HR Roll Call Samir Duenez (11), Chase Vallot (11), Brandon Downes (9), Jecksson Flores (2), Angelo Castellanos (4), Luis Villegas (3)

BPKC Hitter of the Day: Chase Vallot 1-2 HR, 2BB

BPKC Pitcher of the Day: A.J. Puckett 8 IP 3 H 2R 2 ER 0 BB 7 K 6-4 GO-FO 103p/70k

Omaha Storm Chasers 2 New Orleans Baby Cakes 1

The Chasers got a much needed deep start from Yender Caramo on Wednesday in their second game in the Big Easy.

The groundball pitcher got 11 of them in a season high eight innings while allowing just six singles and just a first inning run while on the hill. The lone run came courtesy of a couple former Chasers with Christian Colon singling and scoring courtesy of a Moises Sierra single. From there, Caramo got the sinker rolling to save the thinned out pitching staff.

The Omaha offense didn’t have a whole lot going for itself, but PCL All-Star Raul Mondesi did just enough to earn the win, singling and scoring on a Ryan O’Hearn hit in the first before driving in Ruben Sosa with a single in the fifth. Those would be the only two runs the Chasers would score in the game but it was enough for the win.

Boxscore Link 

Raul Mondesi 3-4 R, RBI, CS (3)
Ryan O’Hearn 1-4 RBI
Yender Caramo 8 IP 6 H 1 R 0 ER 0 BB 3 K 105/69k 11-6 GO-FO

Corpus Christi Hooks 5 NW Arkansas Naturals 2

Starter Corey Ray got touched up for three runs in the third inning and that was all the Astros Double-A squad would need to secure a win. After two scoreless innings, Ray ran into trouble, giving up a solo home run, a walk and a double to start the third inning before recording an out. All three hitters would come in without an additional hit to put his squad down 3-0.

The Naturals offense would bounce back in the fourth when first baseman Samir Duenez would hit his 11th home run of the year to drive in him and Nicky Lopez. From there, the NW Arkansas lineup would threaten just in the eighth while Ray would give up another home run in the fifth to Astros prospect Kyle Tucker, and Pedro Fernandez would allow a run in the eighth inning of the loss.

Boxscore Link

Samir Duenez 1-3 HR, 2 RBI, BB
Nicky Lopez 2-4 R
Anderson Miller 2-4 2b

Wilmington Blue Rocks 6 Lynchburg Hillcats 2

The Blue Rocks got a Dr. Jekyll start from A.J. Puckett and powered up to even the series with Lynchburg.

The 2017 2nd round pick worked a career-high eight innings while attacking the zone with 70 strikes on his 103 pitches thrown. The right-hander didn’t walk a hitter in the game which marks the first time he’s done that this season while striking out seven hitters and earning six groundouts to only four flyouts.

While Puckett was missing bats or getting them to ground out, his offense was leaving the yard. Three different Blue Rocks hitters hit home runs as Jecksson Flores, Brandon Downes and Chase Vallot hit home runs to account for four of the six Wilmington runs. For Downes, it was his ninth home run hit this season in just his 22nd game played.

Boxscore Link

Chase Vallot 1-2 HR, 2BB
Brandon Downes 1-4 HR
Nick Heath 1-3 R, SB (6)

Lexington Legends 6 West Virginia Power 2 Susp/3

The Legends powered up for two home runs versus West Virginia for two home runs in three innings before the rain suspended the game.

Angelo Castellano 1-1 2R, HR, BB
Luis Villegas 1-1 HR

Ogden Raptors 17 Idaho Falls Chukars 3

An ugly game for the Chukars as Julio Pinto’s poor season continued as part of a 12-1 advantage Odgen had after five innings.

Boxscore Link

Offerman Collado 2-5
Robby Rinn 1-4 R, 2b
Julio Pinto 4 IP 6 H 6 R 6 ER 5 BB 8 K HR

Bluefield Blue Jays 11 Burlington Royals 1

Nine runs off starter Ismael Maldonado was all she wrote in this one for the Royals as the starter lasted just two and two-thirds innings in the blowout loss.

Boxscore Link

Sebastian Rivero 1-3
Michael Gigliotti 0-4 RBI
Nick Hutchins 1-3 R, BB

DSL Royals 3 DSL Dodgers1 2

The Royals gave up two runs in the second but came back for the win with single runs in the third, fifth and seventh innings.

