Royals June 7th Minors Recap

Omaha lost to OKC, 5-2. The Storm Chasers scored their two runs in the bottom of the seventh (they were down 5-0).

The two runs scored on one swing of the bat, and that came from Whit Merrifield, who was making his Triple-A debut. Merrifield tripled with two outs. Omaha had just five hits, two from Brian Bocock (who is now hitting .314).

It was a rough start for Sugar Ray Marimon, who lasted just one out into the 3rd inning. He allowed all five runs on seven hits and two walks. Four of the runs scored in the third and Marimon left with a runner on base.

Chris Dwyer stranded that runner and went on to throw another scoreless inning. Fellow lefty Buddy Baumann walked one over the next three scoreless innings.

Blake Wood made his 2014 debut back in the Royals minor league system and recorded just one out in the 8th inning and left with the bases loaded (one hit and two walks). Wood threw just nine of his 22 pitches for strikes. Ramon Troncoso escaped the jam and and pitched a scoreless ninth, though he did allow two hits.

Sam Selman pitching for Wilmington on July 28, 2013 (Jen Nevius).

After a rain delay, NW Arkansas lost the pitcher’s duel in Arkansas, 3-0. The delay was a little more than an hour.

The game was scoreless until the sixth when the Travelers scored one run. The inning started with a leadoff triple against Naturals starter Sam Selman to end his no-hit bid. In the seventh, the Travelers got a leadoff walk before following with an RBI double. The following hitter reached on catcher’s interference and that ended Selman’s night.

Angel Baez entered and allowed a sac fly. He then pitched a perfect eighth. Prior to the sixth, Selman had walked three, but had not allowed a hit. A run was saved in the second when the outfield threw a runner out at the plate (Gameday has left fielder Ethan Chapman throwing to right fielder Jorge Bonifacio to catcher Juan Graterol).

On offense, the Naturals collected just five hits, all singles. Two of those singles came with one out in the first, but Bonifacio was doubled off first base on a line drive to third base to end the inning.

Lane Adams returned to the lineup after sitting out a game and a half when he collided with Bonifacio in the first inning on Thursday night. He went 0-for-3 and also committed his fourth error of the season.

*In roster news, infielder Jared Schlehuber was activated from the DL to take Merrifield’s place.

Wilmington lost their fourth straight to first place Potomac, this time by a 6-1 final. They are now five games back with eight to go.

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On Friday night, the Blue Rocks had one of their best offensive nights of the season (and still lost). Tonight, they had one of their worst offensive nights of the year. They struck out 16 times, three times each by the top three in the order (thus

‘s multi-hit streak came to an end).

The starter for Potomac, John Simms, struck out 14 on just 95 pitches over seven innings.

Blue Rocks starter Sean Manaea once again did not complete five innings. He had one bad inning, the third, which all started with a Dozier error and a walk. Manaea then allowed a two-run single and a two-run home run.

On a positive note, Lexington beat Augusta 6-5 in ten innings. In the tenth, Ramon Torres singled to start the inning and came around to score on Dominique Taylor‘s double. Matt Alvarez threw two perfect innings of relief with two strikeouts to earn the win.

All of the game’s offense came in the first three innings. Both teams scored three runs in the third, with the GreenJackets tying it up at 5-5. Then the pitching settled in.

After Matt Tenuta allowed the five runs on seven hits and a walk over five innings, the Legends bullpen was stellar. Jose Miguel Rodriguez threw three scoreless innings. He allowed just one hit and walked one while striking out four, before handing the ball off to Alvarez.

For the Legends, all of the offense came from the first five batters in their lineup (11 hits and five RBIs). All five had at least two hits, with Torres picking up three hits (including two doubles).