HR Roll Call Jorge Soler (7), Bubba Starling (4), Ruben Sosa (3), Khalil Lee (9)

BPKC Hitter of the Day Angelo Castellano 4-5 R, RBI

BPKC Pitcher of the Day Foster Griffin 7 IP 3 H 1 R 0 ER 2 BB 6 K 8-4 GO-FO 92p/59k

Omaha Storm Chasers 7 New Orleans Pelicans 1

The Chasers provided the offensive firepower while the pitching staff limited New Orleans to just one run.

After Jon Dziedzic gave up a solo home run in the second inning the Omaha offense scored a pair courtesy a Mike Aviles error, a run scoring single from Garin Cecchini and a sac fly from Terrance Gore.

The Chasers opened up the game in the third inning, scoring three runs courtesy of three home runs. Newcomer Ruben Sosa opened the inning with his first home run as a member of the Storm Chasers before Jorge Soler cleared the fence in left-center. After a walk to Ryan O’Hearn outfielder, Bubba Starling finished the scoring in the frame with his fourth home run of the season to push Omaha up 6-1.

Relievers Matt Peterson and Seth Maness combined with Dziedzic to keep the Marlins Triple-A affiliate off the board the rest of the night while Raul Mondesi capped the scoring for Omaha with a rbi single in the seventh.

Boxscore Link

Raul Mondesi 2-4 RBI, SB (14)
Jorge Soler 1-3 HR, 2K, BB
Bubba Starling 1-4 2R, HR, 2 RBI

NW Arkansas Naturals 5 Springfield Cardinals 1

The Naturals received another outstanding start to finish off the series with Springfield and get back into a first place tie with the St. Louis Double-A squad.

One night after a complete game shutout by Corey Ray lefty Foster Griffin tossed six straight shutout innings to start the night. Attacking with his fastball and curveball Griffin walked just one before a fifth inning leadoff double put a runner in scoring position for the first time on the night for Springfield. That jam was navigated with an inning eating double play to keep the Naturals ahead.

NW Arkansas had built a lead in the first inning with a rbi sac fly by Mauricio Ramos and a single by Humberto Arteaga that scored Samir Duenez. That hit by Arteaga was one of two on the night to continue a stellar season of hitting at home for the shortstop, improving his home average to .362 on the year in 29 games.

The Naturals tacked on runs in the second and third inning, in the third, it was Ramos again driving in a run this time with a single. Those runs would be more than enough for Griffin and the Naturals as the lefty would allow just an unearned run in the seventh frame before turning things over to the bullpen.

The bullpen closed things out with Pedro Fernandez working a clean inning before Sam Selman k’d two to finish off the game. The two strikeouts by Selman gives him 44 in 27.1 innings this season, possibly putting him in a position to earn an audition at the major league level later this season.

Boxscore Link

Sam Selman 1 IP 2 H 0 R 0 ER 0 BB 2 K 20p/13k
Humberto Arteaga 2-4 RBI
Samir Duenez 1-3 R, BB

Buies Creek Astros 7 Wilmington Blue Rocks 4

The Blue Rocks had their four game win streak snapped after another inconsistent start from A.J. Puckett.

The Pepperdine product was in trouble throughout this one, giving up at least two hits in every inning that he completed before leaving with one on and no out in the fifth. A solo home run scored gave the Astros a 1-0 lead in the first before Puckett navigated back to back singles in both the second and third innings. In the fourth frame though Puckett was unable to get out of the trouble he caused, walking the leadoff batter and hitting a pair of batters around two singles allowed. Two more singles allowed by A.J. lead to four Buies Creek runs in the inning to push their advantage to 5-0.

Wilmington would charge back with four runs from the fifth through seventh innings. That would be as close as the Rocks would get however as reliever Yunior Marte’s control wavered leading to four walks and a couple runs allowed by the usually reliable relief pitcher.

Boxscore Link

A.J. Puckett 4 IP 11 H 5 R 5 ER 1 BB 5 K 4-3 GO-FO 96p/62k
Nicky Lopez 2-4 2b, 2RBI, BB
Anderson Miller 2-5 R, RBI

Lexington Legends 4 Hickory Crawdads 3

The Legends were three outs away from dropping their fourth game in a row Friday night on the road in Hickory.

