HR Roll Call – Chris DeVito (8), Gabriel Cancel (4)
BP Kansas City Hitter of the Day – Chris DeVito: 2-3, HR, BB, 3 R, 2 RBI
BP Kansas City Pitcher of the Day – Randy Acevedo: 6 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 5 K

Nashville Sounds 12 Omaha Storm Chasers 3

Jason Vargas moved up to Triple-A to continue his rehab assignment, and the Sounds welcomed him to the park by racking up five hits and three runs off of him in three innings of work. Andrew Edwards entered the game after Vargas, but didn’t fare any better, giving up five runs in less than one inning. Dillon Overton stymied Chasers’ bats for six innings, and Whit Merrifield was the only man to get an extra-base hit all night. Merrifield also was caught stealing for just the second time this season. The loss eliminated the Storm Chasers from postseason contention.

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Orlando Calixte: 3-5, RBI
Dusty Coleman: 2-3, BB, R
Andrew Edwards: 0.2 IP, 3 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 2 BB, 0 K

   Hagerstown Suns 3 Lexington Legends 1

Gerson Garabito matched Suns starter Taylor Guilbeau in allowing just one run over six innings, but unlike the Suns, the Legends bullpen could not keep the opponent off the board. Mark McCoy allowed eight baserunners in his 2.2 innings, with two of them scoring. The Legends offense simply could not muster anything after their one-run first inning, collecting just four hits while striking out 15 times. Chase Vallot did hit his 17th double, and a pair of walks bumped his on-base percentage up to .351 on the year.

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Gerson Garabito: 6 IP, 0 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 3 BB, 3 K
Roman Collins: 1-4, R
Chase Vallot: 1-2, 2B, 2 BB

Idaho Falls Chukars 4 Grand Junction Rockies 5

A four-run seventh inning made it appear the Chukars would be able to pull out a victory, but a two-run home run in the eighth from Hunter Melton gave the Rockies the lead for good. Meibrys Viloria picked up his 22nd double of the year, driving in two. Unfortunately, he couldn’t get quite enough help from the rest of the lineup, as they went 2-10 with men in scoring position. Andres Machado delivered five innings, allowing three runs (one earned), and Alex Luna struck out three in two innings of work.

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Nick Dini: 2-4, R
Meibrys Viloria: 1-2, 2B, BB, 2RBI
Andres Machado: 5 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 5 K

Greeneville Astros 3 Burlington Royals 7

Three Royals pitchers combined to strike out 16 Astros on the night, and a big night from 2016 draftee Chris DeVito was enough to power the offense to another victory. DeVito hit a two-run dinger, his eighth of the summer, while also scoring three runs. Nathan Esposito chipped in a pair of singles and two RBIs, while Nicky Lopez stole his 23rd base of the year as well. That’s 23 stolen bases in 53 games for the Creighton product. Alex Close picked up six strikeouts in 2.1 innings en route to picking up the win.

Boxscore Link

Gabriel Cancel: 1-4, HR, R, RBI
Alex Close: 2.1 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 6 K
Nathan Esposito: 2-4, R, 2 RBI (batting .344)

AZL Brewers 11 AZL Royals 10

The Royals were running wild on Brewers pitchers, swiping eight bags in this crazy affair. Most of the Royals runs were produced by the 9-1-2 portion of the batting order, with Jose Marquez, Jeison Guzman, and Cal Jones combining to go 10-15 with seven runs and sixRBIs. And they needed every bit of that offense, because Grant Gavin only went three innings, giving up seven hits and digging his team into a five-run hole. The Royals broke through in the middle innings to move ahead but, it wasn’t enough. Staked to a three-run eighth inning lead, Nathan Webb and Gustavo Tejada couldn’t hold the Brewers as they coughed up five runs in the frame.

