Diamonds in the Rough 8.11

Another good day by the Royals affiliates going 6-1 on Saturday.  HR Roll Call Christian Colon (6) Justin Trapp (9) Bubba Starling (8) 

Pine Tar Press Hitter of the Day Christian Colon 2-3 2b, HR, BB, 2 R, 2 RBI

Pine Tar Press Pitcher of the Day Andy Ferguson 7 IP 5 H 1 R 1 ER 1 BB 6 K

Binford, Brickhouse and Moen

Pine Tar Press Rookie League Player of the Day Christian Binford 7 IP 3 H 1 R 1 ER 0 BB 7 K

Omaha Storm Chasers 7 Tucson Padres 2

Lefthand starter Chris Dwyer saved the pen on this night giving the Chasers 9 innings for a win.  Coming into the game Dwyer was averaging just a little over 5 innings per AAA start carrying a 7.53 ERA in his five starts but he was a tad better in this one.  It didn’t appear early that he’d be able to make it 9 innings after walking four hitters in the first five innings while allowing runs in the 4th and 5th but he found a groove allowing just two hits in the final four innings to give the pen a rest.  The Chasers offense rewarded Dwyer with some insurance runs in the 7th and 8th scoring four runs to expand on a 3-2 lead that had been built with a two run home run by Christian Colon in the 2nd and a Mitch Maier RBI groundout.  The win pushed the Chasers magic number to nine.

W: Dwyer (3-3, 6.21) L: Stauffer (0-1, 3.38)

Frisco Rough Riders 10 NW Arkansas Naturals 3

The Rough Riders made things extremely rough on Naturals pitching to take game one of the two teams series.  Frisco got after Naturals starter Sugar Ray Marimon for ten hits, two walks and four runs in just 5 innings to give him his 4th AA loss.  They didn’t stop with Sugar Ray though as they put six more runs on the board off Ryan Dennick and Buddy Baumann as part of seven consecutive innings with at least one run.  The Naturals knocked out quite a few hits of their own with 11 but couldn’t do as much damage crossing the plate with just 3 runs in defeat.

W: Tepesch (5-2, 3.93) L: Marimon (3-4, 3.73)

Wilmington Blue Rocks 2 Salem Red Sox 1 

Another good start from Andy Ferguson paced the way to a Rocks victory Saturday.  Ferguson, selected in the 18th round last year, has been steady at all three levels he’s stopped at this season.  The right-hander limited the Red Sox to just five hits in seven innings allowing just a solo home run while striking out six against one walk, earning his second win for the Blue Rocks.  Wilmington didn’t put up much offense themselves scoring just a run in the 3rd on a Cheslor Cuthbert single and another in the 5th on a single by Lane Adams that drove in Brett Eibner who scored both runs.  Those two runs were all Wilmington needed thanks to Ferguson’s effort and that of Robinson Yambati who worked the final two inning scoreless while striking out three.

W: Ferguson (2-2, 3.49) L: Couch (8-9, 3.75)
S: Yambati (2)

Kane County Cougars 4 Cedar Rapids Kernals 3

Groundballs were the name of the game for starter Bryan Brickhouse helping the Cougars take the first game of their series with Cedar Rapids.  Brickhouse had one hiccup in his 7 innings, a three run that featured a wild pitch to score one run and a fielding error by Justin Trapp to score another, giving the Kernals a 3-1 lead.  Brickhouse would get back into a groove retiring 10 of the last 11 hitters he would face five of which came via groundouts to give him fifteen ground outs in his seven innings.  The Cougars rewarded his work with a three run 6th giving him the lead with a RBI singles from Jack Lopez and Dean Espy in front of a sac fly by Alex Llanos that gave them the lead.  Second baseman Justin Trapp made up for his error with a solo home run in the 4th and a triple that got the 6th inning rally started.  Reliever Andrew Triggs pitched the final two inning scoreless with a pair of strikeouts to earn his first save of the year while upping his strikeout total with the Cougars to 34 in 28.2 innings.

Scott Sharp Director of Minor League Operations via KCCougars.com

W: Brickhouse (3-3, 5.61) L: Johnson (4-6, 5.27)
S: Triggs (1)

Idaho Falls Chukars 6 Orem Owlz 4

The bottom of the Chukars order did much of the heavy lifting Saturday in leading them to a win over Orem.  Those final three hitters Parker Morin, Nick Delguidice and Diego Goris combined for seven of the teams ten hits while scoring all six of the teams runs and connecting for four of the teams five extra base hits.  Delguidice and Goris each drove in a run in the 4th inning to reclaim a lead that the defense had given away in the top half of the inning.  Idaho Falls would tack on another run in the 6th to push their lead to 6-3 which would be enough for the win.  Starter Alec Mills earned his first win spreading out eight hits over six innings while giving up three unearned runs and striking out five.

W: Mills (1-3, 3.06) L: Diaz (4-4, 5.33)
S: Allen (4)

Burlington Royals 7 Bluefield Blue Jays 2

Good offense and pitching earned the Royals a win in the third game of their four game series with Bluefield.  Starter Christian Binford put together his best start so far striking out seven in a season high seven innings while allowing just three hits, one run and no walks. The lack of walks is nothing new for Binford as he’s walked just two in his 28 innings and currently is riding a 22.2 inning streak without a walk allowed.  The Royals didn’t need to give Binford much support but they did anyway knocking out seven runs on eleven hits, six of which went for extra bases including Bubba Starling’s 8th home run of the season.

W: Binford (2-1, 2.25) L: Comer (3-3, 3.95)

DSL Royals 17 DSL Rays 3

W: Rios (3-1, 3.13) L: Crisostomo (1-3, 3.83)