Diamonds in the Rough 7.23

Rookie ball paced the Royals affiliates to a 5-3 day.  HR Roll Call Wil Myers (29) Carlo Testa (13) Matt Fields (11) Justin Trapp (8) Bubba Starling (4) 

Pine Tar Press Hitter of the Day Wil Myers 2-4 HR, 2 RBI 

(Photo Minda Haas)

Pine Tar Press Pitcher of the Day Ryan Verdugo 6 Ip 4 H 1 R 1 ER 2 BB 8 K

Pine Tar Press Rookie League Player of the Day Jin-Ho Shin 2-4 2b, R, 2 RBI 

Omaha Storm Chasers 4 Round Rock Express 1

Royals top prospect Wil Myers has struggled since the All Star break going just 6 of 37 since the All Star weekend but may have broke out of that slump in the finale in Round Rock.  The young outfielder had two hits in the game including his 29th home run, a two run shot in the 6th inning that gave the Chasers a 2-1 lead.  The Chasers offense would add a couple more in the 7th on an Irving Falu double to push their lead and eventual margin of victory to 4-1.  Starter Ryan Verdugo had one of his most successful starts of the season striking out eight in six innings giving up just a 2nd inning solo home run to move his record to 7-2 on the season.  Johnny Giavotella extended his hitting streak to 18 games going 1 for 4.

W: Verdugo (7-2, 3.45) L: Bell (3-3, 4.46)
S: Mazzaro (2)

Springfield Cardinals 5 NW Arkansas Naturals 4

The Naturals second half woes continued with Ethan Hollingsworth and Jon Keck failing to shut things down towards in the final two innings Monday.  Starter Michael Mariot navigated around plenty of Cardinals opportunities allowing just two first inning runs on eight hits and a walk in his seven innings but would be denied the win with a late inning blown save.  On offense all four Naturals runs came in the 4th with three of them coming via Carlo Testa’s 13th home run of the season.  Coach Brian Pohlberg chose to load the bases in the bottom of the ninth with no outs and a pair of runners after an error but Keck couldn’t find the strikezone versus Oscar Taveras walking in the winning run.

W: Gorgen (4-6, 4.10) L: Hollingsworth (0-7, 5.21)

Frederick Keys 10 Wilmington Blue Rocks 5

Plenty of hits for a Carolina League game with the two teams combining for twenty-six hits and fifteen runs in the opening game of a three game set.  Starter Andy Ferguson had his roughest start yet giving up 6 runs on 10 hits while working 5.1 innings in dropping his first Carolina league game.  The Rocks offense hung close for the first three innings getting a two run home run by first baseman Matt Fields to pull within a run.  The Keys didn’t slow down however scoring six runs from the 4th through the 8th to separate from Wilmington.  The four teams in the Northern division are currently separated by just one game with Wilmington, Frederick and Potomac all trailing Lynchburg by one game.

W: Wilson (5-4, 3.58) L: Ferguson (1-1, 5.50)
S: Berry (8)

Dayton Dragons 5 Kane County Cougars 1

The Cougars missed out on an opportunity to sweep the Dragons and even up their roadtrip in the finale Monday.  The only run of the game for Kane County came courtesy of new father Justin Trapp’s leadoff home run to start the game but couldn’t muster any damage from there.  Starter Kellen Moen’s problems with the longball remained as the Oregon right-hander gave up two home runs in his five innings to push his season total to sixteen allowed in 19 starts.  The loss pushed the Cougars into a three way tie for second place, a game behind Clinton.

W: Gerson (5-7, 4.27) L: Moen (3-8, 5.49)

Burlington Royals 5 Greenville Astros 0

The Rookie level Royals continue to roll winning their 13th game in 14 tries Monday night.  Starter Colin Rodgers was his usual self tossing 4.1 no hit before Greeneville layed down their only hit of the game a linedrive single to right field by Ariel Ovando.  The Astros loaded the bases with a pair of walks by Rodgers in that 5th but Colin worked around the trouble getting a pop out and a ground out to work around the damage, the five innings pushed Rodgers scoreless innings stretch to 19.1.  When the lefty left the team was up 2-0 but that wasn’t enough for the Burlington bomb squad as Humberto Arteaga lined his fifth extra base hit in the last four games into right field allowing Terrance Gore to score from first to push the lead to 3-0.  With Arteaga standing on second Bubba Starling cleared the left field fence with his fourth home run of the season to push the lead to 5.  The bullpen allowed just one walk over the final four innings to finish off the win and push their lead in the division to 4.5 games.

W: Rodgers (3-0, 0.73) L: Ramirez (4-1, 2.45)

Idaho Falls Chukars 8 Great Falls Voyagers 6

The top four in the Chukars batting order accounted for eight of the teams ten hits and seven of their eight runs to start the series in Great Falls in winning fashion.  Catcher Jin-Ho Shin continued his offensive surge collecting his third multi-hit game in a row while driving in two runs with his two hits including an RBI double in the 5th.  The Chukars used four different arms to get through the nine innings striking out 14 Voyagers hitters.

W: Lopez (2-1, 2.70) L: Casey (4-2, 1.88)
S: Allen (3)

AZL Royals 9 AZL D-Backs 4

DSL Royals 7 DSL Dodgers 5 

W: Fernandez (2-0, 1.86) L: Bermudez (5-2, 3.02)
S: Machado (4)