Up to that point the only run, Lexington had scored was on a home run from leadoff hitter Khalil Lee, the 18-year-olds ninth of the season.  Prior to that home run, the Crawdads had taken a 2-0 lead with a rbi double from Yeyson Yrizarri and another single that brought him home one hitter later. Another rbi double by the Rangers Low-A squad in the fourth inning off Lexington starter Andre Davis pushed the score to 3-1.

That score held up until the ninth inning when the single train got started for the Legends. Leadoff man Rudy Martin started things off for Lexington with a line drive to right before Lee pushed him into scoring position with another single. Shortstop Angelo Castellano connected on his fourth hit of the night to score Martin, push Lee to third and pull the Legends within a run. A sacrifice fly by Gabe Cancel brought home the tying run before an attempted play at the plate missed out and allowed Castellano to get in and Lexington to take the lead.

After a blown save in his last outing, Grant Gavin worked a scoreless outing by sandwiching a pair strikeouts around a double to secure the win.

Boxscore Link

Khalil Lee 2-5 2R, HR
Angelo Castellano 4-5 R, RBI
Andre Davis 4.2 IP 7 H 3 R 2 ER 1 BB 2 K 4-3 GO-FO 63p/39k

DSL Rays1 6 DSL Royals 4

The Dominican Royals squad took the lead three different times on Friday but were unable to hold onto it.

The Rays1 evened up the score in the sixth innings before taking the lead and eventually tacking on an insurance run to earn a series split.

Boxscore Link

Felix Familia 2-4 R, RBI, BB
Rubendy Jacquez 2-5 R, RBI
Reynin Reynosa 2-4 2R, 3b

HR Roll Call: Chris DeVito (4), Angelo Castellano (2)

BPKC Hitter of the Day: Angelo Castellano 2-3, 2R, HR, BB, RBI

BPKC Pitcher of the Day: Colin Rodgers 4 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 5 K, 3-2 GO-FO, 56p/35k

Myrtle Beach Pelicans 7, Wilmington Blue Rocks 3 

A.J. Puckett, the Royals 2016 2nd round draft pick, continued his run of poor even-numbered starts in Myrtle Beach in game two of the Blue Rocks series. If you haven’t seen this before then just take a look at Puckett’s record in odd-numbered starts (0.92 ERA) versus his stats (6.82 ERA) in even-numbered appearances. He doesn’t have the type of fastball to not command it from the get-go, or at least quickly realize he doesn’t have the command and decide to lean on a secondary pitch to get through a lineup.

That was the case in this one as the righty struggled to command his stuff, leaving it over the plate or up in the zone where the Cubs affiliate took advantage, scoring six runs in the first two innings. They got to him for 10 hits in four innings to score all seven runs (5 ER). When the righty wasn’t missing his spot, his defense was disappointing him with misplays and misreads behind him.

On offense, the Blue Rocks put together a three-run third inning with the help of a RBI double by Nicky Lopez, but were unable to dent the scoreboard any further.

Boxscore Link

A.J. Puckett 4 IP, 10 H, 7 R, 5 ER, 3 BB, 2 K, 6-2 GO-FO, 76p/48k
Nicky Lopez 1-4, R, 2b, RBI
Chase Vallot 0-4, 4K

Augusta GreenJackets 10 Lexington Legends 3 

There is no sugar coating it. The Legends team is playing ugly, young baseball. They committed four errors on Wednesday morning, which lead to three unearned runs, all while employing a terrible quick-swing approach at the plate. On the mound, Nolan Watson gave up eight hits in six innings, while relievers Vance Tatum and David McKay got tuned up for four home runs and seven runs in the final three innings of a 10-3 drubbing. Infielder Angelo Castellano broke up 16 perfect innings by Augusta pitching with a home run in the fourth, and first baseman Chris DeVito hit his fourth home run of the season in the ninth frame.

Boxscore Link

Chris DeVito 1-4, HR, 2 RBI
Nolan Watson 6 IP, 8 H, 3 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 8 K, 5-5 GO-FO, 93p/64k
Ricky Aracena 0-3, 3K

HR Roll Call: Kort Peterson (5)

BP KC Hitter of the Day – Angelo Castellano 4-4, 2R, 3b, 3 RBI

BP KC Pitcher of the Day – Jason Freeman 3.2 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 6 K, 2-1 GO-FO

Arkansas Travelers 5 NW Arkansas Naturals 1

The Naturals bullpen surrendered four late runs, while the offense came up empty on numerous occasions to drop the series finale in Arkansas. In his third Double-A start of the season, Glenn Sparkman gave up a run in the first inning on three singles. From there Sparkman tossed three scoreless frames to leave the game tied after Ryan O’Hearn singled in Alfredo Escalera. The game remained knotted until the seventh, when reliever Eric Stout would give up a two-out triple that plated one Arkansas run prior to a wild pitch that allowed another. A solo home run in the eighth was followed by a double and a single to push the score to 5-1 while the offense came up empty for any answer by the Naturals. The loss put the Naturals behind Arkansas by a half of a game with seven to play. The two teams will meet in a three game series to finish the season.

