Royals on the Farm 9/9 -- Judgment night: Cougars move on, Nats stay alive

Say what you will about Judgment Night, the Emilio Estevez/Cuba Gooding Jr./Denis Leary movie from the '90s, but that was a great soundtrack.

AAA - Omaha: Round Rock 9, Storm Chasers 8 (11)

RF Cain 5-6, 2B, K, 3 RS -- .533, GIVE 'EM A DOSE!
1B Ka'aihue 2-3, BB, HBP, 2B, HR, 4 RBI, K, RS -- .250, vintage Kila game
3B-1B Arias 2-6, 2B, K, RS, E -- .385
LF Lough 1-6, RBI, 3 K, RS, assist at home -- .200
DH Robinson 1-4, 2 BB, RBI (3), 2 K, RS -- .333
C Pina 1-3, 2 BB, RBI (5) -- .444
SS Falu 0-4, S, SF, RBI -- .182
Omaha stranded 11.

Montgomery 3 IP, 5 ER, 6 H, 4 BB, 3 K, HRA, WP -- 15.00 ERA, hasn't seemed to settle in at AAA all season
Tejeda 2 IP, ER, 2 H, BB, 2 K -- 4.50 ERA
Castaneda 3 IP, H, K -- 0.00 ERA, nice
Miner 3 IP, 3 UER, 5 H, BB, 2 K -- L, 0-1, 0.00 ERA

* The Chasers gave Round Rock all they could, but the Express lived to play another day on Friday. Mike Montgomery had a start to forget, but David Lough kept him off the hook early with an assist at the plate to end the Express 2nd. A Chad Tracy grand slam keyed a 5-run Round Rock 3rd off Montgomery. Omaha started digging itself out slowly as Lough hit an RBI groundout in the 3rd, but Round Rock got the run back in the 5th. Kila Ka'aihue made his presence felt with a 2-run homer in the 6th and Manny Pina singled in a run to trim it to 6-4. Ka'aihue came back up in the 7th and clipped a clutch 2-run double to tie the game. Zach Miner got a bases-loaded double play to escape the 10th, and Mike Jirschele's decision to pinch run for Kila with Lance Zawadzki in the bottom of the 10th would factor in later. Omaha left the bases loaded in the inning and 2 Chaser errors in the 11th helped Round Rock grab a 9-6 lead. Clint Robinson singled in a run in the bottom of the frame and Zawadzki, hitting in Ka'aihue's place, popped out before an Irving Falu sac fly cut the lead to 1. Joaquin Arias struck out to end it, tho. Omaha will try to drive a stake into the Express' hearts Saturday as Sean O'Sullivan starts. Omaha GM Martie Cordaro was named PCL Exec of the Year on Friday. That's the first Omaha rep to be so named since 1990.

AA - NW Arkansas: Naturals 3, Arkansas 1

1B Romak 1-4, RBI -- .111
RF Myers 0-1, 3 BB, RBI -- .143
LF Robinson 1-4, K, RS -- .182
DH T. Smith 1-3, BB, 2 RS, SB -- .182

M. Santiago 6 IP, UER, 4 H, 4 BB, 2 K -- W, 1-0, 0.00 ERA
Lafferty IP, BB -- 0.00 ERA
Hardy 2 IP, K -- SV, 1, 3.38 ERA

* The Naturals offense finally stepped up to reward a third straight good start and stay alive in the Texas League playoffs. Mario Santiago allowed a run in the 1st to start on a sour note, but Jamie Romak hit a 2-out RBI single in the bottom of the inning to tie it. Derrick Robinson scored on a wild pitch in the 5th to make it 2-1 NWA. Wil Myers took a bases-loaded walk in the 8th and Blaine Hardy finished it for his 1st save of the postseason. The Travs will have another chance to finish off the Naturals Saturday. Jeremy Jeffress will start.

A - Kane County: Cougars 3, Burlington 2

CF Eibner 1-4, 3B, RBI, 3 K -- .182
LF Fletcher 1-4, 2B, RBI (2), 2 K, RS -- .182
2B Franco 1-4, 3B, RBI (2) -- .200
3B Cuthbert 0-4, K, E -- .167

Adam 5 2/3 IP, 2 UER, 4 H, 5 K -- W, 1-0, 0.00 ERA
Rivers 2 IP, H, K -- 0.00 ERA
Rogers 1/3 IP, K -- 0.00 ERA
Boruff IP, BB -- SV, 1, 0.00 ERA

* The Cougars became the first Royals affiliate to advance in the 2011 postseason with a narrow win over the former Royals affiliate, the Bees. Brian Fletcher got it started with an RBI double in the 4th and Brett Eibner tripled him home to give Jason Adam a 2-0 lead. Angel Franco added an RBI triple in the 5th to make it 3-0. Burlington's only runs came on 1 play in the 6th as Orlando Calixte and Kevin David made errors and 2 runs scored to cut the lead to 1. Nick Rogers stranded the tying run at third in the 8th and Chase Boruff worked around a walk in the 9th for his 1st save and the series win. The Cougars will take on the Quad Cities River Bandits (A Cardinals) in a best-of-3 series starting Saturday in Elfstrom Stadium. Leondy Perez will start game 1.

Rookie - Idaho Falls: Orem 17, Chukars 9 (Thu.)