Slugging first baseman Ismaldo Rodriguez drove in Yenrrys Mendez after he walked and stole second in the third inning. It was Mendez causing havoc on the bases again in the fifth, walking and then advancing to second on a balk before scoring on Maikel Garcia’s single. Finally in the seventh Rodriguez connected on a two-out double to drive in Warling Vincente to give the Royals a 3-2 lead.

The Royals final two relievers earned just one strikeout over the final four innings but it was still enough to secure the win to improve to 14-13.

Boxscore Link

Warling Vicente 1-3 R, BB, SB (6)
Ismaldo Rodriguez 2-4 2b, 2 RBI
Rovaldis Cabrera 5 IP 3 H 2 R 1 ER 0 Bb 5 K 7-1 GO-FO

HR Roll Call Ryan O’Hearn (11), Amalani Fukofuka (5), Tyler Straub (2), Brewer Hicklen (1), Esteury Ruiz (1), Ismaldo Rodriguez (4)

BPKC Hitter of the Day Esteury Ruiz 4-5 3R, 2-2b, HR, 7 RBI

BPKC Pitcher of the Day Tad Ratliff 2 IP 0 H 0 R 0 BB 6 K 25p/19k

Lexington Legends 17 Greenville Drive 7

Fireworks Friday around most minor league parks occurred on the field in Greenville by the Lexington bats during the game.

The club knocked out 20 hits and 17 runs in a rout that included 12 runs between the third and fourth innings. The Legends popped six hits, had a hit by a pitch and a walk in the third inning with four of those hits going for extra bases to put eight runs on the board.

The team kept pushing runs across in the next three innings with eight more runs as they continued to pressure the Greenville pitching to build a huge 17-5 lead on the way to an easy win.

Boxscore Link

Yeison Melo 4-6 2R, 2b, 2 RBI
Khalil Lee 3-6 2R, 2b, 3b, 3 RBI
Angelo Castellano 4-5 3R, 2b, RBI

AZL Royals 20 AZL Padres 5

The AZL squad took care of business with 17 hits and 20 runs in a whitewash of the D-Backs squad.

The 4 through 6 hitters in the lineup did the majority of the damage, connecting on eight hits with Esteury Ruiz and Brewer Hicklen each hitting a home run while combining to drive in 11 of the team’s 20 runs.

The Royals 2016 draftee Malcolm Van Buren pitched a perfect first inning in his return from Tommy John to combine with five of the other six pitchers to toss scoreless innings in the win.

Boxscore Link

Brewer Hicklen 2-5 2R, HR, 4 RBI
Nick Pratto 1-5 R, 2b, 3 RBI, BB
MJ  Melendez 2-4 3R, RBI, BB, 1-2 Caught stealing

DSL Royals 2 DSL A’s 1 F/10

The two teams were held scoreless in extra innings on Friday.

The A’s score in the tenth with a run after pushing their extra inning runner across. The Royals would answer back getting a wild pitch to push their runner to third and tying the game on a ground out.

With the game tied at 1-1 and two outs, the Royals slugger Ismaldo Rodriguez unloaded on his fourth home run of the season to walk it off for the DSL Royals.

Boxscore Link

Ismaldo Rodriguez 1-5 HR
Warling Vicente 1-4 R, 2b, BB
Angel Zerpa 5 IP 1 H 0 R 1 BB 3 K 8-1 GO-FO

Orem Owlz 17 Idaho Falls Chukars 5

Julio Pinto’s struggles continued with 11 runs allowed (8 ER) in just two innings for the right-handed pitcher. Those runs put the squad in a huge hole that they were unable to dig out of.

The Chukars hit a pair of home runs but went 2 for 12 with runners in scoring position to drop the game.

Boxscore Link

Amalani Fukofuka 1-5 HR
Darrell Miller 2-4 R, 2-2b, RBI
Tyler Straub 1-4 HR, 2 RBI

Danville Braves 5 Burlington Royals 3

The Royals got beat by the Braves again despite their leadoff man doing everything he could.

The Braves got after Ismael Maldonado for five runs (4 ER) in just four and one-third innings, giving up five hits and three walks against just one K. Those five runs put the Royals behind 5-0.

Despite Michael Gigliotti reaching base all four times, he came up the rest of the lineup wasn’t doing much heavy lifting with just four hits. The centerfielder did double in a pair of runs in the seventh and scored on a sac fly by Jeison Guzman but the Royals couldn’t get anything else in the loss.

Boxscore Link

Michael Gigliotti 3-3 R, 2b, 2 RBI, BB, SB (2)
Seuly Matias 1-4 2K
Jeison Guzman 0-2 RBI

Salem Red Sox 3 Wilmington Blue Rocks 1

The Rocks starter got off to a slow start in a low scoring loss.

