BPKC Hitter of the Day: Ismaldo Rodriguez 2-4 2 HR

BPKC Pitcher of the Day: Jackson Kowar 3 IP 0 H 0 R 0 ER 0 BB 6 K 0-3 GO-FO 41p/26k 

Hagerstown Suns 3 Lexington Legends 2

Royals 1st round pick Jackson Kowar had his most impressive outing yet even in an abbreviated appearance. The former Florida Gator pitcher worked three perfect innings on 41 pitches, striking out six of the nine hitters he faced. Five of the six strikeouts were swinging as Kowar earned eight swinging strikes among his 26 strikes thrown before handing things off to Garrett Davila. The two teams exchanged one run with the Legends scoring in the fourth inning on a Manny Olloque double before Hagerstown answered with a two-out rbi single in the fifth inning. The Suns broke that tie in the eighth inning with three consecutive hits off Davila which led to a pair of runs. The Legends threatened in the bottom of the ninth pulling within one but Cristian Perez would get put out at the plate for the second out before Kyle Isbel stranded the tying run in scoring position with a groundout to end the game.

MJ Melendez: 2-4 2b
Nick Pratto: 1-3 BB
Brewer Hicklen: 1-4 R, 2 SB

Springfield Cardinals 4 NW Arkansas Naturals 3 F/11

The Naturals entered Thursday with a small opening to make the playoffs, trailing first-place Tulsa by 4.5 games with 13 left to play including a five-game series with the Drillers. With little margin for error, each game would prove to be extremely important. With that small margin, the Naturals send Scott Blewett to the mound a start after being named Texas League Pitcher of the Week. The big right-hander wasn’t as efficient as last time out, but none the less managed to work around a bases-loaded threat in the third inning to give the Naturals five scoreless innings before yielding to the bullpen. Scoreless until the seventh inning when Grant Gavin gave up a solo home run to Chris Chinea. The Naturals answered that 1-0 deficit with two runs in the eighth with Alex Liddi’s RBI double and Alfredo Escalera’s sac fly that brought Liddi home. That lead held up until the ninth when a one out walk issued by Franco Terrero came around in the ninth to even the score. In extras the two teams exchanged free runners scoring in the tenth and again in the eleventh the Cardinals scored. In the Naturals half though the Naturals were unable to push their free runner along, letting a winnable game get away. The Naturals missed an opportunity to get a game closer in the standings after Tulsa lost again.

Alex Liddi: 2-5 R, 2b, RBI
Scott Blewett: 5 IP 3 H 0 R 0 ER 2 BB 3 K 6-4 GO-FO 83p/56k
Kelvin Gutierrez: 0-4 R, BB

Oklahoma City Dodgers 3 Omaha Storm Chasers 2 

The Chasers couldn’t muster enough offense to help out Trevor Oaks despite another quality start from the right-hander. The Dodgers plated a run in each of the first three innings against Oaks as they piled up eight hits in six innings against him. The Dodgers scored via a wild pitch in the first, a gift of outfielder Brian Goodwin’s error in the second and three singles in the third to take a 3-1 lead after three innings. Shortstop Nicky Lopez countered with a solo home run in the fourth inning to pull within a run. From there the two teams were held scoreless and the Chasers only true threat in the seventh with Donnie Dewees on second fizzled out with with a pair of outs to put away the threat and ultimately the game for Omaha.

Nicky Lopez: 1-4 HR
Josh Staumont: 1 IP 1 H 0 R 0 BB 1 K 1-1 GO-FO 15p/8k
Richard Lovelady: 1 IP 0 H 0 R 0 BB 0 BB 2 K 15p/11k

Johnson City Cardinals 10 Burlington Royals 8

After piling up 39 hits in the last two games, but the Royals added on 15 more on Thursday night against the Cardinals. It wasn’t enough. Three first two pitchers the Royals sent to the mound gave up 10 runs through the first seven innings, putting the Cardinals up 10-5. The Royals didn’t threaten in the ninth, plating three runs before dropping the game.

