Royals April 5th Minor League Recap

It was a rough Day 2 to the minor league season for the KC Royals minor league affiliates. All four full season teams lost, with two playing their first games of the season.

Omaha lost another low scoring game, 3-1 at Round Rock. That was after the Storm Chasers held an early 1-0 lead, though that run scored on a double play ground out. Omaha had the same lineup as last night.

Chris Dwyer was the hard luck loser, as he allowed two runs on five hits and a walk over five innings. He struck out three. Veteran reliever Dan Wheeler allowed a run over 1.2 innings without giving up a hit, while Donnie Joseph walked three and struck out three over the final 1.1 innings (he allowed Wheeler’s run).

In the loss, Max Ramirez went 2-for-4 with a double and scored the lone run.

NW Arkansas was once again blown out, this time by a 10-2 score at home against Midland. It was Jason Adam‘s turn to be lit up in the start. It didn’t help that the offense did not pick up a hit until the 4th inning.

Midland took a 3-0 lead in the first inning, as Adam threw 33 pitches and allowed a two out, three-run homerun. He allowed three more runs in the 4th inning before allowing a solo homerun in the fifth. All in all, Adam allowed seven runs on eight hits and two walks over just 4.2 innings.

Brooks Pounders followed and looked good until the 8th inning, when he allowed three runs on two hits, a walk, a hit batter, and an error.

On offense for the Naturals, Mitch Canham made his first start for the Naturals at first base and went 3-for-4. Second baseman Alex McClure went 2-for-4. Both had an RBI.

In a second try at Opening Day for Wilmington, they lost in extra innings in Myrtle Beach, 7-6. The Pelicans scored runs over the game’s final four innings.

After Myrtle Beach scored two runs in the bottom of the 8th inning to tie the game at 4-4, the Blue Rocks came right back with a run in the top of the 9th inning on a passed ball. The Pelicans came right back to tie the game in the bottom of the inning on a Kevin Torres RBI single. Geulin Beltre gave the Blue Rocks a 6-5 lead in the top of the 10th inning only to see the Pelicans tie it back up. Myrtle Beach then won the game in the bottom of the 11th inning on a bases loaded RBI single off Cody Fassold (who did not record an out).

That negated the solid start from Kyle Zimmer, who allowed two runs on two hits over five innings while striking out eight. The negative was that he allowed two solo homeruns. Malcom Culver was solid over two scoreless innings (H, 2BB, 4K) before the wheels fell off for Robinson Yambati (1IP, 5H, 3R, 2ER, 2BB, K).

On offense, Jack Lopez hit his first homerun of the season in the 1st inning (he went 2-for-4 with two walks and two runs scored). Daniel Mateo went 3-for-6.

Lexington also got a second chance at Opening Night, but they lost at Augusta, 4-0. Only one of the runs was earned.

Bryan Brickhouse was the hard luck loser, as he allowed two unearned runs in the first inning on three hits that occurred after he recorded two outs and Adalberto Mondesi committed an error. Overall, he allowed those two runs on five hits and a walk over four innings. He struck out seven.

On offense, the Legends collected just four hits, one being a double by Terrance Gore. They also struck out 15 times.

*I was wrong about the doubleheader tonight for Lexington. Opening Night’s game will be made up on Saturday as part of a DH.