Righty A.J. Puckett gave up 10 hits in six innings, allowing three runs with single tallies in each of the first three innings. The Pepperdine product struck out six hitters while allowing just one walk and hitting the zone with 70 pitches out of 99 thrown.

Those three runs were plenty with Wilmington going scoreless til the ninth when Wander Franco scored after a one-out double.

Boxscore Link

Wander Franco 3-4 R, 2b
A.J. Puckett 6 IP 10 H 3 R 3 ER 1 BB 6 K 7-2 GO-FO 99p/70k
Walker Sheller 3 IP 2 H 0 R 0 ER 1 BB 0 K 3-4 GO-FO 42p/29k

NW Arkansas Naturals 8 Corpus Christi Hooks 7

The Naturals connected on 15 hits and walked the game off with another win over the Astros Double=A squad.

After a pair of runs given up in the first inning, NW Arkansas connected on six singles around a walk to plate four runs and grab the lead back. The Astros would look to put the stranglehold on the game, scoring five runs to take a 7-4 lead into the sixth frame.

Those runs wouldn’t be enough with NW Arkansas scoring three in the sixth with a rbi double by Samir Duenez and a two-run double by Donnie Dewees. The Naturals would threaten in the eighth but come up short before Dewees would triple in the ninth and score on Nick Dini’s sac fly to walk off.

The win went to Richard Lovelady after tossing two innings in his Double-A debut while hitting 100 mph on the stadium radar gun.

Boxscore Link

Nicky Lopez 4-5 2-2b
Donnie Dewees 4-5 R, 2b, 3b, 3 RBI
Samir Duenez 2-4 2R, 2b, 2 RBI, BB

Colorado Sky Sox 5 Omaha Storm Chasers 2

The rain delayed the Chasers game for a couple hours but couldn’t delay another loss to Colorado Springs for Omaha.

The Sky Sox score five runs in the first three innings to put Omaha down early. From there the bullpen settled things down with Brian Flynn and Kyle Zimmer tossing four scoreless innings.

The Chasers offense would score a pair of runs but come up short with just five hits on the night.

Boxscore Link

Ryan O’Hearn 1-2 HR, 2BB
Frank Schwindel 2-4
Kyle Zimmer 1 IP 0 H 0 R 1 BB 2 K

HR Roll Call: Kort Peterson (3)

BP KC Hitter of the Day – Amalani Fukofuka 2-4, R, 2b, SB (23)

BP KC Pitcher of the Day – Anthony Bender 5 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 4 K, 10-2 GO-FO

Sacramento River Cats 4 Omaha Storm Chasers 3
Last place 16 GB

Atypical to his normal game, starter Christian Binford walked five hitters in just four innings which lead to four runs allowed and an Omaha loss. The offense was a one man crew with Dusty Coleman driving in all three runs.

Boxscore Link

Jorge Bonifacio 1-3, BB
Dusty Coleman 3-4, 3 RBI, SB (5) CS (2)
Ramon Torres 1-2, R, 2b, BB

San Antonio Missions 4 NW Arkansas Naturals 0
1st place 1.5 games up

The Padres Double-A squad limited the Naturals to just three hits in a shutout win. The Naturals gave up just six hits of their own, but also walked six hitters in allowing four runs in the loss.

Boxscore Link

Alfredo Escalera 2-4
Ryan O’Hearn 0-4, 2K
Mauricio Ramos 1-4

Salem Red Sox 4 Wilmington Blue Rocks 3 F/11
Last place 16 GB

The Blue Rocks bullpen gave up a ninth inning lead before losing in extra innings. An Austin Bailey sac fly in the seventh gave Wilmington a 3-2 lead after Glenn Sparkman had given up an earlier lead by allowing two runs in the fifth. A steal and a two out hit in the eleventh inning allowed Salem to walkoff with the win after Wilmington contributed to the loss with a 1 for 10 performance with runners in scoring position.

Boxscore Link

Austin Bailey 2-4, 2b, RBI
Chad Johnson 2-5 RBI
Glenn Sparkman 5.2 IP, 5 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 5 K, 9-2 GO-FO, 88p/59k

Augusta GreenJackets 7 Lexington Legends 5
Last place 13.5 GB

Draftee A.J. Puckett rolled through the first four innings before running into trouble in the fifth that lead to a Lexington loss. After giving up just one hit through the first four innings Puckett gave up three hits and walked a pair (5 in the start) that lead to five runs before getting pulled in the frame. Two more unearned runs in the sixth lead the loss as Lexington was able to score five runs to come up two short.

