Diamonds in the Rough 6.23

Royals affiliates had a tough day at the office going 1-8.  HR Roll Call Max Ramirez (9) David Lough (6) Brett Eibner (9) Lane Adams 2(6,7) Cheslor Cuthbert (4) Jin-Ho Shin (2) Rainier Bello (1) Carlos Garcia (1) 

Pine Tar Press Hitter of the Day Jack Lopez 2-3 2b, 2 BB, 3 R, RBI

Pine Tar Press Pitcher of the Day None

Oklahoma City RedHawks 4 Omaha Storm Chasers 3

Left-handed starter Mike Montgomery found the strikezone a bit more in his start Saturday versus Oklahoma City but his usual difficulty to get same sided hitters remained and resulted in similar results.  Lefthanders coming into the game held a .181 point advantage in OPS versus Montgomery and that problem remained as four of the six hits allowed were to left-handers including a home run by lefty Scott Moore and three hits from Fernando Martinez that lead to three of the four runs allowed by Montgomery.  One of the bright spots was the seven K’s by the Chasers starter that equaled his season high while also tying a season low with one walk allowed and tossing 72 strikes out of his 103 pitches thrown.  Behind with the runs allowed by Montgomery the offense would miss out on multiple opportunities to tie the game going just 1 for 7 with runners in scoring position costing them a chance to even the game.

W: Norris (1-0, 3.60) L: Montgomery (3-4, 4.76)
S: Abreu (4)

Arkansas Travelers 4 NW Arkansas Naturals 0

The Naturals ran into a starting pitcher who seems to be finding his groove in Ariel Pena.  The right-handed Angels starter has put up a 2.05 ERA in his last 10 starts and was even more spectacular Saturday evening, limiting the Naturals to just one hit and two walks while striking out seven in his six innings.  The Naturals didn’t have much luck against the bullpen either going hitless over the final three innings to get shutout for the third time this season.  NW Arkansas starter Noel Arguelles took the loss giving up 4 hits, 2 walks and 3 runs in his 6 innings to drop his 7th decision this season.

W: Pena (5-4, 2.94) L: Arguelles (2-7, 6.12)

Carolina Mudcats 9 Wilmington Blue Rocks 8

One of those rare offensive outburst in the Carolina league outside of Winston-Salem took place Saturday as the two teams took advantage of some poor defense to put 17 runs up in just 7 innings of the first game of a doubleheader.  The left side of the infield put up a bit of offense for the Rocks as Cheslor Cuthbert and Orlando Calixte combined for 4 hits, 2 runs and an RBI to help the offense towards 8 runs but they also committed 3 errors to help Carolina with 7 unearned runs.  A fielding error on a bases loaded grounder by Cheslor Cuthbert allowed the Mudcats walkoff with a win as a pair of runs came home to close out the game.

W: Flores (1-2, 2.17) L: Rogers (1-2, 2.02)

Carolina Mudcats 6 Wilmington Blue Rocks 5

A big second inning opened the door to a victory for Carolina in the second game handing Tyler Sample his 8th loss of the season.  Wilmington punched out 5 runs in the first 3 innings thanks to home runs by Cheslor Cuthbert, Lane Adams and Brett Eibner but would not be able to match that output the rest of the game dropping to 0-3 in the second half.  Wilmington has dropped six games in a row between the end of the first half and beginning of the second half.

W: Reichenbach (3-1, 4.38) L: Sample (1-8, 5.86)
S: Sides (1)

Kane County Cougars 6 Clinton LumberKings 5 F/10

The Cougars new young shortstop Jack Lopez helped spur a comeback that they took advantage of in extra innings to defeat Clinton in the second game of their three gamer.  Kane County was down 4-3 in the 8th when Lopez lead off the inning with a single eventually coming around to score on Michael Antonio’s sac fly to even up the game.  The LumberKings would take the lead back in the bottom of the 8th and getting within just one out away from ending the game in the 9th but a double by Lopez would score Tim Ferguson to send the game to extra innings.  In the 10th Alex Llanos reached on a Clinton error moving around to third and eventually coming home with the winning run on a Dean Espy single.  Bryan Brickhouse 2nd start went a bit better striking out 5 against 2 walks and 6 hits in his 4 innings, only 2 of the hits allowed left the infield for the Royals 2011 draft pick.

W: Brown (1-0, 3.68) L: Taylor (1-4, 4.68)

Elizabethton Twins 18 Burlington Royals 2

The game got ugly Saturday evening as Elizabethton knocked out 20 hits going 8 for 22 with runners in scoring position to win a laugher.

W: Rogers (1-0, 0.00) L: Morales (0-1, 40.50)

Grand Junction Rockies 10 Idaho Falls Chukars 6

The Chukars hit their first three home runs of the season in Grand Junction but couldn’t get much pitching to drop their 3rd consecutive game to the Rockies.  Teenagers Elier Hernandez and Adalberto Mondesi both received the day off after a 9 hour bus ride to Colorado.

W: Mueller (1-1, 7.45) L: Schulz (0-1, 5.40)

AZL Cubs 13 AZL Royals 2

W: Martinez-Pumarino (1-0, 2.08) L: Haynes (0-1, 7.71)

DSL Astros 1 DSL Royals 0

W: De Los Santos (2-0, 2.05) L: Crisostomo (0-2, 2.70)
S: Hernandez (2)