3B Mateo 3-4, BB, 3B (4), HR (4), 4 RBI (40), 2 RS -- .348, double shy of cycle
RF Davis 2-5, HR (9), 3 RBI (42), 3 K, RS, E (3) -- .326
LF Fradejas 2-3, BB, RS -- .310
C T. Smith 1-4, HR, RBI (5), K, 2 RS -- .192
2B Piterson 0-4, HBP, RBI (15), RS, 2 E (8) -- .298
DH Gallagher 1-5, RS -- .200
SS DelGuidice 1-5, 2B (7), 2 K -- .355

A. Brooks 4 2/3 IP, 6 ER, 10 H, 7 K -- L, 6-2, 3.84 ERA, not his best night, but 7 K/0 BB is good
Penny 1 1/3 IP, 9 R (8 ER), 7 H, BB, HRA -- 9.84 ERA, yowch
Fassold IP, 2 R (1 ER), 3 H, BB -- 4.24 ERA
Avinazar IP H, 2 K -- 8.58 ERA

* The Chukars went out with a bang on Thursday, but Orem made most of the noise in a runaway win. The Owlz started it with 3 runs in the 2nd off Aaron Brooks, and they scored 3 again in the 5th to make it 6-0 and chase Brooks from his final Chukars start. Daniel Mateo got IF on the board with his 4th homer of the season in the 6th, but Orem scored 4 that inning off Robert Penny to make it 10-1. Luis Piterson took a bases-loaded HBP in the 7th and Mateo ripped a 3-run triple to cut it to 10-5. The hole was dug deeper, however, as the Owlz hammered out 7 runs off Penny and Cody Fassold in the 7th. Tyler Smith hit his 1st pro homer in the 8th, and the Chukars tacked on 3 runs in the 9th on Runey Davis' 9th homer to make the final score 17-9. The Chukars finished 16-22 in the second half and 33-43 overall.

OPS rundown
OF Runey Davis 1.012 -- .326/.422/.591, 42 RS, 18 2B, 3 3B, 9 HR, 42 RBI, 28 BB/72 K, 7/11 SB, 3 E in 58 G/193 ABs -- hit his stride with Chukars after two unremarkable years in Cubs' system
OF Chris Elder .943 -- .289/.344/.599, 28 RS, 9 2B, 4 3B, 9 HR, 27 RBI, 12 BB/26 K, 1/3 SB, 1 E in 36 G/142 ABs -- nice pro debut
IF Mike Liberto .881 -- .348/.435/.446, 16 RS, 5 2B, 2 3B, 8 RBI, 13 BB/12 K, 8/10 SB, 5 E in 26 G/92 ABs -- his best line of any of his 3 stops in 2011 (A, A-Adv., Rookie) so it makes sense
1B Richard Espy .880 -- .318/.391/.489, 43 RS, 17 2B, 3B, 7 HR, 39 RBI, 20 BB/59 K, 2/3 SB, 9 E in 62 G/233 ABs -- solid debut for one of the Eazy Es along with Elder and Edul Escobar
IF Daniel Mateo .867 -- .348/.389/.478, 33 RS, 9 2B, 4 3B, 4 HR, 40 RBI, 17 BB/43 K, 1/2 SB, 9 E in 56 G/224 ABs -- when he was on was more than the 5th best hitter on the team
Others...OF Justin Fradejas .843 (.310/.414/.429, good pro debut for non-drafted FA)...1B Henry Moreno .838 (11 HR led team)...SS Mike Antonio .829 (only 8 games)...IF Nick DelGuidice .827 (.355/.359/.468, 7 2B, 1 BB/11 K, only 17 games, was still finding his Pioneer League legs)...OF Tyler Chism .771 (solid debut, 260 ABs led team)...3B Mark Threlkeld .755...C Edul Escobar .740...OF Darian Sandford .602...C Tyler Smith .581...C Cameron Gallagher .573 (only 8 games)

WHIP rundown
Edwin Carl 0.61 -- 3-1, 1.36, 5 SV, 3 BB/71 K in 21 G/33 IP -- maybe the craziest line in my 6 years of the reports, now he just needs to figure it out in A-ball
Aaron Brooks 1.22 -- 6-2, 3.84, 7 HRA, 8 BB/73 K in 15 G (13 starts) and 79 2/3 IP -- that's a pretty great K/BB too, great pro debut
Nathan Johnson 1.22 -- 0-1, 4.22, 2 SV, 8 HRA, 9 BB/26 K in 14 G/32 IP -- solid, if unspectacular, pen work
Brian Peacock 1.26 -- 5-5, 4.48, 1 SV, 7 HRA, 21 BB/89 K in 15 G (14 starts) and 74 1/3 IP -- hopefully he gets shot at A ball along with Brooks in 2012
Brennon Martin 1.27 -- 4-6, 4.02, 13 HRA, 9 BB/75 K in 15 starts/87 1/3 IP -- hit the zone a little TOO much, great K/BB but 13 dingers allowed
Others...Mike Giovenco 1.36 (1.64 ERA in only 11 IP)...Spencer Patton 1.44 (15 BB/56 K in 39 2/3 IP)...Cody Fassold 1.63 (4 SV, 13 BB/27 K in 23 1/3 IP)...Kellen Moen 1.70 (2-7, 7.25, 19 BB/51 K in 58 1/3 IP)...it gets ugly thereafter, I'll spare you