Boxscore Link

AJ Puckett 4.2 IP, 4 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 5 BB, 6-4 GO-FO, 96p/51k
DJ Burt 2-5, R, RBI, CS (13)
Amalani Fukofuka 2-4, R, 2b, SB (13)

Idaho Falls Chukars 7 Great Falls Voyagers 3
3rd place 3 GB

The Chukars used a five-run second inning to snap a season high five-game losing streak. A pair of doubles by Joe Dudek and Ryan Dale helped plate three of the five runs in that inning. That was enough for Igol Feliz to earn the Chukars a win. The righty spun seven innings of two run ball on nine hits and no walks allowed. It was the second win of the season for the 23 year old Feliz.

Boxscore Link

Igol Feliz 7 IP, 9 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 3 K, 7-7 GO-FO, 89p/63k
Angelo Castellano 2-4, R, 2b
Ryan Dale 1-3, R, 2b, RBI, BB

Danville Braves 11 Burlington Royals 2
1st place up 1.5 games

The Royals pitching staff was knocked around in the game two loss to the Braves. Starter Ofreidy Gomez took the worst of it, giving up six runs in just one and one-third innings. The only offense provided came courtesy of a Kort Peterson two-run home run.

Boxscore Link

Kort Peterson 1-3, HR, 2 RBI, BB
Vance Vizcaino 2-3, R, BB
Nicky Lopez 1-2, 2b

AZL Royals 2 AZL Padres 1
1st place 4.5 games up

The Royals scored a pair of runs early and received outstanding pitching for a win Sunday evening. Starter Anthony Bender put up his best performance yet, tossing five inning of perfect baseball that featured four strikeouts and 10 ground outs for the hard throwing righty. On offense, Cal Jones doubled and scored in the first inning and Joel Arias doubled in Sebastian Rivero in the second inning to provide all the runs the Royals would need.

Boxscore Link

Cal Jones 1-4, R, 2b
Sebastian Rivero 3-4, R
Khalil Lee 1-3, BB

HR Roll Call Dennicher Carrasco (5)

BP KC Hitter of the Day – Corey Toups 3-6 2R, 2b, 3 RBI

BP KC Pitcher of the Day – Mike Minor 3.1 IP 2 H 0 R 0 ER 0 BB 5 K 4-0 GO-FO 63p/45k

Omaha Storm Chasers 1 Iowa Cubs 0

A couple of rehabbing major league pitchers put the two offenses on ice Tuesday afternoon in Omaha. Cubs Trevor Cahill and Royals Mike Minor both worked into the fourth inning during their rehab appearance, dominating the two clubs while on the hill. It was Minor’s second rehab outing since coming back from shoulder discomfort, the lefty put away five hitters via strikeout while working around a pair of Omaha errors and an infield single in his three and one-third scoreless innings. Tossing his fastball in the 90-94 mph range Minor exhibited better control and command of his three pitch mix. The two teams bullpens kept the clubs silent despite plenty of base runners until a seventh inning bases loaded two out hit by pitch of Tony Cruz forced home a Omaha run. In that inning Omaha received a leadoff double by Orlando Calixte, an infield single by Whit Merrifield and an intentional walk of Reymond Fuentes to load the bases only to watch Hunter Dozier foul out and Jorge Bonifacio strikeout to put the rally in danger prior to the hit by pitch from Cubs reliever Felix Pena. That run ended up being the difference maker as three Chasers relievers finished off the final five and two-third innings scoreless to split the series for Omaha.

Boxscore Link

Mike Minor 3.1 IP 2 H 0 R 0 ER 0 BB 5 K 4-0 GO-FO 63p/45k
Whit Merrifield 3-4 2b
Orlando Calixte 1-4 R, 2b, BB

NW Arkansas Naturals 8 Arkansas Travelers 7 F/13

The Naturals walked it off on Tuesday after giving up an early lead. The Naturals used a six run third inning to build an early lead, using four singles and a Frank Schwindel double to apply the damage. Starter Eric Skoglund and reliever Tim Hill were unable to hold that lead after Skoglund gave up three runs in the fourth, two coming via Eric Aguilera’s two run home run. After Hill yielded a pair of runs in the seventh the Naturals Corey Toups doubled and scored to regain the lead, Toups had driven in two runs in the third inning rally and was putting his signature on the game. The lead was safe until the ninth inning when the Angels latest addition from the Red Sox, Sean Coyle, when deep for the second time in the game to knot things up and send the game to extra innings. It took until the thirteenth inning until the Naturals could grab hold of the game on Toups walkoff single to score Humberto Arteaga who had walked to leadoff the inning. The win gave the Naturals a one game lead in the division.

