Royals on the Farm 4/22 -- the Moose is Loose

AAA - Omaha: Round Rock 5, O-Royals 2

DH Maddox 2-4, 3B, K, RS -- .250
LF Coats 2-3, BB -- .341
SS Aviles 1-4, 2B (3), RBI (5), E (2) -- .255
C Clark 1-4, RBI (4) -- .156
1B Ka'aihue 0-4 -- .283
CF Lough 0-3, HBP, K, OF assist at third -- .258
RF Parraz 0-4, K -- .161

Lerew 5 IP, 3 R (2 ER), 6 H, BB, 2 K, pickoff -- L, 1-2, 3.86 ERA
Hayes 2 IP, ER, 5 H -- 2.25 ERA
Herges IP, ER, H, BB, K -- 5.63 ERA

* The O-Royals turned on the O too late as the Express got the win. Round Rock jumped ahead on Anthony Lerew in the 4th with 3 runs on 3 hits, a sac fly and walk. The Express plated another run in the 6th and Omaha was being shut out on 3 hits entering the 7th. Cody Clark had a bases-loaded RBI forceout to break up the shutout and Mike Aviles doubled home a run in the 8th to cut the lead to 2. Matt Herges allowed a run in the 9th for some icing and Omaha stranded 1 in the 9th. Express SP Wesley Wright got the win with an ER allowed over 6 1/3 IP. Four Express batters had multiple hits led by a 3-4 night from SS Edwin Maysonet. The O-Royals are 6-9. Gaby Hernandez starts the finale tomorrow night. O-Royals P Adam Bostick was nailed with a 50-game suspension for a second positive drug test for a drug of abuse.

AA - NWA: Naturals 11, Arkansas 0

3B Moustakas 3-4, BB, 2B, 2 HR, 4 RBI, 3 RS, CS -- .750
RF Van Stratten 3-5, 2 2B (5), 2 RBI (3), K, OF assist at home -- .289
2B Giavotella 2-5, 3B, RBI (6), K, 2 RS -- .319
DH Mertins 2-4, BB, 2 RS -- .239
C Pina 1-3, BB, GS (2), 4 RBI (10), RS -- .375
1B C. Robinson 0-2, 3 BB, RS -- .244
CF D. Robinson 0-3, 2 BB, RS -- .300

Osuna 7 IP, 5 H, BB, 6 K -- W, 2-1, 0.00 ERA
Paulino 2 IP, BB, 2 K -- 4.66 ERA

* Ah, 11-0 wins always remind me of the good times, game 7 of the '85 WS. Sooooooo long ago. Well, Mike Moustakas was apparently ready to play. He announced his presence with authoritahhhhhh Thursday as his debut was a 2-HR, 4-RBI game in a Naturals rout of the Travelers. Nick Van Stratten threw out a runner at the plate to end a kinda shaky first from Edgar Osuna and Moustakas followed up a Johnny Giavotella triple with a 2-run blast in his first AB of the season to make it 2-0 NWA in the 1st. Moustakas came back up in the 3rd and slugged a solo shot to make it 2-2 HRs/ABs. The big inning was the 6th when the Rocks pounded out 7 runs on a Giavotella RBI single, a Moustakas RBI double, Manny Pina crushed a grand slam for his 2nd of the season, and Van Stratten doubled home a run to make it 10-0 NW Arkansas. Osuna recovered from his shaky 1st to hand a 5-hit shutout to Eduardo Paulino in the 8th and Paulino didn't falter as he allowed only a walk. Van Stratten poured some gravy on the game with an RBI double in the 9th. Starter Jeremy Thorne took the loss with 3 ER in 5 IP for Arkansas. 2B Abel Nieves was 2-3 with a walk and 2 doubles for Arkansas. The Naturals are 8-5. OF Tim Smith was placed on the DL with a quad injury to make room for Moustakas.

A-Adv. - Wilmington: Kinston 7, Blue Rocks 4 (G1)

1B Hosmer 2-4, BB, K, RS -- .422
3B Taylor 1-3, SF, HR, 2 RBI (4), K, RS -- .114, just for your information, drafted ahead of O's Chris Tillman, A's Brett Anderson, A's Trevor Cahill, Indians' Justin Masterson...at the time, I, personally, thought they should get OF Jon Jay, who is now with the Cards' AAA team
DH Romak 1-3, BB, RBI (9) -- .224
LF Walton 0-4, RBI -- .045
RF Ortiz 1-3, 2 BB, RS, SB (6), OF assist at home -- .227
C S. Perez 1-4, 2B (3) -- .364

Dwyer 5 IP, ER, 3 H, 3 BB, 6 K, WP -- 4.15 ERA
Basurto 2/3 IP, 3 ER, 3 H, BB, 2 K, balk -- BS, 1, 4.76 ERA
Baumann 2 1/3 IP, 2 H, 2 BB, 4 K -- 0.84 ERA
Baez IP, 3 ER, 3 H, BB, 2 K -- L, 1-1, 6.00 ERA

