Royals June 17th Minors Recap

After winning ten in a row, Omaha has now lost two straight, as they lost the finale in Nashville on Sunday, 4-1. The Storm Chasers out-hit the Sounds, 10-6 but committed three errors, went 2-for-8 with runners in scoring position, and grounded into two double plays.

Wil Myers went 4-for-5, but did not score a run. Salvador Perez caught all nine innings (but did not collect a hit).

With the injury to Chris Getz at the big league level, Johnny Giavotella was taken out after his first at-bat (a first inning strikeout). Max Ramirez replaced Gio in the lineup and went 2-for-4.

Mike Montgomery was solid, despite the loss. He allowed four runs (three earned) on six hits and three walks over six innings.

NW Arkansas ended their two game losing streak with a 4-3 victory over Springfield to split the four-game series. Chris Dwyer pitched into the 8th inning before really getting into trouble. He allowed two runs on five hits and two walks while striking out six.

The Cardinals made it interesting in the 9th inning, but Buddy Baumann worked around an RBI double and two walks to escape with the save.

Yem Prades provided the insurance (and actual game winning run) with a solo homerun in the top of the 9th inning. Eric Duncan gave the Naturals the lead in the 4th inning with a two-run homerun.

Wilmington tied an unfortunate record in the team’s history: most losses in a first half. They tied the 2000 team with 41 first half losses. The 2000 team (which was full of prospects at the time) was one of the worst teams in history. The Blue Rocks lost to Winston-Salem, 6-5 in ten innings to end the first half.

It was a bullpen game for the Blue Rocks and they actually led 4-1 before the Dash scored three runs in the 4th inning. Nick Rogers was the hard-luck loser, as he allowed an unearned run in the top of the 10th inning. He walked three (he did not allow a hit) over 2.1 innings.

The bottom two in the Blue Rocks order, bench players Michael Liberto and Luis Piterson, went 4-for-9. The Blue Rocks out-hit the Dash, 11-9, but went just 3-for-13 with runners in scoring position and struck out 12 times.

The Blue Rocks have the next three days off for the All-Star break and hopefully can forget about the first half and play better when the second half starts on Thursday in Carolina.

Kane County is heading into the All-Star break on a down note, just like the Blue Rocks. The Cougars have lost five in a row (and eight of their last nine), as they lost Sunday’s finale to Cedar Rapids, 5-3. The Cougars bullpen did throw four hitless (and scoreless) innings of relief.

On offense, Daniel Mateo, Jorge Bonifacio, and Orlando Calixte each had two hits (six of the team’s eight hits). Calixte hit his tenth homerun of the season.