Boxscore Link

Corey Toups 3-6 2R, 2b, 3 RBI
Frank Schwindel 2-6 R, 2b, RBI
Carlos Garcia 2-4 R

Salem Red Sox 6 Wilmington Blue Rocks 1

The Rocks faced one of the better pitching prospects in their second game of the series with Salem and things didn’t work out too well. The fireballing Texan, Michael Kopech, blew the the Rocks away with his 99 mph fastball for 10 strikeouts in six shutout inning with just an Austin Bailey fifth inning single and a walk allowed to earn the win. Wilmington stayed in the game for a while as rehabbing Triple-A starter Andy Ferguson allowed just a run scoring single in his six innings of work. That wouldn’t last however as relievers Derek Gordon and Jake Newberry gave up five runs in the seventh inning while walking four and giving up four hits, all credited to Gordon. The 6-0 Salem lead was more than enough to earn the victory with Wilmington pushing just one late inning run across in the loss.

Boxscore Link

Andy Ferguson 6 IP 4 H 1 R 1 ER 0 BB 6 K 3-5 GO-FO 90p/58k
Brandon Downes 1-4
Mike Hill 1-4

Lexington Legends 5 Rome Braves F/14

The Legends won in 14 innings after the two teams exchanged early leads. Starter A.J. Puckett gave up a pair of runs (1 ER) in his five innings as he was less the sharp, walking a pair early and earning just one strikeout while on the hill. Trailing 2-1 Lexington grabbed the lead back on Travis Maezes two run double, his fourteenth double of the year. Reliever Matt Ditman would blow the lead in the ninth after giving up a leadoff home run. The two teams would exchange zeroes until the fourteenth frame when Colton Frabasilio would plate two Legends runs with a two out triple. Lefty Mark McCoy finished off the win with a perfect bottom half of the inning to guarantee the series win and go for the sweep on Wednesday.

Boxscore Link

Xavier Fernandez 3-5 R
Colton Frabasilio 2-6 3b, 2 RBI
AJ Puckett 5 IP 3 H 2 R 1 ER 2 BB 1 K 68p/43k

Bluefield Blue Jays 5 Burlington Royals 0

The Royals dropped a second game in a row to Bluefield despite 17 strikeouts from their pitching staff. Starter Andre Davis walked two and gave up two singles in the first inning that allowed the Blue Jays to score a pair of runs despite three strikeouts in the frame. The lefty would also K the side in the second inning prior to giving way to David McKay who promptly hit a batter and gave up a run on a double prior to striking out two. The Jays would tack on a home run in the sixth and the eighty all while the Royals offense was unable to get much of anything going on their end, collecting just two hits in the shutout loss.

Boxscore Link

Andre Davis 2 IP 2 H 2R 2 ER 2 Bb 6 K
David McKay 4 IP 2 H 2 R 2 ER 1 BB 7 K 4-1 GO-FO
Justin Camp 1 IP 1 H 0 R 0 ER 0 BB 2 K 0-1 GO-FO

AZL Royals 3 AZL White Sox 2 F/10

The Royals gave up a lead in the ninth only to win it in the tenth. In the tenth inning Robby Rinn doubled in John Brontsema who had singled and stolen second with two out in the inning. The White Sox would get the tying run to second with no out, but Taylor Kaczmarek was able to close things out for the win.

Boxscore Link

Robby Rinn 1-5 R, 2b, 2 RBI
John Brontsema 3-5 R
Dillon Drabble 5 IP 2 H 1 ER 1 BB 4 K 5-2 GO-FO
DSL Royals 8 DSL Astros Blue 5

The Royals got back to their winning ways Tuesday after the bullpen settled things down for their starter. Starter Darwin Feliz, who was nearly perfect in his last outing, struggled in this one with four runs allowed and unable to continue after the first inning. The Royals would put two on the board themselves in the first and the teams would exchange runs in the second before the Royals bullpen settled things down with seven consecutive scoreless innings. Trailing 5-3, Dennicher Carrasco launched his fifth home run of the season to tie the game up. From there the score remain tied until eighth when four singles lead to three Royals runs, including Jose Torres’ single that plated two runs in the frame. The win helped push the Royals within a half of a game of the Astros and one game behind the first place Red Sox1.

Boxscore Link

Raymond Lopez 1-3 R, BB
Dennicher Carrasco 2-5 2R, HR, 2 RBI
Andres Martin 3-5 R, 2 RBI, SB (8)