HR Roll Call: Ramon Torres (5), Cam Gallagher (1), Anderson Miller (7), Chase Vallot (5), Nicky Lopez (2), Wander Franco (2), Joe Dudek (1)

BPKC Hitter of the Day: Nicky Lopez 2-4, 2R, HR, 3b, 2 RBI, BB, SB (9), CS (6)

BPKC Pitchers of the Day: A.J. Puckett 6 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 6 BB, 4 K, 6-4 GO-FO, 88p/43k

Lexington Legends 7, Hickory Crawdads 1

The Legends put together a four-run inning early which, with a solid pitching performance, was more than enough to win the first game of their series with the Low-A Rangers club.

Starter Travis Eckert combined with a pair of relievers to limit Hickory to just one run on five hits. The threesome limited the Crawdads to just 1 for 7 with runners in scoring position thanks in part to nine strikeouts. Reliever Jesse Camp made his first appearance of the year for the club, tossing two scoreless with three strikeouts before giving way to Matt Wynne.

The Legends offense used a four-run third inning that featured a two-run triple by Manny Olloque to build their lead. The bottom third of the Lexington lineup would continue doing work the very next inning when Joe Dudek hit his first home run of the season to push the lead out to 6-1. Catcher Meibrys Viloria continued his hot hitting in the month with a pair of hits including his 10th double of the season.

Boxscore Link

Meibrys Viloria 2-4, 2R, 2b
Joe Dudek 1-3, HR, 2 RBI
Travis Eckert 6 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 4 K, 87p/56k, 4-7 GO-FO

Wilmington Blue Rocks 10, Frederick Keys 1 

The Blue Rocks broke out the big sticks to finish off their four-game series win in Frederick.

Shortstop Nicky Lopez opened up the game with a leadoff home run as part of a four-run first inning that also featured Chase Vallot’s fifth home run of the season. Wilmington wasn’t done there as Anderson Miller and Wander Franco each homered in the third to push the lead out to 7-0.

With all that offense, starter A.J. Puckett was able to take advantage despite battling with the strikezone. The righty spun six no-hit innings despite six walks and just 43 strikes among the 88 pitches he threw. Still, Puckett navigated around his own problems earning six groundouts and striking out four to keep the Keys hitters in check.

Reliever Gabe Cramer came in and gave up a solo home run to break up the no-hitter. The reliever would give up a second hit while also striking out five to up his total to 27 in 13.2 innings for the Blue Rocks this season. The win evened Wilmington’s record at 21-21.

Boxscore Link

Chase Vallot 1-3, 2R, HR, 2 RBI, BB
Anderson Miller 1-4, HR
Yunior Marte 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K, 1-0 GO-FO, 16p/12k

Springfield Cardinals 4, NW Arkansas Naturals 0

The Naturals hitting woes against the Springfield Cardinals continued on Monday to end their four-game series.

This game featured just four hits for the visiting team, as the home Cardinals rapped a pair of home runs off reliever Reid Redman to go along with seven hits and two runs off starting pitcher Emilio Ogando. The Naturals failed to connect on an extra base hit while going 0 for 4 with runners in scoring position. The loss dropped them into second place, one game behind Springfield.

Boxscore Link

Samir Duenez 0-3, BB
Jack Lopez 2-4
Emilio Ogando 5 IP, 7 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 4 BB, 1 K, 1-5 GO-FO, 84p/48k

Omaha Storm Chasers 5, Reno Aces 3

The Chasers evened up their homestand with a late comeback win against the Pacific Coast League’s top hitting club.

Starting pitcher Eric Skoglund wasn’t deterred by facing such a powerful lineup, attacking the zone with 76 strikes on 103 pitches while giving up three runs in seven innings. The Chasers needed length from their starter considering the pitching staff was shorthanded with pitchers in Kansas City, and on the DL, and with rain causing havoc during this homestand. The lefty was up to the task, striking out a season-high nine hitters in seven innings. Skoglund was using a fastball that reached as high as 95 mph while employing a slider that he’s been working on with his pitching coach.

After falling behind 2-0, Omaha shortstop Ramon Torres hit his fifth home run of the season to slice the lead in half. The Aces pushed their lead back to two runs with Christian Walker’s solo home run in the sixth. Trailing 3-1 the Chasers evened things up in their half of the seventh with a two-out rally that started on a Terrance Gore bunt single and ended with a Torres two-run single to right.

With the game even into the eighth, Ryan O’Hearn doubled to lead off the inning, advanced to third on Bubba Starling’s sacrifice bunt to set up an opportunity for catcher Cam Gallagher. The backstop who has struggled at the plate for much of the season jumped all over a first-pitch fastball by Ruby De La Rosa, sending it 370 feet into the leftfield stands to give Omaha a 5-3 lead and the eventual win.

