HR Roll Call: Whit Merrifield (3)

BP KC Hitter of the Day – Raul Mondesi 3-4, 2b, 2R, BB

BP KC Pitcher of the Day – Andrew Edwards 2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 4 K

Iowa Cubs 10, Omaha Storm Chasers 3

Lefty Jon Dziedzic fell victim to some Iowa magic in the first inning Monday as the Cubs hit a pair of flairs into the outfield prior to two seeing-eye singles to the right side to take a 1-0 lead. That lead doubled when a ball Albert Almora squibbed off the bat all of 40 feet for an out. The lead ballooned one hitter later into 5-0 when a pop fly off the bat of Dan Vogelbach travelled over the fences thanks to a gusty left-field wind. The Vogelbach home run left the bat at just 92.7 MPH, speeds lower than that have left major league parks just three times this season according to EPSN’s home run tracker. Death by a thousand I-Cub cuts continued with another Vogelbach home run in the 4th, this one off the left-field foul pole. A few more bloops off Dziedzic and reliever Scott Alexander lead to a 10-0 Iowa lead through the top of the 6th inning. The Chasers closed the gap at 10-3 with a Whit Merrifield home run in the bottom half, but rallying opportunities in the 7th and 8th were squashed, leading to Omaha’s first series defeat of the season. Outfielder Travis Snider made his first pitching performance in pro baseball since a 2014 appearance for the Pittsburgh Pirates. The lefty worked two scoreless innings with a strikeout and just one hit allowed. Manager Brian Poldberg was unaware of Snider’s pitching prowess prior to the game but a conversation with him in the dugout as the game started to get out of hand offered an opportunity for the lefty to save a bullpen that has been taxed as of late. The last position player to pitch for the Chasers was Micah Gibbs during a September 2015 loss to the Nashville Sounds.

Boxscore Link

Jose Martinez 1-4, 2b
Brett Eibner 1-3, BB
Travis Snider 2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 K

NW Arkansas Naturals 6, Arkansas Travelers 5

Lefty Erik Skoglund has been having trouble getting through the middle innings in his starts as of late. That problem remained in the third game of the Naturals four gamer with the Travelers on Monday when Erik ran into trouble in the 4th inning, giving up a four spot there and another run in the 5th when he got pulled. Fortunately for Skoglund, his temmates took him off the hook with five runs spread over five innings, and a run in the 7th for the final margin. It had been Bubba Starling providing the offense in the prior two games of the series but in this one the damage was provided by the top of the order. The middle infield combo of Ramon Torres and Raul Mondesi reached base a combined six times while scoring four runs. First baseman Ryan O’Hearn kept his bat hot with a two-run single in the 2nd, a run-scoring double in the 4th and another hit in the 7th that pushed Mondesi along to third base. Outfielder Orlando Calixte knocked in Mondesi with a single that proved to be the difference maker, giving the Naturals sole possession of first place.

Boxscore Link

Ramon Torres 2-4, 2R
Ryan O’Hearn 3-5, 2b, 3 RBI, R
Orlando Calixte 1-3, RBI

Lexington Legends 8 Greensboro Grasshoppers 5

Legends bats woke up with an 11 hit and eight run night with every hitter providing some value either by collecting a hit, a walk or a sacrifice. Second baseman DJ Burt contributed a three hit, three RBI day while Cody Jones scored three times from the leadoff spot. The eight runs were enough to give Scott Blewett his first win since April 12th despite giving up 11 base runners in just five innings of work.

Boxscore Link

Ben Johnson 2-5, 2-2b, R
DJ Burt 3-5, R, 3 RBI
Scott Blewett 5 IP, 8 H, 2 ER, 3 BB, 4 K

HR Roll Call – Jorge Bonifacio (1) Clint Barmes (1) Jose Martinez (1) Frank Schwindel (1) Carlos Garcia (1) Brandon Dulin (1) Chase Vallot (1) 

BP KC Hitter of the Day NWA Ark – Frank Schwindel 2-4 HR, 3 RBI

BP KC Pitcher of the Day NWA Ark – Alec Mills 6 IP 2 H 0 R 1 BB 9 K

Round Rock Express 6 Omaha Storm Chasers 4

After a horrible start to the season, Miguel Almonte made progress in start number two versus the Round Rock Express on Tuesday. The Royals 6th ranked prospect by Baseball Prospectus had a great feel for his slider early which allowed him to cruise through the first four innings of the game. That groove would escape him in the fifth inning however as he lost his fastball location to the arm side and struggled to escape trouble that his defense created with back to back errors by Dusty Coleman and Cheslor Cuthbert, the latter’s fourth of the young season. Those mistakes combined with three walks in the inning by Almonte led to three Round Rock runs, giving them a 3-2 lead that they wouldn’t relinquish the rest of the day. Round Rock tacked on 2 more in the 5th and another in the 9th to post a 6-4 victory. It was an extremely sloppy game by the Chasers as they committed four errors on defense while also making a couple mental mistakes at the plate with ill-planned bunt attempts.

