Royals May 23rd Minors Recap

It was an exciting night to be a member of three of the four Kansas City Royals minor league affiliates. Two of the four teams walked off in extra innings.

Chrstian Colon takes a swing. Credit: flickr user Minda Haas

Omaha won the first game of their home series against Round Rock by a 3-2 score. Down 2-1 in the bottom of the seventh, the Storm Chasers scored twice in the inning on Christian Colon‘s two out, two-run single with the bases loaded.

That made a winner of Aaron Brooks, who allowed two runs on seven hits over seven innings. He struck out five and induced 11 ground outs. Recently demoted catcher JP Arencibia hit a two-run home run off Brooks in the 2nd inning.

After pitching a perfect 8th inning, Michael Mariot got into trouble in the ninth. The Express had runners at the corners and nobody out, but Mariot escaped to earn his second save of the season.

Paulo Orlando extended his hitting streak to 12 games, as he went 2-for-4 with a triple and a run scored.

*Mike Moustakas returned to Omaha and went 0-for-4. Omar Infante began his rehab assignment and went 0-for-4 with three strikeouts. Johnny Giavotella also returned and went 0-for-4. Those three were the Storm Chasers’ 2-3-4 hitters. To make room for these guys, Brian Fletcher was placed on the DL.

NW Arkansas was battered by San Antonio in the Missions three-game sweep. The Naturals lost 12-0 on Friday night, as the Missions collected 22 hits to just five by NWA.

Jason Adam dropped to 0-5, as he allowed seven runs on 11 hits over four innings. He allowed four runs in the first and then a three-run homer in the fourth. After pitching a scoreless fifth, Noel Arguelles allowed two runs in the sixth. The usually stingy Andrew Triggs even allowed runs, three of them to be exact (he has only allowed six total runs this season). Two of them scored on a home run. Somehow Wilking Rodriguez allowed three hits and walked one, but did not allow a run in an inning of work.

I mentioned the Naturals only collected five hits, all of which were singles. Orlando Calixte had three of the hits and also stole a base.

The Naturals will look to end their losing streak (four games) when they welcome Corpus Christi to town beginning Saturday.

*In roster news, utility man Whit Merrifield was placed on the DL with a sprained left wrist. They also added Logan Davis, who made his season debut late in the game.

Blue Rocks second baseman Kenny Diekroeger (Jen Nevius).

Wilmington walked off once again, this time against Frederick. The Blue Rocks won 3-2 in ten innings in their first game against the Keys. They are now just one game out of first place.

The Blue Rocks tied the game in the bottom of the ninth, but also had the winning run on third base with one out. However, Jack Lopez struck out and Bubba Starling flied out to send the game into extra innings. In the bottom of the tenth with the bases loaded and two outs, Kenny Diekroeger was the hero with a single to left field. Diekroeger had two hits in the game to up his season total to 11.

Johnny Walter has three wins this season, all coming on walk off victories. That came after Miguel Almonte struggled a bit through five innings (two runs on eight hits) and after Zeb Sneed threw four hitless innings of relief with five strikeouts.

Starling extended his hitting streak to 12 games with an 8th inning single. He was thrown out at the plate to end that inning trying to score on a fly out to centerfield. Hunter Dozier and Cam Gallagher each hit two doubles in the win. Dozier also scored two runs, including the game winner.

Infielder Humberto Arteaga playing in a big league spring training game in 2014 (Jen Nevius).

Lexington walked off against first place Savannah, 6-5 in 13 innings. Prior to the 13th inning, neither team had scored since the Sand Gnats five-run seventh.

Humberto Arteaga provided the heroics with a walk off single, scoring Mauricio Ramos with two outs (Ramos had three hits). It was Arteaga’s second hit of the game. The Legends collected 13 hits, but went 3-for-9 with runners in scoring position, while striking out 12 times.

The Legends had a 5-0 lead behind the solid start by Luis Santos, who allowed just three hits and one walk over six scoreless innings. He struck out four and induced seven ground outs. Luke Farrell gave up the five runs in the seventh on three hits, two walks, a hit batter, and an error. Farrell than shut down Savannah over the next 3.1 innings before being pulled in the top of the 11th after allowing a one out double.

Alex Black earned the win with 2.2 scoreless innings of relief. He induced five ground outs.