A 1-3 day for the org with a walkoff loss at Triple-A and a comeback win at Double-A.
HR Roll Call: Whit Merrifield (5), Frank Schwindel (7), Jack Lopez 2 (3), Ben Johnson (3)
BP KC Hitter of the Day – Jack Lopez 2-4, 2 HR, 3 RBI
BP KC Pitcher of the Day – Christian Binford 6 IP, 8 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 4 K, 5-6 GO-FO, 93p/57k
The Royals promoted RHP Christian Binford to Triple-A Omaha with the departures of Brian Duensing and David Huff. Binford made six starts for Omaha last season going 1-4 with a 5.86 ERA. In addition Jacob Bodner earned a promotion from Single-A Lexington to High-A Wilmington.
Tacoma Rainiers 7 Omaha Storm Chasers 5
Starter Binford got off to a decent start in his second go at Triple-A, giving the Chasers a quality start in six innings of work. The offense handed him an early lead with a five run second inning off Tacoma’s James Paxton that included three doubles and a home run by Whit Merrifield. Prior to the season Merrifield disclosed that one of his goals for the season was to put up double digit home runs for the first time in his career; with five home runs in 35 games Merrifield is halfway there. Those five runs stood up until the 9th inning when a Merrifield error opened a big inning for Tacoma. With two on and no one out, Whit misplayed a force attempt, leaving two on and no out with the score at 5-4. Manager Brian Poldberg turned to reliever Malcom Culver who nearly got out of the jam, getting to within a strike of ending the game, but Mike Baxter changed that with his second home run of the game to walk it off for a Rainiers win.
Whit Merrifield 2-5, HR, 2 RBI
Hunter Dozier 3-4, 2b, RBI
Jose Martinez 2-4, 2b, R – 10 hits in last six games played
NW Arkansas Naturals 6 Arkansas Travelers 5
The Naturals flashed the depth of their lineup versus Arkansas with three home runs from the bottom third of the lineup in their come from behind win. The Travelers put up five runs over the second and third innings before starter Eric Skoglund could get his feet under him. The lefty was able to work 6.2 innings with the final 3.2 scoreless with six strikeouts and a pair of walks before turning things over to the pen who wrapped it up with a scoreless final 2.1 innings. The main beneficiary to Raul Mondesi’s suspension is shortstop Jack Lopez and on this night he brought the big stick, connecting on a pair of home runs. His second tied the game in the seventh inning. With the game tied at 5 the Naturals offense loaded the bases in the 8th and earned their first lead and the eventual win with a bases loaded walk to Logan Moon.
Frank Schwindel 2-3, HR, BB, 2 RBI
Mauricio Ramos 1-3, R, hitting .323
Eric Skoglund 6.2 IP, 9 H, 5 R, 4 ER, 2 BB, 6 K, 4-5 GO-FO, 100p/68k
Salem Red Sox 4 Wilmington Blue Rocks 0
Having scored 28 runs in their three previous games, Wilmington found their old offense prior to leaving Salem. Unfortunately the offense they found was the scoreless one that lead to their fifth shutout of the season. Red Sox lefty Trey Ball did much of the job in limiting the Rocks offense working seven innings with just five hits and a pair of walks allowed while striking out six in that time. With Wilmington unable to get anything done on offense, righty Ashton Goudeau would take the loss and drop to 2-4 on the season when he gave up four runs over five and one-third innings. Shortstop Humberto Arteaga kept up his hot hitting with a two-hit day that included a double. Over the four game series Arteaga had nine hits.
Humberto Arteaga 2-4, 2b
Brandon Downes 1-4
Jacob Bodner 2.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 5 K
Hickory Crawdads 8 Lexington Legends 2
Hickory got plenty of baserunners against Scott Blewett on Monday, as Crawdad hitters collected eight hits in six innings with a pair of walks. Four of the hits went for extra bases, with two leaving the yard as part of the four runs Hickory scored off Blewett. While Lexington collected eight hits and three walks on offense, they had limited opportunities to score going 0 for 3 with runners in scoring position while being held to just two runs scored. With five stolen bases allowed, catcher Chase Vallot has already allowed 45 thefts in 60 tries this season.
Amalani Fukofuka 1-4, eight game hitting streak
Ben Johnson 1-4, HR
Scott Blewett 6 IP, 8 H, 4 R, 3 ER, 2 BB, 4 K, 3-5 GO-FO, 96p/61k