A rough night for entire organization. After an embarrassing defeat by Washington the affiliates went 0-4.
HR Roll Call: Brett Eibner (4), Whit Merrifield (2), Ryan O’Hearn 1 (8), Mike Hill (2), Travis Maezes (1), Ben Johnson (2)
BP KC Hitter of the Day – Ben Johnson 2-4, 2b, HR, R, 2 RBI, SB
BP KC Pitcher of the Day – Colin Rodgers 5.1 IP, 5 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 4 K
The Royals moved Terrance Gore to NW Arkansas in anticipation of calling up a pitcher from Triple-A Omaha. Also, the Naturals moved Zane Evans to the 7 day DL with the arrival of Ryan O’Hearn.
Memphis Redbirds 8 Omaha Storm Chasers 6
The Chasers fell into a similar hole as last night’s game, threatened to tie it and once again fell short at Memphis. Starter Jon Dziedzic struggled with the zone, walking a season-high five in just 3.1 innings, while also falling victim to his own mistakes in the 2nd, Those mistakes lead to three unearned runs. He also uncorked a wild pitch in the 4th that allowed another to cross. All told, it was six runs surrendered which was equal to what the lefty had allowed in his four previous starts. The Chasers would trail much of the evening with those mistakes and see their best rally end when Tony Cruz whiffed with the bases loaded in the 7th. Cheslor Cuthbert continued his blazing hot start with a three hit day that included his 27th RBI already this year.
Cheslor Cuthbert 3-5, 2b, R, RBI, hitting .322/.388/.589
Brett Eibner 1-2, HR, 2R, RBI, 2BB
Whit Merrifield 1-4, HR, 2 RBI
Springfield Cardinals 10 NW Arkansas Naturals 6
Naturals starter Eric Skoglund hit a wall in the fifth inning Wednesday afternoon. He left a large enough hole that the offense was unable to climb out of in dropping the second game of their series with first place Springfield. The lefty from Central Florida cruised through four innings with six strikeouts but ran out of gas after getting two outs in the fifth. The Cardinals hitters crashed back to back doubles prior to a Bruce Caldwell home run to score four in the inning, and end Skoglund’s day at five innings pitched. Reliever Estarlin Cordero didn’t fair much better, giving up six runs (5 ER) over the next two innings to build a 10-1 deficit that a five run Naturals 9th inning was unable to overcome. First baseman Ryan O’Hearn went one for five with a two-run home run in his Double-A debut.
Ryan O’Hearn 1-5, HR, 2 RBI, 2K
Hunter Dozier 2-4, RBI
Ramon Torres 2-5, R, RBI
Frederick Keys 6 Wilmington Blue Rocks 4
Fireballer Josh Staumont couldn’t find the zone for the first time this season, walking five in 1.2 innings while giving up four hits and four runs. Fortunately for Wilmington, Colin Rodgers was able to stabilize things with 5.1 innings of two run relief pitching to give a chance for the offense to climb back into the game. A run of doubles from the 2nd inning through the 4th did just that, accounting for three of the four runs they scored to even the game. The Rocks would threaten with runners in scoring position in each inning from the 5th to the 8th but were unable to cash in on any of the threats in dropping their twelfth consecutive game.
Corey Toups 2-3, 2R, 2b, 3b, BB, carrying an .843 OPS
Alfredo Escalera 2-3, R, 2b, RBI, 2 BB
Roman Collins 1-3, 2b, 2b, RBI, BB, SB (2)
Delmarva Shorebirds 7 Lexington Legends 4
Big Scott Blewett continues to struggle with the strikezone this season, walking four in just five innings to push his rate to 5.5 BB/9 this year. The walks, combined with five hits in his five innings, pushed three Delmarva runs across to drop Blewett’s record to 1-3 on the season. The Legends offense left the yard with three home runs but all were of the solo variety and it wasn’t enough to avoid the loss. Reliever and local hero Jacob Bodner surrendered up his first runs of the year, giving up three runs in his two innings of work.
Scott Blewett 5 IP, 5 H, 3 ER, 4 BB, 5 K
Samir Duenez 2-4, 2b, SB (8)
Amalani Fukofuka 1-4, 2b, R