Boxscore Link

Eric Skoglund 7 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 0 BB, 9 K, 4-6 GO-FO, 103p/76p
Ryan O’Hearn 3-4, R, 2b
Ramon Torres 2-4, R, 3 RBI

Stock UP

Bubba Starling – It’s no secret that Starling has struggled over the past couple of years, as the outfielder has hit just .188 since the start of last season. Much of those struggles have been from his insistence to stick to his game plan no matter how the pitcher pitched him. That has lead to plenty of balls pulled into a shift to the left side. For the first time since he’s been with Omaha, Starling started to work the ball to the opposite field, hitting away from the shift multiple times and also hitting his first opposite field home run since the start of ’15 on Sunday.

Foster Griffin – The lefty could be ready for a promotion very soon after another outstanding start on Friday. In the past, the Royals have used the benchmark of 10 consecutive good starts at a level before a promotion. Currently, Griffin is at eight of nine this year at Wilmington, showing an effectiveness versus right-handed hitters who are hitting just .173/.241/.252 against him. One of the impressive things for Foster is how, in a league with a small number of teams, he’s been better in the second meeting between clubs. This could be a sign that he is good at understanding hitter tendencies and using that against them, something he’ll need to continue to do as he climbs the ladder.

Wilmington Bullpen – The Blue Rocks have a group of impressive arms in their bullpen, with hard-throwing Yunior Marte, Gabe Cramer, and Richard Lovelady. While I haven’t had a chance to see Cramer or Lovelady in person, I’ve been given reports of them working in the upper 90s with a pair of hard breaking balls that can work against either side hitters. Since signing out of Stanford, Cramer has missed plenty of bats, striking out 12.8 per 9 while dominating High-A hitters this season to the tune of 22 K’s in 11.2 innings.

Stock DOWN

Khalil Lee – The 18-year-old outfielder has struggled with the adjustments pitchers have made to him at Low-A, hitting .196 in May while striking out and hitting too many groundballs during the month. The game is all about adjustments and it should be fun to see what adjustment Lee, an intelligent hitter, can make going forward.

Ryan O’Hearn – Triple-A pitchers get overlooked in comparison to Double-A pitchers at times because some of the harder throwers reside at the Double-A ranks before making the quick step to the bigs. That could be the case, but Triple-A/Four-A pitchers can still attack a young or first timer at that ranks and that seems to be the case for O’Hearn in his second month in Omaha, limiting him to a .172/.250/.259 line in May.

Saturday: Reno Aces 7, Omaha Storm Chasers 3 – Boxscore – HR: Corey Toups (3)
Sunday G1: Reno Aces 14, Omaha Storm Chasers 3 – Boxscore – HR: Bubba Starling (2)
Sunday G2: Omaha Storm Chasers 6, Reno Aces 0 – Boxscore

The Chasers were rained out on Friday, setting up a doubleheader that they split on Sunday after a series-opening loss on Saturday. It was a rough one for starter Luke Farrell on Sunday in game one, giving up 11 runs in five innings of work with the D-Backs Triple-A affiliate going deep three times. The Chasers offense rebounded on their own in game two, pounding out 10 hits and six runs while the bullpen combined to work seven scoreless innings. The Chasers will finish their series with Reno on Monday before heading to Nashville for a four-game series.

Friday: NW Arkansas Naturals 5, Springfield Cardinals 4 – Boxscore
Saturday: Springfield Cardinals 8, NW Arkansas Naturals 2 – Boxscore – HR: Mauricio Ramos (6)
Sunday: Springfield Cardinals 6, NW Arkansas Naturals 2 – Boxscore

The Naturals lost two of three games over the weekend to fall into a first-place tie with their opponent, the Springfield Cardinals. The Naturals scored five runs in the fourth inning of Friday’s game before the rain gave them the win in six innings. During Saturday and Sunday’s games the Naturals bullpen struggled, giving up nine runs in just over eight innings of work. The Naturals will try to split the series Monday while moving back into first place.

Friday: Wilmington Blue Rocks 2, Frederick Keys 0 – Boxscore
Saturday: Frederick Keys 10, Wilmington Blue Rocks 1 – Boxscore
Sunday: Wilmington Blue Rocks 6, Frederick Keys 1 – Boxscore – HR: Nicky Lopez (1)

The Blue Rocks sandwich a pair of well-pitched games around a Frederick blowout win to earn at least a series split that they’ll try to turn into a series win on Monday. Starter Foster Griffin tossed 7.2 innings of shutout ball on Friday night while striking out seven to keep his strong season going. It pushed Griffin’s quality start number to six in nine starts while allowing three earned runs or less in all but one start this season. In addition to Griffin, lefty Colin Rodgers worked seven quality innings with just one run allowed and seven K’s on Sunday. Unfortunately, Scott Blewett’s struggles versus lefties continued on Saturday, giving up three home runs to opposite-side hitters. Shortstop Nicky Lopez pushed his on-base streak to 20 games while also hitting a home run on Sunday.