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Cal Jones: 4-4, 3 runs, 1 RBI, 3 SB
Jose Marquez: 4-5, 3 runs, 2 RBI, 2B, 3B, 2 SB
Jeison Guzman: 2-6, 1 run, 3 RBI

DSL Dodgers 3 DSL Royals 2 (11)

A strong performance from Randy Acevedo was not enough to extend the Royals win streak to six games, and a strange play allowed the Dodgers to take the game in the eleventh. It’s not often you see a strikeout, a wild pitch, and an errant throw by the first baseman, all on the same play, but that’s what it took to put the Dodgers in front. Four Royals had two hits on the day, however a 1-11 line with runners in scoring position kept them from doing more damage.

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Juan Peguero: 2-3, 2B, RBI
Randy Acevedo: 6 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 5 K (1.15 ERA this season)
Ismaldo Rodriguez: 2-3

HR Roll Call Whit Merrifield (8), Colton Frabasilio (1)

BP KC Hitter of the Day – Nick Heath 3-4 R, 2b, 2 SB (16)

BP KC Pitcher of the Day – Emilio Ogando 6.1 IP 1 H 0 R 2 BB 6 K 10-3 GO-FO 95p/62k

Omaha Storm Chasers 6 Iowa Cubs 4

The Chasers came through enough times in their 13 chances to put up enough offense on the board to claim a win thanks to their starters quality outing. Starter Christian Binford gave Omaha his third consecutive quality start, allowing three runs over seven innings, The Chasers rewarded Binford with his first win since May 22nd, getting a home run from Whit Merrifield and a three run double by Bubba Starling in the first inning to build a 4-1 lead after one inning. The Chasers would tack on a run in the fourth and eighth to secure the lead and the win, their fourth in a row.

Boxscore Link

Whit Merrifield 2-4 2R, HR, RBI, BB, SB (18)
Hunter Dozier 2-4 R, 2b, BB
Reymond Fuentes 1-3 R, RBI, BB

Springfield Cardinals 1 NW Arkansas Naturals 0

The Naturals offense couldn’t get anything going on offense Saturday, dropping a 1-0 game. Starter Yender Caramo took the loss despite giving up just one run in 5.2 innings on five hits while striking out eight.

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Yender Caramo 5.2 IP 5 H 1 Er 0 BB 8 K 6-3 GO-FO 77p/55k
Cam Gallagher 1-3
Terrance Gore 1-1

Lexington Legends 6 Charleston RiverDogs 1

Outstanding starting pitching effort and some thump on offense gave the Legends their first win in Charleston in three tries. After back to back games when the Lexington offense couldn’t muster more than two hits their starter pulled a role reversal. Lefty Emilio Ogando and the bullpen limited the RiverDogs to just two hits with Ogando working 6.2 innings of one hit ball with two walks allowed and six K’s. The offense woke up with 11 hits and Colton Frabsilio’s first home runs for the Legends. They will go for the split in the for games series tomorrow.

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Colton Frabasilio 1-3 HR, 2 RBI
DJ Burt 1-4 RBI, SB (32)
Chase Vallot 2-5

Idaho Falls Chukars 7 Grand Junction Rockies 5

Trailing 4-1 after five innings the Chukars put up six runs in their final three at bats to win another game at home. Rockies starter Ty Culbreth limited Idaho Falls to just one run through five innings with seven strikeouts while Idaho Falls starter fell behind with four runs in seven innings. Trailing 5-3 in the eighth the Chukars came up big with a four run inning, Meibrys Viloria got it started with a RBI double to score the first run and was quickly brought home on a two run single by Angelo Castellano. One hitter later Joe Dudek drove in Castellano to setup the Chukars with the two run lead that they would win with. The eighth inning hit for Viloria extended his hit streak to 17 games.

