Royals May 19th Minors Recap

Omaha lost in walk off fashion to host Nashville, 5-4. In the bottom of the ninth, Kevin Mattison hit a one out home run off Ramon Troncoso, who was in his first inning of work. That homer made a winner of former Royal Jeremy Jeffress.

Melky Mesa hit two solo homers, one of which tied the game in the top of the seventh. He had two of the Storm Chasers seven hits, as did Jimmy Paredes. Paredes also stole a base, as Omaha stole three of them.

Storm Chasers starter PJ Walters left in the sixth after allowing a run and with two men on base. Justin Marks entered and allowed both runs to score on a double. He would allow a single to the next batter before getting out of the inning. Over the next two innings, Marks allowed just one more hit, which was erased on a double play to end the eighth.

NW Arkansas lost the two-game series in Tulsa with a 4-3 loss on Monday afternoon. The Naturals had the tying run on third base, but pinch-hitter Justin Trapp struck out to end the game (just as he did last night). They had just scored two runs to cut the deficit to one run.

NWA collected just three hits, including a double by Micah Gibbs. They did walk seven times, but went 0-for-7 with runners in scoring position.

They committed as many errors as they had hits. Two were made by starter JC Sulbaran, who took the loss. He allowed four runs (two earned) on nine hits and two walks over five innings. The bullpen trio of Noel Arguelles, Wilking Rodriguez, and Cody Fassold allowed just one baserunner in the final three innings (a single in the seventh).

The Naturals now have Tuesday off before beginning a seven-game homestand on Wednesday night against San Antonio. It will be their first meeting of the season.

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Wilmington enjoyed Monday off before they start an eight-game (in seven days) homestand on Tuesday night. It all starts with Carolina, before Frederick comes to town for the holiday weekend. It will be the first time the divisional opponents have played each other with about three weeks left in the first half.

Lexington’s Alfredo Escalera-Maldonado during spring training, 2014 (Jen Nevius).

Lexington stormed back to beat Hagerstown, 10-8. The Suns, the best team in the South Atlantic League, led 8-1 after four innings. The Legends have clinched the series with one more game to go.

The Legends came back with four runs in the bottom of the fifth, two of which scored on triples by Dominique Taylor and Ramon Torres. They cut the deficit to one run in the seventh on Alfredo Escalera-Maldonado‘s home run. They completed the comeback with three runs in the eighth, two of which scored on Frank Schwindel‘s two out single.

The Legends collected 14 hits, with four hitters having three-hit games. Torres fell a home run short of the cycle. Taylor, Schwindel, and Escalera-Maldonado were the others with three hits in the win. Taylor and Escalera-Maldonado combined to score seven runs.

After Andrew Edwards struggled through the first 3.1 innings (9H, 8R, 3BB, 4K, 2HBP, WP), Luis Rico earned the win with 5.2 scoreless innings of relief. Rico allowed just one hit while striking out six. He retired the final 12 Suns.