A good day for the affiliates with solid pitching on most fronts and plenty of offense. The teams finished 6-1 with a late win in Arizona.
HR Roll Call: Carlos Garcia (3), Roman Collins (4), Jonathan McCray (4), Chase Vallot (9), Seuly Matias 2 (3)
BP KC Hitter of the Day – Seuly Matias 2-5, 2 HR, 3 RBI
BP KC Pitcher of the Day – Eric Skoglund 7 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 6 K, 8-4 GO-FO, 92p/60k
NW Arkansas Naturals 6 Sprinfield Cardinals 1
A dominant start from Eric Skoglund paced the Naturals to a win. With a former first round pick pitching for the other club, Skoglund was the star of the show, tossing seven innings with just a solo home run allowed while striking out six. The lefty worked into the mid 90’s while allowing just two hits and a walk, getting eight ground outs including a double play. While Skoglund was spinning a gem, the Naturals offense was getting after Luke Weaver who came into the game with a sub 1 ERA. A pair of singles in the first were quickly stamped for a two-run inning for the Naturals on Frank Schwindel’s 10th double of the season. A single by Corey Toups and an error scored a Naturals run in the fifth and pushed him into scoring position in the fifth. From that spot on second Toups would come around on a Ryan O’Hearn single to push the Naturals lead to 4-1. The final tallies would come around in the sixth on Carlos Garcia’s third home run of the season to push the NW Arkansas final to 6-1. Toups pushed his hitting streak to 10 games with a three hit night. He’s hit .439 during his streak, with multiple hits in five of his last seven games.
Corey Toups 3-4, 2 R, RBI
Carlos Garcia 1-3, HR, 2 RBI
Terrance Gore 2-4, 2R, 2b
Wilmington Blue Rocks 6 Salem Red Sox 5
Foster Griffin gave the Rocks one of his better starts of the season, working six quality innings to earn his second High-A win. The lefty allowed five hits and just one run while controlling the zone with 56 strikes in 87 pitches to help with his five strikeouts. The game was tied until the sixth before Wilmington broke out with three run in the seventh and two more in the eighth to take a 6-1 lead. New designated hitter Colton Frabasilio came through with big knocks in both innings, doubling in the seventh and scoring, before tripling in the eighth to drive in a run and scoring later in the inning. The Rocks Kyle Kubat would give up four runs in the ninth before Luis Rico finally finished things off.
Foster Griffin 6 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 5 K, 7-3 GO-FO, 87p/56k
Anderson Miller 1-5, R, 2b, RBI
Colton Frabasilio 2-4, 2R, 2b, 3b, RBI
Lexington Legends 13 Kannapolis Intimidators 6
The Legends intimidated Kannapolis with an all-around offensive outburst Wednesday. Every Lexington hitter had at least one hit and scored one run in a 13 hit, 13 run attack that included six walks and Roman Collins’ fourth home run in his last nine games. Trailing 5-1 after a four-run fifth inning off starter Nolan Watson the Legends exploded for an eight run inning in the sixth, using seven hits with two hit by pitches to pile up the runs. Lexington wasn’t finished there, scoring four more in the ninth to push the game well out of reach.
Roman Collins 2-4, 2R, HR, 3 RBI, 2 BB, SB (5)
D.J. Burt 2-5, 2R, RBI, BB
Nolan Watson 4.2 IP, 6 H, 5 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 2 K, 6-4 GO-FO, 74p/44k
Idaho Falls Chukars 8 Helena Brewers 2
Starter Alex Luna navigated around nine hits in six innings to keep the Brewers off the scoreboard and move his record to 3-0. The righty used five strikeouts and eight groundouts to do that while the offense was piling up the runs on the Brewers. Three multiple run innings by Idaho Falls helped them towards eight runs as they piled up 14 hits and four walks to cross that plate that many times despite a 4-18 effort with runners in scoring position. Former Royal Billy Butler was in attendance in his former rookie league stomping grounds to checkout the Chukars win.
Yeison Melo 3-5, 3b, RBI
Meibrys Viloria 2-5
Alex Luna 6 IP, 9 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 5 K, 8-1 GO-FO, 80p/55k
Johnson City Cardinals 5 Burlington Royals 2
The Burlington offense couldn’t get revved up Wednesday in getting their five game winning streak snapped. The Royals missed a big opportunity in the first inning to take control of the game, loading the bases with one out but failing to push a run across. The Cardinals pushed single tallies in the third, fourth and sixth off starter Ofreidy Gomez before connecting on a two-run home run in the eighth to give them the cushion for the win.
Nicky Lopez 0-3, BB, SB (14)
Vance Vizcaino 1-3, R, BB, SB (6)
Boo Vazquez 2-4, RBI
AZL Royals 6 AZL Giants 4 F/10
The AZL Royals mashed their way to an early lead before giving it up and winning in extra innings. Home runs by Chase Vallot and Seuly Matias gave the Royals a 2-0 lead while Andy Ferguson was spinning one-run ball in his four innings in his latest rehab start. The Giants tied the game in the sixth before Matias quickly untied it with his second home run of the evening, this one a two-run job. The Giants tied it back up with a single and a pair of doubles before the Royals took the lead and the win in the 10th. Outfielder Khalil Lee doubled and came home on a sac bunt an error before that error helped push the Royals second run across.
Khalil Lee 3-5, 2R, 2b, SB (2)
Chase Vallot 1-4, HR
Jeison Guzman 2-5, 2b
DSL Royals 7 DSL Phillies 2
The Royals continued their hot play with their fifth win in a row on Wednesday. A three-run seventh courtesy of a Paul Mondesi bases-clearing double blew open a 4-2 game on the way to the win.
Paul Mondesi 2-4, 2b, 3 RBI
Christopher Marte 5 I,P 4 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 0 K, 6-6 GO-FO
Janser Lara 4 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 5 K, 2-2 GO-FO