Royals June 21st Minors Recap

Omaha was pummeled by El Paso, 12-3. The Storm Chasers led 1-0 after two innings courtesy of a Matt Fields home run (he would hit another solo homer).

However, it was all downhill from there for Omaha. El Paso had two 5-run innings and hit four home runs. The big blow came courtesy of former Royal Jeff Francoeur, who hit a two out grand slam in the 3rd inning.

Ryan Verdugo took the loss, as he suffered through 5.2 innings. He allowed seven runs on six hits (three homers) and three walks. It was worse for the tandem of Chris Dwyer and Blake Wood, who did not make it out of the 7th inning. Dwyer got the first out, but walked two and allowed a three-run homer. Wood allowed two runs while walking four and left with the bases loaded. Thankfully Wilking Rodriguez got out of it, while throwing a scoreless eighth. Buddy Baumann walked one in his scoreless ninth.

On offense, Fields went 4-for-4 while batting in the nine-spot. Christian Colon had two hits in the loss.

NW Arkansas lost to Tulsa, 4-3. The loss came after the Naturals came back to tie the game at 3-3 in the bottom of the sixth.

Ali Williams allowed a solo home run to lead off the 8th inning. That came after JC Sulbaran was solid over the first seven innings. He allowed three runs on five hits (two solo homers) and one walk while striking out eight. Sulbaran did commit two errors.

On offense in the loss, Cheslor Cuthbert and Angel Franco collected two hits. Franco also stole a base.

Blue Rocks DH Zane Evans on Opening Night in Wilmington, 2014 (Jen Nevius).

Wilmington won the back-and-forth affair over Myrtle Beach, 8-7 to win their first game of the second half.

Down 7-6 heading into the top of the ninth, the Blue Rocks scored two runs on Zane Evans‘ first home run of the year. It came with two outs.

Despite allowing the go ahead run in the 8th inning, lefty Kyle Bartsch earned the win in relief. Mark Peterson earned his 14th save of the season.

The Blue Rocks collected 15 hits, with every hitter having at least one except Mark Donato. Raul Mondesi fell a homer short of the cycle. Bubba Starling and Daniel Rockett each had two hits. Rockett also hit his first home run of the season, which tied the game in the top of the eighth.

Blue Rocks manager Darryl Kennedy was ejected in the 3rd inning after the Pelicans scored a run on a balk.

Lexington lost a pitcher’s duel in Delmarva, 2-1. The game was scoreless until the bottom of the seventh.

The first run of the game scored on Legends starter Luke Farrell‘s throwing error. The next batter delivered an RBI single. All of that came with two outs. Farrell allowed the two unearned runs on seven hits over seven innings. He struck out three. Crawford Simmons pitched a perfect eighth.

The Legends out-hit the Shorebirds, 9-7, but went 0-for-7 with runners in scoring position. They scored their lone run in the top of the eighth on Frank Schwindel‘s solo homer (one of his two hits). Alfredo Escalera-Maldonado and Mauricio Ramos also had two hits in the loss.