 ERA. Martinez allowed only 3 hits and 2 walks with a K over 7 IP to lower his ERA to 2.94.

The Chukars are 11-7 and 5 games out. Game 3 is tonight as Bryan Paukovits (2-2, 5.60) faces GF righty Brandon Kloess (1-0, 2.64).

Rookie - Burlington: Johnson City 6, B-Royals 2

1B D. Cruz 2-4, K -- .234
SS Culver 1-3, BB, RBI (17), RS -- .226
C F. Cruz 0-4, RBI (18), PB (10) -- .286
CF Pickett 1-4, K, RS, SB (20) -- .264
RF Del Rosario 0-1, 3 BB, picked off -- .280
DH W. Myers 0-4, K -- .083

L. Perez 6 IP, 2 ER, 6 H, BB, 5 K, HRA -- 4.35 ERA
Cuevas IP, 4 ER, 4 H, 2 BB, 2 HRA -- L, 0-4, 6.68 ERA
B. Richardson 2 IP, H, BB, 4 K -- 4.30 ERA

*** Burlington scored both its runs in the 1st as the Cardinals dealt the Royals another loss. JC DH Robert Stock clubbed his 6th homer in the 1st and Burlington answered by taking the lead on a Malcom Culver RBI single and Fernando Cruz RBI groundout. Johnson City tied it in the 2nd but Leondy Perez held the line through 6. Gary Cuevas entered the game in the 7th and gave up a leadoff homer to RF Edgar Lara (his 8th) plus 2 more runs in the inning as the Cards surged ahead. LF Rainel Rosario hit his 1st homer of the season off Cuevas to start the 8th and that was all Johnson City would need. RP Michael Thompson pitched 2 hitless frames for the win to move to 1-3 with a 7.63 ERA. Starter Anthony Ferrara allowed 2 ER on 4 hits and 3 walks with 3 Ks over 5 IP to move his ERA to 3.64. Four Cardinals had 2 hits.

The B-Royals are 18-39 and on an 8-game skid. Johnson City goes for the sweep tonight as the Cards send righty Randy Santos (1-5, 4.69) to the mound to face Keaton Hayenga (2-6, 4.25). It's supposed to be Wil Myers' last game in Burlington before he moves up to Idaho Falls.

Rookie - AZL: suspended at 1-1 in the 7th

I assume the game will be completed when the Royals and Dodgers face off their last time here in a couple days. The Royals only have 1 hit in the game. The 7-13 Royals are supposed to play the 8-14 Indians tonight.