Wil Myers remained with the Storm Chasers following the All-Star break and went 2-for-3 with a double. Will Smith picked up the win with seven solid innings. He allowed one run on seven hits and a walk while striking out six.

NW Arkansas lost via a walk-off walk to Springfield, 2-1 in 13 innings. After a leadoff double and a fly out moved the runner to third base, the Naturals chose to intentionally walk the next two batters to load the bases. Problem was, they didn’t change pitchers and Ethan Hollingsworth walked the next batter on five pitches to drive in the winning run.

Both teams scored single runs in the 9th inning via solo homeruns. Paulo Orlando gave the Naturals a quick 1-0 lead with his third homerun of the season. Former Natural Jamie Romak hit his fourth homerun of the season with two outs in the bottom of the inning.

That negated the solid start by Michael Mariot, who did not allow a run over 7.2 innings. He allowed four hits while striking out three (though he walked four), but he threw just 79 pitches and wasn’t in trouble.

Manny Pina caught the first nine innings and went 0-for-4. The Naturals collected eight hits, but went 0-for-11 with runners in scoring position.

Jason Adam

The Wilmington Blue Rocks finally won with Jason Adam on the mound, as they beat visiting Potomac, 3-1. Adam finally picked up his second win of the season, as he allowed one run (a solo homerun) over seven innings.

The Blue Rocks collected eight hits, with the top two in the order (Angel Franco and Orlando Calixte) picking up four of them.

The P-Nats had rehabbing big leaguer Xavier Nady in the lineup again (no Drew Storen tonight) and he went 2-for-4.

Kane County received another stellar start from Angel Baez, as they beat South Bend, 2-1. Baez allowed an unearned run on two hits and two walks over six innings. He struck out ten.

Both teams only collected four hits and both teams scored their runs in the 4th inning.

Bubba Watch: Bubba Starling did not play again tonight as Burlington and Kingsport were once again postponed (that’s three in a row).

Chris Getz and Lorenzo Cain continue their rehab with the Storm Chasers. Getz led off, played second base the whole game, and went 0-for-4 with a run scored. Cain batted third, played centerfield the whole game, and went 1-for-2 with a double.

Omaha stole five bases, but none of them resulted in a run.

NW Arkansas lost to Corpus Christi, 7-3. The Naturals had their chance in the 9th inning with the tying run at the plate in three straight at-bats, but two of those hitters struck out. They have now lost six in a row.

After the Naturals took a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the 3rd inning, Corpus Christi came back with seven runs from the 6th inning on. In that 3rd inning for the Naturals, Yem Prades hit a three-run homerun. Reliever Nick Rogers once again struggled with his command in the 9th inning and recorded just one out (while allowing two runs on two walks, a hit batter, and a single).

Catcher Manny Pina continued his rehab with the Naturals as the DH. He went 1-for-4 while batting cleanup.

Blue Rocks pitcher Elisaul Pimentel

Wilmington lost 8-3 to visiting Myrtle Beach to begin their homestand. Elisaul Pimentel went toe-to-toe with Pelicans starter (and All-Star) Kyle Hendricks. Both allowed two runs over six innings of work and neither factored into the decision.

The Pelicans scored six runs over the final two innings of the game against Blue Rocks reliever Andrew Stueve. The Blue Rocks two runs came in the 4th inning when Cheslor Cuthbert and Matt Fields hit back-to-back solo homeruns. As a team, they only collected five hits in the loss.

Kane County won their first game of their road trip in Wisconsin, 5-1. Angel Baez continues to dominate for the Cougars, as he allowed one run on four hits and a walk over six innings. He struck out five and the lone run came via a solo homerun in the 4th inning. 2012 draft pick Andrew Triggs continues to dominate since beginning his professional debut. He pitched two perfect innings of relief.

Alex Llanos hit his first homerun for the Cougars, a two-run shot, in the 6th inning. Jack Lopez went 4-for-5.

Bubba Watch: Bubba Starling went 0-for-3 in Burlington’s 3-2 walk-off victory.

After spending three weeks focused on the Idaho Falls Chukars, it’s finally time to move on. The next logical step is the Burlington Royals so that is where we’re heading. As you can surmise from the title, today I’m breaking down the pitchers and in the next column I’ll delve into the position players.

All 14 of the pitchers on the Burlington roster have been introduced to the Royals system in the last 4 years. 3 came in 2008, 5 in 2010 and 6 in 2011. 9 pitchers were added via the draft, 2 were international free agents, 2 were non-drafted free agents and one was acquired via trade. In Baseball America’s 2011 Prospect Handbook, RHP Robinson Yambati cracked Kansas City’s pre-season top-30 (#16) and RHP Eric Cantrell made the organizational depth chart but the rest of the pack haven’t received much pub as of yet. (more…)