Boxscore Link

Alfredo Escalera 1-4, R, 2b
Ryan O’Hearn 1-4, RBI
Glenn Sparkman 4 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 1 K

Idaho Falls Chukars 18 Ogden Raptors 7

A barrage of hits lead the Chukars to a lopsided win over first place Ogden. The victory cut their division deficit to three games. In all, Idaho Falls put together 21 hits while walking three times and using three Ogden errors to plate 18 runs with three multi-run innings. All nine Idaho Falls batters had a hit during the game with seven of the nine having multi-hit games. The Chukars had a slim 9-7 in the seventh inning when they exploded for eight runs with nine hits and thirteen hitters coming to bat in the frame.

Boxscore Link

Jace Vines 4.2 IP, 11 H, 7 R, 5 ER, 0 BB, 3 K
Meibrys Viloria 3-5, 2R, 2-2b, 4 RBI
Luke Willis 3-5, 4R, 3b, BB

Pulaski Yankees 4 Burlington Royals 2

The Royals couldn’t get much going in their loss in Monday’s finale with Pulaski. Shutout for eight innings, the Royals put together a pair of runs in the ninth off of a Kort Peterson two-run home run, but came up short despite putting the potential game-tying runs on base. The loss was credited to David McKay despite just a fourth inning solo home run allowed in his four frames of work. Reliever Alex Close was dinged for three runs in his two innings to put the Royals in a hole that they fell just short of climbing out of. The loss didn’t hurt the Royals in the standings as both Princeton and Bluefield lost in their pursuit. The Royals current lead stands at three games with four to play.

Boxscore Link

Kort Peterson 1-4, HR, 2 RBI
David McKay 4 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 4 K, 4-2 GO-FO
Jose Sanchez 1-3, R, BB

AZL Royals 5 AZL Mariners 1

The Royals pitching staff came up big in clinching their second half division title over the Mariners on Monday. Starter Colton Howell worked five shutout innings to get the Royals off on a good foot. With the pitching in place, rehabbing infielder Wander Franco knocked in a run in the first inning as well as leading off the fifth with a single, igniting a three-run inning. With a 5-0 lead through five, three different pitchers finished off the final four innings with just one run allowed to earn the Royals a playoff berth.

Boxscore Link

Wander Franco 3-4, R, RBI, BB
John Brontsema 3-4, 2R, 2b, RBI
Jake Wakamatsu 2-4, R

HR Roll Call Hunter Dozier: 2 (21), Chris Devito (7), Michael Arroyo (2), David Edwards (6), Angelo Castellano (1)

BP KC Hitter of the Day – Angelo Castellano 3-6, 2R, HR, 4 RBI

BP KC Pitcher of the Day – Zach Lovvorn 5 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 8 K, 1 WP, 2-5 GO-FO, 82p/49k

Nashville Sounds 12 Omaha Storm Chasers 5

The pitching staff struggled mightily from the middle innings on in a big defeat during the series finale in Nashville. Third baseman Hunter Dozier staked the Chasers to a 2-1 lead with a pair of solo home runs in his first two at-bats. Despite that lead Alec Mills hit a wall in the fourth inning, giving up six singles as the Sounds dink and dunked all over center and left-center to plate five runs and take a 6-2 lead. Reliever Clayton Mortensen could not do any better in his two innings, allowing five runs prior to Andrew Edwards giving up a solo home run in the seventh inning. Omaha would put five runs on the board but left too many on the bases in going 3 for 12 with runners in scoring position including a bases loaded situation with one out ninth that produced just one run.

