The Royals affiliates played four extra inning games in their 1-8 day Monday.
J2 Signing Day Notes – A Royals official gave me a little information on the two Venezuelan signees for the July 2nd international signing period. Both players are right-handed hitters with average speed. The Royals scouts believe Jesus Reyes is a plus defender at shortstop and more of a situational hitter. While currently Frank Howard plays shortstop, the Royals are thinking of moving him to catcher where his plus arm, plus hands and good footwork could help him. Any move to catcher will take time but it sounds like Howard is up to it and we can expect to see the two teenagers in the DSL during the 2018 season.
HR Roll Call: Raul Mondesi (9), Logan Moon (4), Angelo Castellano (3), Jonathan McCray (2), Seuly Matias (2), Jesus Atencio (1), Ismaldo Rodriguez (5)
BPKC Hitter of the Day – Jonathan McCray 3-5, 2R, 2b, HR, 2 RBI
BPKC Pitcher of the Day – Eric Skoglund 5 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 8 K, 1-3 GO-FO, 66p/47k
Colorado Springs Sky Sox 5, Omaha Storm Chasers 4
The Chasers are probably happy to see this run of back to back series with Colorado Springs over after losing for the eleventh time in thirteen games against the Brewers affiliate on Monday.
In this one, the Chasers built a 4-1 lead with starter Eric Skoglund working five innings of one run ball with eight strikeouts on 66 pitches. The Chasers took a 4-1 lead with a two-run sixth inning that featured a Frank Schwindel run-scoring double and Mondesi’s second RBI of the game in the seventh.
Chasers closer Malcolm Culver’s struggles versus Colorado Springs continued with the righty allowing the game’s tying run to cross in the eighth and the winning run to come home in the ninth, while giving up three hits in the process. The blown save for Culver was his third of the season, his second consecutive against the Sky Sox.
Bubba Starling 2-5, 2K
Raul Mondesi 1-3, 2R, HR, 2 RBI, BB, SB (17), E (6)
Josh Staumont 2.1 IP, 1 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 5 BB, 0 K, 3-2 GO-FO, 54p/25k
San Antonio Mission 5, NW Arkansas Naturals 3
A four-run fifth inning did in the Naturals in game two of their series with the Padres affiliate.
NW Arkansas jumped out to a 3-0 lead with a RBI single in the first by Nick Dini and a two-run home run in the second by Logan Moon. The team couldn’t expand on that lead though, failing to capitalize on the 12 hits on the day.
After starter Ashton Goudeau worked around leadoff hits in the second, third and fourth. However he couldn’t perform the magic act in the fifth, allowing four straight singles before a two-out double to drive in the Mission’s fourth run of the inning. That run would be enough but the Mission would add an unearned run in the eighth off Richard Lovelady for good measure to secure the win.
Nicky Lopez 1-5, R
Logan Moon 2-4, HR, 2 RBI
Richard Lovelady 1 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 K, 24p/17k
Salem Red Sox 3, Wilmington Blue Rocks 2 F/12
The Rocks outhit and outwalked their opponent, but couldn’t get it done with runners in scoring position to drop the series finale versus Salem.
The Rocks took a 2-1 lead in the fifth inning on a Chris DeVito double that plated Brandon Downes. The Wilmington starter, Jared Ruxer, held that up through his seven innings of one-run ball, but reliever Jacob Bodner gave up a two out run-scoring double in the eighth that tied the game.
After Wilmington threatened but came up short in multiple innings, Salem took a lead in the twelfth with a pair of singles after a walk. The Rocks would get a leadoff walk from Downes to start their half of the inning, quickly move him to third on Chris DeVito’s single, but three of the next four hitters would strikeout around a walk to end the Rocks night at 1 for 11 with runners in scoring position.
Jared Ruxer 7 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 4 K, 7-7 GO-FO, 96p/61k
Brandon Downes 1-3, R, 2BB
Chase Vallot 2-6, 4K
Lexington Legends 6, Greenville Drive 4 F/10
The Legends built an early 4-1 lead only to watch it evaporate which sent the game into extra innings.
The Legends shortstop Angelo Castellano homered in the first inning to put Lexington up 1-0. The Legends added another run following a Gabe Cancel leadoff single in the second before getting two runs in the fourth on a pair of RBI singles by Manny Olloque and Marten Gasparini.
The Legends went cold, going scoreless for the next five innings which gave the Red Sox affiliate an opportunity to get into the game. The Drive pushed starter Arnaldo Hernandez out of the game before he could qualify for the win, getting after him for seven hits in 4.2 innings while driving his pitch count up to 95 in that time. With Hernandez out, Greenville evened the game up with a solo home run in the sixth and an earned run in the seventh after a Cancel error.
The game went to extras where Emmanuel Rivera would connect on a two-out triple to give Lexington the lead and the eventual win.
Gabe Cancel 2-4, 2R, 2SB (6)
Marten Gasparini 2-4, RBI, CS (8)
Cody Nesbit 0.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K, 19/10k
Ogden Raptors 7, Idaho Falls Chukars 6 F/10
Starter Geoffrey Bramblett struggled early, allowing three runs in the first before settling in somewhat to give his team 6.1 innings. The Chukars scored single tallies in three of the first four frames to pull within a run before reliever Christopher Marte allowed a pair of runs, one inherited, to cross in the seventh inning.
Down three, Idaho Falls tied things up in the ninth with a run-scoring double by Jonathan McCray, a Vance Vizcaino RBI hit and a wild pitch that plated a run. The game went to extras where the Raptors walked things off with a two-out run-scoring single.
Dalton Griffin 1-5, 2b, RBI
Christopher Marte 3.1 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 3 K, 4-3 GO-FO, 59p/38k
Vance Vizcaino 2-5, R, RBI
Princeton Rays 15, Burlington Royals 6
A pair of Burlington pitchers were knocked around Monday in the rubber game of their three-game set in Princeton. Starter Nathan Webb gave up eight hits and nine runs in just 3.1 innings to help the Rays squad jump out to a 10-0 lead. The Royals battled back, getting six runs over the final three innings with the help of a pair of home runs by Seuly Matias and Jesus Atencio. However, those runs were followed by five more Rays runs in the blowout series win.
Seuly Matias 2-4, HR, 2 RBI, BB
Michael Gigliotti 1-3, R, 2 BB
Jordan Floyd 2.2 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 1 K, 45p/29k, 5-3 GO-FO
AZL Mariners 7, AZL Royals 5 F/10
The Royals defense and bullpen let a lead get away against the M’s. A three-run fourth inning that featured an RBI hit by Nick Pratto put the Royals out in front, a lead they held until the ninth inning. Reliever Daniel Garmendia gave up the game-tying home run that pushed the game to extras.
In extras, Garmendia allowed the free baserunner to come home and two more on a one-out double while the Royals could score just the free runner in their half of the inning.
Nick Pratto 1-4, R, 3b, RBI, BB
Esteury Ruiz 1-4
Sal Biasi 4 IP, 2H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 6 K, 2-2 GO-FO
DSL Astros 5, DSL Royals 1
DSL Astros 9, DSL Royals 3 F/7
The DSL Royals lost their suspended game that they resumed against the Astros, then lost the second game as the Astros got after the Royals normally reliable pitching staff for nine runs.