Royals: Varied Results On Minors Opening Weekend

The first weekend for the Royals’ minor league teams had a little bit of everything as far as results go — a split in Omaha, 3 wins out of 4 for Lexington, and struggles in NW Arkansas and Wilmington. The stars of the show ended up including Cheslor Cuthbert, Raul Mondesi, Bubba Starling, Hunter Dozier, Chase Vallot, Amalani Fukofuka and Ben Johnson at the plate and John Dziedzic, Alec Mills and Yunior Marte on the mound.

Omaha: Chasers split with New Orleans

Hitters:

3B Cheslor Cuthbert (4 games) 8-16, 2 BB, SF, 2B, HR, 8 RBI, 2 K, RS, 3 E

2B Whit Merrifield (4 games) 5-14, 2 BB, 2 2B, RBI, 3 K, 3 RS, 2 SB

CF Brett Eibner (4 games) 5-15, 3 BB, SF, 2B, 2 RBI, 5 K, 5 RS, SB

1B Balbino Fuenmayor (3 games) 2-12, BB, HBP, 2B, 3 K, RS

LF Jose Martinez (4 games) 3-13, 3 BB, RBI, 4 K, 2 RS

C Tony Cruz (3 games) 4-10, 3 BB, RBI, 2 K, RS

RF Jorge Bonifacio (3 games) 3-14, 2 RBI, 5 K, SB

1B Cody Decker (3 games) 3-8, 2 BB, 2B, 2 HR, 3 RBI, 5 K, 3 RS, E

RF Jarrod Dyson (2 games) 1-4, 2 BB, K, RBI, 2 RS

SS Dusty Coleman 2 hits, HR, 3 RBI Saturday

DH Travis Snider 2 hits, 2B, RS Sunday

Pitchers:

SP Miguel Almonte (start Thursday) 1/3 IP, 5 R (4 ER), 2 H, 4 BB, K, HRA — L, 0-1, 108.00 ERA

SP John Lannan (Fri.) 5 IP, 2 ER, 3 H, 3 BB, 3 K — ND, 3.60 ERA

SP Luke Ferrell (Sat.) 4 IP, 4 R (3 ER), 3 H, 3 BB, 5 K, HRA, 2 WP — ND, 6.75 ERA

SP John Dziedzic (Sun.) 5 IP, 2 UER, 2 H, BB, 8 K, HRA – L, 0-1, 0.00 ERA

RP Brooks Pounders (Thu.) 2 IP, 3 K — 0.00 ERA

RP Brian Flynn (Sat.) 3 IP, ER, 2 H, 2 BB, K, WP

** If not for 2 innings of damage, Omaha would have swept their opening series of the season vs. the Zephyrs. As it is, they had to settle for a split. Miguel Almonte didn’t survive his first inning pitched of the 2016 season as he gave up a grand slam in a 5-run New Orleans 1st. The Zephyrs would win, 6-3.

In Friday’s game 2, the teams combined for 5 runs in the 1st and the Chasers led, 5-2, going into the 8th. Malcom Culver blew the save with a 2-run Zephyr 9th but Cruz took a bases-loaded walk in the bottom of the 9th to get Omaha the 6-5 win. Game 3 was another slugfest as it was 9-4 Omaha after 3 innings and the Storm Chasers held off the Zephyrs for an 11-8 win behind 4 hits from Cuthbert.

Cody Decker also made his starting debut in style with 2 HR in the win. In Sunday’s series finale, the Chaser bats stalled and the Zephyrs got 4 runs off Culver and RP David Huff in the 7th to make it 7-1. Omaha rallied for 3 in the 8th but the Zephyrs closed out the win to split the set. Decker struck out 5 times and Eibner, Snider and Cruz had 2 hits each in the loss.

Round Rock (AAA Rangers) visits Omaha for 4 games this week.

Next: NW Arkansas

NW Arkansas: Naturals explode offensively to get first win Sunday

Hitters:

SS Raul Mondesi (4 games) 5-16, BB, 2 HR, 3 RBI, 3 K, 4 RS, 1/2 SB, 2 E

CF Bubba Starling (2 games) 2-8, HBP, 2 HR, 4 RBI, 3 RS, 3 K

3B Hunter Dozier (4 games) 4-13, 2 BB, HBP, 2B, 2 HR, 4 RBI, 3 RS, 3 K, SB

C Zane Evans (2 games) 2-8, 2B, 2 K, PB, E

RF Orlando Calixte (4 games) 4-13, 4 BB, 2 2B, 4 RBI, 3 RS, 2 K, 2/3 SB, E, 2 OF assists at home

C Cam Gallagher (2 games) 0-7, BB, 2 K

1B Frank Schwindel RBI Friday, 2 hits Sunday

1B Mauricio Ramos 3 hits, 2B, HR, 3 RBI Sunday

Pitchers:

SP Alec Mills (Thu.) 5 IP, ER, 4 H, 7 K — L, 0-1, 1.80 ERA

SP Matt Strahm (Fri.) 5 IP, 2 H, 4 K — ND, 0.00 ERA

SP Christian Binford (Sat.) 4 1/3 IP, 8 R (7 ER), 11 H, BB, 2 K — L, 0-1, 14.54 ERA

SP Jake Junis (Sun.) 4 1/3 IP, ER, 5 H, 3 BB, 5 K, WP — ND, 2.08 ERA

RP Yender Caramo 5 2/3 scoreless IP in 2 appearances

** The Naturals got swept by Frisco to start the season on a sour note but bounced back against Midland Sunday. The Naturals couldn’t figure out SP Frank Lopez on opening day and squandered a solid start from Alec Mills in a 2-0 loss. Evans was the lone bright spot offensively with 2 hits, including a double. A big Frisco 6th keyed the Riders’ game 2 win. Matt Strahm had a fairly lockdown start over 5 innings but RP Estarlin Cordero got nicked for 5 runs in the 6th.