Boxscore Link

Hunter Dozier 2-4, 2 HR
Ramon Torres 2-5, 2 RBI
Alec Mills 4 IP, 8 H, 6 ER, 1 BB, 4 K, 4-2 GO-FO, 84p/56k

Arkansas Travelers 6 NW Arkansas Naturals 0 

The Naturals couldn’t push a run across despite multiple chances in dropping the first game of the series at Arkansas. Starter Yender Caramo who has been pushed into duty after the move of Matt Strahm to the pen was solid, allowing two runs (1 ER) over six innings in the loss. Reliever Sam Selman struggled once again in relief, allowing four runs (3 ER) in just 1.3 innings of work to raise his ERA north of 14 on the year. An 0 for 6 showing with runners in scoring position squelched an eight hit evening by the offense.

Boxscore Link

Ryan O’Hearn 1-4, 2b
Jack Lopez 2-3
Yender Caramo 6 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 2 K, 8-7 GO-FO, 78p/53k

Wilmington Blue Rocks 6 Lynchburg Hillcats 2

Rocks starter Zach Lovvorn earned his second win of the year with five shutout innings prior to leaving in the sixth inning. The offense backed up Lovvorn quite nicely which is something they haven’t done for him the entire season. Lovvorn put away eight hitters via strikeout over 82 pitches, using 49 strikes to accomplish that before leaving in the sixth after giving up a solo home run and a single. Eight of the nine Wilmington hitters earned hits with Samir Duenez pacing the offense with three singles, scoring two runs and driving in another. Those three runs accounted for half of the Wilmington total which plated runs in the second, fourth, fifth and eighth before adding two runs of cushion in the ninth.

Boxscore Link

Zach Lovvorn 5 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 8 K, 2-5 GO-FO, 82p/49k
Elier Herandez 2-5, 2R, 2b
Samir Duenez 3-5, 2R, RBI

Columbia Fireflies 8 Lexington Legends 2

The Legends fell behind 6-0 through the first five innings Monday to drop the series finale with Columbia. Starter Nolan Watson gave up three runs in the first inning and another in the fourth before reliever Franco Terrero gave up a pair in the sixth. Lexington hitters couldn’t rebound, collecting just four singles and a pair of runs in the loss. The loss dropped them to 14-16 in the second half which is five games worse than first place Augusta.

Boxscore Link

DJ Burt 1-4, R
Mike Hill 1-3, R, BB, SB (2)
Brandon Dulin 1-3, RBI, BB

Idaho Falls Chukars 17 Missoula Osprey 7

The Chukars offense had a huge day in Missoula in the first game of their series between the two clubs. Idaho Falls pounded out 20 hits and 17 runs to blowout the Osprey. All nine hitters in the lineup reached base at least twice in the game with seven of those hitters collecting at least two hits. Infielders David Edwards and Angello Castellano belted a pair of three-run home runs in the rout while Pioneer first-half MVP Meibrys Viloria scored four times. All those runs came in backing of starter Andres Machado who improved to 2-2 with the win.

Boxscore Link

Meibrys Viloria 2-5, 4R, RBI, BB
David Edwards 3-6, 2R, 2b, HR, 3 RBI
Yeison Melo 3-6, 2R, 2b, 2 RBI

Burlington Royals 9 Bristol Pirates 6

Burlington crushed Bristol starter Nestor Oronel for seven runs in the first two innings of the game Monday. Two home runs including Chris Devito’s seventh of the season were featured in those first two innings. The Pirates would trim that lead to one run with a five-run sixth inning and another run in the seventh before Burlington tacked on an insurance run in the eighth and a Devito RBI single in the ninth to put the game out of reach.

Boxscore Link

Kort Peterson 3-5, 2R, 3b, RBI
Chris Devito 2-3, HR, 3 RBI, 2 BB
Nicky Lopez 1-4, 2R, SB (19)

AZL Mariners 4 AZL Royals 3 F/12

The AZL Mariners walked off for the AZL title on Monday versus the Royals. The Royals squad jumped out to an early 2-0 with a Dusty Coleman rbi triple and a wild pitch that scored him in the first.  A run in the 2nd expanded that lead to 3-0 before the M’s got one back off of Ismael Maldonado in the bottom half of the inning. That same pitcher would struggle in the fourth, hitting a batter and moving him along with a passed ball that got away and a wild pitch before giving up a run scoring single. The Royals would turn to their best performing pitcher so far this year, Grant Gavin, but he would give up a two out triple to knot the game at 3-3. The game would stall out there as the two offenses failed to muster a run until the 12th inning when the M’s would connect on a two out walkoff single to win the game and the AZL 1st half division title.

Boxscore Link

Cal Jones 2-6
Seuly Matias 2-5 2b
Grant Gavin 5 IP 3 H 0 R 0 BB 9 K