Juan Carlos Negret: 3-5 2R, 2b
Rafael Romero: 3-5 3 RBI
Jose Marquez: 2-5

Idaho Falls 2 Billings Mustangs 1

The Chukars and Mustangs were limited to just three runs in this one as the two starters held up their end of the bargain. Billings starter Ricky Salinas limited Idaho Falls to just two hits in six and one-third innings. One of those hits accounted for a run for Idaho Falls as Reed Rohlman connected on his sixth home run in the second inning to give the home squad a 1-0 lead. After Connor Mayes gave the Chukars six scoreless innings, reliever Jaret Hellinger gave up a run to even the score in the eighth inning. Fortunately, the Chukars quickly answered with a double by Hunter Strong that scored Nick Hutchins in the bottom half of the inning to take the lead back. With the slim lead closer, Daniel James answered the bell in the ninth with a scoreless inning to secure the save.

Connor Mayes: 6 IP 7 H 0 R 0 ER 0 BB 5 K 3-6 GO-FO 85p/60k
Reed Rohlman: 1-3 HR, BB
Hunter Strong: 1-3 2b, RBI

Thursday Boxscores

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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: Luis Villegas (1), MJ Melendez (1), Ismaldo Rodriguez (3)

BPKC Hitter of the Day: MJ Melendez 2-5, HR, 2 RBI, 2 CS on defense

BPKC Pitcher of the Day: Christopher Marte 5.1 IP, 6 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 4 K, 4-2 GO-FO 

Colorado Springs Sky Sox 4, Omaha Storm Chasers 1 

The Sky Sox have the Chasers number so far this season, defeating them on Wednesday for the seventh time in eight games.

Struggling starter Josh Staumont had his best start in some time, working 5.2 innings and allowing two runs (1 ER). The erratic pitcher walked four and uncorked a wild pitch to push a runner into scoring position for the earned run allowed.

Other than Dean Anna’s three hits, the Chasers offense struggled in the good run environment, scoring just one run and recording six hits total in the game. Reliever Eric Stout gave up two runs after walking three and allowing a pair of hits.

Boxscore Link

Raul Mondesi 0-3, Named a PCL All-Star
Dean Anna 3-3
Josh Staumont 5.2 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 4 BB, 4 K, 5-2 GO-FO, 98p/57k

Frederick Keys 10, Wilmington Blue Rocks 4

After a pair of promotions, the Wilmington bullpen is slightly weaker which may have played a hand in their loss Wednesday night.

Reliever Luis Rico struggled, giving up six runs in his 2.2 innings pushing the Rocks behind each time they pulled even or close.

New leadoff man D.J. Burt had a pair of hits, a walk, stole his 22nd base of the season, and scored a run.

Boxscore Link

Roman Collins 2-4, R, 2b
Travis Maezes 1-3, R, RBI
Chris DeVito 1-4, R, 2b, RBI

Columbia Fireflies 5, Lexington Legends 4

The Legends came up on the downside of an evenly played game Wednesday afternoon.

Each team had 11 hits and a pair of errors, with the Legends connecting on the game’s only home run but coming up one hit shy to the Mets Low-A club with runners in scoring position. The Legends trailed 5-4 after a two-run single in the seventh inning but failed to get hits in both the seventh and eighth frame with the tying run in scoring position.

Lexington’s Marten Gasparini continues to turn around his season with three more hits, pushing his overall average to .242 after his .191 April.

Boxscore Link

Marten Gasparini 3-5, R, 2b
Yeison Melo 2-4, R
Luis Villegas 1-4, HR

Idaho Falls Chukars 6, Grand Junction Rockies 4

The Chukars evened the series up with Grand Junction in a rather sloppy game.

Each team committed three errors which led to multiple unearned runs for both squads. The Chukars trailing 4-3 got three unearned runs in the seventh to take the lead, and Christopher Marte tossed 5.1 innings scoreless to earn the win.