Friday: Lexington Legends 7, Rome Braves 6 – Boxscore – HR: Meibrys Viloria (4)
Saturday: Lexington Legends 12, Rome Braves 10 - Boxscore
Sunday: Rome Braves 8, Lexington Legends 7 – Boxscore

The Legends split a series between Rome despite having a late lead in all four games. In the first three games of the series, the Legends built big early leads only to watch the Braves answer back and make the games close. During Sunday’s games, it was the reverse with the Braves building a lead only to watch Lexington close the gap before losing late. The Friday game was a crazy affair that went 18 innings and lasted just short of six hours before the Legends took home the win.

HR Roll Call Raul: Mondesi (4), Chris DeVito (12) 

BPKC Hitter of the Day: Raul Mondesi 3-5, 3R, HR, 2-2b, 3 RBI, SB, BB

BPKC Pitcher of the Day: Eric Skoglund 7 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 HR, 2 BB, 4 K, 10-3 GO-FO, 93p/58k

Game 1
Tacoma Rainiers 7, Omaha Storm Chasers 2

The first game of the doubleheader between the Royals and Mariners Triple-A affiliate featured power by the Rainiers and more lackluster offense on the part of the Chasers.

The Chasers couldn’t get the offense going early, failing to score in the first four innings, while Tacoma opened up their half of the first inning with a two-run home run by Dan Vogelbach. The score remained 2-0 until the fourth frame when an error by Raul Mondesi on a throw from deep in the hole opened up an inning that eventually featured a three-run home run by Dario Pizzano to push the score to 5-0.

The Chasers got on the board in their half of the fifth with an RBI triple from Corey Toups before Ramon Torres made the score 6-2 with a run-scoring single in the sixth inning.

The Rainiers capped the scoring with a mammoth 445 foot home run by Leonys Martin in the seventh to finish off the final inning of the shortened doubleheader.

Boxscore Link

Corey Toups 2-3, 2b, 3b, RBI
Raul Mondesi 1-3, R, 2b
Ramon Torres 2-3, 2b, RBI, hit streak at 11 games

Game 2
Omaha Storm Chasers 4, Tacoma Rainiers 2

In game two, the Chasers starter did a good job of limiting damage while the Royals Raul Mondesi did some damage of his own.

In the first frame, Mondesi created some offense on his own, walking to take first, quickly stealing second and scoring on a Ramon Torres single.

Starter Eric Skoglund was solid, tossing a complete game in the seven-inning shortened game, but the lefty did get knocked around for a pair of back to back solo home runs in the third that gave Tacoma a 2-1 lead. From there, Skoglund found a groove working the final five innings with the minimum hitters faced, allowing just a walk in the sixth that was quickly erased by a double play.

Fortunately for Skoglun, his shortstop, Mondesi, was there to quickly tie things up in the bottom half of the third with a solo home run. With the game knotted up, it was Mondesi once again in the fifth inning with a double to bring in a pair of Chasers; eventually giving them enough runs for the win.

Boxscore Link

Bubba Starling 1-1, 2BB, 2 CS
Ramon Torres 1-3, RBI
Parker Morin 1-2, R

NW Arkansas Naturals 4, Arkansas Travelers 1

The Naturals got a run-scoring bunt and bases clearing double by Donnie Dewees in the second inning and made that stand up for the win.

Starter Emilio Ogando earned his second Double-A victory despite just one strikeout. The lefty spun six innings while navigating around six hits thanks to six groundouts which included a pair of double plays. From there, relievers Reid Redman and Sam Selman shut the door, with Selman striking out four hitters in just 1.2 innings.

The first place Naturals will attempt to finish off the four game series sweep tomorrow.

Boxscore Link

Donnie Dewees 1-5, 2b, 2 RBI
Elier Hernandez 1-3, R
Samir Duenez 0-5, K

Wilmington Blue Rocks 5, Potomac Nationals 2

The Blue Rocks kept their winning ways going in Potomac on Wednesday night, getting plenty of extra base pop along the way.

The Rocks offense connected for seven doubles and a home run from Chris DeVito to put five runs across despite a 4 for 18 night with runners in scoring position. Second baseman D.J. Burt came through with a pair of doubles that plated solo runs in the seventh and ninth innings to push out their advantage.

The Royals 2016 2nd round pick A.J. Puckett was the beneficiary of all the offense as the right-handed starter found a groove after allowing a first-inning solo home run. From there, the righty stayed on schedule, allowing just a fourth inning walk before a double in the sixth came around to score.

