KC Royals May 4th Minors Recap

The KC Royals minor-league affiliates had a good day on May 4, with Omaha, Northwest Arkansas, Wilmington, and Lexington all winning.

Omaha opened their series against Round Rock with an 8-3 victory.

Whit Merrifield extended his hitting streak to 18 games when he led off the bottom of the first with a single. He came around to score on Moises Sierra‘s single (one of his two hits).

Matt Fields hit a two-run home run in the third (just his second of the season). Cheslor Cuthbert, Casey Kotchman, and Ryan Jackson all had two hits in the win. Kotchman hit two doubles.

Christian Binford earned his first win of the season. He allowed two runs on eight hits over five innings (plus two batters in the sixth).

NW Arkansas won their ninth game in a row, with a 7-2 series finale victory over Tulsa. The Naturals now head to Springfield for four games.

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The Drillers got on the board in the first on a solo home run off Naturals starter

Andy Ferguson

. That was all he allowed over six innings. Ferguson allowed just three hits and one walk while striking out nine.

Ali Williams

followed with two perfect innings of relief with two strikeouts.

Aroni Nina

allowed a run in the ninth.

The Naturals offense was held in check until the fifth, when they scored three runs. The first two came on Anderson De La Rosa‘s home run. Dusty Coleman hit a solo shot later in the inning.

The Naturals hit two more solo home runs in the game, one by Mike Bianucci (his fifth) and one by Balbino Fuenmayor (his fourth). They also hit three doubles (one by Jorge Bonifacio, as he collected three hits) and one triple (by Angel Franco).

Wilmington moved into a tie for first place in the Northern Division of the Carolina League with a 4-3 victory over visiting Winston-Salem. The Blue Rocks now head to Potomac for three games.

The Blue Rocks got on the board in the second on three straight singles and a Daniel Rockett sac fly. Zane Evans hit a long home run to left field in the fifth with two outs and Rockett also hit one to left field with two outs in the sixth.

That made a winner of Eric Skoglund, who allowed two runs on seven hits over six innings. He struck out three, which came in his last two innings of work. Andrew Edwards followed with two perfect innings of relief and after throwing just 22 pitches, I thought he would go back out for the save.

Instead, the Blue Rocks went to Robinson Yambati, who made things interesting. With two on and nobody out, he made a nice play on a bunt to get the lead runner out. After a strikeout, he then walked the next two batters to force in a run. A called third strike ended the game. Yambati earned his league-leading sixth save of the season.

You can watch the interview with Evans below:

Lexington won their series in Asheville, winning 11-2 in the finale. After an off day, the Legends return home for seven games.

The game was actually tied heading into the top of the eighth when the Legends scored three runs, and then broke the game open with six runs in the top of the ninth.

Elier Hernandez hit a solo home run to lead off the eighth to break the tie. In the ninth, the Legends sent nine men to the plate. The inning was capped by Luis Villegas‘ two out, two-run home run.

Six Legends had multi-hit games. Ryan O’Hearn hit his fifth home run of the season in the 3rd inning. Humberto Arteaga went 4-for-5 with a double, two runs scored, and two RBIs.

Nik Stephenson took the no decision, as he allowed two runs on six hits and two walks over six innings. He struck out four. Emilio Ogando earned the win in relief. He allowed two hits over the final three innings.

Next: Jeremy Guthrie Deserves To Stay In Rotation

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