BPKC Hitter of the Day Dennicher Carrasco 2-3 2R, HR, 2 RBI, SB (2)

BPKC Pitcher of the Day Heath Fillmyer 6 IP 3 H 0 R 0 ER 1 BB 6 K 4-5 GO-FO 87p/58k

Hagerstown Suns 9 Lexington Legends 7

The Legends received six and one-third innings of no-hit ball from their starting pitcher only to watch their bullpen cough things up late in the game. The offense combined for seven runs on twelve hits as Nick Pratto and Dennicher Carrasco helped pace the club to their early lead. Starter Dan Tillo put up another good start as he continued to pile up the groundouts, collecting 15 in his seven innings of work. The Iowa Western lefty only struckout two hitters on the day but kept the ball down as he does naturally, to get through those six innings no-hit. In the seventh Tillo gave up a lazy pop up in shallow right-center that the Legends had surrounded before it fell for a double before Carrasco played ole with a ball that also accounted for a double to plate Tillo’s second run allowed in his seven innings of work, leaving with a 5-2 lead. Reliever Julio Pinto did that lead in quickly with three hits and a walk allowed in his two-thirds of an inning. The offense took the lead back briefly but Sal Biasi would give up a grand slam in the ninth that would prove too large of a lead to overcome for the offense.

Dan Tillo 7 IP 2 H 2 R 2 ER 3 BB 2 K 15-2 GO-FO 84p/49k
Nick Pratto 3-5 2R, 2b, RBI
Dennicher Carrasco 2-3 2R, HR, 2 RBI

Wilmington Blue Rocks 2 Frederick Keys 0

The Rocks received a quality pitching effort from their staff and just did enough on offense to earn another win against Frederick. Starter Arnaldo Hernandez spun six innings of four-hit ball, giving up a pair of free passes but keeping the Orioles club off the board thanks to some good outfield defense by Rudy Martin. A third-inning steal and wild pitch pushed D.J. Burt to third where he scored from on Emmanuel Rivera’s infield single. Reliever Grant Gavin struggled with his control in the seventh, walking three, but getting a big two bases-loaded strikeout to end the threat. Another infield single scored a run in the seventh for Wilmington prior to Gavin and Bryan Brickhouse keeping the Keys off the board for the final three innings.

Bryan Brickhouse 1 IP 0 H 0 R 0 ER 1 BB 1 K 1-1 GO-FO 16p/10k
Meibrys Viloria 2-4
Khalil Lee 0-3 BB, K

NW Arkansas Naturals 4 Tulsa Drillers 1

Emilio Ogando navigated around four walks in five innings, allowing just a solo home run before yielding to Yunior Marte and Jake Newberry in a Naturals win. The Naturals offense which has struggled early in the year pushed four runs across in the first two innings with Elier Hernandez doubling in a run in the first and Erick Mejia tripling in another in the second. From there they went scoreless but it wouldn’t matter after Ogando and Marte did the bulk of the work. It was Marte tossing three relief innings, striking out five in that time against just a walk and a single allowed for the right-hander. Closer Jake Newberry secured the ninth for his third save.

Samir Duenez 0-4 RBI
Yunior Marte 3 IP 1 H 0 R 0 ER 1 BB 5 K 1-1 GO-FO 47p/32k
Nicky Lopez 2-4 R, RBI

Omaha Storm Chasers 5 Memphis Redbirds 0

Starter Heath Fillmyer spun another good start for the Chasers to earn his first victory as a member of the organization. The right-hander limited a pretty potent Cardinals org lineup to just three singles and a walk. Pounding the zone with a 67% strike rate Fillmyer k’d six hitters, all swinging while collecting 15 swinging strikes in those six innings. Omaha’s struggling offense did enough with twelve hits and four walks to push across five runs, the last two coming via bases loaded walks issued by a struggling Redbirds reliever.