Boxscore Link 

Angelo Castellano 2-4 2R, 2 RBI
Nick Heath 3-4 R, 2b, 2 SB (16)
Richard Lovelady 1 IP 0 H 0 R 0 BB 3 K 11p/9k

Burlington Royals 4 Pulaski Yankees 2

Another solid pitching performance with some timely hits lead to a second consecutive series sweep for the Royals Saturday. Trailing 1-0 the Royals got a RBI single by Nicky Lopez to tie the game in the bottom of the third. After taking the lead in the fourth on a wild pitch it was Lopez adding room in the fifth with another RBI single and then scoring himself when a wild pitch and a passed ball moved him around. Starter Garrett Davila moved to 3-0 with six innings and two runs allowed (1 ER) with six strikeouts against no walks.

Boxscore Link

Garrett Davila 6 IP 6 H 2 R 1 ER 0 BB 6 K 8-4 GO-FO
Nicky Lopez 2-3 R, 2 RBI, BB
Michael Silva 1 Ip 0 H 0 R 2 BB 2 K

AZL A’s 6 AZL Royals 5

After falling behind the Royals 6-1 the Royals made a comeback only to fall short in the loss. Starter Grant Gavin gave up his first earned runs of the season with five earned allowed in 3.1 innings. in the loss.

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Offerman Collado 2-4 R, 2b, 2 RBI
Jeison Guzman 1-5 R, SB (3)
Khalil Lee 1-4 RBI, BB

DSL Royals 6 DSL Phillies 0

DSL Royals Randy Acevedo continued his solid season while creating more worm burners for the Royals. The 19 year old earned 9 ground outs in six shutout innings to push his to a microscopic 0.60 in the win. The offense backed Acevedo up with six runs on 10 hits.

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Esteury Ruiz 2-4 R, 2b
Randy Acevedo 6 IP 4 H 0 R 0 BB 1 K 9-1 GO-FO
Dennicher Carrasco 2-4 2R, 2b, 2 RBI, SB (5)

BP KC Hitter of the Day – Rubendy Jacquez 2-3 R, 2-2b, RBI

BP KC Pitcher of the Day – Scott Blewett 7 IP 4 H 2 R 2 ER 1 BB 10 K 5-3 GO-FO 79p/59k

Lexington Legends 3 Kannapolis Intimidators 2

On the same night of the All Star game, a former 2nd round pick shined brightly in the minor league ranks. Big Scott Blewett set a career high with 10 strikeouts while ripping through the Kannapolis Intimidators over seven innings. It started in the first inning when Blewett put away the final two hitters in the inning away with strikeouts to start a run that saw him K eight of the next 10 hitters he would face, giving up just a single in that time. The Legends would spot Blewett a three run lead while he was on the mound with Ben Johnson accounting for all three runs with two RBI singles and scoring the other run. Staring a possible complete game in the face as he was at a relatively low pitch count, Blewett would run into some trouble in the seventh, giving up a pair of singles and a double to allow a pair of runs before getting a groundout to end his night. Reliever Sam Lewis would enter and finish off the final two innings to earn his first Low-A save.

Boxscore Link

Ben Johnson 2-4 R, 2 RBI
Sam Lewis 2 IP 0 H 0 R 0 BB 1 K 3-2 GO-FO 24p/17k
DJ Burt 1-3 SB (26)

DSL Royals 5 DSL Phillies 3 F/10

The Royals blew a game in the bottom of the ninth only to salvage it with two runs in the 10th for their fourth consecutive win. A two out fielding error by Angel Medina in the ninth opened the door for a three run rally to tie the game. In the 10th Esteury Ruiz forced the Phillies hand with a double that pushed another base runner to third. The Phillies loaded the bases in an attempt to get out of the inning safely but Dennicher Carrasco made them pay with a single to score two and give the Royals a lead and an eventual win. The ninth inning runs cost Randy Acevedo a win after tossing seven shutout innings.

Boxscore Link

Esteury Ruiz 2-5 R, 2-2b, RBI
Angel Median 3-5 R
Randy Acevedo 7 IP 4 H 0 R 0 BB 1 K 13-2 GO-FO