Royals July 7th Minors Recap
By Jen Nevius
Omaha won their first game against Iowa by a 7-3 score.
Whit Merrifield during 2014 spring training against the SD Padres (Jen Nevius).
After Whit Merrifield saved Ryan Verdugo in the first inning by throwing a runner out at the plate, the Storm Chasers offense went to work in the bottom of the second. With two outs, an error allowed the first run to score and load the bases. Paul Janish followed with a two-run single before Merrifield tripled him home.
The Cubs came right back with a two out, three-run home run from Javier Baez in the top of the third to cut the deficit to one run. The Cubs did not collect another hit.
Verdugo settled in and retired seven of the final eight batters he faced, four on strikes. Spencer Patton followed with two perfect inning of relief, striking out the final four batters he faced. Louis Coleman entered in the 8th inning and struck out three in two scoreless innings to close it out.
The Storm Chasers collected 12 hits. Merrifield fell a homer short of the cycle. Paulo Orlando also had three hits in the win.
NW Arkansas lost their finale to Frisco by a 6-1 score. The Naturals will now have Tuesday off as they head out to Springfield for four games.
The RoughRiders battered Naturals starter Tim Melville in the very first inning. He allowed a leadoff home run and another solo homer three batters later.
After getting through the 2nd inning unscathed, Melville allowed a run in the third and two more in the fourth. Melville allowed five runs on eight hits over five innings. He did strike out eight.
Ali Williams allowed one hit over two scoreless innings, while Noel Arguelles threw a perfect inning of relief. Joey Gallo greeted Angel Baez in the ninth with a solo home run.
The Naturals collected just three hits in the loss, all singles. Hunter Dozier stole his first Double-A base.
*In his first rehab game, Nori Aoki grounded out three times while playing right field.
Wilmington won the first game of their series in Potomac by a 5-1 score. The victory moved them into a first place tie with Lynchburg (1/2 game up on the P-Nats).
Blue Rocks starter Luis Santos against Potomac on July 1, 2014 (Jen Nevius).
Luis Santos made his second consecutive start against the P-Nats and once again held them in check. He allowed one run on three hits, a walk, and a hit batter over six innings. He struck out five and induced eight ground outs.
Mark Peterson earned his 17th save, as he escaped a two on and two out jam in the 8th inning. He then pitched a perfect ninth.
The Blue Rocks were actually down 1-0 through four innings before Jared Schlehuber‘s solo homer tied the game in the top of the fifth. They took the lead in the 6th inning when Raul Mondesi tripled in the go ahead run and scored on Bubba Starling‘s double.
Starling would drive in another run in the eighth after Mondesi led off the inning with a double (Starling had three hits). Ramon Torres and Mondesi had two hits in the win.
Lexington beat Hickory in their series opener, 9-2. They scored two runs in the first and never looked back.
Mauricio Ramos doubled in the first run and Chad Johnson‘s sac fly gave them the 2-0 lead. They scored two more runs in the third, fifth, and eighth innings.
The top four in their order: Alfredo Escalera-Maldonado, Kenny Diekroeger, Frank Schwindel, and Ramos each had two hits. Schwindel hit a solo home run in the 5th inning, his 13th of the season. Ramos drove in three runs.
The Legends also had a great pitching performance from both Matt Tenuta and Pedro Fernandez. Tenuta allowed one run on three hits and two walks over 5.2 innings. Fernandez entered with two men on base and left them stranded. He allowed just one hit (a solo homer) over 3.1 innings with four strikeouts.