Royals August 30th Minors Recap

Omaha beat Round Rock in their series opener, 6-4. However, Memphis also won so the two teams are still tied.

Clayton Mortensen made his KC Royals debut and allowed three runs on six hits and three walks over six innings. He struck out two to pick up the win. Michael Mariot picked up his tenth save of the season with two scoreless innings of relief.

The Storm Chasers offense collected nine hits, with the damage coming from the bottom of their order. Pedro Ciriaco (the seventh hitter) went 2-for-3 with a double and three runs scored. Paulo Orlando, the nine-hole hitter, went 3-for-4 with three RBIs.

NW Arkansas lost to Tulsa, 4-3 in 12 innings. The loss pushed the Naturals to three games back of Arkansas with three games left. The two teams begin the final series of the season on Saturday.

A Drillers sac fly with the bases loaded proved to be the game winner. The Naturals had the bases loaded in the bottom of the 12th inning against former teammate Cole White, but he induced a game-ending double play for his 18th save.

The Drillers scored three runs in the top of the second off Naturals starter Andy Ferguson, all on a home run. That was all he would allow over six innings. Andrew Triggs followed with 2.2 scoreless innings and Spencer Patton was also scoreless over 1.1 innings (he struck out three).

The Naturals collected 15 hits, but went just 2-for-14 with runners in scoring position and hit into three double plays. Brett Eibner, Orlando Calixte, and Rey Navarro each had three hits. Eibner struck out three times.

Lexington was pounded by West Virginia, 10-2. For five innings, the Legends were no hit.

The Legends did go on to collect seven hits (three doubles), but they were already down 8-0 when they picked up their first hit to lead off the sixth (a Ramon Torres single). Hunter Dozier and Chad Johnson each had two hits.

The pitching left a lot to be desired. Greg Billo took the loss, as he allowed four runs (two earned) on six hits and three walks over 4.2 innings. He struck out six. Billo left with the bases loaded in favor of Chas Byrne, who allowed two of the runners to score. Byrne went on to allow four more runs over 1.1 innings. Over the final three innings, John Walter allowed two runs on three hits and two walks while striking out four.