Royals August 10th Minors Recap

Omaha battled back to beat Colorado Springs, 4-3 in 12 innings. The Storm Chasers stayed a 1/2 game back of first place Iowa.

Down by one in the top of the ninth, Terrance Gore pinch ran and stole second base, moved to third base on a wild pitch, and scored on pinch-hitter Johnny Giavotella‘s single. Gio stayed in the game as the third baseman and led off the top of the 12th inning with a home run to break the tie.

Casey Coleman earned the win in relief, with four scoreless innings. Louis Coleman earned the save, as he worked around a two out walk in the bottom of the 12th.

Clayton Mortensen returned from the DL for the start and allowed three runs on four hits and a walk over five innings. He allowed a two out, two-run homer in the third. Blake Wood followed with two scoreless innings. He struck out five.

In the win, Whit Merrifield went 3-for-5 with two doubles, while Pedro Ciriaco went 2-for-6 with a double.

*In roster news, Malcom Culver was sent back to NW Arkansas one day after earning the save in his first Triple-A game. He was sent back to make room for Mortensen, who was activated from the DL.

Matt Murray pitching for Wilmington on April 24, 2014 (Jen Nevius).

NW Arkansas won their home series over San Antonio with a 5-1 victory on Sunday. After an off day on Monday, the Naturals begin a six-game road trip against the teams they just played at home: Corpus Christi and San Antonio. The Naturals are still six games back of first place.

The Missions scored a run in the first against Naturals starter Matt Murray, but that was all. Murray earned his first Double-A victory with five solid innings. He allowed five hits while striking out three. Brandon Finnegan followed with two scoreless innings (one hit), before Sam Selman struck out four in his two scoreless innings of work.

The Naturals collected eight hits, from four players. Lane Adams, Mitch Maier, Orlando Calixte, and Edinson Rincon each had two hits in the win. Maier drove in three runs, two of which scored on a single in the seventh.

Wilmington lost their finale in Frederick, 5-2. The two teams now head to Wilmington to begin a three-game series on Tuesday night. The Blue Rocks dropped to three games back of second place Lynchburg and are now 5.5 games back of Potomac, as the Nationals were rained out for the third straight day in Salem.

The Blue Rocks were no-hit until Raul Mondesi led off the 7th inning with a home run, his third straight game with a homer. At that time, the Blue Rocks were losing 5-0.

Jonathan Dziedzic lasted just four innings, as he allowed three runs on seven hits and a walk. He allowed a solo home run with two outs in the first. Yender Caramo followed and allowed two runs on four hits in one inning. Luis Santos, Andrew Edwards, and Zeb Sneed each threw a scoreless inning of relief. Sneed was the only one to allow a base runner (a single in the eighth).

Of the Blue Rocks four hits, three went for extra bases. Zane Evans hit a double and Logan Davis tripled in a run in the eighth.

Lexington lost to Greenville, 5-0. The Legends now begin a three-game series in Kannapolis on Monday.

The game was scoreless until the fourth, when Legends starter Luke Farrell allowed a two-run home run. Prior to that inning, he had not allowed a hit. Farrell would allow another homer to lead off the fifth. Farrell dropped to 1-11 on the season, as he allowed four runs on six hits and a walk over 6.2 innings. He struck out nine.

Robinson Yambati allowed a run on two hits and one walk over 2.1 innings. He struck out four, but threw a wild pitch and had a balk.

The Legends collected just four hits, all singles.