Royals April 13th Minors Recap

It was yet another rough day to be affiliated with the Kansas City Royals, as every level lost on Sunday.

Let’s start with Omaha, where the Storm Chasers lost in Nashville, 5-3. They scored all their runs in the top of the eighth, two with two outs (Matt Fields had an RBI double and Paulo Orlando followed with a single).

Brett Eibner during spring training in 2014 (Jen Nevius).

After PJ Walters struggled through 4.2 innings (9H, 5R, BB, 5K), Ramon Troncoso and Donnie Joseph combined for 3.1 perfect innings to keep the team in the game.

Unfortunately, the offense could not muster anything except for the eighth. Brett Eibner led off and went 4-for-5, but only scored one run. Jason Donald collected two hits in the loss.

The Storm Chasers finish up their road series in Nashville on Monday.

Things continue to spiral downward for NW Arkansas, who lost their seventh in a row with an 11-6 loss against Midland. The Naturals never led.

The RockHounds scored four in the second and two more in the third. Only two of those runs were earned against starter JC Sulbaran, who allowed six hits and walked two over three innings. Cody Fassold followed and allowed two runs (one earned) on four hits and a walk over 2.2 innings.

The Angel Baez experiment in the bullpen continues to have bad results, as he allowed three more runs on four hits over 2.1 innings. He did strike out five. Scott Alexander was the lone pitcher to not allow a run, as he pitched a perfect ninth.

The Naturals actually collected ten hits and four walks, but only went 3-for-10 with runners in scoring position. Only one of the hits went for extra bases, a solo home run from Mark Threlkeld in the ninth (he had two hits). Jorge Bonifacio and Juan Graterol also had two hits. Bonifacio also drove in three runs.

They also committed four errors, two more by third baseman Cheslor Cuthbert (he now has six on the season).

Wilmington was shut out for the first time this season, 1-0 to Winston-Salem.

It was a nice pitcher’s duel between Daniel Stumpf and Mike Recchia, as both were lifted after 5.2 innings. Unfortunately, Stumpf was losing 1-0, as he allowed an RBI double with two outs in the third.

Stumpf had faced this same team a week ago in Winston-Salem, but only lasted two innings. Blue Rocks manager Darryl Kennedy said the difference between the two starts was command. “At Winston-Salem, he was up in the zone a little bit and out of the zone. And he got into too many hitters counts…and they made him pay for it. Today, he got ahead a lot better and was able to get the count he wanted to get in. He made the pitches.”

Check out what Stumpf had to say:

Recchia and the Dash bullpen held the Blue Rocks to just three total hits and struck out 11. Their best scoring chance came when Recchia was lifted with two outs in the sixth. The bases were loaded and Johermyn Chavez was at the plate. He grounded softly to third base, but Nick Basto made a nice bare-handed grab and throw to first to just get Chavez.

Third baseman Hunter Dozier was drilled with an upper 90s fastball on the hand, but stayed in the game in the ninth. Kennedy said he had a nice bruise, but expected he would be okay. Dozier was the DH today, but he may get Monday’s finale off (he and his .184 average need it). Another Blue Rock who is in desperate need of a day off is Bubba Starling, who struck out three more times on Sunday to lower his batting average to .103. He looks terrible at the plate.

Lexington lost to West Virginia, 10-6. The Power scored nine runs in the second inning to avoid the sweep. They sent nine men to the plate in the 2nd inning before a pitching change and the Power then sent four more to the plate. The inning was capped by an inside-the-park grand slam by Erich Weiss. There were seven walks and a hit batter in that inning.

After Austin Fairchild was finally pulled with this line: 1.1IP, 2H, 9R, 6BB, 0K, Luke Farrell struggled at first. He then went on to throw four scoreless innings. Kevin Perez followed with two scoreless innings.

The Legends actually out-hit the Power, 10-6. Fred Ford continued his doubles tear (four in three games) and drove in two runs. Michael Antonio and Carlos Garcia each had two hits and an RBI in the loss.

The Legends now head to Rome for three games beginning Monday.