Royals May 18th Minors Recap

Omaha blasted past Memphis, 8-2. The Storm Chasers hit six home runs to account for all of their scoring.

Matt Fields hit two homers, one coming right after Paulo Orlando hit a two out, three-run shot in the 3rd inning to give Omaha the lead. Francisco Pena hit his career-tying ninth to lead off the fourth. In the ninth, Jason Donald and Jimmy Paredes provided some insurance with two solo shots.

Paredes, Fields and Donald all had two hits in the win.

The home run barrage made a winner of Aaron Brooks, who allowed two runs on four hits and a walk over six innings. The two runs allowed came on a homer in the second. Buddy Baumann pitched two scoreless innings of relief to lower his ERA to 0.41. Spencer Patton needed just six pitches to finish off the Redbirds in the ninth.

*Lefty Ryan Verdugo was added from extended spring training.

NW Arkansas lost to Tulsa, 6-5. With a run in and the tying run on third base with two outs in the ninth, Justin Trapp struck out to end the game.

The Naturals had taken the lead in the top of the eighth with three runs via Jorge Bonifacio‘s two out, three-run home run. However in the bottom half of the inning, the Drillers scored four runs to retake the lead off reliever Scott Alexander. There were two errors in the inning, to go along with four hits and a walk.

The Naturals collected seven hits, with Bonifacio picking up two of them (he also had a double).

Andrew Triggs got the spot start and allowed one run on two hits and a walk over four innings. Triggs allowed a run in the first and cruised from there. He even picked a guy off. Angel Baez followed with three innings of relief. He allowed an unearned run on one hit and a walk while striking out three.

Wilmington beat Lynchburg, 5-4. With the game tied at 4-4, the Blue Rocks scored in the top of the eighth on Daniel Rockett‘s RBI single (the winning run reached base via a wild pitch on a strikeout)

That made a winner of reliever Johnny Walter, who pitched a scoreless bottom of the seventh. Mark Peterson earned his Carolina League tying eighth save of the season with two scoreless innings. He also lowered his ERA to 0.93.

Blue Rocks starter Jonathan Dziedzic struggled with his command (four walks) and thus lasted just three innings. He allowed three runs and five hits. Though Ali Williams allowed the game-tying run in the fourth, he gave up just one hit and struck out six over three innings.

On offense, the Blue Rocks collected eight hits, though all were singles. Jack Lopez and Mark Donato each had two hits. Bubba Starling drove in two runs in the fourth on a two out single.

*Raul Mondesi did not play for the second consecutive day. Hunter Dozier did not start, but entered late in the game as a defensive replacement.

Lexington beat first place Hagerstown, 1-0.

Jake Junis pitched eight no hit innings in the win for the Legends. He walked one (in the first inning) and hit a batter (in the fourth). Junis struck out six and induced 16 ground outs. He handed the ball over to Matt Alvarez in the ninth after retiring the final 14 batters he faced. Alvarez allowed a double with one out. The Suns actually had runners on the corners and two outs, but Alvarez struck out the game’s final batter.

The Legends collected just four hits and scored their lone run in the second. Mauricio Ramos drove in the run with a one out single.