Boxscore Link

Offerman Collado 1-3, R, 2 RBI
Logan Gray 1-3, 2R, 2b, RBI
Geoffrey Bramblett 3.2 IP, 6 H, 4 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 4 K

Danville Braves 3, Burlington Royals 2

The Royals came up short in their first game against the Braves.

Starter Nathan Webb gave the team a quality start with six innings of three-run ball, but took the loss with too little offensive contribution in support. The right-handed starter tossed three innings scoreless before getting touched for a two-run home run in the fourth.

The Royals came up a run short going 1 for 6 with runners in scoring position to drop to 2-4 on the young season.

Boxscore Link

Michael Gigliotti 0-4
Dennicher Carrasco 2-4, CS
Reed Rohlman 1-3, R

AZL Royals 7, AZL Padres 5

The Royals got out to an early lead and hung on late.

The Surprise squad quickly put three runs on the board in the first inning, getting an RBI triple from Reymond Lopez, a sac fly by Nick Pratto and an RBI single from Cristian Perez.

Their starter, Josh Mitchell, worked three scoreless innings, striking out three in his second appearance. The offense tacked on four single tallies the rest of the way which helped work around the five unearned runs their defense gifted the Padres.

Catcher MJ Melendez had a big day, going 2 for 5 with his first home run while also tossing out two potential base stealers from behind the dish.

Boxscore Link

Reymond Lopez 2-2, R, 2b, 3b, 2 RBI, BB
MJ Melendez 2-5, HR, 2 RBI
Nick Pratto 1-4, 2b, RBI

DSL Royals 5, DSL Braves 1

The DSL Royals ace, Delvin Capellan, gave up his first earned run of the season in 20 innings, but it didn’t prevent a Royals win.

The two teams exchanged home runs in the first inning, but the Royals homer came with two aboard off the bat of Ismaldo Rodriguez to give them a 3-1 lead. From there, Capellan tossed four scoreless innings to earn his second win of the season, striking out four in the start before the bullpen shut the door.

Boxscore Link

Ismaldo Rodriguez 2-3, 2R, HR, 3 RBI, BB, SB (10)
Delvin Capellan 5 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 4 K, HR, 7-4 GO-FO
Felix Familia 1-3, R, BB

HR Roll Call Brandon Downes (11), DJ Burt (4), Ismaldo Rodriguez (1)

BP KC Hitter of the Day – D.J. Burt 4-4 HR, 5 RBI

BP KC Pitcher of the Day – Andres Sotillet 5 IP 3 H 0 R 0 ER 1 BB 2 K 9-1 GO-FO

Colorado Springs Sky Sox 4 Omaha Storm Chasers 1

The Chasers struggles at home continued with a 2 for 11 performance with runners in scoring position that lead to a 4-1 defeat. Despite 10 hits and a pair of walks it wasn’t enough as Colorado Springs plated a pair or runs in the seventh to break a 1-1 tie before a ninth inning home run proved as another insurance run. The loss was credited to Brooks Pounders after giving up both of the seventh inning runs. The last six home games have featured just six runs by the home team who will likely be quite enthused to head out on the road for eight games.

Boxscore Link

Reymond Fuentes 2-4
Tony Cruz 1-3 R, Bb
Whit Merrifield 2-4

Corpus Christi Hooks 5 NW Arkansas Naturals 4

The Naturals missed a few scoring opportunities in their Wednesday loss. Starter Ashton Goudeau gave up four runs in just two innings to drop his record to 4-12 at Double-A while the offense had 12 hits, but went 2 for 7 with runners in scoring position. Trailer 5-2 into the sixth inning NW Arkansas would pull within a run and get the tying run on in the last four innings, but fall short in each inning in the loss.