Reliever Gabe Cramer earned the save while striking out four over the final 2.2 innings. Those four K’s pumped the righties total to 22 on the season in just 11.2 innings of work while sporting a sub 1 WHIP.

Boxscore Link

Gabe Cramer 2.2 IP, 1 H, o R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 4 K, 2-2 GO-FO
A.J. Puckett 6.1 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 4 K, 12-0 GO-FO
D.J. Burt 3-5, 2-2b, 2 RBI, SB (12)

HR Roll Call Chris DeVito (9), Khalil Lee (5), Nick Dini (2)

BPKC Hitter of the Day: Elier Hernandez 3-4 2-3b, 2b, R, 2 RBI

BPKC Pitcher of the Day: Gabe Cramer 3 IP 3 H 0 R 0 ER 0 BB 8 K 45p/34k

Wilmington Blue Rocks 10 Salem Red Sox 2

The Blue Rocks broke through for the first time versus Salem this season with a big offensive night by their three main weapons.

Leadoff man Nicky Lopez, outfielder Elier Hernandez and infielder Wander Franco combined for eight of the Rocks twelve hits while also driving in five of the 10 team runs.

Trailing 2-1 after a first inning double by Michael Chavis, Wilmington broke through with a four-run second inning that featured a two run triple by Lopez. From there, starter Cristian Castillo found a groove, retiring 10 straight Red Sox hitters on his way to earning his first High-A win of the season.

Reliever Gabe Cramer pitched three strong innings with eight strikeouts to earn his first save of the year.

Boxscore Link

Anderson Miller 1-5 R, RBI 17-game on base streak
Wander Franco 3-4 2R hitting .293
Cristian Castillo 6 IP 3 H 2 R 2 ER 3 BB 4 K 8-2 GO-FO 91p/55k

Lexington Legends 8 Greensboro Grasshoppers 4

The Legends used their big power to flex their way to a win over the Marlins affiliate in the first game of their series in Greensboro on Tuesday.

Trailing 2-1 in the 3rd inning, Khalil Lee quickly tied things up with his fifth home run of the year, a drive over the left-center field fence. The homers weren’t finished for the Legends in that inning however as Chris DeVito, the South Atlantic League home run leader, took the Grasshoppers pitcher deep for a two-run blast over the right-center fence to give Lexington a 4-2 lead.

That offense would make sure that lead would not be relinquished with solo runs in four of the next six innings, including Nick Dini’s second home run of the season. It was enough for starter Nolan Watson to win his first decision of the year.

Boxscore Link

Khalil Lee 2-4 HR, BB
Chris DeVito 2-4 2R, HR, 2b, 3 RBI
Gabe Cancel 3-5 3R, 2b (10)

Memphis Cardinals 2 Omaha Storm Chasers 1

After two 2-1 games on Monday the Chasers thought they would play another, unfortunately, this one wouldn’t go their way against Memphis.

Starter Jake Junis went toe to toe with Cardinals #7 prospect Luke Weaver. The Royals righthander went seven strong innings allowing just a run on five hits and three walks while striking out six. The only damage to Junis came in the second frame when Patrick Wisdom tripled to left in front of a Paul DeJong sacrifice fly.

The Chasers could put together just three singles off Weaver in his six innings and get their only run of the game in the ninth via a Jorge Soler single before stranding two runners to drop the game. The loss was credited to Junis despite Mark Peterson giving up the deciding run in the eighth on a solo home run off the bat of Luke Volt.

Boxscore Link

Jake Junis 7 IP 5 H 1 R 1 ER 3 BB 6 K 3-8 GO-FO 104p/64k
Jorge Soler 2-4 RBI
Ramon Torres 1-4 R

NW Arkansas Naturals 6 Springfield Cardinals 5 F/12

The Naturals bullpen wasted a good start by Christian Binford and a four-run lead in the first game of their series with Springfield.

It was the fifth straight quality start this season in five tries for Binford, giving NW Arkansas his first seven inning start this season. With just one run and five hits allowed, Binford gave a 5-1 lead to the bullpen after pounding the zone for 67 strikes in 92 pitches thrown.

From there, Sam Selman allowed three runs in just two-thirds of an inning and Reid Redman gave up a tying home run to send the game into extra innings once again.

In extras, the Naturals got a hit from Logan Moon to score pinch runner Humberto Arteaga from second before Ashton Goudeau picked up the final three outs to secure the win.

Boxscore Lead 

Alfredo Escalera 2-4 2R, 2b, RBI, BB
Frank Schwindel 3-5 2-2b, 3 RBI, BB
Logan Moon 2-6 RBI