Third baseman Cheslor Cuthbert left the game for precautionary reasons after taking a groundball off the side of his head.

Boxscore Link

Miguel Almonte (L, 0-2) 4.2 IP 1 H 3 R 0 ER 3 BB 7 K 86 P 48 strikes 7 GO 2 FO
Jarrod Dyson 2-5 SB
Jorge Bonifacio 2-4 HR (1)
Whit Merrifield 2-5 RBI, E-4 hitting .348 currently
Brian Flynn 3 IP 5 H 2 ER 1 K
Joey Gallo 2-5 R
Jurickson Profar 0-4 RBI, BB

NW Arkansas 9 Midland RockHounds 2

The Naturals jumped all over Midland starter Chris Jensen, scoring seven runs in four innings on their way to an easy win. Catcher Zane Evans got the scoring started in the 1st with a two-run bases loaded double and was brought home two batters later on a Frank Schwindel two-run single. The Naturals would tack on another pair the next inning, and Schwindel would homer in the 3rd to pace starter Alec Mills with a 7-0 lead. Those were more than enough runs as Mills backed up his solid first start of the year with 6 innings of scoreless ball that included 9 strikeouts and just 2 hits and one walk allowed.

Boxscore Link

Raul Mondesi 1-5 2 SB, 3b, R
Bubba Starling 0-1 3 R, 2 BB, SB made a nice catch up against the fence to rob a double
Frank Schwindel 2-4 HR 3 RBI
Alec Mills 6 IP 2 H 0 R 1 BB 9 K 81 P 60k 3 GO 1 FO

Carolina Mudcats 15 Wilmington Blue Rocks 4

An ugly game for the Wilmington Blue Rocks bullpen Wednesday as they allowed 14 runs after Colin Rodgers gave them 4 scoreless innings. The three victims to the assault were pitchers Matt Alvarez, Ian Tompkins and Mark McCoy, all of whom permitted at least five baserunners between hits and walks allowed. The Rocks mustered four runs on offense thanks in part to a 3 hit night from Corey Toups that included a pair of triples.

Boxscore Link

Ryan O’Hearn 1-3 RBI
Brandon Downes 1-3 2b, BB, R, SB
Colin Rodgers 4 IP 1 H 0 R 3 BB 1 K 68/36 P/K 4 GO 5 FO

Game 1

Lexington Legend 9 Augusta GreenJacket  8

Starting a game down 7-0 probably isn’t the best idea, but it didn’t seem to hurt Lexington on Wednesday after resuming and winning their rain shortened Tuesday night affair. The Legends, who have scored at least 5 runs in every game so far this season, used a five run 6^th inning and got a pair on a two out Samir Duenez double in the 7^th to win a 9-8 contest. Reliever Emilio Ogando did most of the work, pitching five innings of one run ball to give the offense the time to rev up and comeback after starter Julio Pinto put them in a hole on Tuesday.

Boxscore Link

Julio Pinto 2 IP 5 H 7 R 6 ER BB 3 K 54 P 37k 4 GO 0 FO
Emilio Ogando 5 IP 4 H 1 ER BB 4 K
Brandon Dulin 2-5 HR (1) 2 RBI
Samir Duenez 2-4 2b 2 R 3 RBI BB
Amalani Fukofuka 2-4 R RBI BB hitting .381

Game 2

Lexington Legends 4 Augusta GreenJackets 3

The Legends were limited to less than 5 runs for the first time this year but the 4 they scored in a shortened 7 inning game was enough to sweep the day. The Legends mustered just four hits in the night-cap but used walks and base stealing to their advantage to cross the plate three times prior to a Chase Vallot mammoth home run to finish the scoring and secure the win.

Boxscore Link

Scott Blewett  – 5 IP 5 H 3 ER 2 BB 3 K 1 HR 69 P 42 K 6 GO 3 FO HBP
Chase Vallot – 1-2 BB HR (1) hitting .500 so far on 16 AB
Anderson Miller – 2-3 RBI
DJ Burt – 0-2 R, SB
Marten Gasparini – 0-2 R SB