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NW Arkansas could once again get no traction on offense until it was pretty much too late as Frisco got the 6-3 win. The Frisco onslaught continued Saturday as the Riders coasted to a 9-1 win and lit up Binford in his first start of 2016. The lone highlight was Mondesi’s 1st homer of the season to tie it in the 1st.

The runs finally arrived on Sunday as a pair of 5-run innings helped the Naturals to a 16-2 win over Midland (AA Oakland). A Calixte 3-run double capped a 5-run 3rd and Starling and Dozier homered in a 5-run 4th. Mondesi and Dozier homered in the 5th to make it 12-1, and Starling and Ramos added late homers to put the exclamation point on the win.

The 3-game set with Midland continues before the Naturals hit the road for a 3-game set at Frisco as they’ll try to avenge the sweep.

Next: High-A Wilmington

Lexington: Legends take 3 of 4 to start campaign

Hitters:

C Chase Vallot (4 games) 7-14, 4 BB, SF, 3 2B, 4 RBI, 5 K, 4 RS, 4 PB

RF Amalani Fukofuka (4 games) 6-17, 2 BB, 2B, HR, 4 RBI, 4 K, 3 RS, picked off (Fri.)

CF Cody Jones (3 games) 2-12, 2 BB, 2 RBI, SB, 7 K, RS

2B D.J. Burt (4 games) 4-12, 2 BB, 3 2B, 3 RBI, 2 K, 4 RS, 0/1 SB, E

LF Anderson Miller (3 games) 1-9, 4 BB, S, 3B, SB, 5 K, 4 RS

SS Marten Gasparini (4 games) 2-14, 3 BB, SF, 2 2B, 2 RBI, 8 K, 3 RS, SB, 3 E

LF/DH Ben Johnson (4 games) 5-13, 3 BB, 2B, 3B, 7 RBI, 2 K, SB, 5 RS, E

1B Samir Duenez 3 hits, 2 RS Saturday; 2 hits, 2 RBI Sunday

1B Brandon Dulin 3B, 2 RBI Sunday

Pitchers:

SP Scott Blewett (Thu.) 4 1/3 IP, 3 ER, 5 H, 2 BB, 4 K, HRA — ND, 6.23 ERA

SP Foster Griffin (Fri.) 4 IP, 2 R (1 ER), 3 H, 3 BB, K, HRA — ND, 2.25 ERA

SP Corey Ray (Sat.) 4 1/3 IP, 2 R (1 ER), 5 H, BB, 4 K, E — ND, 2.08 ERA

SP Nolan Watson (Sun.) 3 IP, 7 R (6 ER), 9 H, 2 BB, 4 K, HRA, balk — ND, 18.00 ERA

RP Jacob Bodner (Thu.) IP, H, BB, K — SV, 0.00 ERA

RP Niklas Stephenson (Fri.) 3 IP, 2 ER, 2 H, BB, 3 K, HRA — BS, 1, W, 1-0, 6.00 ERA

RP Yunior Marte (Sat.) 4 2/3 IP, ER, 3 H, 2 BB, 7 K, WP — W, 1-0, 1.93 ERA

RP Kyle Kubat (Sun.) 3 IP, H, K — 0.00 ERA

** The Legends got off to the best start of any Royals farm team in taking 3 of 4 from Lakewood. Game 1 saw Lexington score 5 early runs thanks to a 2-run Jones single and a 3-run Fukofuka homer for his 1st of the season. Lakewood closed it to 5-4 but Miller tripled and scored in the 7th and Vallot added an insurance RBI double in the 8th to cement the 7-4 win.

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The Legends came back from down a run Friday to get a walkoff win. A Vallot RBI double tied it in the 3rd but a 2-run homer gave Lakewood a 4-3 lead in the 7th. Burt tied it with an RBI double in the bottom of the inning but made the third out at third to cut the rally short. The tie held into the 9th when a Gasparini sac fly ended it.

Lexington took the mystery out of the game Saturday as they scored in bunches en route to an 11-3 win. Gasparini stole home as part of a 3-run 1st and a 2-run Burt single capped a 5-run 5th. Johnson hit a 2-run triple and scored in the 6th to finish the scoring. Marte was the story on the mound with 7 K’s over 4 2/3 IP to get the win out of the pen.

Sunday’s series finale was a slugfest that saw the BlueClaws avert the sweep with a late rally. Watson’s 2016 debut was a rough one as Lakewood scored 5 runs in the first 2 innings. Lexington responded with a 2-out rally in the 3rd as the Legends cut the lead to 5-3. Watson gave up another homer in the 4th and Kubat let an inherited runner score to make it 7-3 Lakewood.

Kubat settled down from there and the Legends rallied in the 6th. Dulin hit a 2-run triple and Burt drove in 2 with a double as a 6-run surge made it 9-7 Legends. RP Torey Deshazier couldn’t hold the lead in the 9th and the Claws squeezed home a run in the 10th to make it 10-9 Lakewood. The Legends went down in order in the 10th.

A 3-game set with Augusta (A San Francisco) starts Monday then the Legends hit the road for 4 with West Virginia (A Pittsburgh).