Royals July 25th Minors Recap

Omaha beat New Orleans, 4-3.

The Storm Chasers took a 3-0 lead in the top of the third when Paulo Orlando cleared the bases with a two out double. Matt Fields added the insurance run in the fifth with his 20th home run of the season (one of his two hits).

It got quite interesting in the fifth, when both Omaha starter John Lamb and pitching coach Larry Carter were ejected. It came after Zephyrs Danny Black hit a two-run home run to cut the lead to one run.

Jason Adam entered and was great in earning his first Triple-A victory. He retired all six batters he faced. Lefty Tim Collins retired nine of the ten batters he faced in earning his second save since being sent back to the minors. He struck out three.

The Storm Chasers collected 12 hits in the win. Whit Merrifield and Pedro Ciriaco, the top two hitters, each had three hits.

NW Arkansas beat Springfield, 4-1. The Naturals are now just one game back of first place.

JC Sulbaran improved to 7-7 on the season and lowered his ERA to 2.72. He allowed just four hits and walked two over seven scoreless innings. He struck out nine. Sulbaran is all that is left from the Jonathan Broxton deal and is finally pitching well.

Blake Wood allowed a run on three hits in his one inning of work. Andrew Triggs earned his 16th save of the season, working around a single. He only threw ten pitches.

The Naturals collected ten hits, two each by Angel Franco and Orlando Calixte. In their three-run 2nd inning, they had three RBI singles.

They also had two outfield assists: Justin Trapp threw a runner out at the plate and right fielder Jorge Bonifacio threw a runner out at third base.

Wilmington beat Winston-Salem, 2-0. The Blue Rocks remained tied for first place, as Potomac came back to beat Carolina.

One start after he came one out away from a no-hitter, Dash starter Tony Bucciferro was perfect until Mark Threlkeld singled to lead off the 5th inning (a double play erased him).

In the sixth, the Blue Rocks scratched a run across on a suicide squeeze. They added an insurance run in the eighth (which was aided by a pickoff error).

After limiting Jonathan Dziedzic to five innings (and just 68 pitches), Miguel Almonte made his first relief appearance of the season. He earned the victory, pitching 3.2 scoreless innings. Daniel Stumpf earned his first save, coming into the game in the ninth with the tying run on second base. Stumpf got a pop up to end it.

Dziedzic allowed just one hit and one walk. He has now thrown 95 innings this season (about 45 over last season). With last night’s rain out and the off day on Monday, manager Darryl Kennedy mentioned after the game that that was why Almonte piggy-backed Dziedzic.

The Blue Rocks collected five hits, two by Jared Schlehuber, who scored both runs.

*In roster news, Carolina League saves leader Mark Peterson was promoted to Double-A. Andrew Edwards has been added from Lexington. DK mentioned after the game that he was probably going with a closer by committee the rest of the way, but would lean towards Stumpf and lefty Kyle Bartsch.

Lexington was swept by Charleston, as they lost 6-1.

After Luke Farrell struggled through 4.2 innings (six runs, four earned, eight hits, and two walks), the Legends bullpen was solid. Tripp Davis was perfect over 3.1 innings while striking out three. Andrew Brockett worked out of a jam in the ninth.

The Legends collected six hits, two by leadoff hitter Carlos Garcia. He stole third base in the eighth and scored their lone run.

*In roster news, Robinson Yambati was added from Burlington to take Edwards’ place.