Boxscore Link

Alfredo Escalera 3-5 R, 2b
Ryan O’Hearn 2-4 R, 2b
Jack Lopez 2-4 2b

Frederick Keys 6 Wilmington Blue Rocks 5

Outfielder Brandon Downes staked the Rocks to a 4-1 early lead only to watch the pitching staff salt it away. The former Virginia centerfielder connected on his 11th home run of the season in the 2nd inning to tie the game up at 1-1. Just one inning later it was Downes connecting on a bases loaded double that cleared the bags and expanded the lead to 4-1. In the sixth inning Downes would connect on a ground-rule double and come around on Elier Hernandez single to push the lead to 5-2. Starter Matt Tenuta would give up a pair of runs in the seventh to cut the lead to 5-4 when Kyle Kubat couldn’t clean up the two singles he allowed. In the eighth it was Kubat who created his own mess and gave up two more runs to put the Rocks behind 6-5. The first two hitters for Wilmington would reach in their half of the eighth, but a double steal try would gun down Brian Bien and the Keys would work around Downes with a base open before stranding the bases loaded. That would be the last rally for Wilmington as they would fail to win their third game in a row over Frederick.

Boxscore Link

Brandon Downes 3-3 2R, 2-2b, HR, 4 RBI, BB
Elier Hernandez 1-3 RBI
Brian Bien 2-4 R, CS (3)

Asheville Tourists 8 Lexington Legends 6

The Legends made a comeback from 6-2 down only to watch the game slip away in the ninth. Second baseman, DJ Burt, lead that comeback with a grand slam in the seventh inning as part of a 4 for 4 day that included an earlier RBI in the day. Tied at 6-6 reliever Mark McCoy gave up a pair of runs in the ninth that the offense couldn’t counter in the loss.

Boxscore Link

Emilio Ogando 5.1 IP 7 H 5 R 4 ER 1 BB 6 K 4-3 GO-FO 82p/61k
Ben Johnson 1-3 2R, BB, SB (7)
Colton Frabasilio 1-4 R

Billings Mustangs 6 Idaho Falls Chukars 1

The Chukars offensive struggles continued in Billings on Wednesday evening. An 0-13 performance with runners in scoring position lead to just one run while starter Jace Vines dropped his fourth decision of the season. The Texas A&M product gave up five runs (4 ER) on eight hits and a pair of walks while not being able to strikeout one hitter on the night. Catcher Meibrys Viloria went hitless for the the second night in a row for the first time this season.

Boxscore Link

Yeison Melo 2-4 2b
Luke Willis 3-4 R
Richard Lovelady 1 IP 1 H 0 R 1 BB 1 K

Princeton Rays 3 Burlington Royals 1

The Royals lost one late when a two out error in the eighth inning opened the door for the Rays. That error by second baseman Gabriel Cancel brought Oscar Rojas to the plate and he quickly doubled in two runs to push Princeton ahead 3-1. The Royals brought the tying hitter to the plate in both the eighth and ninth inning, but were unable to getting anything done in dropping the game to the second place Rays.

Boxscore Link

Kort Peterson 1-3 2b, RBI
Nicky Lopez 1-4 R
Travis Eckert 5 IP 3 H 1 ER 1 BB 4 K 5-4 GO-FO

DSL Rays1 14 DSL Royals 5

The Royals lost the game the restart of a suspended game they were trailing by a large margin at the time of the suspension

Boxscore Link

Esteury Ruiz 2-3 2b, RBI
Freddy Fermina 1-3 2b
Angel Medina 2-2 BB

DSL Royals 7 DSL Rays1 0

The Royals dominated the second game that was shortened due to rain. Starter Andres Sotillet tossed five scoreless innings while Esteury Ruiz went 2 for 2 with a a triple and two runs driven in. Between his last two game Ruiz has seven hits in his last seven at bats.

Boxscore Link

Esteury Ruiz 2-2 R 3b, 2 RBI
Angel Medina 3-3 R
Ismaldo Rodriguez 1-3 HR