Ryan O’Hearn 1-2 RBI, 2 BB
Ramon Torres 3-4 R, 2-2b
Kevin Lenik 2 IP 0 H 0 R 0 ER 0 BB 1 K 4-0 GO-FO 22p/18k

Friday Boxscores

Saturday Probables
Omaha – Trevor Oaks 0-2 3.31 ERA 1.10 WHIP
NW Arkansas – Glenn Sparkman 1-1 3.72 ERA 1.03 WHIP
Wilmington – Cristian Castillo (lhp) 1-1 3.52 ERA 1.37 WHIP
Lexington – Andres Sotillet 0-1 1.93 ERA 1.29 WHIP

HR Roll Call: Mauricio Ramos (5) 

BPKC Hitter of the Day: Allen De San Miguel 3-4, R, 2b, 2 RBI

BPKC Pitcher of the Day: Jake Newberry 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 2 K, 1-0 GO-FO, 23P/12K,  SV (6)

NW Arkansas Naturals 7, Arkansas Travelers 6

The two Arkansas Double-A teams exchanged blows for the first four innings of Tuesday’s game before the bullpens settled things down.

Both team’s starters were out early after big innings as the Naturals knocked out the Arkansas starter with seven runs between the second and third innings. In the third, Mauricio Ramos got things started with a solo home run with two outs. Just a few hitters later, Ruben Sosa brought home Humberto Arteaga and Allen De San Miguel following their two hits to make it 6-1. Finally, Donnie Dewees would cap the scoring with a double that pushed the lead to 7-1.

Unfortunately, starter Zach Lovvorn couldn’t put a pin in the scoring as the righty struggled once again, giving up four runs on four hits in the third inning to end his night at just three innings.

Reliever Pedro Fernandez would give up a run in the fourth before settling in along with the rest of the two team’s bullpen arms, shutting down both offenses for the final five innings as the Naturals hung on for the narrow win.

Boxscore Link

Pedro Fernandez 3 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 2 K, 4-1 GO-FO, 44/27 P/K
Elier Hernandez 2-5, R
Mauricio Ramos 2-5, 2R, HR

Potomac Nationals 10, Wilmington Blue Rocks 0

Not much to brag about in this one for the Blue Rocks as their offense was silenced and their pitching staff didn’t fare well.

Starter Colin Rodgers tiptoed around hitters, walking five in just 4.1 innings, surrendering a pair of runs to take the losing decision. The lefty gave way to Jacob Bodner and Andres Machado, and that pair didn’t do much better, allowing eight runs in just 3.2 innings.

The offense had just four hits, with two from Chase Vallot, but went 0 for 8 with runners in scoring position. Included in that lack of offense was Anderson Miller who had his on-base streak snapped at 30 games.

Boxscore Link

Nicky Lopez 1-4
Chase Vallot 2-4, 2b
D.J. Burt 1-3, BB, 2SB (11)

Lexington Legends 6, Augusta GreenJackets 4

The Legends left Augusta with a series win, taking the finale of the four game set to leave town with three wins.

The Legends bats got involved in this one, pounding out 15 hits while scoring early and often with all six runs coming in the first five innings. A pair of runs came home in the first before solo runs in the third and fourth frames. With the score 4-2, hot-hitting catcher Meibrys Viloria doubled in a pair to double the lead to four runs.

Starter Travis Eckert ran into trouble in the sixth, giving up two runs to cut the lead to 6-4 before reliever Walker Sheller came in to close out the inning. The Legends bullpen of Sheller and Grant Gavin finished off the final 3.1 innings scoreless, with Gavin picking up his third save of the season.

