A 3-2 Friday despite five good starts by the Royals affiliate’s starting pitchers.
HR Roll Call Angelo Castellano (2)
BP KC Hitter of the Day – Mauricio Ramos 3-4 2R, 2b, 2 RBI
BP KC Pitcher of the Day – Alec Mills 6 IP 3 H 0 R 0 ER 1 BB 9 K 6-1 GO-FO 80p/55k
Oklahoma City Dodgers 5 Omaha Storm Chasers 4
Two outstanding starts were broke up some rough relief work at Werner Park in front of 5,409 fans on Friday night. Omaha’s Alec Mills and Oklahoma City’s Lisalverto Bonilla each tossed six shutout innings with Mills putting away nine hitters via strikeout to Bonilla’s six. The pair attacked the zone, both hitting the zone with better than 68% strikes while each walked just one. Omaha would enter Kris Medlen in the seventh and things would turn ugly as the rehabber could retire just one hitter after giving up a solo home run after entering and three additional runs. Following Medlen the Chasers would turn to Luke Farrell without much better results as he would have one of his rougher outings on the year, giving up four runs in just 1.2 innings. The Dodgers reliever would allow four runs to Omaha in the eighth and another in the ninth before wrapping it up.
Kris Medlen 0.1 IP 4 H 4 R 4 ER 0 BB 1 K
Brandon Downes 2-2 2R, 2b
Christian Colon 2-5 R, 2b, RBI
NW Arkansas Naturals 7 Tulsa Drillers 1
With the playoffs on the line Eric Skoglund spun a solid game and the offense came alive. The Naturals offense showed no fear against the Dodgers Brock Stewart despite his shutout of the Chicago Cubs in his last start. The squad scored a pair of run in the first inning with a walk, a Mauricio Ramos double and a Frank Schwindel to take a 2-0 lead. That was more than enough for Skoglund, putting away eight hitters in six and two-third innings while allowing just a solo home run while on the hill. Lowering his ERA to 3.45 in 27 starts for the Naturals this season. The offense kept the pressure on the entire game, knocking out 13 hits and seven runs as five different hitters collected multi-hit games. Included in that group was Samir Duenez, his two run single in the fifth inning pushed his RBI total to 100 on the season. The first prospect to collect 100 RBI for the Royals since Wil Myers had 109 in 2012.
Eric Skoglund 6.2 IP 2 H 1 R 1 ER 2 BB 8 K 102/62k 5-4 GO-FO
Mauricio Ramos 3-4 2R, 2b, 2 RBI
Alfredo Escalera 2-4 2R, BB
Wilmington Blue Rocks 5 Frederick Keys 2
A four run inning combined with solid pitching for a Wilmington win in Frederick on Friday. The four run fourth featured a suddenly hot hitting Robert Pehl two run double with a sac fly and a wild pitch to give Wilmington a 4-1 lead. The first baseman is hitting .389 since the start of August. Starter Foster Griffin tossed five innings of two run ball (1 ER) with six strikeouts against no walks to earn his fifth High-A victory. The bullpen followed Griffin with four innings while allowing just one run as the Blue Rocks finished the 5-3 win.
Robert Pehl 2-4 R, 2b, 2 RBI
Mike Hill 2-5 R, 2-2b
Foster Griffin 5 IP 5 H 2 R 1 ER 0 BB 6 k
Lexington Legends 1 Hickory Crawdads 0
Fantastic starting pitching lead to a Lexington win over Hickory in the first game of their series. Starter Julio Pinto combined with Yunior Marte and Gabe Cramer to shutout the Crawdads on just one hit and a pair of walks allowed while the threesome k’d 11. In one of Pinto’s best outings of his career he lasted six innings while giving up just a fifth inning single while putting away seven hitters via strikeout. The games only run came in fifth inning when Ben Johnson’s one out rbi single brought home Brandon Dulin after his leadoff single. The win was just Pinto’s second in 21 appearances this season.
Julio Pinto 6 IP 1 H 0 R 0 ER 2 BB 7 K
Yunior Marte 2 IP 0 H 0 R 0 ER 0 BB 2 K
Ben Johnson 1-3 RBI
Ogden Raptors 3 Idaho Falls Chukars 2
The latest loss for Idaho Falls may have effectively ended their postseason hopes with a loss in Ogden. The starter for Idaho Falls, Arnaldo Hernandez, tied a career high with nine strikeouts over six innings of this one, allowing just two runs on back to back dingers in the second. Just one other hit was allowed while he also walked a pair in his time on the hill. The Chukars tied up a 2-1 game with a wild pitch in the sixth inning, but another home run by Ogden in the eighth ruined their chances at a win. The loss put Idaho Falls in last place, 4.5 games back with seven to play in the season.
Joe Dudek 2-3 BB
Angelo Castellano 1-3 HR
Arnaldo Hernandez 6 Ip 3 H 2 R 2 ER 2 BB 9 K 6-2 GO-FO 98p/58k