A pair of wins during a Wilmington doubleheader but no other wins for the Royals affiliates in the other four games played.
HR Roll Call: Travis Snider (2), Brandon Downes (5), Samir Duenez (6), DJ Burt (2)
BP KC Hitter of the Day DJ Burt 2-3, 2R, 2b, HR, BB, 2 RBI, SB (15)
BP KC Pitcher of the Day Jake Kalish 3 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 5 K, 2-1 GO-FO, 42p/26k
Oklahoma City Dodgers 5 Omaha Storm Chasers 4
The Chasers missed plenty of scoring chances during the finale in Oklahoma City while the Dodgers cashed in all of their opportunities. Starter John Lannan gave Omaha a complete game effort but was hurt by his defense, giving up a pair of unearned runs while also allowing up a couple big hits that turned into offense for OKC. While the Dodgers were taking advantage of their few opportunities the Chasers were squandering theirs, going 3 for 13 with runners in scoring position. The Chasers will head to Colorado Springs to end their 12 game road series.
John Lannan 8 IP, 5 H, 5 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 6 K, 14-2 GO-FO, 103p/70k
Travis Snider 2-4, 2R, 2b, HR, 2 RBI
Ramon Torres 2-4, R
Springfield Cardinals 2 NW Arkansas Naturals 1
The Naturals couldn’t get much offense rolling Thursday, going 0 for 4 with runners in scoring position to drop the second game of the series. The top of the lineup put together six of the Naturals eight hits but the middle of the order couldn’t ring the register for runs. Starter Pedro Fernandez went just 3.2 innings on 79 pitches as he struggled with the zone all night, giving up four runs on three hits to take the loss. Two more scoreless innings for reliever Kyle Bartsch runs his NW Arkansas ERA down to 0.56 in 19 appearances. Catcher Cam Gallagher continued his hotting hitting with a pair of knocks including his 10th double of the season, raising his average from .193 on May 6th to his current .261.
Ryan O’Hearn 1-4
Bubba Starling 0-4, currently hitting .193
Logan Moon 2-4, R
Wilmington Blue Rocks 2 Carolina Mudcats 1 (Game 1)
A solid pitching performance out of the Rocks’ two pitchers in Game 1 lead to a win. Starter Corey Ray gave his team five innings of two hits and three walks while allowing just one run in earning his second High-A win. Ray turned things over to Luis Rico in the sixth and the lefty dominated the Mudcats to the tune of three K’s with no hitters allowed to reach. A Brandon Downes solo home run gave Wilmington the lead in the second and a Robert Pehl RBI single in the fifth broke a tie and turned into the game winner after Rico closed things down.
Brandon Downes 1-3, HR (5)
Corey Ray 5 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 3 K
Chad Johnson 2-3, R
Wilmington Blue Rocks 3 Carolina Mudcats 2 Game 2
The Rocks had 18 opportunities to score in game two, but converted on just three of them. Yet it was enough to sweep the doubleheader. The normally light-hitting Wilmington offense managed 11 hits and 4 walks in the shortened seven inning game, getting a RBI single from Elier Hernandez in the first to take an early lead. An error by the Mudcasts gave Wilmington the lead again briefly in the fourth, but a run by Carolina in the bottom half of the inning quickly knotted it back up. Wilmington manufactured their final run in the sixth with a single from catcher Nick Dini, moving him into scoring position with a sacrifice bunt before Wander Franco would score him with a two out single for the lead and the win.
Brandon Downes 2-3, 2b, BB
Robert Pehl 2-3, R, 2b
Wander Franco 1-3, BB, RBI
Augusta GreenJackets 11 Lexington Legends 10
Despite the eight runs that came across in the first two innings for Lexington, they couldn’t turn that into a win. The Legends came out slugging, pounding out six runs in the first inning while batting around. It wasn’t enough as the GreenJackets got after reliever Nik Stephenson for six runs after starter Nolan Watson yielded three (2 ER) in his four innings. Trailing 11-9 the Legends would score a run and put the tying run on in the ninth but fail to knot it up.
Nolan Watson 4 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 3 K, 4-2 GO-FO, 74p/43k
Samir Duenez 3-5, 3R, HR, 2 RBI
Marten Gasparini 2-5, R, 2 RBI
DSL Dodgers2 11 DSL Royals 7
The DSL Royals dropped their second game in a row. Seventeen year old third baseman Angel Medina continued his solid start with a two-hit game, his third multi-hit game in a row and fourth in five tries.
Angel Medina 2-5, 2R, 2b, 2RBI
Esteury Ruiz 2-4, R, BB
Andres Sotillet 5 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 5 K, 4-1 GO-FO