Boxscore Link

Meibrys Viloria 2-4, 2b, 3 RBI
Gabriel Cancel 3-4, R, RBI
Khalil Lee 1-5, RBI, 3K

HR Roll Call: Ryan O’Hearn 2(20)

BP KC Hitter of the Day – Ryan O’Hearn 3-4, 3R, 2 HR, 6 RBI, BB

BP KC Pitcher of the Day – Zach Lovvorn 7 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 7 K, 9-3 GO-FO, 102p/62k

Omaha Storm Chasers 4 Fresno Grizzlies 3

Omaha’s starter Luke Farrell was solid and a big insurance run in the ninth provided the necessary cushion for an Omaha win over Fresno. The Royals righthander gave up an unearned run in the first before getting on a roll that took him through 5.2 scoreless innings before turning things to the pen with a lead. That lead was built on two run fourth inning double by Hunter Dozier and a fifth inning RBI single by Dusty Coleman. They took a 3-1 scoreline into the ninth when a Bubba Starling sacrifice fly brought home Tony Cruz. That three run lead was just enough after Andrew Edwards gave up two runs before securing the save for Omaha.

Boxscore Link 

Luke Farrell 6.2 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 3 K, 5-10 GO-FO, 90p/62k
Hunter Dozier 2-4, 2-2b, 2 RBI
Whit Merrifield 2-4, R

NW Arkansas Naturals 11 Corpus Christi Hooks 6

The Nationals offense came up big in a win over Corpus Christi Wednesday. First baseman Ryan O’Hearn hit three run home runs in both the first and second inning as part of eight runs in the two innings for the Naturals. Three more runs for the home team backed things up during the 11-6 win that featured Jason Vargas in his first rehab appearance outside of Arizona. The Royals lefty worked 2.1 innings, giving up a pair of home runs as he allowed four hits in that time. In relief of Vargas, the Naturals used Ashton Goudeau and the righthander was up to the task, tossing one run ball over 5.1 innings to earn his fifth win at Double-A. The win kept NW Arkansas up in the standings by 1.5 games over Arkansas.

Boxscore Link 

Frank Schwindel 4-5, 2R
Corey Toups 3-5, 3R
Logan Moon 3-5, 2b, 2 RBI

Wilmington Blue Rocks 1 Potomac Nationals 0

The Rocks and Nationals locked up in a pitching duel that ended with the Rocks securing a series win. Both team’s starters tossed shutout ball as Zach Lovvorn paced the Rocks with seven innings of scoreless pitching. Allowing just three hits with one walk, he was able to earn nine groundouts while striking out seven. The team’s two bullpens kept things quiet until the bottom of the ninth when a pair of no-out singles and an intentional walk loaded the bases for Wilmington. With the bases juiced, Elier Hernandez walked things off for the Rocks with a single to center to score Brien Bien.

Boxscore Link

Samir Dunez 2-4, 2b
Elier Hernanez 1-4, RBI
Jake Newberry 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 2 K, 13p/10k

Idaho Falls Chukars 7 Billings Mustangs 5

The Chukars got off the schneid with a win thanks in part to a five-run sixth inning versus Billings. Trailing 4-1 into the bottom of the sixth, the Chukars plated five runs with a two-run double by Yeison Melo and a walk, with three singles to finish off the five run rally. The Mustangs threatened a couple more times with runners on in both the eighth and ninth innings, but tall lefty Cole Way was able to stomp out both rallies with the help of three strikeouts in the two innings to secure the win.

Boxscore Link

Cole Way 2.2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 3 K, 3-0 GO-FO, 36p/20k
Nick Heath 2-4, 2R, 2 SB (23)
Manny Olloque 1-2, R, RBI, 2 BB

AZL D-Backs 7 AZL Royals 1

The Royals bullpen couldn’t match their starter’s effort during a loss to the D-Backs. Local boy Grant Gavin worked five scoreless innings while allowing four singles and no walks before leaving with a 1-0 lead. That lead, which came courtesy of a Nick Dini single to drive in Seuly Matias in the fourth inning, was short lived once the bullpen got involved. All three Royals relievers gave up at least one run with Michael Messier getting the worst of it with four runs allowed on a walk and three hits.

Boxscore Link

Grant Gavin 5 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 2 K, 4-5 GO-FO
Seuly Matias 1-4, R, 2b
Cal Jones 0-4, BB, SB (4)