A rough offensive day for the Royals affiliates, scoring just 10 runs in their four games but excellent pitching held that up for wins in all four games.
HR Roll Corey Toups (2)
BPKC Hitter of the Day Corey Toups 2-3 HR, 2b, 2R, BB
BPKC Pitcher of the Day Andre Davis 8 IP 3 H 0 R 0 BB 8 K 5-3 GO-FO 89p/64k
Player Spotlight
The Royals may have found a steal in their 5th round pick from 2015, Andre Davis from Arkansas Pine Bluff. On this night his frame, motion and slider reminded me of former Royals prospect Cody Reed. Working his fastball in the low 90’s, according to the announcer, Davis was able to control the Columbia lineup by attacking the glove side of the plate with both his fastball and slider. The lefty tossed in a few change ups that had some dip, but for the most part he was a two pitch pitcher that stayed in the zone. Past reports had Davis working in the mid to upper 90’s with his fastball. If he is able to work from that velocity he could have a future as a backend of the rotation type or lefty reliever in the major leagues given the slider bite and ability to attack the bottom of the zone.
Game of the Day
Lexington Legends 2 Columbia Fireflies 0
Lefty Andre Davis and Columbia starting pitcher Gabriel Llanes dominated the two lineups to the tune of just six hits allowed over seven innings. The only blemish on the board for the two pitchers was a run by the Legends on Emmanuel Rivera’s single to drive in Chris DeVito following his one out double. The seven shutout innings by Davis ran his scoreless streak to 15 innings after giving up four runs in his first start of the year.
The Legends tacked on a run in the ninth when Rivera and DeVito repeated their single following a double magic, this time with two outs. The win for Lexington improves their record in opening series games to 5-0 on the year, unfortunately they are 0-10 in all other games.
Chris DeVito 2-4 2R 2-2b
Emmanuel Rivera 2-4 2RBI, SB (2)
Vance Tatum 1 IP 0 H 0 R 0 BB 2 K 1-0 GO-FO 14p/9k
Omaha Storm Chasers 5 Round Rock Express 3
The Chasers pounded out 13 hits in securing a second straight win over Round Rock Thursday evening. Starter Kyle Zimmer left after just one inning of work after giving up a solo home run and striking out a pair. With him gone the Express score another run in the second inning before the Chasers offense got started with a solo home run by Corey Toups and a pair of doubles from Billy Burns and Dean Anna to tie the game up in the third inning.
Two innings later it was Toups and Anna leading the offense again, this time with a double and walk. Coming around on an rbi hit by Ryan O’Hearn and an error by the Express. The final run would score in the ninth on an O’Hearn rbi double while the Omaha bullpen put up zeros from the seventh inning on.
Ryan O’Hearn 2-5 2b, 2 RBI
Al Alburquerque 2.1 IP 0 H 0 R 0 BB 1 K 4-1 GO-FO 19p/15k
Kyle Zimmer 1 IP 1 H 1 ER 1 BB 2 K 24p/13k
NW Arkansas Naturals 2 Tulsa Drillers 1
The Royals send Miguel Almonte to Double-A in hopes of helping the talented Dominican corral his immense potential. So far so good for ’17 as Almonte spun six innings of one run ball with no walks in his second start of the year with seven strikeouts. That wasn’t enough to earn the winning decision, but the Naturals would do enough to earn the win as a team.
With game tied 1-1 in the seventh inning Mauricio Ramos would single in Frank Schwindel after a leadoff double, setting them up for the win after the bullpen shut things down.
Alfredo Escalera 3-4 R, 2b
Frank Schwindel 1-2 R, 2b, RBI
Miguel Almonte 6 IP 5 H 1 ER 0 BB 7 K 5-3 GO-FO 85p/57k
Wilmington Blue Rocks 1 Winston-Salem Dash 0
The Royals 2016 2nd round pick A.J. Puckett put together one of his better starts of his young career on Thursday. Working seven scoreless innings with just one walk allowed Puckett attacked the zone with 58 strikes in 82 pitches thrown. With nine swinging strikes on the even and that solid control he was able to earn a career high eight strikeouts while allowing just three singles to improve to 2-1 on the season. The only run of the game was provided in the first inning on a single by Elier Hernandez to drive in Nicky Lopez.
A.J. Puckett 7 IP 3 H 0 R 1 BB 8 K 8-4 GO-FO 82p/58k
Jacob Bonder 2 IP 3 H 0 R 0 BB 2 K 2-0 GO-FO 25p/19k
Elier Hernandez 2-3 2b, RBI
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