Royals on the Farm 5/17 -- Duffy time, Adam debuts

So.....a Kyle Davies injury and Vin Mazzaro's horrible outing on Monday mean it's Danny Duffy time in KC. Is it a smart move? I don't know, but it's probably not in the best interests of protecting their rights to his services in the future. Is it necessary? Probably. Who else are they gonna bring up? I think Mazzaro is getting kind of a raw deal in all this, but you can't have that bad of an outing, I guess, and survive. Why bring him back out after he gave up 10 runs in one inning? He obviously wasn't mentally prepared to go and his stuff wasn't exactly working. I've heard the Royals reported as preaching lately that they don't want to bring a pitcher up just to send him right back down and hurt his confidence. I guess that only applies to the chosen few? I know Mazzaro isn't Duffy or Montgomery or Lamb, but he is projected as a 4 or 5 starter if the Royals' system starts producing like the experts think it will. I'm gonna keep the summaries brief tonight.

AAA - Omaha: Storm Chasers 12, Colorado Springs 9

LF Orlando 4-5, 2B (5), HR, 3 RBI (16), 2 RS, CS (2) -- .240, don't type Paulo's name for a while, but he's been hot lately
C Pina 2-4, BB, HR, 2 RBI (7), 2 RS, E (4) -- .209
CF Cain 2-5, 2B (11), RBI (15), 2 RS -- .288
3B Moustakas 2-4, BB, 2B (7), HR (8), RBI (32), K, RS -- .273
RF Falu 2-6, RBI (13), RS -- .345
PH-DH Ka'aihue 1-1, BB, 2B (2), 3 RBI (7), RS -- .250
1B C. Robinson 2-5, RBI (30), K, RS -- .347
SS Arias 2-5, 2B (2), K, 2 RS -- .333
2B Giavotella 1-6 -- .293

Pucetas 6 1/3 IP, 7 ER, 9 H, 2 BB, 2 K, 3 HRA, pickoff -- 4.26 ERA
Chavez 2/3 IP, 2 R (1 ER), 2 H, BB, 2 K -- W, 2-0, 2.33 ERA
Hardy IP, H, BB, K -- 3.77 ERA
Texeira IP, K -- SV, 1, 5.23 ERA

* Didn't I say yesterday 12 was the magic number? That's all 4 games in C-Springs with double-digit runs, and 3 straight with 12 runs in Omaha wins as the Chasers get the sweep. Once again the Sky Sox took an early lead as a 4-run 1st off Kevin Pucetas put Omaha in an early hole. Lorenzo Cain hit an RBI double and Paulo Orlando singled him home in the 2nd to get Omaha started and Mike Moustakas cranked his 8th homer of the season in the 3rd to cut it to 4-3. It was 5-3 in the 7th when Omaha tied it on a 2-run homer by Orlando for his 1st of the season. Pucetas was pulled with 2 on and 1 out in the 7th and Jesse Chavez allowed 4 runs to score to make it 9-5 Sky Sox. Omaha struck back in the 8th as they loaded the bases with 1 out. Kila Ka'aihue cleared the bases with a 3-run double, Manny Pina followed with a 2-run homer for his 1st of the season, and Irving Falu and Clint Robinson hit RBI singles to make it 12-9 Omaha. Blaine Hardy stranded 2 in the 8th and Kanekoa Texeira pitched a 1-2-3 9th to finish it. Five Sky Sox had 2 hits. Omaha is 23-16. They have Wednesday off. As noted above, Danny Duffy will get his shot at MLB with a Wednesday start for KC. Vin Mazzaro is headed back to the AAA rotation. Everett Teaford has also been moved up to KC, which is nice to see. I hope he sticks.

AA - NW Arkansas: Tulsa 5, Naturals 4 (10)

2B Bianchi 1-4, 2 RBI (14), K -- .252
DH T. Smith 1-3, BB, RBI (9), RS, 2 SB (3) -- .236
3B-1B Lisson 1-4, HR (9), RBI (17), 3 K, RS -- .275
SS Colon 0-3, BB, RS, E (6) -- .256
C S. Perez 1-4, K -- .255
LF Anthony Seratelli had an assist at the plate.

Osuna 4 IP, 3 ER, 8 H, BB, 3 K -- 6.75 ERA
Paulino 3 IP, ER, H, BB, 3 K, HRA -- 3.74 ERA
Lebron 2 2/3 IP, ER, H, 4 BB, 5 K, WP -- L, 0-1, 3.38 ERA, liiiiiiiiiiittle wild in organizational debut

* The Naturals scored 2 late runs to force extras but fell in 10. Tulsa got to Edgar Osuna for 2 runs in the 1st and then got another run in the 3rd to make it 3-0. Tim Smith hit an RBI single and Jeff Bianchi hit an RBI groundout in the 4th to cut into the lead, but the Drillers got a solo homer off Eduardo Paulino in the 5th to make it 4-2. Mario Lisson led off the 8th with his 9th homer, and Bianchi hit an RBI single in the 9th to tie the game. Willy Lebron got the first out without incident and a would-be strikeout turned into a runner at first with a third-strike wild pitch. A walk loaded the bases with 2 out and Lebron walked one more Driller to end it. Tulsa SP Juan Nicasio allowed 2 ER over 7 IP with 9 K to move his ERA to 1.99. Three Drillers had 2 hits as C Wilin Rosario drove in 2 runs (14). NWA is 19-15. Game 3 is a Wednesday matinee. Chris Dwyer (1-3, 6.61) starts.

A-Adv. - Wilmington: rainout

* The game with Salem will be made up as a Wednesday doubleheader. Elisaul Pimentel and Tim Melville will start the games. I failed to note yesterday that John Whittleman was named Carolina League Player of the Week for May 9-15. He hit .450 over the week with 8 XBH and 5 RBI.

A - Kane County: Cougars 5, Cedar Rapids 4

CF Llanos 3-5, RBI (24), RS -- .258
1B Watts 2-3, BB, RBI (12) -- .215
2B-3B Franco 2-5, CS -- .220
SS Hall 1-4, BB, 3B (4), RBI (14), K, RS -- .322
LF Adams 0-2, SF, HBP, RBI (8), K, OF assist at third -- .196
C Jenkins 1-4, RBI (11), K -- .261
3B-1B Stovall 1-4, K, RS -- .300

Adam 4 1/3 IP, 3 ER, 5 H, 4 BB, 3 K, E -- 6.23 ERA, hey, it's his first pro start...
Odenbach 1 2/3 IP, ER, 2 H, WP -- 3.05 ERA
Boruff 3 IP, H, BB, 3 K -- W, 3-1, 1.50 ERA

* A pivotal 6th inning set up a big 9th for the Cougars as they defeated the Kernels. KC stranded 2 in the 3rd and Jason Adam didn't do badly through his first 2 pro innings of work, but ran into trouble in the 3rd as the Kernels scored 2 runs on 2 walks and 2 hits. Ryan Jenkins hit a 2-out RBI single in the 4th but Cedar Rapids made it 3-1 that inning. Kane County tied it in the 6th on a Lane Adams sac fly and Murray Watts RBI single. Dusty Odenbach allowed the go-ahead run in the bottom of the inning to CR. The game went to the 9th with a 4-3 Kernels lead, and with 1 on and 2 out, Gerard Hall hit a game-tying triple and Alex Llanos hit the go-ahead single to turn it around. Chase Boruff pitched a perfect 9th as he had a good relief outing. C Carlos Ramirez and SS Rolando Gomez had 2 hits. KC is 14-25. Sugar Ray Marimon pitches game 2 Wednesday.