* The Rocks were outscored, 6-0, after taking a 4-1 lead into the 6th. Wilmington loaded the bases with 0 out in the 1st and got an RBI single from Jamie Romak, an RBI forceout from Jamar Walton and a sac fly from Jason Taylor. Chris Dwyer allowed a run on 2 hits and 2 walks in the 3rd and the Rocks squandered a leadoff triple from Patrick Norris in the bottom of the inning. Jason Taylor led off the Rocks 4th with his 1st homer of the season and Dwyer handed the ball to the pen in the 6th. Things went bad quickly as Eric Basurto loaded the bases before balking a run home, K'ing 2 and then giving up a 2-run double to tie the game. Buddy Baumann came in and gave up a would-be go-ahead single but Adrian Ortiz came up firing and cut down the runner at the plate to end the inning. Wilmington had baserunners but couldn't put anything together and the game stayed tied into the 9th. Manauris Baez came in that inning and had the bases loaded with 2 out when C Richard Martinez cleared the bases with a clutch double. The Rocks stranded 1 in the 9th. RP Matt Langwell pitched a scoreless inning for the win. Four K-Tribe batters had 2 hits. Martinez's double came in his only AB of the game.

Blue Rocks 4, K-Tribe 3 (7/G2)

CF Norris 2-3, 2B, RBI, 2 RS -- .241
DH Hosmer 1-3, 2 RBI (10), K -- .417, keep it up...
C Graterol 0-2, BB, RBI, K -- .000
RF Ortiz 1-4, RS, SB (7) -- .229

Caldera 6 IP, 3 ER, 6 H, BB, 7 K, WP -- W, 1-0, 3.68 ERA
Bowden IP, K -- SV, 1, 3.38 ERA

* The Rocks rallied in the 6th to take the twinbill-shortened game. The Rocks broke the ice in the 3rd with a Patrick Norris RBI double and Eric Hosmer RBI single. Alex Caldera was solid through 4 but the Indians broke through in the 5th as 4 hits scored 3 runs to give Kinston the lead. Hosmer had an RBI force play that turned into an error to tie the game in the bottom of the inning and, 3 batters later, Juan Graterol took a bases-loaded walk to make it 4-3 Rocks. Barry Bowden pitched a perfect 7th for his 1st save. RP Brett Brach took the loss for Kinston. Six Tribe batters had a hit each as DH Karexon Sanchez drove in 2 runs (7). The Rocks are 6-9. A 3-game set at the Winston-Salem Dash (A ChiSox) starts Friday.

A - Burlington: Bees 4, Clinton 2

2B D. Batista 3-4, 2B (3), RBI (5), SB (3), E (8) -- .263, already deciding he's not cut out for SS?
LF Caldwell 3-4, 2 2B, RS, CS (2) -- .192
3B F. Cruz 1-4, 2 RBI -- .140
1B Lewis 1-3, BB, 2B (3), RBI (9), K, RS -- .235
CF Richardson 1-2, RS -- .224, left in 3rd
CF Testa 1-2, S -- .303
C Myers 1-3, BB, K, PB (4) -- .222

Paukovits 6 IP, UER, 0 H (!), 2 BB, 6 K -- W, 1-1, 3.46 ERA
Wooley 1 2/3 IP, ER, 4 H, 2 K -- 7.45 ERA
Mozingo 1 1/3 IP, 3 K -- SV, 1, 3.86 ERA

* The Bees pitching, led by Bryan Paukovits, was lockdown and the offense showed up for once, at least enough to salvage the series finale. Joey Lewis ripped an RBI double in the 1st but got thrown out at the plate on the ensuing Gerard Hall single to end the inning. No other batter reached base until the 4th, when the Bees rallied and Fernando Cruz hit a 2-run single for his first ribbies of the season. Paukovits had only allowed a walk going into the 5th as Deivy Batista hit an RBI double to make it 4-0 Bees. Paukovits allowed a 2-out walk in the 5th and a Batista error was followed by a run-scoring passed ball on Wil Myers. The no-hitter was intact when Nick Wooley came in for the 7th and he kept it going until RF James Jones led off the Clinton 8th with a single. The Kings had 3 more hits in the inning to score a run before Harold Mozingo came in to strand the bases full. Mozingo sat down all 4 he faced to finish off his 1st save. SS Gabriel Noriega had Clinton's only RBI in the game. LF Kalian Sams had 2 OF assists at the plate. Starter Taylor Stanton allowed 4 ER over 6 1/3 IP to take the loss. The Bees are 4-11. A 3-game home set with the Cedar Rapids Kernels (A Angels) starts Friday.